36th Annual Irish Transport Trust Bus & Coach Show
Saturday 26th April 2008

One of the biggest events in the bus preservation calender is the Annual Irish Transport Trust Bus & Coach show, held on the grounds of the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, Holywood, Cultrá, Co. Down. Usually held on the last Saturday of April, this year was no exception.

This year we entered with another of our Leopards, 79 MN 522 aptly named 'Lucy'. We (somehow) managed to overhaul the bus in 3 months, which included a complete body respray, head gasket replacement, bodywork and the replacement of many parts. Feature on it's repaint here.

Below is a concise feature to give a taste of the days turnout of buses and coaches both new and preserved.

Above: Our first stop of the day was Dún Laoghaire, to pick up our first passenger of the day at 07:30. Lucy is pictured above at Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

Above: Our second and final pickup was Dublin City - outside Cleary's to pick up the remainder of our passengers travelling upto the show onboard with us.

Above: Our chairman and one of our drivers for the day, Stephen Payne behind the wheel of Lucy. One of the reasons we prefer to take coaches upto the show aside from Comfort, is the speed. Citybuses tend to be limited to 40MPH, and the run upto the show can put a terrible strain on the engine. Our other driver for the day was Stephen Lynch, who left Cork at 3am that morning to make it to Dublin for 7am!

Above: One of our traditions is to take a photo of the dash of the bus going under the Boyne Bridge - insitue are the obligatory furry dice!

Above: A much needed Breakfast stop was schedualed in Dundalk, we'd like to take the opportunity to thank Wendels Café, Dundalk for their hospitality and great food!

Above: The final stop before we went straight for the show was to convert our Euro for Sterling, and to check the Diesel situation - surprisingly, for an 11.1 litre engine it was very light on fuel!

Above: Made it there in one piece! Lucy received a warm welcome, being the only preserved Plaxton coach there, but not the only Leopard! The weather was dismal at the beginning but cleared after around 15 minutes of our arrival.

Above: The Transport Enthusiasts Club of Ireland, as usual had a varied and remarkably turned out attendance this year. Pictured above is ex-Bus Éireann CVH29, a former Schoolbus owned and preserved by Des Willis.

Above: Also belonging to Des Willis, is DAF engined DF839, build at Spa Road Works, Inchicore by VanHool-McArdle it was one of 238 Atlanteans built with this style of bodywork. Originally it would have had a Leyland 0.680 engine.

Above: Recently Withdrawn ex-Dublin Bus Donnybrook, RA255, which is presently awaiting conversion into Single-Door layout and a repaint out of Dublin Bus Corporate colours.

Above: The last numerically present Dublin Bus Tri-Axle Enviro 500, VT70, the latest batch (VT21-70) are very simular to the previous batch (VT1-20), with the exception of an Orange LED display in favour for the DMD display on previous Dublin Bus deliveries.

Above: An N.E.E.L.B. (North Eastern Education and Library Board) Ford Transit School Bus, and Enviro 400 bodied EV49, one of Dublin Bus' latest arrivals.

Above: A superb lineup of the infamous landmark Routemasters. (L-R) RM406, RML2453, RM2154 & RML2575.

Above: Arguably the show stopper of this year, Raymond Bell's superbly re-restored Belfast Corporation 346 Guy Arab III, with Harkness double deck bodywork, it was acquired in 1975 and given a complete restoration. 33 years later it was decided to re-restore it to it's present state.

Above: A MAN engined Wright Meridian destined for Whitelaw of Stonehouse, Lanarkshire

Above: Ulsterbus Wright lineup (L-R) 643,709, & 763

Above: Ulsterbus lineup continued, (L-R) Alexander 'Q' type 2651, and Wright Gemini 2299, Wright Schoolrun 209 & 339.

Above: Ulsterbus 'N' Type Tiger 1176 and Leopard 275

Above: Entering preservation on the day, Kells Transport Museum's ex-Citybus Garnder engined Tiger 2629, although it's a Citybus vehicle it wears the Ulsterbus guise!

Above: A8560, is an immaculate Leyland PS1 which has been in preservation for over 40 years.

Above: Munro's Iveco Daily, and ex-Education Board Albion Viking.

Above: Metro's 2212 & Mark Byrne's Bristol RE 2449

Above: Bobby & Richard Shannon's ex-Citybus 2481, owned by St. Malachy's Primary School, Belfast, it was acquired in 2007 when it was replaced by a former Ulsterbus Leyland Tiger.

Above: Jeffrey Thompson's Leopard 280, and the Irish Transport Trust's 339 (the last numerically Ulsterbus Leopard).

Above: Ex-Ulsterbus, former Western SMT 1886 is a 'Y' Type Leopard acquired by Ulsterbus in 1989 also pictured is Jim Poots Leopard 211.

Above: 4107 - Ulsterbus Antrim's Tow-car - originally ROI 107 it was converted into this format in 2000. Also pictured is Ciaran Connolly's 2444.

Above: Once a tow-car, Richard and Bobby Shannon's Bedford YLQ has undergone a substantial restoration to it's present condition.

Above: 1882 - Another tow-car owned by Richard and Bobby Shannon, this time in it's tow-car status.

Above: Ian Houston's Flexibus Mercedes minibus

Above: N.E.E.L.B. (North Eastern Education and Library Board) Iveco Daily and Mercedes 0813

Above: Richard and Bobby Shannon's Leyland Tiger 363

Above: Jeffrey Thompson's multi-award winning Leyland Leopard 235

Above: 'Work in Progress', Jeffrey Thompson's under restoration Leopard 274.

Above: Phill McAlinney's recently restored 129. It is one of the earliest surviving Ulsterbus Leopards.

Above: For the first time, we pariticipated in the road run around Co. Down. It was an enjoyable run along the coast, and the opportunity was seized to get photos when a spot was found!

Above: Towards the end of the show, awards were presented to vehicles and their owners.

Above: Lucy pictured shortly before departure from the show.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers of the event and to everyone involved in the running and attendance at the show, this year was a magnificent turnout and made for a great day out! We'd also like to thank our passengers for the day, and to thank them for their support!

Photos Copyright: Aaron Donohoe, & Stephen Lynch