A wide variety of hauled coaches have been used on the railways of Ireland. This page lists all those since 1945.

Republic of Ireland
When formed in 1945, CIÉ inherited from its constituents a motley collection of coaching stock from various manufacturers, in equally variegated conditions of repair. Although many were over 40 years old they had to remain in service until a programme of replacement could be found.

CIÉ, which controlled the Republic's railways between 1945 and 1987, and its subsidiary, Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) from 2 February 1987, have made great use of hauled coaches, though in recent years IÉ has turned increasingly to multiple units to replace old locomotives and coaches. IÉ and Northern Ireland Railways jointly own the current stock used on the Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast, with IÉ nominally owning the odd-numbered vehicles and NIR the even-numbered ones, though all share a common Enterprise livery.

Current stock

De Dietrich (1997–present)

Following the introduction of the new Class 201 locomotives, the jointly operated Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast was upgraded in September 1997 with new coaching stock from French train makers De Dietrich Ferroviaire (now Alstom DDF). The interiors of the new stock were based on that of the original rolling stock used by Eurostar.

The coaches are divided into two classes: Standard, with 2 + 2 seating and "First Plus", with 2 + 1 seating, individual reading lamps and power adjustable seating with "in seat" audio. All coaches are air conditioned, have powered internal and external doors, tinted windows with adjustable blinds, a single wheelchair accessible toilet with baby changing facilities and electronic information displays.

Until September 2012, electrical power for train HVAC, battery charging and cooking was supplied from the locomotive's Head End Power system as the sets did not include a Generator Van. In order to avoid further damage to the locomotives, four Mark 3 Generator Vans entered service on the date above mentioned.

Although originally ordered as four sets of seven cars, the three in-service sets may comprise eight or nine cars:
 One DVT (No's 9001 to 9004), with Driving Cab, luggage area, 29 "First Plus" seats & wheelchair space, weight 42 tonnes (46.5 tons)
 One "First Plus" (No's 9101 to 9104) with 47 seats, weight 38 tonnes (42 tons)
 One Café / Buffet, (No's 9401 to 9404), weight 40 tonnes (44.5 tons)
 One Standard (No's 9213 to 9216) with 68 seats & wheelchair space, weight 38 tonnes (42 tons)
 Three or four Standard (No's 9201 to 9212) with 71 seats, weight 38 tonnes (84,000 lbs)
 One Generator van (No's 9602, 9604, 9606, 9608)
Each carriage is 23.43 m (76 ft 10.4 in) long, 3.787 m (12 ft 5 in) in height and 2.814 m (9 ft 2.8 in) wide.
The odd numbered vehicles are owned by IÉ and the even numbered by NIR

The trains have a maximum speed of 100 mph but are limited to 90 mph.

On 12 and 22 December 2009, NIR received the first two, 7608 and 7613, of four Mark 3 Generator vans from IÉ for repainting in Enterprise livery. The other two Generator vans arrived in early 2010. They replaced the HEP power system when they were introduced to revenue service in September 2012, then numbered 5560 89-89604 (9602), 89605 (9604), 89608 (9606) and 89613 (9608).

In 2014, a mid-life refurbishment programme was announced for the Enterprise service. Rotating refurbishment involved substituting non-Enterprise trainsets on an individual basis which began in November 2014 with the return to service of the first revamped coaches in November 2015. Refurbishment provided new mechanical running gear, in coach electronics and modernised interiors. The first refurbished set, consisting of DVT 9002 and Locomotive 206, operated a trial service from York Road Depot in Belfast to Dublin Connolly and back, on 15 October 2015. The same set operated the first official passenger service after its refurbishment on 16 November 2015. The refurbishment was officially completed on 10 April 2016, to coincide with the introduction of an enhanced Enterprise timetable.

Mark 3 (2009–present)

Although the majority of the Mark 3 stock was withdrawn by Iarnród Éireann in 2009, a handful of vehicles remain in use. In 2012, following extensive refurbishment, and modification to make them compatible with the existing De Dietrich stock, a total of four Mark 3 generator vans entered service with Enterprise to replace the need for the provision of Head-end power by the 201 Class locomotive.

In 2014, Belmond, the owners of Venice-Simplon Orient Express, announced plans for a new Irish luxury train named as Belmond Grand Hibernian. To operate this service, Belmond procured eleven Mark 3 coaches from Iarnród Éireann for conversion into sleeping, restaurant and parlour cars.

Between August 2016 and 2020, 10 of the Mark 3 carriages owned by Belmond are in service, painted in a dark blue livery. The 11th carriage, still in IÉ InterCity livery, was to be used for spares. It was hauled from North Wall to Inchicore Works in October 2016. Belmond ceased the Grand Hibernian service in 2021. and throughout 2022 the carriages used on the service left Ireland for use elsewhere in Europe.

Mark 4 (2006–present)

67 Mark 4 coaches were delivered in 2006 from CAF.

Although the name "Mark 4" has entered common usage, these trains have no connection to the British Rail Mark 4.
Though capable of 200 km/h (125 mph) operation, this higher speed would require both track & signal system upgrade and the provision of a faster locomotive than the currently used 201 class.

A possibility being considered is the replacement of the existing 201 with two power cars, one of which would be converted from the existing Generator Control Car.

Seating capacity is 422 (8-car set) and the train is fully accessible to mobility-impaired customers.

Capable of 10-car operation, each in-service set currently comprises 7 or 8 cars:
 Generator Control Car – GC (4001–4008) (or DVT) (no seating)
 One First Class – FC (4201–4208) (44 seats + 1 wheelchair)
 One Catering Car – CC (4401–4408) (28 seats)
 Four Standard Class – SC (35 in 4101–4143) (69 seats + 1 wheelchair)
 One Standard End – SCE, (8 in 4101–4143, all numbers ending with 5 or 0), with retractable buffers & drop-head buckeye coupling at locomotive end.
 Length between couplers – 23.66 m (77 ft 7.5 in)
 Height – 3.85 m (12 ft 7.5 in)
 Width – 2.85 m (9 ft 4 in)

As of 2016, six sets are operated on the Dublin-Cork route's clockface timetable. On some off-peak services smaller 22000 Class sets are used since larger sets are expensive to operate.

