Many of the MXE2s ended up in Northern Ireland. Only one of these ever had to be used 'in anger'. This was at Castlewellan about 1990, when the exchange was blown up by terrorists. The typical set-up time for an MXE2 was about six weeks, but at Castlewellan, full telephone service was restored using an MXE2 (and the additional use of a mobile transmission unit designed by Northern Ireland staff) within one week of the bombing. It did, however, take a lot of subsequent work by the switch maintenance Technical Officers to get the exchange up to an acceptable standard of service, as it had been standing idle for several years.