Wheeling In The Years 1988

DUBLIN’S 1000th Birthday, 988-1988 – The Millennium Year

Click on any picture for a full-size version.

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Picture 1 – January 1988 This was the official Dublin Millennium logo. A simplified version was applied to just below the window line on both sides of most of the Dublin Bus fleet. Buses in tan livery and AOA’s (All Over Advertisement) had the logo affixed to the window glass. Very large-scale versions were affixed to the front of the Dublin Airport terminal and Clery's department store on O’Connell Street. Some Aer Lingus aircraft had the logo applied externally beside the front passenger door. Examples of all of the above appear throughout this year 1988 photo feature.

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Picture 2 – January 1988 Donnybrook’s DF785 seen here on Saturday, 2nd January 1988, heading southbound to Clonskea on route 11 on its second day in service in the then new Denny – ‘Happy 1000th Birthday Dublin’ AOA (All Over Advertisement) livery. This AOA for Denny was subsequently updated in April 1989 when the ‘Happy Birthday Dublin’ message was revised to read ‘Denny - The Art of Good Food for over 160 Years’. In September 1990 the bus was painted into the Dublin Bus green livery. In later years, DF785 moved from Donnybrook to Ringsend and had the honour of being the last Ringsend service operated Vanhool D completing its final journey on the 15B route on Saturday, 22 April 1995 ousted from service by the delivery of Ringsend’s RA195-215 batch. Notice the private cars in the picture have the old style registration number plates; these would have been combined with red luminous plates on the rear. The highly acclaimed new style year and county registration system (e.g. 87-D-*) with white plates front and rear had been introduced exactly 12 months earlier in January 1987. The addition of the Euro/IRL flag plus the Irish name of the issuing county across the top of number plate was introduced in January 1991. The picture also illustrates the lack of The Spire, the Tallaght–Connolly Luas line and BHS (British Home Stores) was trading where Penneys is today.

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Picture 3 – January 1988 Donnybrook’s D378 was converted into an open top. Its exterior was beautifully hand painted to commemorate Dublin’s Millennium year and bore the legend ‘Dublin Bus Remembers’ ‘988-1988 - The Rare Ould Times’. The exterior artwork illustrated various modes of transport from the past. The interior was superbly finished in wood panelling and carpeting - and in addition, the bus was re-registered from 378-IK to 88-D-988.

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Picture 4 – February 1988 Summerhill’s KD83 on the 41 and KC118 on the Busárus-Airport service in then recently applied AOA for Aer Lingus. Notice the Dublin Millennium logo and flags attached to the terminal building and observe how quiet the terminal arrivals area was on this February 1988 day, the airport handling a much smaller volume when compared to the 22m + passenger throughput two decades later.

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Picture 5 – February 1988 A view of the apron at Dublin Airport with Pier B to the left of picture. The Aer Lingus and Commuter fleet at the time comprised Fokker 50, Shorts 360, Bae 1-11, Boeing 737-200 & 300 and Boeing 747-100. Ryanair had a small but growing fleet comprising ATR42 and BAe 1-11 aircraft types. Airbus products available at the time were the A300 and the A310, the A320 would appear on the market during 1988, it would some time before the Airbus family would broaden to include the A318, A319, A330 and A340 and the A380 first flown in 2007. Notice in the background that runway 28/10 had not been built at this time.

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Picture 6 – February 1988 KE40 in Expressway red/orange livery about to pick up passengers in Busarus bound for Limerick followed by Clontarf’s D636 on route 30 in February 1988. KE22-51 were built and liveried as CIÉ tour coaches hence the lack of destination display on KE40. Notice the lack of Tallaght-Connolly Luas line; it would be 2003 before the laying of track bed and tracks appeared in the Abbey Street/Busarus area.