Main features

 Merak HVAC
 Power operated passenger doors
 Fire resistance to BS 6553:1999 Cat 1B
 Public address (PA) including automated announcements in Irish and English
 Closed-circuit television (CCTV) recording, including a forward-facing camera in the DVT
 LED Exterior & Interior Destination signs
 Seat Reservation system with reserved seating LED displays above each passenger seat. System is updated via Wireless LAN (W-LAN)
 LED Route Maps
 In-seat audio in First Class
 Power operated seating in First Class
 Suspension:
 Primary coil springs & secondary air bags
 Sanding on leading axle of GC & trailing axle of SCE cars
 Scharfenberg coupler between cars, drop-head buckeye couplers each end
 Wheelchair area & accessible toilets to UK Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations
Mark 4 DVT
 Air-conditioned driver's cab
 Fault Diagnostic system, displayed on driver's monitor
 Luggage Compartment
 Fire Suppression System
 Generator engine compartment protected by FM200 extinguisher
 Fuel tank protected by AFFF extinguisher
 Generators:
 Twin MAN 2846 LE 202 (320 kW)  / Letag  (330kVA) engine / generator sets, assembled by GESAN
 Length between couplers – 23.81 m (78 ft)

Former stock

Laminate (1955–1984)

The older CIÉ stock comprised a variety of designs, built to two distinct profiles.  The carriages built in the early 1950s had a narrower, more vertical profile with a small tumblehome similar to that used by Edgar Bredin of the Great Southern Railways for its steel panelled coaches.  The carriages built from the end of the 1950s had a wider profile with a more pronounced tumblehome. Like the "Bredins", they were wooden framed and steel panelled.

The earlier coaches included the last compartment stock built by CIÉ, both standard and composite first/standard designs. Typically there were 7 compartments per carriage with each having seating for 6 passengers in first class and 8 passengers in standard.  In the open saloon designs, as well as the compartment designs, seats were aligned to windows and so passengers could enjoy an unobstructed view out of the train from all seats unlike the airline style seat arrangement in some more recent designs.

Carriages of this design built after 1955 were referred to as "laminates" due to the use of laminated wooden uprights and roof members, as opposed to solid wood. Otherwise, construction details were the same. Dining cars continued to be built with solid wood frames, but were often incorrectly termed "laminates" as they were the same design and era.

Some of the "Laminate" carriages were later converted to steam heating vans to allow the four-wheel and six-wheel heating vans to be withdrawn in the late 1970s and early 1980s. All of CIÉ's restaurant cars prior to the Mark 2 stock were of the vertical profile design. A brake standard design was adapted as a driving trailer for use on one of CIÉ's branch lines.

There were three varieties of the later wide body profile coaches:
 A composite (all later converted to brake standards)
 A standard open design with two lavatories at one end
 A standard open design with a single lavatory at each end

Although designed for long-distance operation, the "Laminate" stock was extensively redeployed on Dublin and Cork suburban services in the 1970s and 1980s as newer rolling stock became available. This was not ideal due to the layout of the carriages and limited door openings, which resulted in longer dwell times at stations. Following the Buttevant crash in 1980, the "Laminate" and Park Royal stock was restricted to a 70 mph top speed and later banned from certain routes.

After the electrification of the Howth-Bray route in 1984 and the introduction of Mark 3 stock, the "Laminate" stock was progressively withdrawn. Some have been preserved at various locations around Ireland:
 Downpatrick and County Down Railway has Buffet Car 2419 and Brake Standard 1918TL (orig.2163) .
 Kiltamagh Museum has Standard Open 1460 and Composite 2148
 The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland in Dublin has Standard 1463, Bar Car 2421 and Brake 3rd 1916. The RPSI also owns Buffet Car 2422TL, which is on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.
 Sligo Folk Park in Riverstown has Standard Open 1468

Park Royal (1955–1994)

In 1955 Inchicore Works commenced the construction of 50 coaches from parts supplied by Park Royal Vehicles, London. These coaches were produced in Main Line or Suburban variants, and made full use of the Irish loading gauge, being 61 feet 6 inches long and 10 feet 2 inches wide, reducing by 8 inches at their ends.

Because of their aluminium and steel construction, they weighed only 26 tons tare (Suburban) and approx. 27¼ tons tare (Main Line). Unusually, these coaches had inward opening doors, similar to the American "Pullman" design, but this proved unpopular and somewhat confusing to the passengers and so were rebuilt conventionally. The suburban coach seated 82, while the main line coach, fitted with lavatories, seated 70 passengers. These coaches rode on Commonwealth bogies, the first in Ireland to be so fitted.

Barred from certain routes during the early 1990s because of their construction, the last few Park Royal carriages were withdrawn following the delivery of the first Japanese 2600 Class DMUs in 1994.

There are several preserved examples;
 The RPSI has two, two Open 3rds, Nos.1383 and 1419. No.1383 is fitted with a shop, whilst No.1419 has been modified so as to be wheelchair compatible.
 No.1944 has been fully restored at the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway and is now part of the passenger running set
 Two are displayed at the Clonakilty Model Village

Livery

When built, these coaches received the standard CIÉ "ivy – leaf" green livery. In the early 1960s, they were re-painted in the new black, orange, and white colour scheme.

Cravens (1963–2006)

In spring 1961, CIÉ sought tenders for the supply of 40 new Standard Class coaches, 10 to be delivered complete, the rest "part-finished" for assembly in Inchicore with technical assistance from the suppliers. The £500,000 contract was awarded to Cravens of Sheffield. It was reported that these new vehicles "would set a pattern for future construction of CIÉ carriage stock." The first of the Sheffield-built coaches was unloaded at the North Wall, Dublin on 3 May 1963 and taken to Inchicore for acceptance.

These coaches were built with light alloy bodies on steel underframes on Type B4 bogies.
Each saloon had 64 seats, arranged in eight bays of four around a table, either side of a central gangway, with two toilets situated in the vestibule at one end. The interior was finished in laminated plastics, creating a light and airy feel. They were fitted with a public address system, double-glazed windows and central fluorescent lighting along their length, the first coaches in Ireland to be so treated. Heating was by steam, supplied from a Steam Heating Van.
They were 62 ft 8 in long, 9 ft 6 in wide, 12 ft 7.5 in high, weighed 28 tons and 14 cwt. and were numbered 1504 to 1513.  The 30 incomplete coaches were numbered 1514–1543, and although the total order was for 70, only 15 more (numbered 1544–1558) were built to a total of 55.

During early 1963, Inchicore commenced construction of two new First Class coaches in a style similar to, but not connected with, the Craven contract. These coaches were built with an open plan format, double-glazing and air conditioning. Numbered 1145 and 1146, they were the only post-war all-first class coaches to be added to the stock, their immediate predecessor, 1144, was built in 1935.

