The Classic Irish Buses website

A look back at Belfast Corporation’s buses

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Northern Ireland menu: Belfast Corporation   Citybus   Leyland   Lough Swilly   Lough Swilly photos   NIRTB 1935 - 39   NIRTB 1940 - 48             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 - 2006

Unlike Great Britain, Ireland saw very little activity by its local authorities in establishing passenger transport services, with just two exceptions. Derry Corporation bought five Albion PMA28 32 seater buses in 1928 to replace the city’s trams, but this operation was short-lived, as the buses and routes passed to H M S Catherwood in 1929. In 1926, Belfast Corporation (who already ran tram services) embarked on bus operation when six AEC 413s were bought new, followed by a pair of ADC 416s in 1928. A further 51 varied single deckers were taken over in 1928 from sixteen independent operators. This group of vehicles included 15 Leyland Lions, 12 Dennises, seven Albions, five Gilfords, five Reos, three Graham-Dodges, two Vulcans, one Renault, and a Laffley. Fleet numbering was a straight sequence starting from 1, and by the end of 1928 the numbers had reached 59.

Over the five years commencing in 1930, 29 double deck buses were bought. Again no one manufacturer was favoured, as the batch contained AEC Regents, Leyland Titans and Daimler CP6s. Thirty Dennis Lancets were also placed in service. During 1937 and 1938, 21 more deckers arrived, again triple sourced from AEC, Daimler and Leyland. Some of these had full fronts, and the three Titans featured torque converters. Greater things were to happen in 1938, when seven pairs of each model of trolleybus then available were purchased for tram replacement trials. These started another numbering series from 1 upwards. 88 AEC 664Ts and fourteen Sunbeam Ws were subsequently placed in service from 1941 to 1943, all bodied locally by Harkness Coachworks. A further 26 vehicles were not delivered because of wartime restrictions, their intended fleet numbers and registrations being issued in 1948.

Additional motor buses added to the fleet during the war years were 30 Bedford OWBs, seven Guy Arab deckers, 43 Daimler CWA6s plus 20 assorted Leyland and AEC single decks which were loaned during 1943. The first vehicles placed in service following the war were 40 Daimler CVA6s in 1946/47, and these were followed by replacements for the 26 Guy trolleybuses deferred since 1943. In 1950 the first of 70 Guy Arabs arrived, the initial 25 of these being single deckers. A solitary Leyland PD2 arrived on demonstration in 1951, one of only five Leylands bought post-war, and a further 48 BUT trolleybuses had commenced delivery in 1950 as well, this order being spread out until 1954. 98 Daimler CVG6s and a pair of CVD6s were bought between June 1952 and January 1954, the latter two having the only full width bonnets and concealed radiators in the entire fleet. They subsequently received Gardner engines.

In order to speed up the tramway replacement programme, the Corporation acquired 100 Daimler CWA6s from London Transport in 1953, as well as eleven Sunbeam trolleybuses from Wolverhampton in 1952. It seems that the London vehicles entered service as acquired, and after the trams finished in 1954, a programme of rebodying of these buses was carried out during 1955 and 1956. Being two axle vehicles, the ex Wolverhampton trolleybuses were never as popular as the longer native vehicles so their lives were short, the last being withdrawn in 1956. Around this time too, CIE had six Daimler CWA6 chassis from which the bodies had been transferred to new Leyland OPD2s, but the opportunity to acquire these was apparently not considered. Further data on the London history of the acquired Daimlers can be found on Ian Smith's website covering generations of London buses from 1930 onwards

Just one more trolleybus was bought, Sunbeam 246 in 1958, alongside an AEC Bridgemaster. An Atlantean followed in 1960, and a Dennis Loline in 1961. The object of these purchases was to determine future fleet replacement. With the ending of London Transport trolleybus services in 1962, other operators were to follow suit and decide to replace them with new diesel engined vehicles. Belfast was no exception and so the decision was taken to introduce Daimler Fleetlines, even though the type hadn’t been trialled. The initial body design for the Fleetlines was derived from the Alexander body on the 1960 Atlantean, and would be built in Belfast by MH Cars. A total of 151 Fleetlines and three Atlanteans were built for Belfast, with a further pair of identical Fleetlines going to Bournemouth in 1964. The last Fleetline, 703, had a restyled front end with curved windscreens on both decks and was displayed at the 1964 Earls Court Motor Show.

A further 30 Daimler Fleetlines entered service in 1967 and were followed by eighteen each of the Daimler Roadliner and AEC Swift, and finally 30 single deck Fleetlines. This mixed bag of 66 single deckers arrived in 1969 and 1970, while in between those dates, the last trolleybus ran in service in May 1968, marking the end of 30 years of electric powered buses in Ireland from a fleet second in size only to London Transport. A further batch of 50 double deck Fleetlines started arriving during 1970, these being 33 feet long buses seating 77 passengers in a dual door body (the first of only two batches of dual door deckers for Northern Ireland). Due to the combined effects of the civil unrest in Ulster, its destructive toll on the fleet, difficulties in maintaining services, and local government re-organisation, Belfast Corporation's Transport Department became Citybus Services, a sister company of Ulsterbus in April 1973. While this changeover was happening, delivery of a second batch of 20 long Fleetlines commenced in late 1972, with the final five not entering service until after the take-over.

Citybus took over an operational fleet of 350 buses from the Corporation, along with a further fourteen withdrawn half cabs which were quickly stripped for spares and then sold for scrap. Also taken over were twelve Fleetline chassis of which the bodywork had been destroyed in riots, and these were rebodied and returned to service, joining several examples which had also been similarly treated for BCT before the takeover. Citybus soon settled on the Bristol RE for its standard vehicle, and by 1984 when the last one entered service, the former Corporation fleet was largely extinct, except for some of the long Fleetlines. The last of these were withdrawn in 1989, with the sole exception of 2857 which spent the following five years on City Tour duties, before being restored to Belfast Corporation livery and being placed in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in 1995, some 69 years after those first AECs had entered service in Northern Ireland’s capital.......

Please note, in the lists below, trolleybuses entries are shown in italic font, and motorbuses are shown in normal font.

1926

1928

1930

1932

1934

1935

1937

1938

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953