Photo of the Week - Week 38:
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Donnybrook's Enviro 500 bodied Volvo B9TL, VT17, is seen operating Route 145 to Heuston Station on Kilbride Lane on the 27th September 2010, the first day these buses have been allocated to this service. The 145 is a big success story for Dublin Bus, especially since its extension into the city in 2004. It has gone from a midibus route to a tri-axel double deck route in a short space of time. Now with an extension to Heuston the service has become even busier. Hopefully the service can be maintained to the high standards it set pre-Network Review.
Good things come to those who wait. And this weeks image of the week is special if a tad late. Annual events such as Showbus were the reason for the lack of update yesterday, however today was another fruitful day of bus photographing.
To be honest there are many things I could have used as image of the week. First of all, the AWs have not bitten the dust. In fact they are out in force all week, this author noting one northbound on the 4 at 8pm in the City Centre tonight, the latest I've seen them out in a very long time. The updated scrolls for the 46A rolled out on Monday, the number very miniature. Ssssh, yes it's a 46A, but it's a secret. Thankfully this has been rectified but not before a few Dublinbusstuff photos.
But the standout piece of interest this week is the transfer of VTs from Broadstone to Donnybrook for use on the 145. VT21-25 have gone across with AX449-454 gone the other way. Some excellent photos of AX449 and its first day in Broadstone service can be found on Tony Murray's Dublinbus.cc site. More VTs will soon follow.
Though VT1-20 have been in Donnybrook for many years now they never strayed onto non 46A routes, except for some very special allocations on the 11. This afternoon VT17 took up service on Route 145, the first day a VT has been noted on this route.
But of course the main movers of the day were the former Broadstone VTs and how could this photo of the week not include a photo of one of the Donnybrook new boys. Below is VT23 on its first days service in Donnybrook. Unusually, given there's only been 38 of them, this bus has managed to make picture of the week twice. The last time it was on a night service to Celbridge on Route 67.
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Former Broadstone Enviro 500 bodied Volvo B9TL, VT23, is seen departing Heuston Station operating a Route 145 service to Kilmacanogue (pronounced "Killmacanic") on the 27th September 2010. The true size of these vehicles is clearly pronounced in the photo above as the bus lurches while turning left onto St. John's Road West.