View allAll Photos Tagged Throwback
This week we are only going back a short hop to four years ago, and GT 22 on route 40 at Liffey Valley. The 40 reached Liffey Valley in November 2011, under Network Direct. Prior to that it had operated since 1925 between the city centre and Finglas. Route 78A was merged into it through Network Direct making it a cross-city route from Finglas to Liffey Valley. Then in November 2022, the route was split again, with the city centre to Liffey Valley part becoming route G2 under Bus Connects, and the 40 again becoming the city centre to Finglas route.
This bus stop has been the bus terminus at Liffey Valley since the shopping centre opened in 1998. However, work started in 2022 on a new bus interchange at the front of the shopping centre, that is also close to the bus stops on the N4 road (served by the C-Spine and other routes). This, combined with road works in the shopping centre that turned the roundabout in the background of the photo into a signalled junction, has seen the old bus terminus just become a single, regular bus stop. Although currently it is still serving as the bus terminus until the new one opens in early-2023.
GT 22 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2012. It was one of 160 such buses delivered between 2012 and 2013, and it is still in service with Dublin Bus. 26/01/2019
It is 1996 and another all-over ad of a train on a bus. RH 90 is seen at the terminus of the 8 on Burgh Quay. The bus is in an all-over ad for Fastrack. This was the express parcel service initially operated by CIE and later Iarnrod Eireann The bus was painted to mark the 21st anniversary of the express parcel service in 1995. The concept was simple - the express passenger trains had guard vans which could had empty space that could transport items from one part of the country to another. However with the arrival of railcars in 2007 the number of guard vans on the network reduced until only the Cork and Belfast line remained. In 2009 the service was finally ended, after 35 years.
RH 90 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1991 and worked from Donnybrook Garage. After withdrawal it eventually ended up with the Crann Support Group in Meath.
Route 8 connected Dalkey with Dublin City Centre until November 2016 when the route was withdrawn.
Finally beside the bus can be seen Lafayette Photography, known to many for college graduation photographs, and behind the bus is The Irish Press.
14/09/1996
This week we are going back thirty-one years to 1994 and to AD 25 on O'Connell Street with a service on route 3 to Whitehall.
Route 3 started running between Whitehall and Sandymount in 1940. In 1947 it was extended to Larkhill, and in 1972 it was extended from Sandymount Tower to St. John's Church. In 1990 certain departures were extended to UCD Belfield. The route ceased to operate in 2012 under Network Direct. It was replaced on the northside by routes 1 and 44 and on the southside by routes 1 and 47.
AD 25 was new to Dublin Bus in 1994. It was withdrawn in 2004 and joined the Bus Eireann school fleet in Cork. It was withdrawn in 2011. The bus was delivered in CitySwift livery as seen here, but had the branding removed before entering service. It was later repainted into Dublin Bus two-tone green livery, and later again into the blue and cream livery. It spent its final years in Bus Eireann livery.
It is worth noting that "White Hall" on the destination blind is incorrectly spelt as two words rather than one.
05/06/1994
It is 1998 and RH 137 is seen on Eden Quay. It is loading up prior to departing for Ardlea Road on the 20B. This route was once part of an extended 20 family, but it ended up being the longest surviving one. Under Network Direct the route became part of an extended cross-city route 14. This connects Beaumont with Dundrum. The 20B was mostly a northside route, serving Fairview, Donnycarney and Beaumont. However, certain peak workings crossed the Liffey and served St. Stephen's Green.
RH 137 was new in 1992 and had been delivered in the two-tone green livery. The bus stop beside is green, but the bus has been repainted into the new core livery. The last bus arrived in the green livery in 1997. After the bus ended its career it was sold to Dualways and became an open-top tour bus. 18/04/1998
This week we are going back eleven years to 2012, and to RV 584 at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. On this day, October 13th, an enthusiast trip was organised by Dublin Bus to mark the end of the Volvo Olympian buses (as well as the end of the high-floor buses). RV 584 and RV 586 visited a number of locations around the city, following certain bus routes. Both buses had been delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1999 and within a week of the trip, both had been withdrawn. Both were sold on to other Irish operators. The actual last Olympian to run in passenger service was RV 560 on the 19th December 2012.
