Photo of the Week - Week 17:
AV110 is seen arriving at Heuston Station on a morning universal on the 145, having just transferred from Summerhill to Donnybrook, on the 28th November 2013.
AV110 arrived in Summerhill in November 2000. It was there for a few months until its own AVs arrived (AV113 upwards). It is hard to remember that this bus directly replaced a KD. It transferred back to Broadstone, before returning once again to Summerhill in late 2001. It then principally operated Route 33 for a few years, being based at Skerries, before being replaced by the AV266-269 batch in 2002. Then the bus went onto Route 20B, then the 14 when the 14 was merged with Route 20B in 2011, being an almost permanent allocation till November 2013 when it transferred, though by the end it was more likely to stray onto other routes. On arrival in Donnybrook, it was pressed into service on the morning universals. The first week it was Route 145, depicted in the top photo. Over time it has strayed onto a variety of Donnybrook routes, however it is still exceptionally rare to find and was recently off service for the Easter holidays.
AV110 is seen operating Conyngham Road Route 90 at the Heuston Station terminus, though operating out of Donnybrook, on the 28th November 2013.
Being an old 20B bus, I had to chase AV110 at the first available opportunity. And when I saw it at Heuston on the 28th November on the 145, I was pretty happy to have caught it. At the time I had assumed it would not stay in service for long, though this has not proven to be the case. My shock however when it came around displaying Route 90. The reason for the allocation was that AV191, allocated to Route 90 that morning had broken down at Heuston and was unable to operate the last departure. AV110 was drafted in, the unusual IFSC display chosen instead of the usual Connolly Station. The IFSC display no doubt meant that AV110 only operated down the quays, the unusual nature of Route 90's routing around Sherrif Street being an unknown to Donnybrook drivers. It definately goes down as one of the stranger catches of the year.
AV110 is seen at home operating Route 20B on the Beaumont Road on the 31st July 2011, in the last week of Route 20B.