On 2 April 1964 the new coaches were demonstrated to the press and entered service on 10 April, working the 18.30 Dublin to Cork train. They were common on high capacity specials, with 14 vehicle trains (12 "Cravens" + 2 Gen Vans) not being atypical, with a capacity of 768 passengers.

Prior to their displacement on these services by railcars, right into the 2000s the Cravens could be found on outer suburban workings, such as those from Dublin to Arklow and Longford. They could also be found on rural services such as those on the Rosslare-Waterford-Limerick route and the Mallow to Tralee line.

Throughout 2006 a phased withdrawal of the Craven stock took place. Their final regular duties were "Fridays Only" workings from Dublin Heuston to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Tralee and their return. They were also occasionally used for rugby union and football match specials and other one-off services.

The final set in scheduled service was withdrawn on 11 December 2006 after working the 05:15 Athlone – Dublin Heuston service.
The last operation in IÉ ownership was carriage No.1510 on an RPSI steam special on 17 December.
Craven Carriage Numbers 1505, 1506, 1508, 1514, 1522, 1523, 1529, 1532, 1539,and 1541 have been preserved in regular use by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI), along with two BR mk1 generator vans, Nos.3173 and 3185.
A "Dutch" type generator van, no.3158 that would have operated with the Cravens stock, has also been preserved by the RPSI, and now runs with their Whitehead based mk2 set as No.462.

Livery
The Sheffield built coaches were outshopped and delivered in the new CIÉ livery of tan below the waist, black on the central panel at window level, roof and ends, with a broad (6"/150 mm) white band between the upper window and roof. Large, white, class numerals were applied to the doors. The two Inchicore First Class coaches were similarly treated. In the very late 1980s / early 90s a thin white band of approx. 1" / 25 mm was applied to the waistband, separating the tan and black sections.
Following the re-branding to Irish Rail in 1988, two white 3 inch (75 mm) vinyl strips were added, separating the black from the tan above and below it. Two reflective Fluorescent Red 3M Scotchcal 12 inch square panels were applied at each body end.

In preservation the Craven coaches had to be given a paint scheme that was different to the IÉ colours of orange and black, which at the time was still in use on Irish Rail's Mark 2 and Mark 3 fleets, to avoid confusing passengers. The first 2 Cravens, 1529 and 1539, had a green colour applied between the windows and the bogies, whilst 1541 ran for one trip in a grey undercoat before returning to Inchicore to be repainted by volunteers into a new allover blue livery with a yellow stripe below the window. A yellow box stripe and the RPSI crest on the side were also added. While this was progressing, all RPSI Cravens had the letters "RPSI" in white applied to the doors on both sides to identify them in both Inchicore and on the rail network. Two more Cravens received the allover blue treatment before Iarnród Éireann took over the repainting of the carriages in 2014. Today, all the Cravens except for 1539 have been outshopped in a new RPSI livery of blue and cream, complete with two RPSI crests on the side of each carriage. It can be noted that snack bar carriage No. 1508 is the only carriage in the set that has been repainted into the new colour scheme by the RPSI Dublin carriage crew, as she was being extensively rebuilt and repaired by the team, who wanted to do the full job themselves.

Mark 2 (1972–2008)

Mark 2D
In 1972 CIÉ placed an order with British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) for 72 new coaches based on the British Rail Mark 2d design. These were built at Derby Litchurch Lane Works. With air conditioning as a principal feature they became known as "AC Stock" and ran on type B4 bogies, with vacuum brakes.

The order consisted of 6 First Class coaches (5101 to 5106), 9 Composites (5151–5159), 36 Standard Class (5201–5236), 11 Restaurant / Buffet / Standard Class (5401–5411) and 11 Generator Vans (5601–5611).  Internal fit-out was done in Inchicore, and was quite different from the original BR design, using bench seating rather than individual seats and made extensive use of wood veneer panelling.

Their electrical system also differed from the BR and NIR versions. The Generator Van contained two engine / generator sets, each supplying 220 / 380 Volts 50 Hz AC to two separate "busses" in the train. The air conditioning loads were divided in half, each half fed from each "bus". In the case of failure of one generator set, the other set automatically supplies both "busses". Air conditioning output power would then be halved, but all other loads including Cooking, Lighting and Battery Charging continue to be supplied. This has remained the model for the electrical power supply on all subsequent IE coaches.

To accommodate changes in traffic, five of the Composites, 5153–5156 and 5158 were re-classed as "Standards", while one of the Restaurant / Buffet / Standards, 5408, was converted for use as the Presidential Coach.

The remaining Mark 2 carriages were gradually phased out during 2007 and 2008, with the last remaining set operating its final service, the 05:05 Athlone – Heuston, on 31 March 2008. Two of these vehicles (Nos. 5106 and 5203) have been preserved by the RPSI and were moved to their Whitehead base in the first quarter of 2008. They were renumbered 303 and 304 respectively, and repainted in RPSI dark green livery. In addition, the Presidential coach No. 5408 is stored by RPSI, still owned by Irish Rail. This vehicle was transported to the RPSI base in Whitehead in 2014.

Mark 2AB
In addition to the vacuum-braked Mark 2D fleet, a second fleet of Mark 2 coaches was used by Irish Rail. These were second hand air-braked Mark 2 coaches acquired in the early 1990s. They were numbered in the 41XX series for standards, or 44XX series for catering vehicles. These coaches were withdrawn around 2003 following the deployment of Class 29000 railcar sets into service. Four of these vehicles have been preserved. 4106 can be found at Kilmeaden station on the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway, while 4108, 4110 and 4402 are preserved at Moyasta Junction on the West Clare Railway. Three "Dutch" type generator vans were converted to airbraking to work with these carriages, re-numbered 4601–4603. One of these, No.4602, is preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland at Whitehead.

Introduced on the CIÉ system in 1984 the last set was withdrawn on Monday 28 September 2009. The decision to purchase a new fleet of modern Intercity coaches based on the British Rail Mark 3 design was made because of several accidents involving the older style, wooden framed, coaches. They were already a well-proven design used for British Rail's High Speed Train (HST).

The first 44 Open Standards (7101–44) and five Buffets (7401–05) and seven Generator Vans (7601–07) were built at Derby Litchurch Lane Works. The remainder (7145–72, 7406–13, 7608–15) were built under licence in Inchicore between 1984 and 1989. The coaches ran on 5 ft 3 in gauge versions of British Rail's BT22 Air Suspension bogie, and were air-braked.

