For many people (me included), the vehicle depicted in the above photo is THE classic Irish double decker. R726 is a 1957 CIE bodied Leyland Titan OPD2, taken on the Howth Road opposite Raheny church in 1966, at the then terminus of route 29. When this photo was taken, I was just three years old, and lived within a mile of the very spot where the picture was taken, so these type of vehicles kick-started the whole mad world of bus enthusiasm for me, almost 60 years ago now. R726 had been transferred to Clontarf in 1965, and as can be seen was badly in need of a repaint from its original green livery to the then new blue and cream, by this time green buses were becoming a rarity in the CIE fleet. The ticket machine is a TIM dial type (which remained in CIE use until the 1980s), and the photo was sent by Ben Sadler, the conductor in the picture.

He writes:

"I worked as a bus conductor at Clontarf garage from 1966 to 1968. After initial training you were used as a general cover for the first year of your service after which you were allocated a rotating roster paired with the same driver. I worked on the 20 (Donnycarney), 20A (Donnycarney North), 27/27A (Coolock and Artane), 28 (Edenmore), 30 (Dollymount), 31 (Howth), 32 (Portmarnock), 42 (Malahide), 44A (Mount Prospect Avenue), 51A (Beaumount), 54 (Killester to Cherryfield Drive) and 88 (Hill of Howth) routes in the first year.

There was also a duty system called universals which usually entailed working for some hours, having a very long unpaid break (sometimes 3 or 4 hours) and returning for the remainder of your shift, this would encompass a number of routes. One turn on one of the universals involved entering the docks at the North Wall to collect dockworkers, your bus would be full and standing but if you got 10% of the fares it would be rare. You would walk through the bus and the majority would totally ignore requests for fares. Inspectors never got on to check tickets. Another universal had as part of its duties going to Cadbury's factory in Coolock where we were allowed to purchase loose chocolate sweets at staff rates. Just imagine maybe five pounds of chocolates which was often added to by Cadbury workers when they got on the bus.

Sometimes other garages would have staff shortages and you would be loaned to them by the day, I did a number of turns out of Ringsend on routes to places I had never been to before. After this first year I rarely worked anything except the 29/29A (Raheny), 31 or 88. I worked the 51A Beaumont on Christmas Day 1966.

There were different TIM machines in use at different garages, the ones at Clontarf were very simple ones made by Plessey I believe, whereas those at Summerhill and some other garages had small windows with running totals, these machines were put in a cradle and the windows photographed at end of shift. The cashbag was supplied new and was very stiff and hard on the fingers, and the uniforms were made by a tailors who would offer to fit extra hidden pockets etc for a fee.

The Malahide route was unusual as you started in an urban area and about ten miles out from the city it was like stepping back years with people getting on (infrequently) with sacks of potatoes etc. and plonking them under the stairs, there were some lovely old characters. When free travel for pensioners was introduced claimants had only to show a pension book. At Donnycarney North sometimes about 0900 it was not unusual for 20 or more pensioners to board at once, some of them can hardly have been 40. On the Beaumont route there was an older lady who wore a Nazi badge on her coat; she had apparently worked for the German ambassador before or during the war.

The fare from Howth to City Centre was 2 shillings and sixpence and from Sutton 2 shillings. A conductor was obliged to give change for whatever note was tendered and no excuses would be entertained by inspectors for not issuing a ticket. I remember on one occasion being tendered £10 (which would be an average take home weekly wage) for a 2 shilling fare and having to go into a pub to change it.

I also did a spell on the Hill of Howth single-decker service (88) which carried very few passengers. It was very pleasant going up the hill in the summer. The messing arrangements were as far as I can remember to take a rest etc. in the signalbox at Sutton. Sometimes you would only take £1 or so on a complete shift. An overtime turn was to run specials from the dancehall at Portmarnock to the City centre in the early hours on Sundays.

I remember how busy it was at Easter 1966 for the 50th anniversary of the uprising. I was walking down Talbot Street in the early hours of the morning when Nelson got blown up. In 1968 I lodged with a family in Raheny called Brennan. (A bus driver from Clontarf who was nicknamed Wo - Wo because he would always hold the bus on the clutch and handbrake while revving the engine, making the bus creep even as people were getting on, it made for a long stressful day working with him.)

The R types were pleasant to work as they were relatively steady, but not RAs, R900s or Atlanteans as they seemed to lurch and roll more and as you would be walking through the bus or going up or down stairs with a bag and ticket machine you got bounced about sometimes.

CIE had a canteen behind Clery's store which was also well frequented by the Guards (police) who did traffic duty in the city centre. We would change crews in Abbey St. or Eden Quay etc. to go for meals. I remember an item on the news of an Atlantean apparently losing its steering and crashing into the steps of the Bank of Ireland. There was very little trouble back then from youths etc."

The Atlantean referred to above was D45 of Ringsend garage, which collided with the steps on March 5th 1968, and remained out of service for over a year. My thanks to Ben for sharing those memories with us.

As a postscript to Ben's picture, 47 years later (May 2013) preserved R788 was posed at the same location as R726, with driver Des Willis taking on the conductor's role. Photo copyright Kevin Horgan.

December 2010: Sean Foley of Castlebar, Co. Mayo e-mailed me to say:

"My father was a GNR/CIE bus driver based in Sligo. He started with the GNR in 1944 and retired from CIE in the 1960s. We lived in North Sligo (along the main Sligo Bundoran road between the villages of Grange and Cliffoney) and I want to give you a bit of an insight into a GNR bus registered ZA 2726 and how it ended up following its retirement. I was born in 1950, and when I was about 4 years old or so that bus made its last trip to our house. Pending its arrival we had two parallel walls built on which the bus was placed after the chassis was removed. On the day it arrived, quite a few men were there to help and they rolled the bus along the walls on rollers later, of course, removed. Insofar as I can recall, the chassis part was driven away but I may be wrong. I'm not so sure that we ever used the bus for much storage etc but I recall us and neighbouring children had wonderful times in it playing our games and running crazy up and down. Also, by the time it came to our house the seats were removed. The ceiling was made from tongued and grooved sheeted timber, painted white (but cream by the time we got it!) while the sliding windows were made on solid brass chronium plated. All the time we had it, ZA 2726 was to be seen on the back written inside a sheet of glass in white lettering against a black background."

This bus was a 1935 Leyland Lion, fleet number 305, withdrawn in 1953. Photo taken at the Foley house, copyright Robert Grieves. I then e-mailed the photo to Sean Foley, and in turn received this reply.