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Great Northern Railway buses

Page last updated 1st December 2010.

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The history of the Great Northern Railway can be traced back to almost the dawn of Irish Railways, when in 1839, the Ulster Railway commenced the building of the Belfast to Dublin line at its northern end. By 1844 the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Company had completed its line from Dublin to Drogheda. In between those two was subsequently built the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway, oddly named in that it neither was a junction, nor did it serve either of the cities in its title. The final link was the bridging of the River Boyne at Drogheda, which occurred in 1855. The Irish North Western Railway operated a line from Dundalk to Enniskillen, while each company had branch lines to serve other towns in their areas, including Howth, Navan, Kells and Oldcastle (D&DR); Ardee (D&BJR); Bundoran, Cavan and Cootehill (INWR); Castlewellan, Newcastle and Banbridge (UR). A further line, from Portadown to Derry via Omagh was also laid, and this network was to form the Great Northern as and from April 1st 1876.

Diversification from steam hauled trains began in 1883, with a further branch being opened from the INWR line to serve Fintona in Co. Tyrone. This one mile line was serviced by a horse drawn double deck tram-car. A second tramway was opened in 1901, this time connecting Sutton and Howth stations on the Howth branch, but taking the scenic route around the Hill of Howth overlooking Dublin Bay. This used electric traction, thus giving the GNR a third form of motive power. These trams were designed to allow the open top deck to be easily dismantled, so that they could be towed to and from Dundalk Works along the main line when overhaul was required.

Towards the end of the 1920s, the GNR’s thoughts turned to the internal combustion engine, both for rail and road applications. Initially the railcars were built for the narrow gauge County Donegal Railways, and then later for the GNR themselves. A new livery of Oxford blue and cream was adopted for the bus fleet and railcars, this being applied also to the horse tram and most of the Howth fleet. Other rolling stock was painted in varnished teak, with steam locos being painted a lighter shade of blue to the road fleet.

On January 28th 1929, the first GNR bus service commenced between Drogheda Railway Station and West Street in the town centre. Three Leyland Lions were acquired for the service.

Being a railway company at heart, there were no bus drivers employed, instead the job title was "motorman". A total of nine other bus companies were taken over by the GNR in the same year, and along with purchases of new buses, the fleet rose to 64 by the end of the year. The following year saw a further 42 buses enter service, of which 16 were second-hand. The other 26 were Leyland Tigers and Lions, many of which remained in service until after World War 2.

In the following few years, the fleet expansion followed much the same pattern, with a notable exception being the purchase of six Leylands from Ribble Motor Services in 1931, the first and only time that used buses were imported by the company. The formation of the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board in 1935 involved the take-over of all the GNR’s bus services north of the border (except for cross border routes) and 50 buses as well. With this in mind, the GNR took the opportunity to transfer older or non-standard buses into Northern Ireland, and thus retain a more standardised fleet of Leylands and AECs. Because the company still had its rail network intact, it thereafter registered one bus from each general batch in Belfast, the others being done in either Dundalk or Dublin.

1937 was a turning point in the story, as that year saw two important developments. Two AEC Regent double deckers were placed in service on the Dublin to Howth route, and 21 new single deckers were designed and built in Dundalk. Just about the only major component to be sourced from outside the GNR was the rugged Gardner 5LW diesel engine, and an eventual total of 96 such buses were produced from 1937 to 1952. In the "make do and mend" practises of the GNR bus era, nine of the 1941 batch were rebodied in 1949/50, with their old bodies then being re-used to rebody some of the 1937 batch. One bus, 327, also received a chassis rebuild at the same time, and thus got a new chassis number and registration. The GNR-Gardner chassis numbers showed the date new and fleet number, a very ingenious system.