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Picture 7 – February 1988 Phibsboro’s DF527 on the 22 passing a parked D376 on Parnell Square in February 1988. D376 was especially well looked after by Phibsboro Garage and was in fact the only IK-registered Atlantean painted into Dublin Bus green. It participated in the 1989 Dublin Bay Rally having been just freshly painted into the green livery and also subsequent years 1990-1992 rallies. It was also a participant at the April 1990 Carrickfergus/Bangor Rally complete with Leyland wheel trims/rear hub caps. In July 1994 it was painted into the early 1970s style navy/cream CIÉ livery complete with old CIÉ logos and ‘Dublin Sightseeing Tours’ script on its exterior and was tasked on ‘The Grand Tour’.

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Picture 8 – February 1988 Donnybrook’s D724 (ex Cork) in February 1988 with vinyl coverings produced by ‘Scanachrome’ which covered side and rear exterior panels acting as an AOA for CIÉ Outdoor Advertising. This vinyl advertising concept/medium was so many years ahead of its time; it would be March 1997 before this medium appeared again - this time much more successfully for the 98FM super-rear advert campaign as applied to Donnybrook’s RH146 and Phibsboro’s RH163.

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Picture 9 – April 1988 In late 1987 early 1988 Donnybrook had received D721, 724, 725, 726 then 14 year old tan liveried ex-Cork Vanhool Ds which after much care and attention by the Donnybrook maintenance team were turned out in absolutely pristine condition as evidenced by this April 1988 picture of D721.

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Picture 10 – May 1988 Conyngham Road’s DF812 and DF802 parked up in the garage between Inter-Station duties. At the time, the Heuston Station-Connolly Station route had been allocated the 90 route number but the number scrolls were not updated to reflect this fact hence the blank route number display. Notice the advertisement on the side of DF812 for Millennium Radio, an official radio station specially set up for Dublin’s Millennium year which broadcast on the very appropriate 88FM frequency from a studio in the GPO mall, Henry Street. During 1988 the station was very popular with Dublin listeners and was the lead into a new era of radio broadcasting, new Dublin radio stations such as 98FM, FM104 (which started as Capital Radio, then Rock 104), and the new national station Century Radio (now Today FM) were in the process of being set up at this time and did in fact commence broadcasting during 1989.

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Picture 11 – May 1988 Conyngham Road’s towcar in 1988 was 1950 Leyland Tiger P193 (ZJ 5933), 38 years old at the time of the photograph complete with Dublin Millennium logo. Ringsend Garage had cut down 1958 Leyland Titan, R819 was still in service as their towcar around this time.

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Picture 12 – June 1988 Dún Laoghaire ferryport - and London's Finchley Garage showbus standard AEC Routemaster, RML903 has emerged from Sealink Car Ferry, St. Columba having just arrived from Holyhead. Gary Manahan’s R686 was at the port gate to meet the Routemaster and escort it around Dublin city and the following day both buses participated in the 1988 Dublin Bay Rally. On Friday 21 October 2005, a freshly repainted RML903 took part in the last day of Routemaster operations on route 13 (Aldwych-Finchley). Also in the picture observe the Renault 5, Ford Escort Mark II, Mercedes 200, Lada Riva and Opel Manta plus the then very advanced looking Citroen BX.

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Picture 13 – June 1988 After the short trip in from Dún Laoghaire, RML903 parks up outside the GPO on O’Connell Street, as Summerhill’s Vanhool D624 passes by.

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Picture 14 – June 1988 KR11, participating in the 1988 Dublin Bay Rally heads northbound over O’Connell Street Bridge. Some other participants at the rally were KD269, DF433, E7, E14, C258, RA30, RA35, RA37, RA73, R686, R827, R913 and P284, plus buses from Northern Ireland and various fire engines. KR11 was one of a batch of six vehicles (KR 9-14) ex-Limerick sent to Dublin for use on planned changes to the north Wicklow routes. All were painted into Dublin Bus green livery but sadly the route changes did not materialise as envisaged and all buses were repainted into Bus Éireann red/white livery by December 1988 and were returned to the Bus Éireann fleet.