In the background is AV 405 on route 40. This had been the terminus of the 40 since 2011, when the route had been merged with the 78 and 78A. It was cut back again in 2022 when route G2 started under Bus Connects. In 2023 this stop was remodelled to become just an intermediate stop as a new bus interchange opened at the front of the shopping centre. AV 405 was withdrawn around the start of 2019, and sold on to another Irish operator. In just over a decade, everything in this scene has changed. Even the bus livery is on the way out.
13/10/2012
It's 1988 and KD 74 is seen in the north County Dublin town of Skerries. It is operating route 33 to Babriggan, the most northerly place on the Dublin Bus network, and where Dublin Bus remeets Bus Eireann. The 33 can trace its roots back to the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) and the bus services it operated in conjunction with its railway operations. When the company was absorbed into CIE (and the UTA in Northern Ireland) in 1958 the bus routes became part of the Dublin city network. The route still operates today, and is supplemented by the 33A which operates between Swords and Skerries/Balbriggan. This latter route is due to be operated by Go-Ahead while the 33 stays with Dublin Bus. In the past Skerries used to have short workings between its railway station and the main street, which was not a very long journey.
KD 74 entered service around 1981/82 and has gained a Dublin Millennium logo in the rear downstairs window, to mark a thousand years of Dublin city in 1988. It is in the Dublin Bus livery which was about a year old at this point, although the bus stop is still CIE. 21/02/1988
An NS Westbound 800 series rolls through Christiansburg, Va. The leader is a rare standard cab SD60. Its not something you see very often on the mainline.
It is 2013 and AV 333 is seen on the 13 to Harristown. And to continue with the 3 theme, AV 333 was delivered new to Dublin Bus on 2003. This bus spent most of its career operating out of Harristown Garage, although in 2013 it moved to Summerhill. It was withdrawn in 2017 after spending some time in Broadstone Garage. This is a bus that has gotten around a bit.
Route 13 connects Harristown with Grange Castle This was one of the cross-city routes corrected by Network Direct in the early-2010s. Traditionally the 13 was the route that connected the City Centre with Ballymun. Clondalkin was connected by the 51 family of routes. When the merger happened the 13 won out and became the number of thew new route. The 51 only lives on now in the 51D and 51X.
The bus is seen passing the Luas Red Line on James Street. It is seen at the point where the tram line turns off to descend Steeven's Lane to Heuston Station.In the background the Luas line passes through St. James Hospital, the site where the new National Children's Hospital is being built. As a result of that, the 13 may become a much busier route in future, if it survives Bus Connects. 27/02/2013
A trip back to 1983 this week and revisit to route 44A. At the time routes 44 and 44B served respectively Enniskerry and Glencullen on the southside of Dublin but the 44A was a bit of an outlier. It served Clontarf and Dollymount on the northside. The route received this number through a desire to fill in the gaps in the already existing route number library, even though the 44A never interacted with its southside cousins. The route lasted until 1996 when it was merged with route 30 and became City Imp route 130. D 614 is seen on Mount Prospect Avenue with a 44A to Mount Prospect Avenue. 05/07/1983
Currently running as a government-funded public service under an Emergency Measures Agreement (EMA) with Transport Scotland, the Caledonian Sleeper Up Highlander makes it way through Acton Bridge at the start of another glorious late-May day in Cheshire.
GB Railfreight's most prolific engine on the sleeper trunk runs - and a veteran of the British Rail era - 92018 was once again at the helm.
A revised timetable was in operation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with only the Inverness and Glasgow portions running and splitting/joining at Edinburgh to form one train in each direction on the WCML.
This week it is a short hop back to 2012, when things were changing on Dublin Bus. On this day I went out to photograph as many RVs as possible in operation as their days were numbered. The new GT class had started to arrive, and indeed I saw GT 3 in Donnybrook Garage that day. These were the first new buses bought since 2009. The RVs would last for just another four months.
