The Classic Manx Buses website

Isle of Man Road Services 1930 - 1976

Page last updated on 26th December 2011

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Online photos relating to a few of the vehicles on this page can be viewed by clicking on the underlined fleet/ registration numbers, in the fleetlists below. The ultimate aim would be to link to a photo of EVERY bus listed on this page. If your website has one or more photos of these vehicles, please email me and I'll include the link. Due to the recent demise of Fotopic our own collection is no longer available, but will hopefully re-appear in due course. Note that ALL photos which are linked from this page are strictly copyright; please respect this.

Public transport in the Isle of Man commenced in 1873 with the opening of the narrow gauge Isle of Man Railway with routes from Douglas to Port Erin and Peel. Three years later; an urban tramway opened for business in Douglas, and control of this passed to Douglas Corporation in 1902, following the liquidation of the operating company. The first buses on the island were a pair of Argus charabancs introduced in 1907 by the Manx Electric Railway, and these linked Bungalow (on the Snaefell Mountain Railway) with the company’s hotel and tea-rooms at Tholt-y-Will, followed by the first Douglas Corporation buses from 1914.

No stage services were to appear outside of Douglas until 1927, when a director of Cumberland Motor Services imported 12 buses to operate as Manxland Bus Services. Within a month, three other companies had also been registered and began competing with Manxland. These were Manx Motors Ltd., Farghers Omnibuses Ltd. and P. Richmond Ltd. Farghers was taken over by the Isle of Man Railway in 1928, and soon the fleetname "Isle of Man Road Services" began to appear on vehicles. In January 1929; the Railway bought out Manx Motors, followed by Manxland a month later. P. Richmond Ltd. also ceased trading around this time, this leaving most of the bus route network outside Douglas in the hands of the Railway, and Isle of Man Road Services Ltd. was set up in 1930.

Until 1939, buses used outside Douglas were restricted to 28 seats, this being revised to 34 in that year. In 1946 however, IoMRS purchased a Leyland Titan which was initially operated with most of the top deck seats roped off. Eventually sense prevailed, the restriction was removed, and a further 42 Titans were added to the fleet up till 1964. Several buses were renumbered in 1968, and the fleet name was also changed around this time, from "Isle of Man Road Services" to "Road Services". From photographs it seems that the renumbered buses had the fleetname with the fleet number placed below it, whereas the un-renumbered buses had the opposite arrangement. Small numbers of single deckers were also bought, including Leyland Tigers, Tiger Cubs, Royal Tigers, Leopards, and Bristol REs, and finally some Leyland Nationals.

In 1967, for the first time ever, second-hand buses were added, in the form of ex Aldershot and District Dennis Falcons, these replaced the last utility bodied Bedford OWBs, and were the only Dennis buses on the island for many years. 1967 also saw the company introducing a coach fleet in a grey and red livery, eventually totalling 16 vehicles, for use on tours and excursions. By 1971 this had been abandoned, and the operations and some vehicles passing to Tours (Isle of Man) Ltd. The early 1970s brought the realisation that the ageing PD2 Titans of the late 1940s and early 1950s were needing replacement. So the then General Manager, W.T. Lambden, acquired 15 forward entrance PD3s from Midland Red in 1972, followed by ten similarly equipped buses from Bournemouth in 1974, obviously preferring the mechanical familiarity and simplicity of the Titan, rather than buying new Atlanteans. Although double deck fleet replacement favoured used PD3s, new rear engined single deckers were bought too. The first four were Bristol REMH coaches in 1970/71, with a Leyland National arriving in 1974. Six more of these came in 1975, and a final batch of seven entered service in 1976.

These were to prove to be the final new Isle of Man Road Services buses, as on October 1st 1976 the fleet was merged with the yellow Corporation buses to become Isle of Man National Transport. This move, first suggested in 1966, brought an end to 46 years of IoMRS bus operation. The new company soon made changes to the fleet, livery, and vehicle replacement. One pleasing aspect of more recent years was the restoration of several former fleet members from both sources, and so the old liveries and fleetnames can still be seen.

Manxland Bus Services fleetlist

1927

1928

Manx Motors fleetlist

1927

1928

Isle of Man Railway fleetlist

1929

Isle of Man Road Services

Opening fleet, July 1930

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1956

1957

1958

1961

1964

1967

1968

1970

1971

1972

1974

1975

1976

Total fleet = 232 with 24 SURVIVORS

Introduction   Douglas Corporation   D C T photos   I o M R S   I o M Transport   I o M Coach operators   1996 Manx visit    Links    Email

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