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Picture 15 – June 1988 The Irish soccer team return home from the 1988 European Championships in Germany to an incredible reception. Ireland beat England and drew with the Soviet Union, but Holland sent Ireland out of the competition. Donnybrook Garage supplied the buses for the open topped bus cavalcade up and down O’Connell Street. DF433 recently open topped (tree lopper) was the lead bus used by the media, followed by D360 which carried Ireland Manager, Jack Charlton and Irish team players and FAI officials, The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Carmencita Hederman and Government ministers, including Brian Lenihan Snr and Dublin City Manager, Frank Feely.

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Picture 16 – July 1988 Bus Éireann’s recently delivered TE1, registered 88-D-19001, turns right from Burgh Quay onto O’Connell Bridge. This Leyland Tiger with Alexander bodywork was one of a batch of 20 delivered in 1988, a further 20 were delivered in 1989. With the delivery of the TE class came a new Expressway livery as illustrated in photo, this was applied to most Bus Éireann expressway buses over the next year or two only to be superseded once again by the highly acclaimed and rather successful red stripes livery as first applied in early 1990 to 1984 vintage ex UK Plaxtons (PL51-PL53) and then to the new build Plaxton DAF, PD class, deliveries commencing in 1990. Newly delivered PD 7 attended the Bangor/Carrickfergus rally in April 1990 in the new red stripe livery.

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Picture 17 – August 1988 In August 1988, Phibsboro’s KD348 was the first KD to receive an AOA. A month later Donnybrook’s DF617 received the same treatment and entered service as such in September 1988. In July 1990, KD348 was painted out of PMPA and into an AOA for Lee Cooper, and a replacement PMPA AOA was applied to Phibsboro’s KD203 which debuted in the Dublin Bay Rally in June 1990. In July 1990 Donnybrook’s DF617 was painted into Dublin Bus green livery and KD32 received the replacement AOA for PMPA.

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Picture 18 – August 1988 Bus Éireann's EVH6, a Van Hool Alizee T815 (then two years old) crossing over from Burgh Quay to Aston Quay. EVH6 was one of a batch of 15 delivered in 1986 in CIÉ Expressway red/orange livery as illustrated in the picture. In the background can be seen Conyngham Road’s KC1 followed by Bus Éireann’s KE1; all that was required to complete the trio was Donnybrook’s KD1 stopped on O’Connell Bridge on the 8 to Dalkey and the photographer standing on the Westmoreland Street traffic island!

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Picture 19 – September 1988 Donnybrook’s D757 southbound on O’Connell Street on route 11 to Clonskea in Philips Compact Disc AOA. Notice the conductor! At the time, one person operation (OPO) was gaining momentum with the high profile 46A route converted to OPO in June 1987. D757 lost its Philips Compact Disc AOA in December 1988, was repainted into Dublin Bus green livery and re-entered service as such in January 1989. It stayed in service at Donnybrook until summer 1994 ousted by the delivery of the RA176-plus batch. At the start of 1988 (excluding D378 - Millennium AOA) there were only 4 AOAs on the Dublin Streets, all based in Donnybrook for the high visibility and busy cross city 11 and 13 routes; these were D756 for Philips Philishave, D757 Philips Compact Disc, DF780 Manhattan Peanuts and Popcorn, and DF785 Denny. By the end of 1988, many more AOAs had appeared, Summerhill’s Airport KCs in Aer Lingus livery, Donnybrook’s recently arrived ex-Cork KC168 in Dulux livery, KD348 and DF617 in PMPA livery, KD345 and KD353 for Coca Cola. In December 1988 D756 lost its Philishave AOA to become the very short duration 'Santa Bus'. Open top DF450 was painted into 7-Up livery for Sea Breeze tour plus the various special schemes that adorned open top D360.

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Picture 20 – August 1988 Donnybrook’s DF780 in Manhattan Peanuts and Popcorn AOA livery. The photo was taken at the 11 terminus on Bird Avenue, Clonskea in August 1988. This was always a hot spot for AOAs as Donnybrook tended to put advert buses at the behest of the advertisers on this high profile/high visibility cross city route Clonskea to Griffith Avenue/Wadelai Park. Phibsboro’s KD346 received a similar Manhattan AOA in the early 1990s.

