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Irish Omnibus Company and Great Southern Railways


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Portraying the smart red and ivory livery of the GSR bus fleet are these photos of scale models built and painted by John Keenan of the Model Irish Buses website. The Titan represents number 804 of the first batch of deckers, new in 1931, while the single decker depicts number 736, a 1934 Leyland Lion LT6.

The Great Southern Railway was formed in 1924, by amalgamating the three largest railway companies in what was then known as the Irish Free State. These were the Dublin and South Eastern Railway (which incorporated the Dublin and Kingstown line – Ireland’s first railway, opened in 1834); the Great Southern and Western Railway, and the Midland Great Western Railway. The MGWR served the Dublin to Galway mainline, and additional routes to Counties Mayo and Sligo, the DSER ran from Dublin to Wexford, and the GSWR had the routes to Limerick, Cork and Kerry. In 1925, the GSR took over all remaining branch lines and light railways in the state, and thence changed its title to Great Southern Railways.

The very start of what was to become the GSR’s bus fleet actually predates the company itself by five years. In April 1919 Thomas Healy who owned the Black Lion public house in Clondalkin established the Clondalkin Motor Omnibus Company. The route provided was to link the then very rural village with the nearest DUTC tram route (21) which terminated in Inchicore, some three or four miles away. Meanwhile, the bus operations of John Wood and Sons Ltd. of Altrincham in Cheshire had been formed into Altrincham and District Motor Services in IN 1922. Upon the take-over of ADMS by North Western Road Car in January 1926, a Mr. F. T. Wood moved to Ireland and invested by buying out the Clondalkin M O C in November 1926. In December 1926, the Irish Omnibus Company was formed, again by Mr. Wood, and the IOC took over the CMOC route and six buses. From July 1927, the IOC began running services on contract to the GSR, with Mr. Wood remaining as a company director until around 1928 or 1929, when the Great Southern Railways gained a majority share of the IOC.

During 1927, other operators were taken over, with seven vehicles coming from Smith of Limerick, three from J.D. Furey of Dublin, four from Louth and Meath Omnibus Company, and two charabancs from Fingal. Two ex UK vehicles arrived as well, including a Leyland LG1 double decker which ran for seven years. 39 Leyland Lions were also bought new in that year as well, thus beginning a link between Leyland Motors (or Leyland Bus in later years) and Irish operators which was to last well over 60 years.

Further operators were acquired over the following few years, and more new buses placed in service, but apart from the LG1 mentioned above, these were all single deckers. A notable vehicle placed in service in 1928 was number 400, which was a one year old Leyland Tiger acquired from Catherwood’s in Belfast. 400 was in fact, the very first ever Leyland Tiger to leave the production line, the original of a very long-lived species of Leyland’s various family of big cats. It was withdrawn in 1940, sadly being way too early to ensure its survival into preservation.

In 1931, six Leyland Titans were bought to replace the last trams in Cork, the first batch of an eventual fleet of 34 Titans to be owned. Cork was the second Irish city to introduce Titans, Belfast having bought a half dozen the previous year. Various operators continued to be acquired, and new vehicles were supplied by Leyland. Apart from Tigers, the company also bought Lions, Badgers and Cubs, and a further eight Titans arrived in 1933. By the end of 1933 the Irish Omnibus Company was no more, becoming the GSR’s Omnibus Department from New Years Day in 1934, at which time the fleet stood at 116 vehicles.

Most of these, if not all, were petrol engined, and the GSR was to prove to be a slow convert to diesel powered buses. One of the 1934 Tigers was thus fitted, followed by four more Tigers and five Lions in 1935. Diesel powered buses continued to be bought thereafter, but in very small numbers. It should be recalled that the GSR’s railway business was also virtually all steam hauled, although a small number of battery powered railcars had been built in the 1930s.

A batch of 17 Tigers, which entered service in 1936 and 1937, were fitted with four- cylinder engines, the reason for this being unclear. Deliveries of new vehicles began to slow towards the end of the 1930s, and virtually ceased altogether in 1940. Even at this stage the company was still specifying petrol engines for its new deliveries of Lions and Tigers, although the last ten Titans in 1940 were diesels.

22 Leyland TS11 Tiger chassis were delivered to the GSR in 1942, but because of wartime shortages of materials, only three of them were bodied at that time. Conversely, the Dublin United Transport Company had stockpiled body parts, but then found themselves unable to get chassis to fit these to. So in 1944 four of these TS11s were acquired by the DUTC and used to construct four double deckers, with the remainder passing to the newly formed Coras Iompair Eireann in 1945 when the DUTC and the GSR were merged. A total of 305 buses and coaches were taken over by CIE from the GSR, of which just 29 were diesel powered. This over dependence on petrol engines meant that the ex GSR buses were ousted from the CIE fleet too early for the preservation movement to get their hands on any of them. So today’s enthusiasts have been denied the chance to ever see those fine vehicles in their red, black and ivory livery.


Fleet list

1926


1927


1928


1929

GSR Ambulance number 1 was a GSR bodied Leyland TS2, new to the Irish Omnibus Company in 1929 as bus number 419. It was converted in 1940, and is the only such conversion known to have been undertaken. Photographer unknown.


1930


1931


1932


1933


1934

The IOC had owned 335 buses, of which 116 were transferred to the Great Southern Railways in January 1934 – numbers 53/54/67/75/76, 116/44/66-68/70, 313/64, 400/03/06/08-21/25/26/29-45, 500-14, 600-12, 700-33, 800-13; ZI 7570.


1935


1936

Two of the GSR fleet of touring coaches, number 214 in front with a Queen Mary behind. The picture was taken outside Keenan’s Hotel in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow. This premises is now known as The Coach House, and dates back to the 1820s. Presumably the two uniformed gents in front of 214 are the coach drivers, and the view was probably taken sometime in the late 1930s. Photographer unknown.

Four of the GSR’s fleet of tour coaches followed the general 1930s trend of streamlining, and while the high set headlamps and full-width single windscreen provided a distinctive look, it can hardly have been very practical from the maintenance viewpoint. Forward vision for the passengers doesn’t seem to have been too high on the priority list either.... Photographer unknown.

Photographed in Patrick Street, Cork in the 1950s is the former 822, which was new in 1936. This batch of four vehicles were both the last GSR lowbridge buses, and the first deckers with diesel engines. Photo by Roy Marshall.


1937


1938


1939

CIE’s NP68 was new in 1939 as GSR 934, a Leyland Lion LT9 with GSR 32 seat bodywork. It was withdrawn in 1954, after a 15 year life. Photographer unknown.


1940


1942


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