However, on that day another interesting thing was happening. Three months earlier route 44 from Enniskerry to the City Centre had been extended north to Larkhill, replacing route 3. Usually it was operated by double-deckers, but on this day one of the midi-buses operated the 13:30 departure from Larkhill to Enniskerry. Thanks to a tip-off I was able to travel on WV 50 from Ranelagh to Dundrum, where it is seen as it continues on its journey south. This bus survived in service until 2016. The route now is usually operated by GT or SG class double deckers. WVs are still common in Dundrum as they operate the 44B, but are due to be replaced soon. 31/08/2012
RA 177 is seen on Eden Quay, twenty-years ago in 1997. The bus is on route 84 which operated from the City Centre to Kilcoole and Newcastle in County Wicklow. This was one of the more longer routes operated by Dublin Bus, and what added even more to the journey was that it reached the Stillorgan Road in Donnybrook via Ballsbridge. In 2010 as part of Network Direct the City Centre terminus was moved to the UCD campus in Belfield, before it was moved further south again in 2012 to Blackrock. A City Centre connection is maintained through the day with route 84X which has limited stops, and thus a faster journey time. It also doesn't go via Ballsbridge.
The bus is in an All-Over Ad for Nitelink. This was the name given to the late night services operated by Dublin Bus, and which started in the mid-1990s. In the early 2000s the service was radically increased before being heavily scaled back. In 2017 there is an 84N but it only goes to Greystones.
RA 177 was delivered in 1994 and was the second of the RA Class which followed the RH Class. The bus had a longer life than most of the other members of the class as it became a part of the Dublin Bus driving school. It was finally withdrawn in 2015, at the age of 21. Eden Quay, 18/11/1997
This week we are going back six years to 2018 and to VT 29 on route 46A arriving into Dun Laoghaire.
Dun Laoghaire became the primary destination for services from the city centre on route 46A in 1936. In 2010 it replaced route 10 on the northside when it was extended to the Phoenix Park via the North Circular Road. It was due to be replaced by the E-Spine under Bus Connects in December 2024, but that has now been pushed back to January 2025.
VT 29 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2007. It was one of fifty Enviro 500s delivered that year, following the twenty delivered in 2005. Dublin was one of the few cities in the world to operate these tri-axle buses. VT 29 was initially allocated to Phibsboro Garage, but moved to Donnybrook Garage in 2010 to provide extra capacity on routes 46A and 145. It was withdrawn in early-2022.
05/12/2018
A trip to 2012 this week to see VT 35 on the 116. This is one of the routes that only operates in the peaks, Monday to Friday. Currently the route runs from Whitechurch to Parnell Square, going via Dundrum, Sandyford and Stillorgan. Interestingly, the return journey starts on Leeson Street in the afternoon as it is aimed at returning school children home.
The route was introduced in May 1999 and over the years it has had a number of variations. For example, back in its early days it separate departures started in Whitechurch, Ballinteer, Clonskea and Sandyford. Three of these operated to Parnell Square (East or West), while two continued onto the northside to Dublin City University. There were five return workings from the city centre, two of which were in the morning after 9am. But by 2012 it was down to the two departures a day as mentioned before.
VT 35 was part of the second batch of Enviro 500s delivered to Dublin in 2007. 50 members of the class came that year following an initial delivery of 20 in 2005. VT 35 was originally allocated to Broadstone garage . but when the 145 was extended to Heuston Station in 2010, VT 21 to VT 35 moved to Donnybrook to join VT 1 to VT 20 there. Dublin is one of the few cities in the world where the Enviro 500 operates.
Westmoreland Street, 26/09/2012
It is 1988 and a certain bus route only has five months to go. D 476 is seen on Burgh Quay. It is displaying route 54 to Cherryfield Drive, via Connolly Station. This route was a cross-city route that connected Donnycarney/Killester on the northside with Harold's Cross and Walkinstown on the southside. The route was operated out of Summerhill Garage, and ran in conjunction with the 54A. The latter route was cut back from the northside in 1988 and in November 1988 the 54 was cut back from the northside. While the 54A continues on today, the remaining 54 did not make it out of the 1990s. The 54A is also now operated by Donnybrook Garage.