The Irish Mark 3 coaches were similar, but not identical, to their British counterparts. They had a different electrical system (220/380V, 50 Hz) and were the first Mark 3's to be fitted with automatic swing-plug doors. There were also some different internal layouts more specifically suited to Irish traffic.

Twenty-four coaches were built for push-pull operation on the suburban rail service including five built to Control Cars (6101–05, 6301–19). Originally used in conjunction with the 121 Class locomotives they were last used with 201 Class locomotives. There were a number of differences between the Irish push-pull Mark 3's and the standard Mark 3's. An underfloor generator, mounted in the Control Car, provided electrical power to the coaches; unlike on the standard Mark 3's, which used a special generator van. This single generator was not as powerful as the two used in the Mark 3 generator vans and was the main reason the sets were limited to 6 cars. Irish Mark 3 push-pull based rolling stock did not have air conditioning and had opening windows instead. There was also a 70 mph speed restriction imposed on the train due to the fact that three of the Control Cars were fitted with LHB bogies from an 8100 Class DART and were air-braked.

In 2004, a 1979 vintage British Rail Mark 3 TRFK (Trailer Restaurant First Kitchen) coach was converted by Interfleet into a modern Snack Car for use on a Push-pull set. This set was usually used on the Waterford route.

The Mark 3A "Cú Na Mara" set, now withdrawn, operated exclusively on the Dublin to Galway route, and was originally the BREL International Train, a showcase project designed to secure overseas orders. The set travelled to a German rail exhibition in 1988, but returned without any new orders and languished for some years before being sold on through Vic Berry. CIÉ converted the many different interior layouts to their own standard design (6201–08 ex 99521–22/24–29, Restaurant Buffet 6401 ex 99523), fitted their own Mark 3 type powered door and re-bogied with ABB bogies. Although also re-wired for Push-Pull operation the fact that an additional coach wasn't converted to a Driving Brake Standard (planned 6501 ex 99520) prevented the set from ever running with this configuration.

This set marked the end of coach building in Inchicore.

The plug door design found on the CIÉ Mark 3 coaches was later used on the British Rail Class 442 long-distance commuter train.

In 2008, IÉ announced plans to sell off the Mark 3 fleet. and having failed to so do they announced plans to scrap most of them 4 years later in 2012.

All remaining Mark 3 sets were withdrawn from service on 21 September 2009, the final service being a 13:45 Dublin-Cork relief train. However, one set was brought back for a charity event for enthusiasts on 24 April 2010. This tour also formed the 12:40 Limerick – Ennis service train, making this the last passenger service operated by a Mark 3 set.

Two Mark 3 sets were stored at Dundalk post withdrawal and it was reported that their bodies were in such a bad state that they could not be brought to Dublin to be scrapped. Since the poor condition of the coaches precluded their transferral to Dublin for scrap, they were scrapped where they stood in Dundalk yard on 10 February 2014.

Four of the Mark 3 control cars were scrapped except 6105 which is stabled at the West Clare Railway Museum.

The Mark 3's had a maximum speed of 100 mph and could run at this speed on the Cork Main Line if a 201 Class was hauling them.

On 12 December 2009, locomotive 144 brought an ex-Mark 3 Generator van (7608) from Dublin to York Road Depot, Belfast. Then again on 22 December 2009, locomotive 8209 brought another ex-Mark 3 Generator van (7613) from Dublin to York Road. NIR received a total of four ex-Mark 3 Generator vans. They have been painted in Enterprise colours and wired with push/pull to run with the Enterprise sets to replace the HEP supplied by the locomotive. These Generator vans entered service in September 2012.

Scrapping of the Mark 3 coaches began in Inchicore Works during September 2013.

Throughout July 2014 the remaining Mark 3's in North Wall were taken to Adelaide Yard in Belfast where they were cut in half and transported to Hamills scrap yard in Ahoghill.

Three Mark 3 coaches have been preserved and are currently in storage in West Clare Railway Museum, Moyasta Co. Clare. These are Open Standard no. 7146, Café/Bar no. 6402 and Push/Pull DVT no. 6105. Another MkIII was formerly in preservation with the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland at their Whitehead base. Although it was never used by Irish Rail or NIR, being shipped directly over from England in 2004, it had been re-gauged to 5 ft 3in for use as a dormitory coach for RPSI volunteers. It was numbered 26 by the RPSI, carrying on the numbering sequence of LMS NCC Caravan Coaches, and was scrapped by RPSI in 2022.

Liveries since inception of CIÉ

Carriages
The original CIÉ livery was dark green with and eau de nil stripe below and above the windows, similar to the former livery of Dublin United Transport Company Buses, but this was replaced in the mid 1950s. They also carried the "flying snail" emblem in the same eau de nil colour, numerals were the same, and lining, snail and numerals were all themselves thinly lined in gold. From 1955, dark green was discontinued on coaches (though retained on buses) and coaches were gradually repainted in a new lighter green livery, which was also applied to new stock after 1955/6. This was a much lighter mid-green with a thinner "eau-de-nil" (= very light green) stripe applied below windows and the flying snail emblem on some, but by no means all, vehicles. Park Royals never carried flying snails. At the end of 1955 unpainted aluminium coaches were introduced with large red 1s and 2s to indicate class and small red running numbers, but this did not wear well in everyday service.  From 1958 all carriages were repainted the new standard green, somewhere in between (English) Southern Region green and Isle of Man 1970s era locomotive green. All CIÉ green livery variations had black coach ends, and while roofs were also usually black, some were occasionally very dark grey.

In 1962, just before the introduction of the "Cravens Stock", a radical new livery was introduced consisting of black upper panels, roof and body ends, deep orange (golden brown / tan) lower panels with a 6-inch white band between the windows and the roof.  Roofs and ends were black. Mk 2d and Mk 3 stock as delivered were painted in a golden brown and black scheme but without the white stripes above the windows.

In February 1987, CIÉ's railway operations were transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary, Irish Rail and the 6-inch white band was replaced by two 3-inch white bands, on each side of the black portion. On Craven coaches, a 3in tan band appeared above the top white line, just under the cantrail. The words "InterCity"  in large white lettering was added on the lower orange-brown section accompanied by the "IR" logo.  Craven coaches and ex-BR Mk 1 generator vans were not re-branded. These continued in CIÉ black and golden brown but the white lining was changed to the narrower style on their next works visit.

