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The 45th anniversary of CIE's C class Leyland Leopards -- a photo tribute
Page last updated on March 7th 2010
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45 years ago, in April 1965, CIE put the first of their C class Leyland Leopards into service. Unlike previous designs of Irish single deck buses, these vehicles featured air suspension, semi-automatic transmission and forced air ventilation. Whereas older buses had been designed and built by the company in Spa Road works, the C class bodyframes were supplied in kit form by Metal Sections Ltd. of Oldbury, and then assembled and completed by CIE. By the end of 1965 a total of 146 of them had entered service, to be followed by a further 114 in 1966. The first 182 were completed as 45 seat buses, followed by eight 41 seat express coaches, after which the length was increased to 11 metres for a batch of 70 vehicles. 20 of these were fitted out as 40 seat touring coaches, 42 as 53 seater buses, and eight 45 seater express coaches. Later on five of the buses were redone for express work, and the tour coaches were converted to 53 seater buses in the early 1970s. In 1968 a further 20 tour coaches were planned, but only ten were built, bringing the final total to 270. A further six examples were placed in service during 1965 with the Ulster Transport Authority. The CIE buses were originally painted in red and cream (buses) or brown and cream (coaches), but later upwards of 80 of the short buses were in the tan livery used on Dublin City buses from 1974 to 1988. A change of front and rear roof domes, plus a lack of replacement fibreglass panels and curved rear corner windows increased the many variations in this class of buses during the 1970s. By the mid 1980s, a need for replacement school buses for rural services meant that several dozen of these Leopards were repainted yellow and white for this work. Others were added to the Dublin Bus driver training school. September 1997, when CS168 became the last known working example in Bus Eireann service, brought to an end over 32 years of continous service of the type. A large number of them were acquired by various preservationists, thus ensuring their memory lives on. To mark 45 years since their introduction, Classic Irish Buses website is running a year long photo feature on these buses, with a different photo appearing each Sunday.
January 3rd: Photo number 1 shows C188 parked on Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin in the late 1970s, by then a city vehicle but still in red and cream. Behind is what I think is ex Airport coach C71 in tan, and one of the 1959 Leyland PD3s (RA34) taking up the rear.
January 10th: Photo number 2 shows preserved C160 parked on the Seafront in Bray on April 1st 2002, while taking part in a commemorative run to mark 65 years of Dublin's double decker buses. C160 was subsequently fitted with leaf springs on its back axle, replacing the original air suspension. It was one of many C class with the revised aluminium front, but seems to be the only example with the grille upside down, all others having the grille with a curved base line. During the 1970s and 1980s there were around 80 C class painted in this livery, along with almost 800 Atlanteans, but today just one example of each survives in preservation. Photo copyright David O'Connor.`
January 17th: Photo number 3 shows express coach C260 at Limerick railway station while working the Cork to Galway service in the late 1960s. At the time it was one of a few C class to be allocated to Donegal, as evidenced by the garage name below the CIE logo on the front. Although it was reseated into B53F layout in the early 1970s and re-allocated to Sligo, it uniquely retained its brown and cream livery, right up until it was withdrawn from service in 1985. Following withdrawal, it was acquired by a preservation group to provide spare parts for sister bus C258.
January 24th: Photo number 4 shows former express coach C235 in its later guise of Lough Swilly's 138 at rest in that operator's premises in Pennyburn, Derry. It was one of two of its type (along with C259) with Lough Swilly, and they were later joined by three of the ex Ulsterbus version. These two C types were the only examples of the express version to retain their coach seats until withdrawal, and co-incidentally the two buses immediately preceeding these two (C234 and C258) both went into preservation.
January 31st: Photo number 5 shows brand new C58 on tour duties in Busaras in 1965, alongside two of the mid 1950s U class Leyland Royal Tigers. C58 was one of those buses cascaded to city routes in Dublin in the early 1970s following the introduction of the M class Leopards. It became a Clontarf bus, and as such was to see service on routes passing Busaras, such as the 27 group to Coolock/Artane and the 53 to North Wall. Royal Tiger ZO 6881 (U10) still exists, with the Transport Museum in Howth. Photo copyright David O'Connor.
February 7th: Photo number 6 shows C90 outside Busaras while working the Airport service. Donnybrook based C class buses had replaced blue and cream painted U class coaches on this route in 1965, the only regular working by D C S (now Dublin Bus) vehicles from Busaras. Subsequently C71 to C76 were fitted with coach seats for the Airport run, the route transferred to Summerhill garage, and continued as such until about 1980 when Plaxton Elite bodied Leopards took over these duties. C90 was one of 29 C class (C71 to C99) which were new to Dublin City routes, although some of them became rural schoolbuses in the 1980s. Photo copyright David O'Connor.
February 14th: Photo number 7 shows CS115 in Dundalk garage on 23rd May 1987. New in November 1965, it became a school bus 20 years later, and passed to Bus Eireann in February 1987. Withdrawn from service in March 1992, it was sold for scrap in December 1994. It was one of 14 C class buses to retain the original style roof domes, but has had its rear corner windows panelled over and the boot doors sealed shut with strips of aluminium. Earlier such conversions had the doors removed and replaced with sheet aluminium. Note that traces of red paint are visible on the rear where the tail lights have been replaced. Photo copyright Shane Conway.
February 21st: Photo number 8 shows Dublin Bus driver trainer C97 on a visit to Drogheda on 12th October 1989, at the ripe old age (for a working bus anyway) of 24. In 1968 a photo of this bus was included in the book "Dublin's Buses" while on a school run in the Dartry area of south Dublin. It was converted to a driver trainer in May 1984 and was to see almost ten years service in this role. It then passed to Bus Eireann in February 1994 and was repainted into its new owner's red and white livery. From 1996 to the present it has been in the hands of preservationists, although changing owners every few years, it has retained its final, unique, livery. Note the additional rear view mirrors fitted behind the cab/entrance area. Photo copyright Shane Conway.
February 28th: Photo number 9 shows C258 on Dublin's O'Connell Street on June 30th 1990, while taking part in the Dublin Bay rally. C258 was acquired for preservation by the West of Ireland Steam Railway Association's bus group in November 1985, making it the second of its type (after C17) to be preserved. In this view it is passing Dublin Bus Atlantean D667 (on route 16) and being followed by three Northern Ireland vehicles, Leyland PD3 815 EZ, Tiger GZ 7628 and AEC Reliance 6234 EZ. Most of C258's working life was in the Sligo and Ballina areas (although it has a destination blind from a Dundalk C in this shot), so visits of it to Dublin in the red and cream livery would have been rare in CIE days. A month after it was acquired by WISRA, sister bus C260 (already featured in this series) was bought as a source of spare parts. Subsequently C258 was sold on to a preservationist in Waterford, and later to its fourth owner in Co. Kildare. Photo copyright Shane Conway.
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