D 476 had a similar fate as it was delivered new to Summerhill in 1972 and withdrawn in 1990. The bus is gone, the route is gone but McDonald's is still with us. 08/06/1988
It is 1996 and RA 176 is showing off its European patriotism. During the second-half of the year Ireland hosted the Presidency of the European Union. This was the fifth time the country had done this since it joined the EU in 1973. With the increase in size of the EU (despite Brexit) Ireland has only hosted the presidency twice since then, and the next time will be in 2026. The bus received this special all-over livery to mark the occasion.
RA 176 was the first member of the RA class, following on from the broadly similar RH class. While the RHs were Leyland Olympians, the RAs started the Volvo Olympian era, although were Cummins powered. The RAs ranged from 176 to 325, with the first RV starting at 326. In total 640 Olympians were delivered to Dublin Bus. The last Olympian was withdrawn in 2012, the last RA in 2008 and RA 176 in 2006. Some continued on in the Driver School and City Tours but as of 2018 all are withdrawn by Dublin Bus.
The 45 has appeared recently on Throwback Thursday. It connected the City Centre with Bray, terminating on the southern part of that town in Oldcourt. Like the bus, the route is no longer active in Dublin Bus, but the 45A keeps the legacy going. Nassau Street, 24/05/1996
It is 1998 and D 635 is going on tour. Dublin Bus started the open-tour in 1988. The original tour fleet was made up of Leyland Atlanteans which were approaching the end of their service life. This pattern has continued to this day. The Atlanteans were later joined by Vanhools like D635 here and then these started to be replaced by Olympians from around 2000 on. Next came the ALX 400s in the form of the AV and AX classes and most recently the Enviro 400 EVs. Currently in 2019 the Dublin Bus tour fleet is entirely composed of low-floor, accessible buses.
The tour has always been a commercial operation by Dublin Bus and in 2017 it rebranded the city tour as DoDublin, with an all-over green livery. When it started in 1988 it was the only hop-on, hop-off tour in Dublin, but in 2019 there is stiff competition from The Big Bus Company and City Sightseeing, along with a number of niche tours.
D 635 had a varied career. It was delivered new to Dublin in 1975 and operated out of Clontarf and Summerhill garages. Around 1998 it joined the tour fleet. Normally that would be the end of a bus's career but by 2002 it had been converted for tree-lopper duties. In this role it toured the network, cutting down branches that could cause damage to buses. It finally retired from Dublin Bus in 2003, and passed into private hands.
St. Stephen's Green 15/10/1998
This week we are going back thirty-two years to 1992 and to D 703 parked on Marlborough Street. The bus is dressed for route 20A to Donnycarney North.
Route 20A started running between the city centre and Donnycarney North in 1948, going via Fairview and Malahide Road. It ceased to operate in 1999 when it was partially replaced by route 42A. In its final years the route was very infrequent.
D 703 was new to CIE in 1975 and was initially based in Cork (as seen here: flic.kr/p/2nkSMqk). It migrated to Dublin in 1988 and was withdrawn in 1994.
This part of Marlborough Street is now the Marlborough tram stop on the Luas Green Line.
Sadolin Varnish is still being sold.
30/05/1992
This week for Throwback Thursday we have a slightly unusual bus in a slightly unusual location for it. AX 632 is seen parked at Skerries station in the company of RH 52. RH 52 was the Uniform Bus used by Dublin Bus to deliver uniforms to garages and it even had a changing area on board where staff members could try on their clothes. It was not a bus seen very often out and about and especially not in Skerries. This bus has been replaced by a newer AV Class bus. Skerries 25/08/2008
It is 1995 and autumn in Dun Laoghaire. RH 93 is seen at the bus terminus beside the railway station after arriving with a 75 from Tallaght. This bus was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1991 and entered service at Donnybrook Garage. Later in life the bus was transferred to Ringsend and was withdrawn in mid-2003.