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Picture 21 – September 1988 Donnybrook’s DF450 (ex Summerhill) in 7-Up livery on the Sea Breeze tour with open top D413 parked up outside Dublin Bus HQ. These were the earliest days of Dublin open top city tours and sight of such buses on the move festooned with camera wielding tourists were quite a curiosity to Dubliners at the time. Notice the Renault 4 and Ford Fiesta with pre-1987 style registration numbers and the new 1987 style registration number on the 88-D registered Nissan Bluebird behind the R4. DF450 was ousted from tour duties as a result of the arrival of newly converted Vanhool D open tops so it departed its adopted Donnybrook home receiving its roof once again before returning to its original home garage of Summerhill. From here, it took up duties on the very popular ‘Ghost Bus Tour’ which it still does to this day in a back up capacity to the ‘new’ Ghost Bus, Leyland Olympian, RH31 (ex Phibsboro).

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Picture 22 – September 1988 Donnybrook’s DF617 on route 13's Palmerston Park terminus on its first day in PMPA Telecover AOA livery.

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Picture 23 – October 1988 Donnybrook’s KC168 in Dulux AOA livery. This bus transferred from Cork to Donnybrook in this livery in October 1988, it lasted as an AOA until March 1990. This particular picture was taken on the Clontarf Road in February 1989 when KC168 took part in a CAN (Commuter Advertising Network) promotional video which included 3 Coca Cola AOAs (KDs 186, 345 and 353), Blood Donor (D756), PMPA (DF617 and KD348), Aer Lingus (KC118) and two KDs in standard green livery.

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Picture 24 – November 1988 Leyland Olympian Demonstrator, F-817-URN was classified as LD1 for the duration of its trial with Dublin Bus. In this picture we see LD1 loading up on route 46A at College Green while Conyngham Road’s DF805 passes by on the 78B. After its trial period in Dublin the bus returned to the UK becoming part of the Southern Vectis fleet in Southampton.

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Picture 25 – November 1988 A replica Viking longship ‘Dyflin’ was moored on the Liffey at O’Connell Bridge as part of the celebrations of Dublin’s 1,000 birthday illustrating the cultural links the Vikings had brought to Dublin 1,000 years previously. In the photograph an Expressway liveried M (most likely a Galway based M complete with curtains and wheel trims) can be seen on Bachelors Walk and a standard D Atlantean in recently applied Dublin Bus livery is heading northbound on O’Connell Bridge. Also visible in the picture: smog! This was a regular occurrence in winter months in Dublin and other large Irish cities. The then Minister for the Environment introduced a ban on the burning of smoky coal leading to the mandatory use of smokeless coal for domestic open fires when combined with the roll out of natural gas availability. This natural gas was sourced from the Kinsale, Co Cork gas field and as a consequence the air quality in urban areas improved dramatically.

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Picture 26 – November 1988 A view of O’Connell Street in November 1988. Phibsboro Atlantean D572 (ex Cork) followed by a KD are on the 22 with two further KDs visible in the background. Notice the Millennium official logo affixed to the front of Clery's with yet to be decorated Christmas trees in readiness for that year's festive season.

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Picture 27 – November 1988 In September 1988, MCW Metrobus, F-181-YDA was delivered to Dublin Bus for evaluation first entering service on Donnybrook’s 46A route, being classified as MD1 for the duration of the trial. By November 1988, the MCW had moved to Summerhill and is seen here at the 54A terminus on Burgh Quay. At this stage an ‘Eyecatching Advertising – CIÉ Outdoor Advertising’ advert had been applied, this advert was an extract of the full wrap AOA as applied to Donnybrook’s D724 as illustrated earlier.

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Picture 28 – November 1988 Donnybrook’s KD353 on its first day in service in Coca Cola AOA livery at the route 8 Dalkey terminus. This was the second KD to receive an AOA, the first being Phibsboro’s KD348 for PMPA Telecover.

