Photos from the annual FHVS summer event at the SVBM on 19th June 2005.

Some views that have caught my eye while I've been experimenting with the Brownie

A collection showing the various types in use by the major operator in SW Scotland

Small, independent Ayrshire operator, running a varied selection of buses and coaches, including a handful of ex-Western SMT Leyland Leopard / Alexander Y-types

Ayrways is a small independent, operating from the industrial part of the seafront at Ayr. they run a variety of older, secondhand buses and coaches. **Any help identifying the re-registered vehicles here would be appreciated**

It's taken longer than intended, but I've finally managed to get a good selection of Rennies' Fleet, one sunny Sunday morning.
Updated 12/9/05.

The Bo'ness and Kineill Railway , run by the volunteers of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, runs steam trains along the south bank of the River Forth, to and from the Birkhill Fireclay Mine about 6 miles away. On arriving at Birkhill station, visitors have the chance to take a guided tour of the mine itself.

At Bo'ness station, you can also visit the Scottish Railway Exhibition, which is filled with engines, rolling stock and memorabilia from the golden age of rail travel.

*Some of the photos in this collection now feature in articles on wikipedia.org - follow the collection links below for more information*

Part of First Edinburgh, First Midland Bluebird is the post-privatisation successor to the SBG's W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd. company.

....they just turn up in Edinburgh! With the final demise of the Routemaster in London, the Scottish Capital is one of the few places where the type can still be seen in regular service.

This collection documents these and other buses in Lothian's tours fleets: Mac Tours, the Majestic Tour and Edinburgh Tours.

This collection will act as an ongoing repository for images if eye-catching coaches that have - well - caught my eye while out and about, and don't fit into any of the other collections - check back for regular updates!

Alloa - based operator Mackies has made some significant investments in new vehicles over the past couple of years.

*April 2006 - a "wizard" new addition to the fleet...*

The idea here is to have a record of every vehicle currently resident at the museum - this is by no means complete, but I will add more photos as they become available to me.

*For more information on the SVBM, to apply for membership, or to find out more info on any of the vehicles depicted here, please log onto the SVBM website via the link(s) below.*

Something a wee bit different. The idea here was to get photos of all the cars and include info on their drivers, etc. As it is, due to "inclement" weather - which is to say, by end-of-play at about 5pm, it felt as though the entire North Sea had been dropped on us - the risk of permanent damage to thye camera severely limited opportunities. Oh, well, there's always next year....

A small collection depicting the three new Optare Solos recently delivered for Clackmannanshire Council - subsidised routes around the 'Wee County'

Christie of Alloa, trading as 'M-Line,' operate at both ends of the scale, from double deck school service buses, to luxury tour coaches. Once again, expect to see more photographs added as they become available.

More Stagecoach, this time from the post-privatisation equivalent of W. Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd.

Twice voted the UK's Best Bus Company, Lothian Buses will be known to many older visitors as LRT, and many still refer to them as 'the Corporation buses.' This collection charts the progress of the fleet from late 2005 onwards.

Ever wondered what a bus looks like before receiving its outer shell? Now you know....

The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust held its annual Open Day on Sunday October 9th. As ever, an interesting selection of resident and visiting vehicles were on display. Free services ran to and from the Glasgow Museum of Transport at the Kelvin Hall, via George Square and Killermont St, using a variety of vehicles. All-in-all, a good day out. Despite the rain.

SVBM members and staff were invited on a trip to Beamish on Sunday, October 16th 2005. Qualifying in both categories above, I was there. We travelled on the Museum's former W. Alexander & Sons (Northern) Leyland Leopard / Duple Dominant, RRS 46R. These are some of the shots I got during the day.

A day trip to Blackpool gave an opportunity to take a few snaps that are a wee but removed from the normal site content. Enjoy.

*Thanks to my girlfriend Vicki for providing captions for these shots. She has spent waaaaaaay too much time in Blackpool over the years, and this is the result ;o)*

Through the course of my work, I spent a week in Olathe, Kansas, USA, from the 5th to the 12th November. On the journeys there and back, I was able to get some random pics - and of course, there are some buses included! Just don't ask me to identify them by type.....

A look at the buses of First Edinburgh, successor to Eastern Scottish and Lowland Scottish. Images so far have been collected over a period of time, and it wasn't until I put them all together I realised how heavily biased towards the new Scania Omnidekka / East Lancs it was! Fear not, fans of other types, this will be rectified through time. (NB - First Midland Bluebird is also a part of First Edinburgh, however for the moment, I have decided to keep that company in a separate collection.)