The bus is in an all-over ad for JVC Adagio Hi-Fi. At the time this was quite popular system for people to listen to music, a long way from the current iPod trend.
Route 75 was a southern orbital route in Dublin connecting Dun Laoghaire, Dundrum and Tallaght. Up until October 2018 it was operated by Dublin Bus but then transferred to Go-Ahead Ireland. The only Dublin Bus vehicles that now lay-over at this location are those on the 46A. Dun Laoghaire, 28/10/1995
KD 353 is seen on Eden Quay in 1989. The bus is on route 7A to Sallynoggin via Dun Laoghaire. This route was later extended to Mackintosh Park before being abolished in 2011. It then returned in 2016 under unusual circumstances. Up to then the 7 ran four times an hour with one of them going to Cherrywood, and the other three to Loughlinstown Park. In 2016 it was changed with two to Brides Glen and two to Loughlinstown Park. However the traditional route 7 to the latter destination became the 7A, and the extended route became the 7. All very confusing.
KD 353 entered service in 1983 and finished its public service around 1999/2000. It is still with us in 2018, being preserved at the National Transport Museum in Howth, but is not in this all-over ad for Coca Cola but the old two-tone green livery of Dublin Bus.
Eden Quay still has a bus lane at this location but going in the opposite direction, providing access to the Rosie Hackett Bridge which opened in 2014. 06/01/1989
Just travelling back a mere six years for this weeks update but even so there has been a lot of change in that time. RV 531 loads up on College Street with a 77 to Jobstown. A handy piece of A4 paper in the front windscreen shows it goes "via Airton Road". In August 2011 RV 531 was withdrawn from service. It was one of the last buses deivered with rollerblind destinations (RV 540 being the last). Route 77 was merged with the 27 in September 2011 becoming one long cross-city route from Clare Hall to Jobstown, and adopted the 27 route number. Finally this part of College Street is currently being converted into a tram line for Luas Cross City and will become a tram stop next year. 26/02/2010
With just twenty-days to Christmas in 1988 (and 2019) D 756 is getting in the festive spirit on Westmoreland Street. Launched just two days previously, the bus was used on a special shuttle service between the city centre and Dublin Zoo. The interior was also decorated with Christmas lights hanging from the roof both upstairs and downstairs. Passengers paid a special fare which also included a visit to Santa at the zoo. The shuttle service ran for just under three weeks before finishing on December 21st.
D 756 was delivered new to Dublin in 1975 and was withdrawn in 1993. It had a colourful career, literally, as to prior to being repainted into the "Dublin Zoo Santa Bus" livery it was in an all-over ad for Philips Philishave. Early in 1989 it was repainted into an all-over ad looking for blood donors.
It is interesting to note the bus in the background emerging from Fleet Street onto Westmoreland Street. This part of Fleet Street used to be home to a number of routes and was two-way. Now in 2019 it is one of the more busier parts of Temple Bar and although traffic can still access the street, they can only do so one-way, from Westmoreland Street. No bus routes serve here anymore.
Finally D 756 is parked outside what was one of the landmarks of Dublin - Bewley's Cafe. Their first presence on the street was in 1896 but the company contracted in the early-2000s and this branch closed down. It then became a Starbucks and is currently a TGI Friday's. There has been a lot of change in the last thirty-one years. 05/12/1988
It is 1994 and KD 235 is seen on Lower Gardiner Street in Dublin 1. It is at the 42 terminus in the city center with a departure to Seamount in Malahide. The bus is in an all-over ad for Heineken. It used to be quite common in the 1990s for all-over ads on buses to be for alcohol companies, but in more recent times this has become much less common.
The 42 is the main bus route to Malahide, travelling along the Malahide Road. The bus here is showing Balgriffin as the via point but nowadays that has dropped down the scale of importance with the housing area of Seabury taking over. Also the 42 now has Portmarnock as destination. Coincidentally, the main route to Portmarnock is the 32 but it has Malahide as a destination. This situation with the 32 and 42 is brought about by the large amount of local traffic between Portmarnock and Malahide.
