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It’s only been a couple of weeks but here I am from my holidays. I wish I could walk around in a bikini like I did there. It’s that hot we have had to put a stop to our fun time 💋💋💋💋💋💋
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
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Route 8 connected Dalkey with Dublin City Centre until November 2016 when the route was withdrawn.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 seventeen years to 2008, and to VT 13 on O'Connell Street with a service on route 46A to Dun Laoghaoire.
Route 46A started running between the city centre and Cabinteely in 1926. Certain departures were extended to Dun Laoghaire in 1929. In 1932 the primary destination was moved to Goatstown, and in 1936 it was extended to Dun Laoghaire full time. In 1999 the Stillorgan QBC opened, with the 46A becoming a high-frequency route. In 2010 it replaced route 10 on the northside when it was extended to the Phoenix Park via the North Circular Road under Network Direct. That change also saw all services on route 46A taken out of Stillorgan village, which this bus is going via. The route ceased to operate in January 2025 when it was partially replaced by route E2 under Bus Connects on the southside, and route 11 on the northside.
VT 13 was new to Dublin Bus in 2005, being one of twenty tri-axle double-deckers delivered that year. In 2007 Dublin Bus received fifty more. It was withdrawn in 2018 and sold on to an operator in the United Kingdom. The bus had just been repainted prior to this picture being taken, and unusually emerged with yellow above the front window and not black. Another member of the class also received this treatement, but it did not last long and both did eventually receive black paint there.
06/03/2008
A trip back to the mid-1990s this week. RH 80 is seen turning off Ormond Quay and onto Grattan Bridge. It is operating route 69 from Rathcoole into the City Centre. This is one of the more longer bus routes in Dublin and can trace its origins back to pre-DUTC days. Not only does this route serve Rathcoole but it is only one of the bus routes to Clondalkin village.
RH 100 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1991. Once it's career was over with Dublin Bus it went on to work with Swanbrook in Cheltenham.
2018 also saw the hotel behind the bus on Ormond Quay demolished. 06/11/1995
Edit: Although the caption says RH 100 further analysis suggests it might be RH 80. RH 100 was not a Conyngham Road bus.
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
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
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
I had to remove the orignial image because I kept finding it all over the internet and ebay. I wasn't really happy with the last one. So I figured I would re-edit this one and add a watermark.
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
A trip this week to Dublin Airport in 1994 and AD 35 on the Airlink. AD 35 was the first of 6 ADs specially delivered to Dublin Bus in April 1994 as part of the relaunch of the Airport coach service. It was that May that the Airlink brand was launched, along with this new yellow / green / grey livery. With the new Airlink brand the number of services to Heuston Station was also increased, though most still terminated at Bus Aras. By 2020 the main Airlink route (the 747) runs all services from Heuston Station to Dublin Airport via Bus Aras.
In total Dublin Bus received 70 members of the AD class between 1994 and 1995. Most were used on CitySwift routes across routes, with AD 35-40 and 69/70 dedicated to the Airlink routes. They lasted on those routes until around 2000 when they were started to be phased out first by RV double-deckers in 1999 and then AV double-deckers in 2000. The bus ended its days on school duties with Bus Eireann in the Wexford area.
This location in Dublin Airport was subsequently used by Aircoach and, from March 2020, Dublin Express.
02/07/1994
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 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
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
In 2015 AV 390 winds its way through the Luas Cross City works on Nassau Street as it operates a 46A to Dun Laoghaire. Behind the bus is Suffolk Street. This was once one of the main bus corridors in the city, with buses coming down Dawson Street, turning left into Nassau Street and on into Suffolk Street and College Green, before continuing north across the city. The Luas Cross City works brought an end to that with the tram line being extended from St. Stephens Green, down Dawson Street and into Nassau Street, Grafton Street and College Green before heading across the River Liffey. Bus routes were diverted, with some like the 14, 15/A/B and 140 using George's Street in both directions, and others like the 39/A, 46A, 145 being sent via Westland Row and Pearse Street when heading northbound. (These are just some of the routes diverted - there are far too many to list here). When the Luas works were completed, and prior to the trams starting, the 11, 38's and 46's were allowed to use Nassau Street and Grafton Street in both directions again from October 2017. Suffolk Street has effectively become pedestrianised, with an official trial for such commencing in early 2019.
AV 390 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 2004. It was withdrawn in late-2018 and sold to James's Coaches in Celbridge.
03/07/2015
I was sorting some old photos and found some that I had taken in the production area where I was employed as a graphic designer. Without all these machines and pieces of various equipment it would not matter that we upfront spent time to design a beautiful piece of art or that our sales staff worked hard to secure the account because without production and all the pieces of machinery we could not produce the final (book, magazine, brochure, poster, etc) that shipped to the public which enabled us to stay open for business. Yeah for machines . . .
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
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
This week we are going back to the year 2000. WV 7 is at the 150 terminus on Hawkins Street with a service to Rossmore. The bus is a year old at this point, and is one out of what will be a fleet of fifty-two midi-buses. These are bigger than a minibus and smaller than a standard single-decker bus. At the time the 150 route was still part of the City Imp brand, but within a few short years this had been dropped.