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Picture 29 – December 1988 Originally delivered new to Ringsend, DF602 was transferred to Phibsboro where it was painted into Dublin Bus green in April 1988. Later on that year it was transferred to Donnybrook and is seen here with D603 in December 1988. DF602 stayed with Donnybrook until its withdrawal around April 1991 as a result of the delivery of the Donnybrook’s batch of new RHs, 84-93 . D603 was originally delivered new to Clontarf and was later transferred to Ringsend Garage. During its time there it was involved in a traffic accident, and was subsequently withdrawn from service. She was stored in Broadstone from mid-1986 until a decision was made that it should be repaired. It was substantially repaired before delivery to Donnybrook in December 1987 where final repairs and repainting from tan into green took place. It entered service at Donnybrook during the first quarter of 1988. In June 1991, D603 was beautifully turned out by Donnybrook for its participation in the 1991 Dublin Bay Rally. In August 1992, D603 joined the Dublin city tour fleet as a covered top city tour bus receiving a DAF engine in the process thus becoming DF603. Notice the unique headlight arrangement of D603 when compared to the normal headlight arrangement of the Vanhool in the background.

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Picture 30 - December 1988 Delivery of the second batch of MCWs arrived in Donnybrook in December 1988 as MB6-11. These MCWs were on a longer wheelbase with a seating capacity of 29 - up from 23 seats as available on 1987 delivered MB1-5. Interestingly, this 1988 delivery was most unusual for CIE/Dublin Bus in that their registration numbers bore no relationship to their fleet numbers, e.g. MB11 was 88-D-31237. Delivery of MB 12-15 corrected the situation with registrations 89-D-12 to 15 used.

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Picture 31 - December 1988 Donnybrook’s D551 (ex Cork) with experimental advertisement frames. At the time, advertisements were applied by billposter craftsmen and generally the advertisements stayed in situ for many months unlike today where they are changed on a very frequent basis. By February 1989 the changeover to advert frames had commenced fleet wide (with the exception of the standard D Atlantean class) with conversions completed by the summer of 1988.

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Picture 32 - December 1988 Phibsboro’s KD345 on its first day in service in Coca Cola AOA livery at the Mulhuddart terminus of the 38A. The AOA applied with the text ‘You cant beat the feeling’ was identical to the yet to be completed Cork-based KD186 but differed to Donnybrook’s KD353 which had text of ‘Coca Cola is it’ in a block capital typeface. This revised text/typeface was applied to KD 353 in January 1989. During 1990, additional Coca Cola AOA’s were applied to Bus Éireann KRs, Dundalk-based KR162/163 and Galway’s KR61.

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Pictures 33 and 34 - December 1988 In November 1988, Donnybrook’s D756 then in Philips Philishave AOA livery was withdrawn from service. Its AOA was stripped and replaced with a very short-lived Santa Bus livery. Although simple, it was eye-catching with red bumpers, red wheel rims ... and the driver also joined in the festive occasion by wearing tall hat and tails! While in the Santa Bus livery, the bus acted as a shuttle between O’Connell Street and Dublin Zoo for the month of December 1988. Inside the interior tube lighting shades had coloured Christmas lights applied, these can be seen in the nearside photograph. By 21/01/89, D756 had become the ‘Blood Donor’ AOA lasting in until mid-1992 when it was painted into green livery.

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Picture 35 - Christmas 1988 D756 in Santa Bus livery with Christmas-themed D360 and D378 in the background.

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Picture 36 Front and back cover of 1987 Dublin Bus Timetable valid May 1987 with prototype Dublin Bus logo, which, in the end, was not adopted.

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Picture 37 Front and back cover of 1988 Dublin Bus Timetable valid May 1988 with Dublin Bus logo, the design of which was adopted.

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Picture 38 This is what a one-day bus ticket looked like. The ticket holder had to write their name and scratch off the relevant panels to validate - compare this to the ease of today’s Wayfarer ticket validators.

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Picture 39 A 'One-Person-Operation' advisory leaflet to the travelling public.

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We hope you enjoyed this look back at 1988!
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