Photo of the Week - Week 45:
Donnybrook's AX640 is seen in Shanganagh Cliffs (for location see map below) operating one of the rare Route 45A departures via Shanganagh Cliffs on the 5th November 2011. The old terminus of the 58 and 45B is just out of shot, in the direction from whence the bus came.
As a bus enthusiast, its always been the rarities that have excited me. The little quirks in the timetable, denoted by a star, circle, square etc. Reading them as a child, I often wondered where these places where. With the roll out of Network Direct, these little quirks are slowly disappearing. This weekend we saw the end of the Bohernabreena 'specials' of Route 49 (see DublinBusTransport for an excellent feature). Like Bohernabreena, the Shanganagh Cliffs service is well used as can be seen in the video included below.
Video of Route 45A's routing via Shanganagh Cliffs.
The Shanganagh Cliffs estate routing has always been denoted in OS and company produced maps incorrectly. In both, the bus is shown just turning right off the standard 45A routing on Shanganagh Road and proceeding up Shanganagh Wood looping at the roundabout. However this is only part of the routing, and in fact there are no stops on this section. The full routing is shown in the image below. The targets indicate stop locations, and the yellow pin indicates my positioning for the photo. The target at Shanganagh Cliffs, between the down and the right arrows is the old terminus of Route and previous to that Route 58.
Routing of Route 45A's Shanganagh Cliffs services.
Services to Shanganagh Cliffs started in the early 1980s when Route 58 was extended there from its previous terminus at the Ballybrack Cross Roads. This service was fairly frequent, with about 33 services to Mackintosh Park via Dun Laoghaire. The 58 was not a popular route, and was cancelled in April 1986. Route 45B services, which were interworked with Route 45A, then took over Shanganagh Cliffs operating to and from Dun Laoghaire Station. By the mid-90s the number of these 45B services was dwindling, with a few 45A services via Shanganagh being included. Eventually Route 45B would also be cancelled, a limited service being provided by Route 45A services via Shanganagh Cliffs.
Donnybrook's former all over wrapped AV397 is seen having completed its journey from Ballywaltrim to Dun Laoghaire on Marine Road on the 19th June 2011. AV397 has recently lost this HB AOA and has returned to fleet standard.
Route 45A is an interesting route in many ways. It was previously a city bound version of Route 45 via Dun Laoghaire, but was cut short and never re-extended during The Emergency. It has had a number of termini around Bray. During the 1960s/1970s it served the Esplanade. By the mid 1980s the 45A was extended to Ballywaltrim due to new housing developments there, though a number of departures remained at Bray Station. The routing to Ballywaltrim was slightly different to as it is now, with buses continuing the length of Killarney Road as opposed to looping into Herbert Road. It was the Bray reorganisation of late 1995 that saw Route 45A withdrawn from Ballywaltrim with all services terminating at Bray Station. It was replaced by Route 145, operated by MA class buses that introduced this Herbert Road loop. The 45A was extended back to Ballywaltrim when Route 145 was extended to the city, a 20min frequency on each, keeping a 10min service to the station. The routing was via Herbert Road as present. This timetable proved unworkable, and a major frequency reduction was imposed. Nowadays Route 45A is the only service between Ballywaltrim and Bray Station, a far cry from the days of packed MAs leaving the station at 10-min intervals.
Donnybrook's AV350 is seen at its Ballywaltrim terminus on a very wet summer's day on the 17th June 2011.