IR Class 141 from Murphy Models

24 August 2026 13 min Class 141 (Irish)

Introduction

Murphy Models is an irish model train producer. They produce a variety of models based on locomotives and rolling stock from Ireleand. I have recently been able to get the hold of class 141 from the company after a visit to Ireland.

The founder of Murphy Models, Paddy Murphy, sadly passed away on the 28th of February in 2026. Condolences to his family and friends. The future of Murphy Models is therefor uncertain. Enthusiast in Ireland hope that the family will take over the company. EuviRail on YouTube have created a tribute to Paddy Murphy that covers a bit of his life story, including some stuff about his company.

Irish Rail Class 141 is a completely unfamiliar locomotive to me. I have unfortunately never seen it in real life either. What I got told by the salesman I bought it from is that there still is a few of these locomotives in operation. The model is in scale 1:76, which is OO. Most of my other models are 1:87 (H0).

First look at the model

The model came in a sturdy box with proper protections. The model came without a decoder, so I had to purchase a decoder seperately. Murphy Models have DCC sound and DCC decoders that fits the locomotive. The store I bought the locomotive in unfortunately did not have any DCC sound decoders in stock, so I had to go for a DCC decoder without sound instead. Bellow is a picture of the locomotive in it's box besides the decoder I bought.

The decoder utilizes a 21 pin MTC interface. It looks to me that the decoder is just an ESU decoder reprogrammed to fit the Class 141. The handrails are protected with additional foam to ensure they won't break during transport, which is a nice thing.

The model looks to be of good quality and seems to have quite a lot of detailing. Bellow are a few pictures of the model seen from different sides.

The model came with a manual. Note that the manual is located under the plastic holder of the box.

The model came with british couplings in NEM pockets. I therefor decided to replace them with the loop couplings used on the other models in my collection. Bellow is an image showing the difference in couplings.

Inside the model

The shell of the model needs to be removed in order to fit the DCC decoder. The manual states that the shell can be removed by pressing inwards to loosen four flaps. I where unfortunately unable to get the shell off using that method. I therefor had to do an alternative approach. I where able to find all four flaps on the underside of the model. Bellow are images of two of the flaps.

The handrails that attach to the the cab in both ends needs to be loosened before taking of the shell completely. The step I did first was that I used a combination of a plier and a tiny flat screwdriver to push the orange flaps inwards while the model was securely placed in a servicing cradle. I kept the handrail protection foam attached while the locomotive was in the craddle to avoid damage to the handrails. I then took the model out of the craddle. Note how the shell is detached from the chassis now.

The shell can then be taken off after lossening the handrail that attaches to both sides of the driver cabs.

Note the damage to the flaps after using the screwdriver and plier. I personaly do not mind those scratches as they won't be visible on the model. I suspect that the shell will be easier to take off after the flaps have been bent a few times. I suspect that the flaps are way to tight from the factory causing them to be to hard to bend out without using a screwdriver or plier from the underside.

There are also other model railroaders that have experienced issues opening the shell on this model. A suggestion that could be attempted is to take of the handrails completely followed by squeezing hard on the shell as described in this forum thread. I have not tried to squeeze the shell with the handrails fully detached as I find the approach described above more efficient, but you might want to try the other approach if you are uncomfortable using a screwdriver.

An intersting observation after opening the model is that there is at least one sugar cube speaker allready mounted in the model. It will therefor be possible to equip a sound decoder without doing any soldering.

Another observation is two numbered switches on the circuit board marked one and two. Those switches are according to the manual used for disabling lights in one end of the model. The intent of the function is to use it when you operate two Class 141 together. You will then be able to have the lighs off in between the two locos, which is realistic.

It's a bit unpractical to have to take the shell off to turn the lights off in one of the cabs, but it's understandable that it's done that way because it probably won't be possible to do digitaly anyways. There are function maps for disabling lights in one cab, but that will most likely deactive cabs in both locos if operating two. I will probably not use the switches as I only have one Class 141, but it is definetely a nice feature to have.

The next thing I did was to take out the DC plug and plug in the decoder.

