The Classic Irish Buses website

Coras Iompair Eireann 1945 to 1950 (by Shane Conway)

Page last updated on 12th November 2023

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D U T C   G N R   Irish Omnibus Company   Great Southern Railway   CIE 1945 to 1950   CIE 1951 to 1955   CIE 1956 to 1961   CIE 1962 to 1966   CIE 1967 to 1970   CIE 1971 to 1981   CIE Bombardiers   Bus Eireann   Howth Road route history   Dublin Bus   Dublin bus routes 17, 18 and 75   Lough Swilly   Barton, Maynooth  

On its formation in January 1945, CIE inherited a very mixed fleet of buses from its two constituent companies. The Dublin United Transport segment contained 45 AEC Regal 4s from the early and mid 1930s, 99 Leyland Lions of the LT5A and LT7 varieties, and 246 R class Titans built from 1937 onwards. All of these were diesel powered and registered in Dublin. The Great Southern Railways supplied four AEC Regal Is, seven Leyland Cubs, 111 Lions (LT4, LT5A, LT6, LT7 and LT9), 149 Leyland Tigers (TS2, TS6, TS7, TS8 and TS11), and 34 Leyland Titans. These followed the GSR policy of being registered in each county where the company operated, and only the newer vehicles were diesels, the GSR preferring petrol-engined buses for many years.

This collection of 688 vehicles was supplemented by a further 15 TS11 chassis, which had been delivered to the GSR in 1942, but were not bodied until 1947, becoming CIE's first new buses. The new company also had responsibility for the last surviving Dublin trams, as well as the rail network of the former GSR. Among the plans laid down were the replacement of the older buses in the fleet, ousting of the last Dublin trams, and a programme of dieselisation of the railways was also begun. Initial bus purchases were of six Daimlers and 11 AEC Regents, and in 1947, they signed a 25-year agreement with Leyland Motors for the supply of bus chassis, and also took delivery of seven diesel locomotives.

30 Leyland OPS3/1 Tigers entered service in 1948, and these were to be followed over the next five years by 331 more Tigers. The first batches of Tigers all featured forward entrances. 150 Leyland bodied Titans were also bought and with these in service, the last Dublin tram ran in July 1949. As the P class Tigers entered service, the first withdrawals began of the older ex GSR vehicles, subsequently followed by the ex DUTC single deckers. By the beginning of 1955, virtually all that remained of the opening fleet of ten years earlier were the double deckers, the exception being Tigers T6 - T8.

As with other lists, the data is not complete. Any updates or corrections would be welcome, especially corrected dates for the disposal of R488. Some of the front entrance P class buses were rebuilt as rear entrance, so far 44 are known to have been done, 61 not converted, leaving a further 70 untraced as of now. Research on these is ongoing and photographic evidence is badly needed to complete this task. Can you help?

P31-41/44/46-48/54/57-59/61/63/64/66/67/69/70/72/76/96/97, 110/12/15/20/25/30/35/44/47/48/51/55-57/59/ 72/76/83/86/88/90/93/95, 200-04/07/10/11 were not rebuilt to B39R (total 61)

P42/53/56/60/62/74/77/78/91/93/95, 102-04/08/09/21/23/24/27/28/32/34/38/41-43/50/53/71/74/80/82/85/87/ 91/96-98, 206/12-15 were rebuilt to B39R (total 44)

It is therefore currently unknown whether or not P43/45/49-52/55/65/68/71/73/75/79-85/88-90/92/94/98/ 99, 100/01/05-07/11/13/14/16-19/22/26/29/31/33/36/37/39/40/ 45/46/49/52/54/58/60/73/75/77-79/81/84/89/92/94/99, 205/08/09 (total 70) were converted to rear entrance -- can anyone help with this?

1945

Opening fleet, January 1st 1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

P161 - 70 were named as follows, after Irish rivers:

P161 Liffey P162 Suir P163 Corrib
P164 Lee P165 Shannon P166 Slaney
P167 Moy P168 Barrow P169 Blackwater
P170 Nore        

Total fleet = 1149 (391 ex Dublin United, 305 ex Great Southern Railway, 452 new vehicles and 1 demonstrator) with 7 survivors (P23, P164, R1, R389, T11, T14 and T22)

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