Oneonetwo,

I would be VERY confident that this photo was taken in 1959, and almost definitely in the summer. Short shadows give the time of year away, but the other factor is the RAs. Notice there is an RA pulled in outside Clery's behind the R on the 16a. So there had to be RAs at least on the 22/22a when the photo was taken. It is also likely that the 16 was not yet, at least not fully, converted to RA.

The other absolute defining fact is JRI 72. This is R642, a Summerhill bus that was moved to Limerick in December 1959. It was one of 7 sent to replace the wartime TDs there.

Some info. JRI 11 - 80 were R581 - 650. RA 35 - 62 went on route 22/22a between May and October 1959. They were followed by RA 63 upwards on the 16. R639 - 645 (all Summerhill except R645 which was Clontarf) went to Limerick at end of year 1959 to replace the ex-GSR TDs there, R254 - 260. These TDs went into service in Dublin for between one and eight months in Clontarf and Summerhill. R254 - 257 had Cork registrations while R258 - 260 were Limerick.

The bus on the 20 is probably one of R645 - 647 742 - 744 749 - 752. These were the R600/700s that were new to the 20.

Observing the Dalkey route terminus in centre of the street, one wonders how the Bolton on the left was going to move onto the correct side of the road! While it was a very convenient terminus (dating from the tram days) it clearly had safety implications with the traffic that was emerging. The buses were moved from here in the early 1960s.

Edited 1 time by gnr302 14/01/2009 14:53:18.