22 thoughts on “Rattle And Hum”

  1. Bertie Theodore Alphege Blenkinsop

    Silly question but…. the traffic ran the opposite way down the quays then?

    1. Gah!

      It did. They switched in 1982. We used to get the bus to Chapelizod on Bachelor’s Walk when I was a kid.

  2. The Old Boy

    Leyland Titan PD3, getting on a bit by then. The traffic direction on the quays was reversed the following summer.

    1. Pip

      Spot on, Old Boy.
      I think my offering refers to its CIE classification, yours to its actual breed.

      1. Kevin Higgins

        Generally known as the RA s which replaced the old ‘R’s which required you to ‘double’ on the clutch.

      1. The Old Boy

        The quays had two-way traffic on both sides until 1966. The direction was reversed when the new Frank Sherwin bridge took motorists off King’s Bridge, in the expectation of an influx of traffic from the Chapelizod bypass which was still under construction. It would have been impossible to have the “inbound” left lane of the bypass filter onto the “inbound” south quays and the “outbound” traffic on the north quays get onto the “outbound” left lane of the bypass without the two lanes having to cross over each other from left to right and vise versa.

      2. Slightly Bemused

        Used be 2-way on each quay. I remember the ructions when they made it one way each quay, as it is now.
        I think I might have been on that very bus!

  3. Pip

    Tis an RA. Routemaster Automatic.
    Its sister, the R had a radiator thingy at the front, whereas the RA was kind of pigeon-breasted.
    Behind it is one of the new-fangled Leyland Atlanteans, the first generation of board at the front, engine at the back buses.

    1. goldenbrown

      that Leyland Atlantean….
      was that the one where its creaky top deck would yaw sideways when the bus took a corner if enough people were sitting down the back smoking?

      1. Pip

        Sounds like the one.
        Also somewhat underpowered. They re-engined some of them with DAF units in the late seventies.
        A much sought-after drive… the rocket ships.

      2. Kevin Higgins

        If you sat on the back seat you were generally gassed to death by diesel fumes.

        1. Pip

          That’s right. And the overheating.
          And stand up whoever thought that icky orangey colour was nice.
          The preceding blue and cream was gorgeous. Well, quite nice.
          So much has changed.

      1. Matt Pilates

        I was a CIE conductor on the Number 8 to Dalkey for nearly 25 years. Hardest job in the world, repelling those Blackrock College bowsies from jumping on and off out the back without paying.

          1. Pip

            Isn’t it bizarre that some of Dublin’s services are now provided by an outfit actually called Go Ahead?

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