Photo of the Week - Week 26:
Donnybrook's brand new SG388 is seen operating Route 84 on the Clonkeen Road on the 21st June 2018 (click on photo for larger version).
There was a 6 week hiatus in deliveries of SGs following the delivery of SG386 and SG401. But in the past week or so they have really being put into service fast. This batch is freeing up GTs and SGs destined for Go Ahead who are taking over orbital services, starting from August. Unlike other new batches where buses arrived reasonably in order of fleet number, this batch is arriving one or two to a garage at a time. So unlike other years where I would have had a feature for each new garage to get new SGs, I'm nearly able to cover this in one feature, with Summerhill being the only garage to not receive a new SG yet.
Harristown's brand new SG405 is seen operating Route 15 on Eden Quay on the 29th June 2018 (click on photo for larger version).
Phibsborough's brand new SG414 is seen operating Route 66 on Lincoln Place on the 29th June 2018 (click on photo for larger version).
Thus far the following 181-D buses have followed SG386 and SG401 (though note being the 1st July, it won't be long for 182s to be hitting the road):
Conyngham Road's brand new SG425 is seen heading across the O'Connell Street junction onto Eden Quay on Route 51D on the 29th June 2018 (click on photo for larger version).
Of note in this years batch, including SG386 and SG401, is a new LED / LED setting. They look identical to all other LED displays, they are still made by Hannover, but they behave slighly differently. Any Dublinbus photographer would know of the dreaded "blank" display, caused by the fact that the LED display would flash on and off. However, this year's batch is slightly different in that the displays scroll up and down. This means that there are no more "blank" displays, but also at any instance in time there is not a full scroll. Here are some examples to show what I mean:
To counter act this you need a slower shutter speed (TV) setting on your camera. This allows a full cycle across the display. The problem is worse on sunny days, the display must update faster in order to stand out against the striking sun. I found that a setting of 1/500 was fine to get the full display, the images above showing an incomplete display were 1/1000.
Ringsend's brand new SG432 is seen operating Route 1 on Pearse Street on the 29th June 2018 (click on photo for larger version).
Clontarf's brand new SG438 is seen operating Route 27X on Townsend Street on the 29th June 2018 (click on photo for larger version).