Throwback Thursday (232)
This week we are going back to 1988 and a slightly unusual bus in the Dublin Bus fleet. KR 11 is seen in the Phoenix Park at the Dublin Bus Rally. The KR class were not usually associated with bus routes in Dublin, the R in KR standing for "rural". Indeed, this bus was delivered new to Limerick in 1985. However, in early 1988 it transferred up to Dublin as part of the batch KR 9 - 14. This was as part of the plan to improve the bus service in North Wicklow with some more suitable buses, unlike the similar KC class. Dublin Bus made some changes to the KRs they received, such as replacing the key ignition with a push button, and putting in larger destination displays. However, due to the union objections the buses never entered service on the routes planned for them. In fact, they saw limited public use in general in the capital, and were occasionally loaned back to Bus Eireann when they were short on buses. By the end of 1988 the buses were back in Limerick and repainted back into Bus Eireann. KR 11 saw out its days in Cork as a school bus and was in a scrapyard by 2006.
The bus is dressed for one of the north Wicklow routes, the 85. Back in 1988 it ran from Bray to Enniskerry (Shop River or Golden Gates) and Bray to Ballywaltrim. By the mid 1990s it had been replaced by Localink 185, which in 2018 passed to Go-Ahead Ireland operations.
Bus rallies have continued on and off over the intervening years. The most recent one was in Dun Laoghaire in 2017.
16/06/1988
Throwback Thursday (232)
This week we are going back to 1988 and a slightly unusual bus in the Dublin Bus fleet. KR 11 is seen in the Phoenix Park at the Dublin Bus Rally. The KR class were not usually associated with bus routes in Dublin, the R in KR standing for "rural". Indeed, this bus was delivered new to Limerick in 1985. However, in early 1988 it transferred up to Dublin as part of the batch KR 9 - 14. This was as part of the plan to improve the bus service in North Wicklow with some more suitable buses, unlike the similar KC class. Dublin Bus made some changes to the KRs they received, such as replacing the key ignition with a push button, and putting in larger destination displays. However, due to the union objections the buses never entered service on the routes planned for them. In fact, they saw limited public use in general in the capital, and were occasionally loaned back to Bus Eireann when they were short on buses. By the end of 1988 the buses were back in Limerick and repainted back into Bus Eireann. KR 11 saw out its days in Cork as a school bus and was in a scrapyard by 2006.
The bus is dressed for one of the north Wicklow routes, the 85. Back in 1988 it ran from Bray to Enniskerry (Shop River or Golden Gates) and Bray to Ballywaltrim. By the mid 1990s it had been replaced by Localink 185, which in 2018 passed to Go-Ahead Ireland operations.
Bus rallies have continued on and off over the intervening years. The most recent one was in Dun Laoghaire in 2017.
16/06/1988