Dennis Basford writes:

My wife and I have just returned from a four day break based in Dublin. (Photographs below.)

Irish Railways have a promotion on until the end of the year where if you are 66 years of age or over (and some of your readers must be) then they will give you a free 4 day rail pass for use anywhere in the Republic (including Dublin's DART system).

As I understand it, they will give you up to 3 separate passes this year which need to be applied for individually.

Applicants should type Irish Rail Golden Trekker into their preferred search engine and follow the instructions from there.

Should anyone want to make it an all Ireland trip, then Northern Ireland Railways are running an identical scheme and it can be located in a similar manner to that in the Republic.

We flew with Ryanair from the East Midlands and with an early start we were in Dublin before 9am on the first day. We stayed at the Ripley Court Hotel in Dublin which I would recommend. I have no connection with the hotel other than as a satisfied customer. However, there is plenty of choice in Dublin to suit all pockets.

Irish Railways is one of the most modern systems in Europe and the volume and variety of Buses in Dublin has to be seen to be believed. So if you are fancying a short Autumn break ?????

Below are five groups of photographs taken during our stay in Ireland.

The first group was taken in Belfast on Monday 13 September 2010 and show the pink and white of Metro who I think are Belfast Citybus and the blue and white of Ulsterbus.

The Express side of Ulsterbus is marketed as Goldline. The second of their two vehicles is pictured in Dublin a day later.

We (my wife and I) were enjoying four days of FREE rail travel in Ireland courtesy of Irish Rail and Northern Ireland Railways. Monday 13th September saw us arriving in Dublin where we based ourselves. Later in the day we travelled to Belfast and back aboard the jointly (IE & NIR) operated 'Enterprise' service. Photo 1 shows the General Motors built Co-Co locomotives on this service.

Tuesday saw us taking the train to Cork as far as Limerick Junction. Photo 2 shows another of the GM Co-Co's which took us there. A change to a DMU at the junction took us to Limerick where the Alexander R type open topper was pictured.

Wednesday saw us in Westport on the Atlantic coast. This time we travelled on one of the recently introduced Korean built railcars seen in photo 4. They have been bought in some considerable numbers and seem to be everywhere. They are fast, reasonably quiet, warm and comfortable. Who could ask for more ???

Thursday was 'Dublin Day' where we explored the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) system from Greystones in the south and as far north as Malahide.

A bus ride back to the airport and we were back at the East Midlands Airport in a little over 35 minutes.

Dublin must be one of the most heavily bussed cities in these Islands. To stand at the bottom of O'Connell Street and watch the numbers and variety of buses in a wide range of liveries is breathtaking.

Dublin Bus despite heavy withdrawals due to the economic situation in the past year or so are the major player. Photos 5, 6 & 7 show part of the small fleet of single deckers both rigid and articulated which according to this months Buses magazine are up for sale.

The oldest double deckers in the fleet are the Alexander bodied R type which are seen in fleet livery, in the special open top tours livery and as a ghost tours bus on which you can explore the ghoulish side of Dublin (at a price).

Possibly the largest number of any type of vehicles in the Dublin fleet are the vehicles carrying Alexander ALX 400 bodies. These are pictured in fleet livery, open top and something I have not seen anywhere else and that is in the all white wedding bus livery. These are buses that are intended for private hire specifically for wedding parties. The rest of the time they function as normal service buses.

Alexander Enviro 400's appear in fleet livery and as another wedding bus. Wrights are not left out of the picture as Eclipse Gemini's appear in fleet and the green livery of the Airport to city centre services.

The most impressive buses however must be the Alexander Enviro 500 bodied 6 wheelers. These monsters carry over 100 passengers and because of their steering (2 axles out of the 3) seem as flexible as the rest of the fleet.

All double deckers are on Volvo chassis apart from some Wright vehicles (not pictured) which are hybrids using batteries and a small Ford diesel engine.

Bus Eireann provides express coach services across the Republic as well as the local bus services in many towns. In Dublin the coaches arrive in droves every morning with the workers who commute into the city.

Obviously the evening sees them all going the other way.

A small selection from across the Republic are included here.

In conclusion there are the smaller operators who make up this kaleidoscope of colour.

Aircoach does what it says on the coach. Airport services to and from Dublin Airport to a number of locations. This operation is owned by First bus, the UK operator.

One vehicle is shown in the standard Aircoach livery and another in a livery that is a touch exotic.

Privately operated open toppers are also operated and there are many others.

The last bus gives a new meaning to the term 'Paddywagon'.

When I was a lad, a Paddywagon was the last thing you wanted to ride in. Generally they were painted dark blue and came with flashing lights of the same colour.

Ah well, times change !!

At the end of all this I would like to say that for something different that is full of movement and colour, give Ireland a try.