I then reasembled the locomotive, which was as simple as clicking the shell into place followed by reattaching the guard rails to both cabs.

First run

The first run went quite well. I had no issues during run-in and the model worked perfectly fine on one of the club layouts I frequently visit. One thing to be aware of right out of the box is the speed settings of the model. The model is extremly slow to accelerate and deaccelerate. The top speed of the locomotive is also really slow. That can actually be a good thing, as it will reduced the risk of driving the locomotive of a table at high speed.

Most locomotives should be runned in for 30 minutes in each direction. The manual for this locomotive states that this model should actually be runned in for 60 minutes in both directions. I am not sure why this model requires such long running in time.

Decoder functions and programming

The first thing I noticed when reading out the decoder settings using JMRI is that the decoder is simply a LokPilot 5 decoder, just as expected. That is actually a nice thing in my opinion as I really like ESU decoders. ESU decoders are my preferred choice when buying new decoders.

A piece of paper with the function mappings came with the decoder. One peculiar thing is that the included mapping table lists all the functions for sound, even though the edition I got is without sound. It also seems to me that some of the light functions doesn't work.

The light functions I where able to get to work initially is as follows.

• Lights on
• Disable cab lights in front cab
• Disable cab lights in rear cab

Bellow pictures shows the difference between headlights and taillights.

The discrepancy in the functions made me curious about what the actual programming of the decoder is. The neat thing about JMRI is that you can read out the function mappings from the decoder. The default is as follows.

The peculiar thing here is that the function mappings does not match at all. F6 is supposed to be shunting mode, but that feature is actually mapped to F2 for some reason. F8 is supposed to be a highbeam setting and F9 is supposed to be a function for turning off headlights. Those functions aren't even mapped up.

I therefor decided to experiment with the light functions. What I found out is as follows relative to the direction of travel when seated in the front cab.

Wire output	Connected to	Image
Aux 1 [1]	Right front light
Aux 2 [1]	Left front light
Headlight	Headlight for front cab
Aux 5	Tail light front cab
Aux 6	No clue what this is supposed to do, but it is programmed to be triggered with Aux 5
Aux 3	Left rear light
Aux 4	Right rear light
Rear light	Headlight for rear cab
Aux 10	Tail light rear cab
Aux 11	No clue what this is supposed to do, but it is programmed to be triggered with Aux 10

Note that there are two different mappings for "Headlight" and "Rear Light" as shown in the screenshot from JMRI. Both mappings for each of those looks to me to do exactly the same thing. I have therefor written them as one entry in the above table.

What we can see from this table is that there actually is a lot of options in terms of light functions here, which is something I really apreciate. This is also most likely the first model in my collection where you can turn on the lower white lights individually. That in turn allows you to turn on one red light and one white light at oposing sides on the same end. That is actually what is done in shunting mode.

I have no clue what the rules for shunting mode is in Ireland, so I am not aware if white and red light at the same cab is prototypically. My guess is that it is, since the model is capable of it. The country where I live uses white lights in both directions for shunting. White and red lights on the same cab indicates a parked train on at least some EMUs where I live.

I decided to remap the functions on the decoder, even though I probably will swap the decoder for one with sound at some point. The mapping I decided to go for is as follows.

The bellow screenshot from JMRI shows the result of the function remaps.

Note that I decided to actively require the driver to turn on the red tail lights. I am not certain if that is prototypical or not as that varies from locomotive to locomotive. Some locomotives turn on the tail lights by default requiering the engineer to turn them off, while others is the oposite just like I programmed in this case. Also note that I decided to only have lights in shunting mode if F0 light function is active. I later decided to add the same functionality to F3, so that I won't need to trigger F0 for shunting lights if driving in reverse.

Final thoughts

This is a model with nice detailing and running characteristics. The most annoying issue with the model is that it is annoying to take the shell off. I would personaly have preferred shell attachements with screws or a simpler notch mechanism. The light functions are neat, and I really apreciate all the posibilities that the wireing allows for. I will definetely get a sound decoder for this locomotive at some point to improve the model.