At this time this end of Hawkins Street allowed traffic to access Burgh Quay. Now things are different. Traffic can only go one way on Hawkins Street, from the quays towards College Street. The spot where the bus stop is, is now on the route Luas Cross City tram line. Since the picture was taken the 150 has shifted terminii a few times, spending the longest on Fleet Street, but in recent times has returned to Hawkins Street, but of course facing the opposite way. The 150 today is operated by double-decker buses. Two WVs survive in service but mainly on the 44B. 10/09/2000
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
Phil Boldman is pictured here with a fresh derailment at MP 9.70 (Main Street, Highland, Indiana) on Penn Centrals Danville secondary on February 28th, 1973. Phil had just arrived at "another fucking derailment due to the horseshit merger..." as he said. Phil hired on Penn Central in 1969 and according to Phil, when all the PRR & NYC lines merged in Indiana, it caused a lot of problems with the men, seniority, rights, etc, etc. Phil was a die hard NYC man, because his entire family had worked there, but like any mega-merger, there will always be issues.
This derailment pictured shows what looks like the underframe of an autorack. It looks as though this view is looking S/W from somewhere near the Main Street crossing. The derailment has been long forgotten by Phil. There were so many in PC days that it was just another day at the RR. This line would start to fall apart south of Schneider, Indiana, Phil would load it up full of speed restrictions that never got fixed and him & the line that his family built through Kentland would both be retired in 1999.
When Phil retired in 99, his title under Conrail was "I&R Foreman" (Inspection & Repair) and his territory included the following:
MC-Hartsdale to Chicago Heights.
PRR-When still in service, Hartsdale east and west to ends of track.
NYC-Osborn, Indiana to Cairo, Illinois.
NYC-Hennepin, Illinois to Wheatfield, Indiana.
CCC&StL-Sheldon secondary (Sheff, Indiana to Kankakee, Illinois) & Fowler secondary (Sheff, Indiana to Templeton, Indiana).
I believe Phils co-worker took this upon arrival. Phil opened the door on purpose to hide the PC logo.................gawd. Of course, I kick myself for not photographing his truck in the 80's, it was ALWAYS sitting in his driveway and I was there every damn day.....GAWD.
This week for Throwback Thursday we are only go back four years, but it was a significant day. Network Direct was in full swing and bus routes were changing all over the city. As part of the changes we had to say goodbye to some very well known routes. On this day in 2012 we said goodbye to the 1,2 and 3. The next day we said hello to a new 1.
The old 1 operated from Parnell Square to the power station at Pigeon House. The 2 operated from Parnell Square to Sandymount and UCD. The 3 operated from Larkhill to Sandymount and UCD. AX 483 is seen beside the sea at Sandymount. It had just operated the last 1 to the Pigeon House, which can be seen in the background. It then operated as 2 from there to Sandymount and then became a 3 to Larkhill. Today the 1 operates from Sandymount to Santry, the power station has shut down and no bus route serves it. 12/05/2012
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
Something we have not had in Throwback Thursday before, a training bus. Not only that, but a bus that did not spend most of its passenger service career in Dublin. D 481 was delivered new to CIE in 1973 and went into service in Galway, in the west of Ireland. There it remained until 1987 when it came up to Dublin to join the training school in Phibsborough, getting a repaint too into this red and white livery. Time was spent in Conyngham Road and Donnybrook before the bus was finally withdrawn in 1992 and sold for scrap.
In 2020 Dublin Bus has approximately 2,500 drivers for a fleet of approximately 1000 buses. It has a small fleet of about 20 buses dedicated to its driving school where new drivers are trained on the buses and older drivers are periodically tested. The current fleet is made up of ALX 400s.
In the background it is worth noting the shop renovation taking place which was for a Burger King restaurant. The first branch opened in Grafton Street around 1981 but this was the first one to open on the main street of the capital. O'Connell Street 29/01/1988
This week we are going back twelve years to 2012, and to AV 63 in Rathfarnham with a service on route 61 to Whitechurch.
The DUTC started operating the original route 61 between the city centre and Churchtown in 1934, but that route ceased in the mid-1980s. The version of the route 61 seen here started operating between the city centre and Whitechurch in 2011, under Network Direct changes. It was a partial replacement for route 48A. Certain departures were extended to / from Rockbrook. The route was removed from the network in 2023 under Bus Connects. Whitechurch is now served by route 74.
AV 63 was new to Dublin Bus in 2000. It was withdrawn from passenger service in early-2013, but re-emerged within a year as a Ghost Bus. It still operates those tours to this day.
19/12/2012
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
Here I am at a Christmas party in 1978, with the girl I had recently met in college.
In January, we'll celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary.
It is 1995 and D 722 is seen on O'Connell Street with a 16 to Santry. This is one of the older bus routes in Dublin, that can trace its route back to old tram network. Being a cross-city route it has connected Santry/Beaumont on the northside with Terenure/Rathfarnham on the southside. Various extensions over the years have included Nutgrove and Omni Park. In more recent times it has been routed to run from Dublin Airport to Ballinteer.
D 722 was delivered new to Cork in 1975 and transferred to Dublin Bus in 1988. It was withdrawn in late 1999, ending its days in the city tour fleet.
In the background is the head office of Dublin Bus. 27/04/1995
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