In the early 1990s, the golden brown was replaced by a brighter orange (RAL 2011) and the stylised IE icon replaced the IR track logo.  The new logo did not accompany the Intercity lettering, but was put on all MK2 and MK3 coach doors.

Because of the shared nature of the service the Enterprise has its own unique livery consisting of Dark Grey (NCS 8502-Y), Light Grey (NCS 5502-Y), Dark Green (NCS 9005-G20Y), Bronze strip & Enterprise logos (3M), and either Purple (NCS 5040-R40B) for Standard Class or Dark Red (NCS 4060-R10B) for First Plus.

In 2006, a new livery reminiscent of the original green has been introduced on the CAF Mark 4s. Consisting of Fern Green (NCS 4550-G), Grey (RAL 7000), Yellow (RAL 1021), Black (RAL 9005), Green (NCS 7020- B70G), Yellow Green (NCS 1070 G60Y) & Metallic Silver (761).  A new logo has also been introduced to match.

Freight
Wagons were plain grey until around 1971, then gradually repainted Oxide brown and departmental stock a dull grey. Whether grey or brown, all CIÉ wagons (as with virtually all Irish freight stock of all companies) had ironwork, roofs, drawgear and chassis the same colour as the body – not picked out in black as occasionally seen elsewhere.

Northern Ireland

Although the majority of passenger services in Northern Ireland have been worked by diesel multiple units since the mid-1950s, a number of hauled coaches have been required under the tenure of both the Ulster Transport Authority (1948–1966) and Northern Ireland Railways (since 1967).

In 1970, NIR purchased a fleet of eight new-build Mark 2B's to run with the 101 Class on the cross-border Enterprise service. These were painted in a maroon and blue livery and were fitted for push-pull running. Between 1981 and 1983, to complement the arrival of the 111 Class and enhance the Enterprise service, NIR purchased 12 second-hand Mark 2s, of the B, C and F varieties, from British Rail. Some of the 1970-built coaches were refurbished for use in the new service. In the final years before the withdrawal of the 101's in 1989, they worked with Mark 2s to form suburban push-pull trains. Further Mark 2B's and F's were ordered in 1989 as part of a modernisation scheme by NIR. One notable vehicle was Mark 2F No. 904, which retained its British Rail livery in service with NIR. By 1997, all Mark 2s had been withdrawn following introduction of the DeDietrich rolling stock on the Enterprise. Today, five of these coaches survive – No.'s 300, 305 and buffet No. 547, all under the ownership of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, No. 546, in use in England with West Coast Railways as No. 1800, and No. 911 (See below.) A sixth, No. 901, survived in Dalton, England until July 2012 when it was finally scrapped.

From 2001 to 2009, NIR operated a single rake of coaches to supplement the DMU fleet. The total of ten were all built as Mark 2s for British Rail, and were purchased by NIR in three batches:
 Generator Van – the set has a single generator van converted from a Mark 2 BFK that was purchased and converted in 1981.
 Passenger coaches – the main part of the set is formed from eight Class 488 unpowered trailers previously operated on the Gatwick Express, which were purchased in 2001.
 Driving trailer – a DBSO was purchased in 2006 for use with the train to allow a greater degree of flexibility in its use. This was finally delivered in the summer of 2009.

From 1998, NIR prefixed their numbers with "8" so as to be part of the Translink number series, which incorporates their road vehicles The table below lists the hauled passenger coaches that were in use until June 2009 plus the never used DBSO (This excludes the "De Dietrich" stock jointly owned with IÉ for operating Enterprise services between Belfast and Dublin.

All ten coaches have since been withdrawn from service and sold into preservation. The Generator Van and eight passenger vehicles were acquired by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) in 2014 with the intention of enhancing its Mark 2 fleet, though in 2022 began disposing of the set.  The DBSO has been purchased by the Downpatrick and County Down Railway is used as a barrier vehicle to allow a 146 class locomotive to haul the DCDR's Class 450 DEMU.

List of carriages

Mainline carriages

Preserved carriages

See also
 Diesel Locomotives of Ireland
 Freight Stock of Ireland
 Multiple units of Ireland
 Steam Locomotives of Ireland

References

External links
  Irish Rail Fleet Information page
 Train Testing – Information on the BREL International coaches sold to CIÉ
 Video of "International" set
  The Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey Project (includes details on preserved Irish coaches)

Rolling stock of Northern Ireland
Railway coaches of Ireland

Coaching stock of Ireland


Michael Attalides (also Michalis Attalidis; ) is a Cypriot academic, former civil servant and diplomat to Cyprus. He is the current Rector at the University of Nicosia in Nicosia, Cyprus.

After graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a BSc in Economics, he received an MA and, in 1966, a PhD in Sociology from Princeton University.

He has represented the Republic of Cyprus as its Ambassador in a number of capitals, including Paris, London, and the European Union in Brussels, before being appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has also represented the Cyprus Government in the European Convention.

Following his retirement from civil service, he has been Dean of the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law at Intercollege, a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester, a counterpart to the UNESCO Expert at the Cyprus Social Research Centre and a guest lecturer at the Free University of Berlin.

He is currently the Rector at the University of Nicosia, formerly called Intercollege, in Nicosia, Cyprus, serving on the Council and the Senate of the University.

He has published several books including Cyprus: Nationalism and International Politics, and Social Change and Urbanisation in Cyprus. He has also published a number of articles on society and politics in Cyprus and Greece.

References

External links
 Profile of Professor Michael Attalides, Rector of the University of Nicosia. University of Nicosia official website.
 Profile of Michael Attalides, Rector of Intercollege. Intercollege official website.
 Right of Reply : Michael Attalides. The Independent, 21 July 1999.

Living people
Cypriot diplomats
Permanent Representatives of Cyprus to the European Union
Ambassadors of Cyprus to France
High Commissioners of Cyprus to the United Kingdom
Year of birth missing (living people)
Academic staff of the University of Nicosia
Heads of universities and colleges in Cyprus

Michalis Attalides


The Solitude Trilogy is a collection of three hour-long radio documentaries produced by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932–1982) for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Gould produced the documentaries as individual works between 1967 and 1977, then collected them under the title Solitude Trilogy, reflecting the theme of "withdrawal from the world" that unites the pieces. He said that they are "as close to an autobiographical statement as I intend to get in radio".