Where it all started, 25 years ago - Stagecoach is, unsurprisingly, still the major force in its native Perth. The Perth fleet is now operated as part of Bluebird Buses; that company has its roots in W. Alexander & Sons (Northern)

As I build my photo collection, I find myself coming across a few vehicles languishing and just asking to be taken under the wing of an enthusiast. So I thought I'd create an ongoing collection just for them. If you're thinking of restoring a bus, why not give it a look, and don't forget to check back periodically. **Please note, the appearance of a vehicle in this collection should not be taken as evidence of the current owner's willingness to sell**

The corny fleetname disguises the fact that these buses are Stagecoach vehicles, running low-cost intra-city services. They are operated by Stagecoach Glasgow, itself a subsidiary of Stagecoach Western Buses.

Citylink is jointly owned by ComfortDelGro and (since September 2005) Stagecoach. Franchises are operated by a number of various independent operators, and the vehicles they assign to the contracts are painted into the distinctive Scottish Citylink livery. Some Stagecoach vehicles are also starting to appear in these colours. The variety of operators involved precipitates an equally varied selection of vehicles on our roads wearing the Scottish Citylink colours.

Launched on 14th December 2005, these impressive new wheelchair accessible 'Dual Purpose' (DP) buses are the first of their type into normal service. A source tells me two others exist, but that these are Wrightbus demonstrators.

Although not the first Wrightbus-bodied vehicles to wear Stagecoach livery, these are, however the first to be ordered new by the company, rather than inherited with another business. It will be interesting to see if they become the first of many, or remain unique.

This collection will chart the progress of the ongoing restoration of P573 at the SVBM, Lathalmond. Please note that the two photos of the bus in its immediate pre-restoration conditionare not mine, and copyright rests with Kenny Hanlin. They are reproduced here with his kind permission - Thanks, Kenny.

P573 is the subject of an appeal for funding in order to carry out the restoration, and is one of the most ambitious museum projects to date. For a full history of the bus, its historical significance, and to find out how YOU can help, please follow the link below.

Prompted by the news that Western SMT L669 had been acquired for preservation and was here, a trip to the Hillington Industrial Estate site was in order.

This National Express owned operator can trace its roots back to Dundee Corporation. The legal lettering on the vehicles still reads "Tayside Public Transport" while the buses sport the predominantly white 'Travel' livery shared by the group's 'Travel West Midlands' sister company.

Travel Dundee, like many others, has been won over by the charms of the Volvo B7TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini combination, and several recent examples are to be found in the fleet.

No trip to Dundee would be complete without a visit to RRS Discovery, Captain Scott's ship on his voyage of Polar Exploration.

Allan's is a premium coach travel operator based in small but immaculate premises off the A7 in Gorebridge. I have long been impressed by the high-spec, high quality of their frontline fleet, which, at the time of publishing, is comprised entirely of Scania / Irizar PBs, all under three years old. As the fleet is renewed on a regular basis, I expect to update this collection periodically.

My thanks to Jimmy, one of Allans' driver/valeter/tour guides for taking time out from preparing the fleet for a big job, to show me around and move coaches into better photographic positions!

Long-established Fife operator Moffat & Williamson have recently relocated their base of operations from Gauldry to the premises at St. Fort, a few miles away, which is where the bulk of the fleet had been parked anyway. As well as the high-spec coaches in the fleet, this operator has traditionally also had a large fleet of school buses. Until recently these were the usual mix of Leyland Atlanteans / Bristol VRs etc. but new Fife Council rules have seen these replaced recently with ex MOD Dennis Javelin / Wadham Stringers, all with '3+2' seating.

Strathtay was formed in 1985 by the SBG from parts of the Northern and Midland Scottish companies, as part of the group's response to forthcoming bus service deregulation. Following privatisation the company was purchased by Yorkshire Traction and operated as 'Strathtay Coaches.' YT, as we know, was bought out by Stagecoach in late 2005, so the Strathtay livery is fast being replaced by Stagecoach Corporate colours - though, interestingly, with 'Strathtay' fleetnames - for the time being at least.

I started this collection with a visit to Blairgowrie depot, where fellow bus enthusiast and friend Kenny Hanlin works. Kenny was very helpful, and can be seen at the helm of a Y-Type / Leopard in Aberfeldy! Yes, Strathtay remains, for the moment, one of few companies actually operating a handful of the old SBG standards in service - though these will disappear very soon now that 'Souter's Buses' are involved!

A small collection of photos of the ongoing restoration of a 1947 Albion Venturer CX19 at the SVBM.

*This project is run by the Sydney Albion Venturer Group, a group of Scottish vintage vehicle enthusiasts formed to repatriate and restore an Albion Venturer CX19 double decker bus, the chassis of which was built at Scotstoun, Glasgow in 1946. This is the first project in Scotland supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore a bus*

Text in Asterisks taken from the Albion CX19 Restoration Project website. Please follow the link below for more details of this major project.

