Leyland chassis page 1946 - 1955 - GDM 316, MKH408/09 added. (2/24)

Daimler chassis page - HEX 254 updated. (2/24)

A complete guide to all the photographs on the three sites. (2/24)

Citybus, Belfast page updated (Bristol RELL 2534 details) (12/23)

Barton, Maynooth page updated (vehicle data corrected) (12/23)

A pictorial review of Dublin bus routes 17, 18 and 75 (11/23)

A new fleet page on Sureline Coaches of Lurgan (11/23)

CIE 1967 - 1970 and 1971 - 1981 pages updated (more D class Atlantean allocations added) (11/23)

Barton, Maynooth visit in January 1988 (11/23)

CIE 1945 - 1950 page updated (T class buses updated) (11/23)

Welcome to my website, the online home of classic Irish buses and coaches. I'm Shane Conway and my original attempt at setting up the predecessor of this site was to initially record the passing of the last Dublin Bus Bombardier KD class deckers in January 2001. My interest in the topic of this website began with the wonderful (and much missed) CIE bodied Leyland Titan OPD2/10s allocated to Clontarf garage on the north side of Dublin Bay in the mid 1960s, mainly those working on routes 31 and 32, which passed within a quarter mile of my then front door. See Howth Road route history for more detail on that era.

The idea of this site is to be as definitive a history as possible of some of the various bus and coach fleets which have graced the roads of Ireland in the past. Starting with the late 1920s buses which started the replacement of Dublin's original trams, we proceed through the CIE era and go up to the Leyland and Volvo Olympians of Dublin Bus. Similarly the fleets of various operators in Ulster from 1929 up to the early 1990s are also covered. Complementing these pages are chassis lists of Bristols, AECs and postwar Leylands in Ireland, some light reading travelogue pages of some of the places I've visited since the 1980s, and also a couple of miscellaneous pages where some of our correspondent's pictures can be found. There are also sister sites covering the Isle of Man fleets and the 1960s Farina styled Morris Oxford and Austin Cambridge cars.

So, welcome aboard, I hope you will find something of interest as we journey down memory lane and recall Irish and Manx buses of yesteryear. Updates and corrections to the text, additional photo contributions and info on links to any other Irish transport websites are always welcome, even though it may take me a while to actually get round to using them.

Quick links guide to this site

• A complete guide to all the photographs on the three sites.

Republic of Ireland buses and coaches:

• Barton, Maynooth A visit to Barton in 1988
• Bus Eireann Volvo and Scania coaches (VP and SI class)
• Coras Iompair Eireann fleet histories 1945 to 1950;  1951 to 1955;   1956 to 1961;   1962 to 1966;   1967 to 1970;   1971 to 1981
• Coras Iompair Eireann Bombardiers (KC, KD, KE, KR and KW)
• Dublin Bus Leyland and Volvo Olympians fleet history
• Howth Road route history
• A pictorial review of Dublin bus routes 17, 18 and 75
• Dublin United Transport
• Great Northern Railway
• Irish Omnibus Company
• Great Southern Railway
• Lough Swilly
• Galway in October 2003 and October 2004
• Donegal in 2006

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
• UTA 1948 - 56;  UTA 1957 - 61;  UTA 1962 - 66
• Sureline Coaches of Lurgan
• U'bus 1967 - 72;  U'bus 1973 - 76;  U'bus 1977 - 82;  U'bus 1983 - 88;  U'bus 1989 - 2012

Chassis list summaries of Irish owned buses and coaches:

• AEC buses and coaches in Ireland built from 1925 to 1979
• Bristol buses and coaches in Ireland built from 1936 to 1983
• Daimler buses in Ireland built from 1925 to 1975
• Leyland buses and coaches in Ireland built from 1946 to 1955;  1956 to 1970;  1971 to 1982;  1983 to 1995

Manx buses and coaches:

• Introduction
• Douglas Corporation fleet history
• Isle of Man Road Services fleet history
• Isle of Man Transport 1976 to 1986;  1988 to 2021
• I o M Coach operators  
• Tours, Douglas  
• Isle of Man visit in 1996

British and overseas buses and coaches:

• The photo-miscellany pages part 1
• The photo-miscellany pages part 2
• East Midlands in 1993
• Yorkshire in 1995
• Isle of Man visit in 1996
• Rome in 1997 and 2007
• West Wales and Cardiff in July 1998
• Manchester in 1999
• The Algarve in August 2004
• Paris (2004-05)
• Fuerteventura in 2005
• Yorkshire in 2022
• Wales in 2023
• Roquteas De Mar in 2023

Classic cars, trucks and vans:

• My Morris Oxford/Austin Cambridge site

Thanks to the following people for their contributions:

• Dick Gilbert, without whose help this website would not exist.
• The various photographers who's work is scattered around this site.
• Richard Davis, Thurstan Denne and James Gleig for additional information on Manx buses.
• Patrizio Castelli for additional information on buses in Rome

Please note that ALL photos (especially those by other photographers) on this site are strictly copyright, and that the material is considered suitable for viewing by all ages. While every effort has been made to ensure the information listed on the various pages is as correct or accurate as possible, updates or corrections to any mistakes are welcome.