Finally, today in 2017, no buses stop along this part of Lower Gardiner Street even though over the years it has been a terminus for both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann. 29/10/1994
This week we are going back thirty-six years to 1988 and to KC 118 at Bus Aras. The bus is operating one of the express services to Dublin Airport.
When this photo was taken the service to Dublin Airport was already decades old. It started with CIE and over the years had double-deckers, single-deckers and coaches on it. In 1982 KC 116 to 119 were delivered new to CIE to operate the service. In February 1988 they received this all-over ad / livery for Aer Lingus. Then in 1990 the buses lost their centre doors to increase their capacity and allow more luggage space on board. However, in 1994 they moved from the Airport Express service to route 230 and regained their centre doors. 1994 was the year Dublin Bus received new AD Class buses and rebranded the service as Airlink. Airlink suspended operations in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and then announced in 2021 the cessation of operations.
KC 118 was finally withdrawn by Dublin Bus in the late-1990s.
Aer Lingus was flew its first flight in 1936. It was floated on the stock exchange by the Irish government in 2006 and was finally taken over by IAG in 2015.
21/02/1988
This week we are going back to 1989 and to a curious bus on O'Connell Street. MB 13 is seen parked outside the Dublin Bus head office. The MB class was the first new bus type delivered to Dublin Bus after the company's inception in 1987. MB 1-5 were delivered in 1987 but were shorter than the subsequent MB 6-15. The latter were delivered in 1988 and 1989. The buses were used on a variety of services around the city,such as the Localink routes in Tallaght based around The Square Shopping Centre and the Nipper route in Dublin city centre. MB 13 was based in Donnybrook Garage, and all members of the fleet were withdrawn by Dublin Bus in 1994. The destination on the bus is Killakee, which is a place located in South Dublin beyond Rockbrook, and near the Hell Fire Club. However this destination is referring to Killakee Road which was the terminus of one of the Tallaght local routes. The number is set to T00 as the bus is out of service. 21/10/1989
Going back 29 years this week and to D 376 on O'Connell Street. It is on the 10 from the Phoenix Park to UCD Belfield. This was one of the more famous and popular routes in Dublin, and has featured here before, but was removed from the network in 2010. D 376 entered service in 1970, so was already 18 years old when this photograph was taken. However it survived through the 1990s as it joined the Tour fleet and was repainted into the navy blue/cream livery. It certainly was not looking the best when this photograph was taken in 1988. Finally this bus stop outside the Savoy cinema is not used by Dublin Bus anymore and one is more likely to see private tour buses here now. 08/06/1988
For the second week of our thrawl through the archives we go back to 1997. W 3 is seen at the Omni Park terminus of route 300. These wheelchair accessible buses started on the City Centre route 222 before transferring to the 300 which connected north-city communities in Dublin with the Omni Shopping Centre in Santry. These were the first class of low-floor buses in Dublin Bus. 11/01/97
24Z is one of the hottest trains on the railroad and usually rates two or three of Norfolk Southern's finest widecabs... On this day, however, an ex-Conrail spartan cab SD70 is leading the way through CP 379 in downtown Kendallville.
It is 2007 and AX 470 is stuck on Grafton Street while operating a service to Whitechurch on route 15C. There have been a number of routes to bear the designation 15C over the decades in Dublin. The longest lived version ran from 1980 to around 1993, and connected the City Centre with Willington. It was not a very frequent route and was replaced in time in Willington by the 54A and the 150. The next version of the 15C was the one seen here in the photo. Running from the City Centre to Whitechurch, it started in 1999, as a replacement to the 47 group of routes, and lasted until 30th September 2007 when it was replaced by the 15B. The final version of the 15C is an "unofficial official" route that has appeared in more recent times. The current route 15 has been a cross city route since 2011, running from Clongriffin to Ballycullen Road. To highlight routes running short to just the City Centre, 15C is often used on the displays.
AX 470 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2006, and based in Ringsend Garage. It was withdrawn from there in 2019 and moved to Paul S. Winson in Loughborough (UK).
