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Coras Iompair Eireann 1962 to 1966

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Having placed 380 double deckers in service from 1956 to 1961, CIE’s bus building works were to return to producing single deck buses and coaches for the first half of the 1960s. 26 Leyland Leopard L2 chassis had already been bodied as 45 seater buses and placed in service from August 1961 onwards. At the beginning of 1962, the total single deck fleet stood at 564, of which just the 26 Leopards were suitable for the incoming concept of one man operation. Apart from the E class, the newest single deck bus dated from 1956, and the oldest one from 1941. There was also, at this time, increasing pressure being placed on the rural bus fleet due to the number of uneconomic railway branch lines being closed, and the need to provide replacement road transport services. Clearly therefore a programme of fleet renewal was needed for the single deckers, and a further 144 L2s were bodied at Spa Road works in 1962, 1963 and 1964. Entry into service of the final pair took place in January 1965.

As with all earlier CIE s/d buses built since 1948, roof mounted luggage carriers and rear access ladders were fitted. An unusual modification had to be made to the design from E51 onwards, when it was realised that the ladder caused the bus to exceed the legal length in Northern Ireland by a few inches. The nearside rear window was reduced in width and the ladder could then be recessed into the bodywork slightly. However, this alteration is also attributed to conductors accidentally kicking, and breaking, the window while climbing up or down the ladder. Another change was to the emergency exit, which originally was hinged to the back pillar of the bus and opened rearwards. Possibly on safety grounds these were all changed to open in the opposite direction in later years. Finally with the advent of one man operation the manually operated folding doors on the early buses were later replaced by the air operated two leaf doors which became standard on front entrance buses.

Interspersed with these were 36 luxury 40 seater touring coaches, to replace the ten year old Royal Tigers of the mid 1950s. These new coaches comprised 13 Leopards of the PSU3/4R variety, and 23 Leyland Worldmasters. The unique bodywork on them was designed by David Ogle and Associates and the first one entered service in 1962. A further dozen were available for the 1963 season, and the rest appeared in early 1964. Unfortunately the bodies were all steel framed and panelled, and the extra weight that this imposed was to be their downfall. During 1970 and 1971 all 36 were scrapped, and the chassis sent to Van Hool in Belgium for rebodying.

The increasing numbers of E class buses entering service allowed the company to scrap many of the P class Leyland Tigers dating from 1948 to 1953, none of which were suitable for driver only operation. A shortage of double deckers was relieved by using mechanical components from these vehicles as part of new Leyland Titans, for which the bodywork was supplied in kit form from Park Royal, and was assembled in the former GNR works in Dundalk. These 26 buses were designated Leyland PD3A/6, the only such examples ever made. The pressure was eased further by converting the six Airport coaches into standard rear platform buses, their role being taken over by six U class coaches.

Three further interesting buses saw CIE service during 1964, when Bolton, Liverpool and Glasgow Corporation’s transport departments loaned one bus each to CIE for six months for service trials in Dublin and efCork. In each case the chassis was the Leyland Atlantean, but each with different body designs. Experience from these three vehicles was assessed in detail prior to the building of the next generation of Irish double deckers, from late 1966 onwards. In the meantime, Spa Road readied itself by starting to produce the second large group of Leopards, the C class, from 1965 onwards. For these the bodies were supplied in kit form by Metal Sections of Oldbury, and were assembled and furnished in Dublin. The same technique would be used in all future generations of CIE buses, up to the late 1970s.

A total of 146 C class buses entered service in 1965, and a further 114 arrived in 1966. Some of these were fitted out as 40 seater tour coaches, others as 45 seater express coaches, with the majority being either 45 seat or 53 seat service buses. November 1966 saw the entry into service of CIE’s first D class Atlantean, when D4 slipped into service on Dublin’s route 19 on 29th November. A further seven examples were in service by Christmas.

Note: Photos relating to the vehicles on this page can be viewed at these links:

CIE Tiger, Titan, Regent and Regal photos.

CIE Leopard, Atlantean and Bedford photos.

Further contributions are of course welcome, as are any corrections to the data below.

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

C201 to C220 were all reseated to B55F and fitted with power doors and destination boxes by 1973.

C231 to C235 were all reseated to C45F in 1968, with C231 to C234 later becoming B55F.

C253 to C258 and C260 were all reseated to B55F in the early 1970s.

Total fleet = 477 (474 new vehicles and 3 demonstrators) with 35 survivors (C17, C26, C42, C45, C64, C83, C97, C144, C145, C149, C154, C155, C160, C168, C170, C173, C176, C177, C205, C215, C231, C234, C258, E58, E67, E93, E106, E140, E152, E170, R911, R913, R920, WVH 13 and WVH22).

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