Little did anyone think when Dublin Bus started purchasing Leyland Olympians back in 1990 to replace aging KD class Bombardiers, was the thought of these Olympians being sold on later in life & reaching the far corners of the British Isles.
Five such Olympians have been purchased by Isle of Man Transport & here follows a feature on them, thanks to photos donated by Mr Les Cannan.
^ above is former Dublin Bus Olympian RH 36 of Phibsboro Garage,
with its original vynal scrolls still intact.
Seen above in an impressive line up from left to right.
Ex Dublin Bus RH 18 ( now No 18 ), RH 24 ( now No 17 ) , RH 26 ( now No 19), RH 27 ( now No 20 ) & in the far corner RH 36 ( now No 46 )
Note how the buses have been affectionately dressed with their former Dublin Bus codes especially for the picture.
RH 18 is former Ringsend Garage based Olympian, once having an allover livery for Fast Fit Exhausts & spending most of its time on the Cityspeed 50X to Jobstown. Former Wedding Bus RH 24 from Summerhill is alongside, with similar garaged RH 26 & 27, which spent most of their early life on routes 41 via the airport complete with extra luggage racks behind the centre doors. Finally, in the far corner is former Phibsboro RH 36, which spend a short stint in Conyngham Road operating the Cityspeed services until it received its own allocation of Olympians there.
Isle of Man Transport acquired 5 ex Dublin Bus Leyland Olympians with Alexander R type bodywork last year, through Ensignbus. All buses were converted to single door format given this as a preferred option by UK operators, especially as most of these Olympians would end up on school bus duties.
As can be seen above, RH 26, 27 & 36 have retained their original Dublin Bus scrolls, while RH 18 & 24 have received boxes from Marshall bodied Dennis Darts showing a single destination with a three route number format. There was been new block headlights applied to RH 18, 26 & 27, the others retaining their original clusters. All have been fitted with tree fenders on the front nearside pillar.
Isle of Man / Dublin Bus Registration Notes
17 DMN 17R RH24 90 D 1024 ON11640
18 DMN 18R RH18 90 D 1018 ON11254
19 DMN 19R RH26 90 D 1026 ON11658
20 DMN 20R RH27 90 D 1027 ON11688
46 DMN 16R RH36 90 D 1036 ON11692
I would like to thank Mr Les Cannan for making this feature possible & sharing with the site these Olympians. The site has been receiving many visitors especially interested in the former Dublin Bus Olympians, firstly with David Beardmore's excellent collection & now with the Isle of Man photos which are gratefully appreciated.
Again thanks to Les & I P Sayle.
In view of these photos being kindly donated, I ask that the copyright is respected & the photos are NOT downloaded.
End of Olympian fleet at
Isle Of Man Transport
2009
Isle of Man Transport officially retired its remaining Leyland Olympian fleet from regular service journeys in July 2009.
To commemorative the withdrawal, two special running days were organised on Friday 31st July & the following Monday 3rd August 2009 using Leyland numbers 83 (BMN 83G) and 99 (DMN 16R ). Number 99 is former Phibsboro Garage RH 36, which has remained in the fleet until 2009, while the other former RH's passed to Ensignbus & Go North East in Newcastle some time ago.
Here is a selection of photos taken over the commemorative weekend.
All photos are gratefully appreciated & copyright to J.F. Turton
RH24 90 D 1024 
