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Ulsterbus 1983 to 1988 (by Shane Conway)

Page last updated on 24th October 2022

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Northern Ireland menu:

Belfast Corporation diesel buses   Belfast Corporation trolleybuses   H M S Catherwood Ltd.   Citybus   Great Northern Railway Lough Swilly   NIRTB 1935 - 39   NIRTB 1940 - 48  

Sureline, Lurgan 1966 - 87   UTA 1948 - 56   UTA 1957 - 61   UTA 1962 - 66   U'bus 1967 - 72   U'bus 1973 - 76   U'bus 1977 - 82   U'bus 1983 - 88   U'bus 1989 - 2012

By 1983, Ulsterbus's last Leopards were being built in Alexander's plant in Mallusk, and the very last one of all, 339, entered service in March 1984, carrying the final unit of almost 1500 examples of what had been the standard Belfast built Ulsterbus body design since 1968. 1983 had seen the first examples of the Leyland Tiger to enter service (with coach bodies), and from 1984 onwards a new Alexander body, the N type, began appearing in quantity on Tiger chassis. Vehicles numbered from 1340 onwards were supplied with a new Alexander Q type body (apart from Wrights bodied 1408 to 1432) and Volvo engines were specified from 1300 onwards.

An interesting acquisition in 1985 was that of a one-time N. I. R. T. B. Bedford OWB, new in 1942. Its non original coach body was removed, and a replica utility body was built to original design. It is one of two surviving ex N. I. R. T. B. Bedfords, the other then being still in service with an operator in Shropshire, but later returned to Ulster as well. Other secondhand buses acquired in the 1980s comprised ex Scottish and ex Midland Red Leopards, and a dozen Atlanteans with ECW bodywork, the only double deck examples of that manufacturer's output ever owned.

Lurgan based independent operator Sureline Coaches acquired a number of Bristol LH buses in 1983/1984, and followed them up with thirteen Leopards in 1985. These vehicles were among the 31 strong fleet acquired by Ulsterbus in June 1987 when Sureline's owner retired from business. As more Leopards and Bristol RELLs became redundant, other operators looked at the possibility of acquiring them. C. I. E. subsidiary Bus Eireann bought 21 Bedfords, followed by 38 Leopards and finally 46 Bristol RELLs. Lough Swilly, who had in earlier times bought ex UTA Tiger Cubs and Bedford VAM14s from Ulsterbus, amassed a fleet of 46 Leopards and later bought a sizeable batch of RELLs which had originated with both Ulsterbus and Citybus.

By 1988, the Tiger was well entrenched as Northern Ireland's standard bus, but surprise purchases were of further ex Scottish and Midland Red Leopards, twelve ECW bodied Atlanteans, and a former Ministry of Defence Tiger which carried the sole example of Wadham Stringer bodywork in the entire fleet.

Please note that some of the vehicles listed below (under 1987 and 1988) are listed as batches, with no individual vehicle details given. These MAY be given further consideration in due course, depending on time available to research them.

1983

2600 was numerically the last Bristol RE to be built for use as a bus. Seen here on April 24th 1993, this historic vehicle was later written off and scrapped.

1984

In 1984 Ulsterbus managed to acquire a rare Leopard - Plaxton Supreme, registered AJD 165T. New in 1979, it was originally owned by Glenton Tours in London and had a centre entrance, by then Glenton's were the only company still specifying that feature. Following sale by Glenton, it was converted to front entrance and entered service as Ulsterbus 565 in December 1984. Originally there were five such vehicles (AJD 162 - 166T), and after a few months Ulsterbus picked up 166 which took fleet number 576. Both of them became club coaches which reduced the seating capacity to allow tables to be fitted. Later they were changed back and sold on to Chambers of Moneymore in 1995.

1985

1986

997 was one of 25 dual-door Atlanteans acquired from Lothian Region Transport in 1986, of which just 14 were used by Ulsterbus, all of which lost their centre doors and gained three extra seats before entering service.

1987

669 was the oldest vehicle taken over with the Sureline Coaches business in 1987. It was new to Ulsterbus in 1969 as 1303. The bodywork dates from 1974, and features the one time standard of an emergency escape on both sides of the bus. (Photographer unknown).

Summarised vehicles

1988

Phoenix Park, Dublin on 27th June 1992 and ex Scottish Leopard 1886 is seen. It was later acquired by the I. T. T. and has also been produced as a scale model by EFE.

Summarised vehicles

And finally, here's a summary of what vehicles received the original numbers from all the Tigers which were re-registered by Ulsterbus.

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