The three pieces employ Gould's idiosyncratic technique of simultaneously playing the voices of two or more people, each of whom speaks a monologue to an unheard interviewer. Gould called this method  "contrapuntal" radio. (The term contrapuntal normally applies to music in which independent melody lines play simultaneously; this type of music, exemplified by J. S. Bach, was the major part of Gould's repertoire.) As he described the format, "every voice leads its own … life and adheres to certain parameters of harmonic discipline … how the voices came together and in what manner they splashed off each other, both in the actual sound and in the meaning of what was being said."

The first and best-known of the documentaries is The Idea of North (1967), which was commissioned by the CBC for the Canadian Centennial. It features five speakers provide contrasting views of Northern Canada. PBS aired an experimental film based on it in 1970 directed by Judith Pearlman, its first co-production with CBC. To open the documentary, Gould says:

I've long been intrigued by that incredible tapestry of tundra and taiga which constitutes the Arctic and sub-Arctic of our country. I've read about it, written about it, and even pulled up my parka once and gone there. Yet like all but a very few Canadians I've had no real experience of the North. I've remained, of necessity, an outsider. And the North has remained for me, a convenient place to dream about, spin tall tales about, and, in the end, avoid. This programme, however, brings together some remarkable people who have had a direct confrontation with that northern third of Canada, who've lived and worked there and in whose lives the North has played a very vital role.

In 1969, Gould made The Latecomers, about life in Newfoundland outports, and the province's program to encourage residents to urbanize.

The third documentary, 1977's The Quiet in the Land, is a portrait of Russian Mennonites in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The speakers discuss the influence of contemporary society on traditional Mennonite values.

The documentaries employ ambient sound and music. The rumbling of a train is heard frequently in The Idea of North, the ocean in The Latecomers, and a church sermon and choir in The Quiet in the Land. Again referring to music, Gould called these elements ostinatos.

The Idea of North ends with the last movement of Karajan's recording of Sibelius's Symphony no. 5 in E-flat major, the only use of a complete movement from the classical repertoire in the trilogy. Just like the Sibelius symphony ending The Idea of North, The Quiet in the Land can also be said to be in the key of E-flat major, as it uses and sometimes superimposes various pieces in that key: the sarabande from Bach's Cello Suite No. 4 in E-flat, a church hymn, a rehearsal of a choral piece for children's choir and harp ("As Dew in Aprille" from Britten's A Ceremony of Carols), and Janis Joplin's song "Mercedes Benz".

References

External links
 The Inner Eye, a series of collages portraying each member of the Solitude Trilogy.
 Audio excerpt from The Idea of North.

Glenn Gould albums
Radio documentaries
1992 albums
Trilogies

Solitude Trilogy


Ferry Road is one of the major roads of Edinburgh, Scotland, deriving its name from being the road from Queensferry to Leith. It runs from the eastern end of Davidson's Mains village in the west, to Leith in the east, passing through Drylaw, Crewe Toll and Goldenacre on the way. It is classified as the A902 from Leith to Crewe Toll where the A902 continues as Telford Road.

Notable features along the route include, in the west, the former Northern General Hospital's site (now demolished for a supermarket, the Western General Hospital is also nearby), the playing fields of Fettes College, Stewarts Melville and other private schools to the south, a geriatric home of the Salvation Army, Goldenacre stadium etc. Drylaw Police Station is also situated on Ferry Road. Leith public library is located shortly before where Ferry Road meets North Junction Street and Great Junction Street

Streets in Edinburgh

Ferry Road


One Foot in Heaven is a 1941 American biographical film starring Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Elisabeth Fraser. The film was adapted by Casey Robinson from the autobiography by Hartzell Spence. It was directed by Irving Rapper.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Plot
In Stratford, Ontario, in 1904, William Spence (Fredric March), a medical student on the verge of becoming a doctor, receives "The Call" while passing a Methodist church one Sunday. His bride-to-be, Hope Morris (Martha Scott), accepts his decision to enter the ministry with a whole heart despite the disappointment of her prominent and affluent parents.

Will "dives right in," but, with no vacancies in Canada, is posted as a circuit minister to a small town in rural Iowa, beginning a life for them of frequent moves around the district, dingy parsonages, and scraping a living from poor boxes and performing weddings. Hope yearns for a decent parsonage and a sense of permanence for their children, but uncomplainingly provides them a good life and a supportive home for Will.

For his part, Will understands his own nature and laughs at his own foibles, bending where he can in good conscience. He often enters situations in anger or to instruct but leaves humbled and renewed in spirit. While Will sincerely lives by and teaches by example (which includes his family) the tenets of the Methodist Discipline, he also learns from his congregations to be flexible and change with the times.

When their third child, a boy, is born, Hope and Will cannot agree on a name and he remains unbaptized for three months. Hope wants to name the baby William Spence Jr., but Will does not like the idea of his son going without a middle name as he did. He wants the boy to have and be called in "the good old Canadian custom" by the middle name of Frazer. Will seems to give in to Hope but the following Sunday baptizes him William Frazer Spence. Hope serenely accepts the change.

Oldest son Hartzell (named for Will's guiding bishop) has a hard time coping with the idea that a minister's son should be an example to the other boys. Will explains that "a pastor's family walks a tightrope, balancing with one foot on earth and one foot already in Heaven." After learning that Hartzell has been sneaking into the movies, a pastime seemingly forbidden by the Discipline, Will takes him to the theater to point out why the film is bad for him. They see a western but rather than finding it sinful, Will is impressed by its moral. The following Sunday he preaches a sermon advising his congregation that young people may have something to teach their elders.

In the 1920s, the family is assigned to a church in Denver, Colorado, that, despite having many well-heeled members, is old, uncomfortable and decrepit. In a time of economic prosperity for the country, the Spences cope with possibly their most dilapidated parsonage yet. Will has come to appreciate his wife's serenity with life and resolves to provide her a decent parsonage by building a new church.

His plans at first are thwarted by power struggles among several snobbish members of the church. He loses one wealthy patron, Mrs. Sandow (Beulah Bondi), to the Baptists when he refuses to stop ministering to her chauffeur (Harry Davenport), and another, influential banker Preston Thurston (Gene Lockhart), after organizing a children's choir to replace the off-key church choir, run for years by Mrs. Thurston (Laura Hope Crews), her family and social circle. Soon after, Hartzell (Frankie Thomas) is expelled from school because of a gossip campaign falsely accusing him of making a young girl pregnant and forcing her family to move to San Francisco.

