View allAll Photos Tagged throwback
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.
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 The last Olympian was withdrawn in 2012, the last RA in 2008 and RA 176 in 2006. Some continued on in the Driver School and City Tours but as of 2018 all are withdrawn by Dublin Bus.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 Like the bus, the route is no longer active in Dublin Bus, but the 45A keeps the legacy going.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
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
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
Another trip back thirty-five years this week, except to the northside of the River Liffey and to D 369 on O'Connell Street. The bus is operating a service on route 3 from Sandymount to Larkhill. Route 3 can trace its origins back to the original Dublin tram network, but the bus route started in 1940. The route was pretty consistent over the decades, although some were extended to UCD Belfield around 1990. The route was abolished in 2012 under Network Direct, when it was mostly replaced by new route 1. This new route had its northern terminus in Santry, with the 44 extended north to terminate in Larkhill.
D 369 was delivered new to Dublin in 1970 and was withdrawn in 1986.
This bus is parked outside the BHS (British Home Stores) shop on O"Connell Street. This opened here in the 1980s but closed in 1992. BHS reopened again in the Jervis Shopping Centre in 1996 but only lasted until 1998. The store on O'Connell Street is now home to Penneys.
27/11/1985
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
Here is a photo of a C&EI passenger train stopped at Momence, Illinois depot, circa 1920. Willard H. Slater is at left with the cigar. I have always wished more was in this shot, but it's a great old photo for sure!
Willard H. Slater and unidentified man at Momence depot, Momence, Illinois
Chicago & Eastern Illinois
C&EIHS collection, Danville Chapter
Photographer unknown
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
Home from work and another horrid cloudy cold day. So I’ve found another photo of the glorious summer we had last year. I can’t wait for the summer to begin 💋💋💋💋💋💋
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
This week we are returning to 2000 and the era of demonstrators. 99 D 76023 was a Volvo / Plaxton President, and was one of number of low-floor buses trialled by Dublin Bus. 1999 had seen the last step-entrance buses delivered to Dublin Bus in the form of the Volvo Olympians. An example of this bus can be seen in the background. By this point accessibility had become a much more important issue, and all future bus orders for Dublin Bus would be low-floor, Ultimately it was decided to go with Alexander bodied buses on Volvo chassis, starting with the AV class in late 2000. However in 2005 some tri-axle Enviro 500s were delivered from Alexander Dennis, and the bodies of these buses borrowed some stylings from the Plaxton President. For many years they operated from Dun Laoghaire the 46A, and other routes.
This bus went on to a long career in the UK, joining Sullivan's once its career as a demonstrator was over. It remained with Sullivan's up until at least 2017, with the registration X15 JOP.
Currently in 2020 Dublin Bus have some hybrid buses on trial, with CO2 emissions becoming the issue of the day, like accessibility was twenty years ago. 20/02/2000
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 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 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
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
In my opinion the original Ferrari Dino is one of the most beautiful cars ever made especially the Spyder version in yellow. It feels like I just finished this yesterday, but it's been over two years. Kind of funny how time flies and a wide eyed sophomore in high school is now finished with his first year of college and forever a changed man. So here's to honoring the past, eagerly awaiting the future, but appreciating today. Today is a gift, hence the word present.
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
Originally Taken: September 16, 2007
Location: Walt Disney World
Camera: Nikon D80
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Way back in 2007, I bought my first DSLR, my Nikon D80 that was only replaced this year because it had finally given up on me.
Back in 2007 I knew nothing about photography, I had bought this rather expensive camera and was using it as a point and shoot.
It actually took a few years for me to dive deeper into photography and take an interest in the technical side of things rather than just composition.
So when I bought my Nikon D80 I hadn't a clue and looking back on my photos from my trip to Walt Disney World in September of 2007 it's completely obvious just how clueless I was.
So in honour of the things I didn't know then, the things I know now, and the things I still haven't figured out; I'm posting one of my earliest (digital) attempts at something past a snapshot.
Wishing everyone a good day!
Click "L" for a larger view.
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
It is September 1996 and RH 93 is in a bit of a whirl. The bus is seen on Clare Street operating a service on route 7. Although, the destination on the bus is wrong as it is operating inbound from Loughlinstown, and not outbound to it. Also the route did not go "via Custom House Quay". The route connects the city centre with Loughlinstown going via Blackrock, Dun Laoghaire and Sallynoggin. It can trace its roots back to the 19th century tram network. In 2016 Dublin Bus did a revision to the route and services to Cherrywood became route 7 and Loughlinstown became 7a.
RH 93 was delivered new to Dublin Bus in 1991 and was withdrawn in 2003. It then moved to the UK where it remained in service until at least 2017.
The bus is in an all-over ad for Whirlpool appliances. Prior to this the bus was in another all-over ad for JVC.
Clare Street 21/09/1996
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
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.
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
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 . . .
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
The first Thursday in 2016 I started doing a Throwback Thursday looking back on some long lost bus scenes in Dublin. Today we have photograph number 52, the last one of 2016. The year started in Bray and so it seems appropriate to end in Bray. This time we are going back thirty years to 1986. KD 270 is seen on the 84A. This was a short 84 that only ran between Bray and Greystones. The bus is seen in Bray as it approaches the end of its journey. The 84A disappeared for a while, being replaced by the 184, but it has reappeared in recent times and now operates between Bray and St. Vincent's Hospital. Bray 29/12/1986
And with that the 2016 Throwback Thursday has come to an end, but it will continue in 2017. Happy New Year!