Great Northern Railway of Ireland - Road Motor Services.

The GNR had its "quaintly" named Road Motor Services (RMS) which operated its fleet of buses. The road freight department operating its lorries was known as the Road Merchandise Service. Both road departments operated as distinct elements of the Railway Company.

It was in Drogheda County Louth on the 29th January 1929 that the very first GNR bus (A Leyland PLSC 3 Lion) fleet number 1 inaugurated the first service between the Railway Station and Drogheda West Street via James street and Shop Street in the town a distance of about a mile and a half. Ironically it all ended in Drogheda too with the arrival of the last GNR bus from Dublin in the early hours of October 1st 1958.

In October 1928 the GNR set about recruiting someone to run their road operations. General Manager Jonathan Stephens recruited a man called Joseph Mackle.

Joe Mackle was from an engineering background having served an apprenticeship with the Glasgow firm of Halleys Motors. After service in the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Motor Transport Section) in World War One he joined the Belfast based Leyland dealer Alister Kirk & Sons. In 1926 he joined a very progressive bus company based in Belfast called HMS Catherwood as its Chief Engineer.