A deeply discouraged Will investigates a job offer in California that offers the beautiful church and parsonage he and Hope have always dreamed of but discovers that he cannot surrender in his struggles with the Thurstons. He seeks out the girl's family and learns that there is no truth to any part of the rumor. Returning to Denver, Will confronts Mrs. Thurston and her circle, who started the rumors to punish Will, and suggests that if they don't contribute substantially to the building of the new church, he will call them out in his sermons.

A repentant Mrs. Sandow begs to return to the church and Will inveigles from her the stained glass window, new Skinner organ, and carillon that as luxuries are being cut from the plans to finance a recreation center for the church. A year later, their dream church and parsonage finished, Will accepts the challenge of returning to Iowa to aid a small church in trouble, confident that he leaves behind a revitalized church when its members, including all those with whom he locked horns, gather spontaneously on a weekday morning to sing "The Church's One Foundation" as he plays it on the new carillon.

Cast
 Fredric March as William Spence
 Martha Scott as Hope Morris Spence
 Beulah Bondi as Mrs. Lydia Sandow
 Gene Lockhart as Preston Thurston
 Elisabeth Fraser as Eileen Spence (aged 17)
 Harry Davenport as Elias Samson
 Laura Hope Crews as Mrs. Preston Thurston
 Grant Mitchell as Clayton Potter
 Moroni Olsen as Dr. John Romer
 Frankie Thomas as Hartzell Spence (aged 18)
 Jerome Cowan as Dr. Horrigan
 Ernest Cossart as Mr. John E. Morris
 Nana Bryant as Mrs. Morris
 Hobart Bosworth as Richard Hardy Case (uncredited)
 Chester Conklin as Crying Man (uncredited)
 Jack Mower as Man at Baptism (uncredited)

Reception
The film was received quite warmly both theatrically and critically, the New York Times calling it "a Fine and Human Story of a Minister's Life".

Radio adaptation
On April 20, 1942, Lux Radio Theatre presented a 45-minute adaptation of One Foot in Heaven, with Fredric March and Martha Scott reprising their original roles. This program was fifteen minutes shorter than the usual 60 minutes in order to make room for a 15-minute government broadcast explaining upcoming World War II-related price controls. A second Lux radio adaptation of One Foot in Heaven, this time airing for a full hour on the summer series Lux Summer Theatre, aired on July 27, 1953, with Dana Andrews in the lead role.

Notes
Olivia de Havilland was originally scheduled for the role of Hope Spence, but was moved over to star opposite Errol Flynn in They Died with Their Boots On.

Raymond Massey was Hartzell Spence's choice to play his father while his mother preferred Fredric March. The studio's decision to cast March was made independently of the family's wishes.

The Reverend Norman Vincent Peale was hired as a technical advisor on the film.

The film which Spence goes to see with Hartzell is William S. Hart's 1917 Western The Silent Man. At the Hollywood premiere of the film, Hart was a guest of honor.

In an uncredited role, Gig Young made one of his earlier on-screen performances as a dog groomer seeking a license.

The book on which the movie is based takes place and ends well before 1939. However, the use of "Methodist Church" in the film is an impossibility because Methodist faith in America did not unify under the name "Methodist Church" until after the terms of reunification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church were agreed upon and voted upon in Kansas City in 1939.

References

External links

1941 films
1941 drama films
American biographical films
American black-and-white films
1940s English-language films
Films scored by Max Steiner
Films about Christianity
Films based on biographies
Films set in Colorado
Films set in Iowa
Films set in Ontario
Films set in the 1900s
Films set in the 1910s
Films set in the 1920s
Films directed by Irving Rapper
Warner Bros. films
American biographical drama films
1940s American films

One Foot in Heaven


Alaina Capri is an actress who appeared in director Russ Meyer's films Common Law Cabin and Good Morning and... Goodbye!

Early life and career
Capri grew up in Inglewood, California, and was named Miss Muscle Beach in 1956. At age 16, she was photographed by Russ Meyer after he saw her in the newspaper. Capri studied acting at UCLA and later became part of a female pop trio, the Loved Ones, under the direction of Oliver Berliner. She appeared in an uncredited walk-on part in the 1957 Jerry Lewis film, The Delicate Delinquent.

Career with Russ Meyer
Prior to the Loved Ones leaving for an engagement in Japan, Berliner saw an ad seeking "buxom girls to put in a movie" and sent her picture to Meyer. Capri's first role with Meyer was Common Law Cabin (1967).

Capri's second and last film was Good Morning... and Goodbye! (1967). According to biographer Jimmy McDonough, Capri felt betrayed by Meyer after a scene she was told "alluded to nudity" showed more of her body than Capri was comfortable with. She told McDonough, "I was really upset. I never really talked to anybody on the set again."

Life after Russ Meyer
Capri left show business after Good Morning... and Goodbye! to become a school teacher. She was terrified that someone would find out about her film career, and Meyer protected her anonymity. Capri was in attendance at Meyer's funeral in 2004.

Filmography

References

External links

American film actresses
Living people
Actresses from California
UCLA Film School alumni
20th-century American actresses
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women

Alaina Capri


Karl Alexander Müller (20 April 1927 – 9 January 2023) was a Swiss physicist and Nobel laureate. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987 with Georg Bednorz for their work in superconductivity in ceramic materials.

Biography
Müller was born in Basel, Switzerland, on 20 April 1927, to Irma (née Feigenbaum) and Paul Müller. His mother is Jewish. His family immediately moved to Salzburg, Austria, where his father was studying music. Alex and his mother then moved to Dornach, near Basel, to the home of his grandparents. Then they moved to Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, where he learned to speak Italian fluently. His mother died when he was 11.

In the spring of 1956 Müller married Ingeborg Marie Louise Winkler. They had a son, Eric, in the summer of 1957, and a daughter, Sylvia, in 1960.

Education
After his mother's death, Müller was sent to school at the Evangelical College in Schiers, in the eastern part of Switzerland. Here he studied from 1938 to 1945, obtaining his baccalaureate (Matura).

Müller then enrolled in the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich). He took courses by Wolfgang Pauli, who made a deep impression on him. After receiving his Diplom, he worked for one year, then returned to ETH Zürich for a PhD, submitting his thesis at the end of 1957.

Career
Müller joined the Battelle Memorial Institute in Geneva, soon becoming the manager of a magnetic resonance group. During this time he became a lecturer at the University of Zürich. In 1963 he accepted an offer as a research staff member at the IBM Zürich Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon, where he remained until his retirement. In parallel, he maintained his affiliation with University of Zurich where he was appointed professor in 1970. From 1972 to 1985 Müller was manager of the ZRL physics department. In 1982 he became an IBM Fellow. He received an honorary doctorate from Technical University of Munich and University of Geneva. In 1987 (before winning the Nobel Prize) he got an honorary degree (laurea honoris causa) in Physics from the University of Pavia.