This part of Grafton Street became of the Luas Green Line in 2018, with trams using in both directions, along with some bus routes, but not the 15. During the building of the tramline, the 15 group of routes (along with other routes) were diverted along Camden Street instead of Kildare Street.
Finally, the Gardai in the picture are trying to figure out what to do with a tourist's rental car which had broken down at this awkward spot, causing the traffic jam AX 470 is leading. 05/09/2007
On January 25th, 1984, this was the scene on Conrails Danville secondary (nee-NYC Egyptian Line) at Johnsonville road crossing, located at MP IH 97.65, south of Sloan and near the Ill / Ind state line. What is missing from the photos is the snowplow that was struck by a Milwaukee Road train. In the last 3 photos you can see it at left of the hi-rail. Apparently, it got stuck on the crossing somehow and was abandoned. Later, a Milwaukee train came by, didn't see it and slammed into it. Phil said it took them a week to clean up after this snowfall and the snowplow was totaled. Photos by Phil Boldman.
Conrail Hi-Rail
Johnsonville Road crossing
January 25th, 1984
CR Danville secondary, MP 97.65
It's 1997 and RA 274 is seen parked on Marlborough Street. The bus is on route 32B. This operated between the City Centre and Baldoyle/Portmarnock going via Abbey Park. In 2012 the route was removed from the network through Network Direct and Abbey Park lost its bus service. Passengers had to use an extended 29A to Baldoyle instead.
The bus had been delivered in 1996 and is in CitySwift livery. The 32B however was not one of Clontarf's CitySwift routes. The bus was withdrawn around 2007 and went on to continue its career in the UK. It was still active until at least 2016.
This location on Marlborough Street is now a tram stop on Luas Cross City. 05/04/1997
It is 1982 and C 100 is seen on Townsend Street with a 63. This route operated to Glenamuck (between Carrickmines and Kilternan) via Stillorgan and Foxrock. It was operated out of Donnybrook Garage and was a regular route for single-deck operation. In more recent times it was extended to Kilternan and double-deckers became more common on it. In 2010 the route was cut back from the city centre, and instead connected Dun Laoghaire with Kilternan,which it continues to do today.
The C Class was operated nationwide by CIE. Out of a total of 260 buses, about 80 worked in Dublin. They were replaced in the mid-1980s by the new KC Class built by Bombardier. C 100 was one of the final buses to be withdrawn. It entered service in Dundalk in 1965, before transferring to Donnybrook in 1971, where it remained for 13 years. 20/12/1982
This week we are going back ten years to the last day of a relatively short-lived bus route. AV 177 is seen at the bus terminus within UCD Belfield with a service on route 70B from New Ongar Road.
The 70B started operating in December 2006 and was one of the few Xpresso routes not to use the X suffix (The 70X had started in 2001 from Dunboyne to UCD Belfield). The route ran from New Ongar Road through Ongar and Littlepace before joining the N3 for its run to the city. It started with one inbound trip in the morning and one outbound trip in the evening. The route lasted less than four years. It's official last day was 30th October 2010 when the Network Direct changes reached the Blanchardstown corridor on the 31st October. However, as this was a weekday-only bus route, and the 30th October was a Saturday, its actual last day was Friday 29th October. And AV 177 did the final inbound morning trip, as seen here.
AV 177 itself was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2000 and withdrawn in 2016. It was sold to the UK where it became a school bus in the Corby area.
The terminus at UCD Belfield has seen many bus routes over the years and used by thousands of people who worked and studied there. In 2012 the bus stops were relocated within the campus and this area was transformed into a lake. 29/10/2010
A couple of US Army veterans power the 2008 version of Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's Summerville Steam Special thorough far northwest Georgia at Noble. Good to have the Summerville trips running again, after the combination of the Pandemic and a bridge outage prevented them from running from 2020-2022. Of course now Southern 4501 is the usual power on these trips, as 610's flue time ran out over a decade ago and apparently plans for a rebuild are now on the back-burner.