Four more Regents were added in 1938, along with a further 19 GNR-Gardners, followed by 13 more in 1941. No further new buses were bought until the arrival of another Regent in 1946, followed by three more deckers and 13 Gardners in 1947. 1948 saw the largest ever influx of new buses, comprising three Gardners, 30 AEC Regal IIIs, and 17 more Regents. At this point it was felt that some rural routes had a requirement for double-deckers, so within a few years some at least were fitted with platform doors. They appeared on routes such as Drogheda to Clogher; Drogheda to Laytown, Dundalk to Newry and one was also scheduled for the Sligo to Ballyshannon service. These moves brought the rare sight of double deck buses working scheduled services across international land borders. Of the few companies worldwide who did such a thing, two were in Ireland, Lough Swilly being the other one.

The following years saw a gradual decline in the company’s fortunes. The 50 new buses of 1948 was never to be repeated, with the final 27 Gardners being built over the following four years, plus four Leyland Royal Tigers arrived in 1952. 1953 saw the company being replaced by the Great Northern Railway Board, with five representatives from each of the Dublin and Belfast governments. 20 AEC railcars had entered service in -/50, followed by 24 further examples in 1957. Various other lightly used rail services were being operated by adapted ex road buses.

A further dozen Regents entered service in 1953, and the last new vehicles were the 33 AEC Regal IV buses and coaches delivered from 1954 to 1956. A fire in Dundalk works in September 1955 claimed a pair of two year old Regents, amongst other vehicles, and in 1956 five ex CIE Leyland Titans were acquired and placed in service, with a sixth bus acquired for spare parts.

September 30th 1958 was the last day of the GNR as a separate entity. The entire road fleet passed to CIE, along with the surviving rail network in the Republic. Curiously, both the last bus and train to leave Dublin on the last night of the GNR had become the property of CIE before their journeys were completed! The rest of the system was taken over by the Ulster Transport Authority. It took several more years before the GNR fleet was to finally disappear, by then of course repainted into its new owner’s colours. At least some of the Dundalk based Regents (and maybe other buses and garages too) were repainted into CIE’s two tone green, but the colours were applied in the same layout as the blue and cream had been, rather than the standard CIE style. Apart from the surviving buses detailed below, several examples of their railway vehicles also were preserved, including four of the Howth trams, one of which is in the Crich Tramway Museum and another in the United States.

Fleet list

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1941

1945

1946

1947

1948

One of 30 Park Royal bodied AEC Regal IIIs bought new in 1948; these 39 seaters were the largest capacity s/d buses in the GNR until 1952 when the Royal Tigers arrived. Most of these Regals had the cut back canopy over the nearside front, which must have made rear view vision a bit difficult to say the least. (Photo by R.H.G. Simpson.)

Preserved Regent 438 seen returning from the ITT rally in 1987, at the customs post between Dundalk and Newry. This bus spent most of its life on the service between those two towns, only the "Dublin" destination display and the Nissan Sunny car behind the bus belying the fact that the photo wasn’t taken in the 1950s! The customs station was subsequently closed and demolished when EU border restrictions were eased.

1949

1950

1951

1952

225 was one of the four Saunders Roe bodied Royal Tigers, new in -/52 and passing to CIE in -/58. These were the only centre entrance buses ever in the GNR or CIE fleets. (Photo by R.H.G.Simpson)

GNR-Gardner 399 dates from 1952 and was among the last new half-cab buses placed in service by the GNR. Both body and chassis were produced by the operator, and these dependable buses gave the company excellent service from 1937 onwards. (Photo by Robert Grieves.)

1953

Great Northern Regent 303 is seen in the company's Dublin garage at Abercorn Road, which is off Sheriff Street in Dublin 1. Photo by R.Grieves.

1954

Seen in the County Sligo village of Grange is Regal IV number 271. It was the only one of the type to be registered in Belfast; the other 32 were done in either Dundalk or Dublin. The bus retains GNR livery and its rear entrance, but the picture may date from after the take-over by CIE. (Photo by Robert Grieves.)

1955

Seen on a wet day in Dundalk in the early to mid 1960s is CIE’s AU338. The entrance has been shifted to the front end, but the side destination has been left in its original position. Photo by Alastair Douglas.

1956

Total fleet owned = 462 with 10 survivors.

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