Research

For his undergraduate diploma work, Müller studied under G. Busch. He worked on the Hall Effect in gray tin, a semimetal.

Between his undergraduate degree and beginning his graduate studies, he worked for one year in the Department of Industrial Research at ETH on the Eidophor large-scale display system.

At IBM his research for almost 15 years centered on SrTiO3 (strontium titanate) and related perovskite compounds. He studied their photochromic properties when doped with various transition-metal ions; their chemical binding, ferroelectric and soft-mode properties; and the critical and multicritical phenomena of their structural phase transitions. Important highlights of this research have been published in a book written together with Tom Kool from the University of Amsterdam (publisher: World Scientific).

Death
Müller died on 9 January 2023, at the age of 95 in Zürich.

Nobel Prize–winning work

In the early 1980s, Müller began searching for substances that would become superconductive at higher temperatures. The highest critical temperature (Tc) attainable at that time was about 23 K. In 1983 Müller recruited Georg Bednorz to IBM, to help systematically test various oxides. A few recent studies had indicated these materials might superconduct, but experts who knew about Müller's idea thought it was "crazy". In 1986 the two researchers succeeded in achieving superconductivity in lanthanum barium copper oxide (LBCO) at a temperature of 35 K. Over the previous 75 years the critical temperature had risen from 11 K in 1911 to 23 K in 1973 where it had remained for 13 years. Thus 35 K was incredibly high by the prevailing standards of superconductivity research. This discovery stimulated a great deal of additional research in high-temperature superconductivity, leading to the discovery of compounds such as BSCCO (Tc = 107 K) and YBCO (T'''c = 92 K).

They reported their discovery in the June 1986 issue of Zeitschrift für Physik B. Before the end of the year, Shoji Tanaka at the University of Tokyo and then Paul Chu at the University of Houston had each independently confirmed their result. A couple of months later Chu achieved superconductivity at 93 K in YBCO, triggering a stampede of scientific interest exemplified by the 1987 "Woodstock of physics", at which Müller was a featured presenter.

In 1987 Müller and Bednorz were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics—the shortest time between the discovery and the prize award for any scientific Nobel.

Other honors
Honorary degree, University of Pavia, 1987.
Honorary degree, dr. techn., Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 1992.

 See also
 Timeline of low-temperature technology

 References

  including the Nobel Lecture, 8 December 1987 Perovskite-Type Oxides – The New Approach to High-Tc Superconductivity  Online Encyclopædia Britannica biographical article.
 K. Alex Mueller and Tom W. Kool: "Properties of Perovskites and Other Oxides."'' World Scientific, 2010.

1927 births
2023 deaths
Nobel laureates in Physics
Swiss Nobel laureates
ETH Zurich alumni
Academic staff of the University of Zurich
People associated with the University of Zurich
Swiss physicists
Swiss Protestants
Swiss people of Jewish descent
IBM Fellows
Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences

K. Alex Müller


Alcohol tolerance refers to the bodily responses to the functional effects of ethanol in alcoholic beverages. This includes direct tolerance, speed of recovery from insobriety and resistance to the development of alcohol use disorder.

Consumption-induced tolerance
Alcohol tolerance is increased by regular drinking. This reduced sensitivity to the physical effects of alcohol consumption requires that higher quantities of alcohol be consumed in order to achieve the same effects as before tolerance was established. Alcohol tolerance may lead to (or be a sign of) alcohol dependence.

Heavy alcohol consumption over a period of years can lead to "reverse tolerance". A liver can be damaged by chronic alcohol use, leading to a buildup of fat and scar tissue. The reduced ability of such a liver to metabolize or break down alcohol means that small amounts can lead to a high blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and more rapid intoxication. Studies have shown that 2–3 weeks of daily alcohol consumption increases tolerance.

Physiology of alcohol tolerance

Direct alcohol tolerance is largely dependent on body size. Large-bodied people will require more alcohol to reach insobriety than lightly built people. Thus men, being larger than women on average, will typically have a higher alcohol tolerance. The alcohol tolerance is also connected with activity of alcohol dehydrogenases (a group of enzymes responsible for the breakdown of alcohol) in the liver, and in the bloodstream.

High level of alcohol dehydrogenase activity results in fast transformation of ethanol to more toxic acetaldehyde. Such atypical alcohol dehydrogenase levels are less frequent in alcoholics than in nonalcoholics. Furthermore, among alcoholics, the carriers of this atypical enzyme consume lower ethanol doses, compared to the individuals without the allele.

An estimated one out of twenty people have an alcohol flush reaction. It is not in any way an indicator for the drunkenness of an individual. A mild flushing reaction occurs when the body metabolizes alcohol more quickly into acetaldehyde, a toxic metabolite. A more severe flushing reaction occurs when the body metabolizes the acetaldehyde more slowly, generally due to an inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme. Both of those conditions—faster conversion of alcohol to acetaldehyde and slower removal of acetaldehyde—reduce the risk for excessive drinking and alcohol dependence.

Alcohol tolerance in different ethnic groups

To engage in alcohol consumption and the development of an alcohol use disorder appear to be common to primates, and is not a specific human phenomenon. Humans have access to alcohol on far greater quantity than non-human primates, and the availability increased particularly with the development of agriculture. The tolerance to alcohol is not equally distributed throughout the world's population. Genetics of alcohol dehydrogenase indicate resistance has arisen independently in different cultures. In North America, Native Americans have the highest probability of developing an alcohol use disorder compared to Europeans and Asians. Different alcohol tolerance also exists within Asian groups, such as between Chinese and Koreans. The health benefits of a modest alcohol consumption reported in people of European descent appear not to exist among people of African descent.

Higher body masses and the prevalence of high levels of alcohol dehydrogenase in an individual increase alcohol tolerance, and both adult weight and enzymes vary with ethnicity. Not all differences in tolerance can be traced to biochemistry however. Differences in tolerance levels are also influenced by socio-economic and cultural difference including diet, average body weight and patterns of consumption.

Footnotes

References
Carroll, Charles R.  Drugs in Modern Society . NY: McGraw-Hill, 2000 (fifth ed.).

 Translated from

Further reading

Tolerance
Race and health

Alcohol tolerance