23rd July 2006 saw Knockhill Race Circuit host its first Classic Speedfair. The SVBM was invited to bring a selection of vehicles to exhibit, so JIm Methven and myself took the oportunity to go and promote the museum to the punters. We also managed to find time to have a wee run round the site at various times.

Roland Williams provided open-top Bristol VR, XBO 121T which was used to ferry a select group of Scottish Motorsports Legends, including one Sir Jackie Stewart, on a staged lap-of-honour around the track - though, thanks to Roland's discovery that the footbridge over the track was too low for the VR to negotiate, it ended up as two incomplete laps, one in either direction, separated by what may well have been the first ever 'three-point-turn' to be performed on track before an audience!

A very enjoyable day, and an event I hope is repeated in future seasons.

The 2006 August Open Weekend was themed around the Centenary of the formation of Scottish Motor Traction, the company that would spawn the Scottish Bus Group, and be known variously through the years as 'SMT,' 'Scottish Omnibuses Ltd' and 'Eastern Scottish' before privatisation of the Bus Group saw it returning to the old SMT identity, having been bought by its management and employees.

Today, what was SMT forms a part of First Edinburgh - and it was interesting to note that there was no representation from this company whatsoever. I asked one of the event organisers about this, and was told that their response had been that they were "too busy" at weekends to "help us out" - a statement which holds no water, since rivals Lothian Buses managed to field no less than SEVEN vehicles from the frontline fleet, right in the middle of their busiest period of the year - the Edinburgh Festival.

To the "management" of First Edinburgh: it would have been far more respectable to admit you were simply not interested in acknowledging the heritage of your company. You are an utter disgrace.

Nonetheless, the event was an unqualified success, attracting as strong and varied an entry as I have seen, including a rarity at Scotish events, a BMMO D9.

A hearty round of applause, then, to the event organisers and the vehicle owners, all of whose sterling efforts resulted in a memorable event. And particular credit to the Sydney Albion restoration team, who pulled out all the stops to have the bus ready to take pride of place at the site entrance over the weekend. The fruits of their efforts are documented, of course, in a separate collection.

Is it really a whole year since I was last at Bridgeton? A world of change in that time - I've now left the 9-5 claustrophobic lab-work for a life on the open road. (Well, the congested streets of Edinburgh...)

Unlike last year, when I parked my car in Glasgow and caught the free service to the museum, this year I formed a part of the "delegation" from Lathalmond, taking the wheel of the unique Daimler CVG6 / NC Queen Mary, RAG578. RAG saw service in the city later in the day, although with Jim Methven at the wheel; I missed that, as I was already away playing on the other buses.

Once again, a very good day out, and a round of applause to the GVVT volunteers who again delivered a well organised event.

Having a couple of days off in late September, I decided to take advantage of an SPT 'Day Tripper' ticket - these are valid on all SPT supported services (road, rail and, believe it or not, water-based) within the Strathclyde Passenger Transport catchment area. So I travelled by Bus from Cumnock to Kilmarnock, train to Glasgow Central, bus to Hamilton, by Stagecoach Western's new X16 service from there to Kilmarnock and finally back t base in Cumnock. I was most annoyed, incidentally, to find the X16, rather than beig worked by one of the branded MAN / ALX300s that were bought specially for the service, was in fact worked by ex Docherty's Volvo B6 / Wrights, Y602 TSD. Just my luck...

A collection of observations from my travels which relate to absolutely nothing, and which make me wonder if it's me or the rest of the world that's going mad!

**THIS COLLECTION HAS MOVED**

As the non-bus related side of my photographic hobby grows and gathers interest, I felt justified in setting up an entirely separate gallery, for these historical trips. This can be accessed by copying and pasting the url :

http://www.grant-thomson-histories.fotopic.net/

- or by clicking the link to Grant Thomson's Local Histories which is to be found on the Welcome Page, and also at the bottom of the 'Collection Index' page.

Please remember to check back for regular updates of both the Bus Photo and Local HJistory pages!

**THIS COLLECTION HAS MOVED**

The Innocent Railway walk now forms part of my new Local Histories gallery at www.grant-thomson-histories.fotopic.net. It can be accessed either via the link on the Collection Index, or by copying and pasting the url.

Please pay it a visit! Thanks, GT

WooHoo - A hoaliday! Well, a short break, more like. Not having been away since we went to Dundee in March, Vicki and I decided a wee trip to Englandshire was in order in September. Taking advantage of VERY attractive prices from megabus.com and Travelodge, we spent three nights in London - my first time in the Capital in three years, and the first leisurely visit since I was an ankle biter.

A word to the recreational complainers using public transport services up here: you think YOU'VE got problems? It's customary for Ken Livingstone's London to be held up as the Public Transport model for others to follow, but in reality, once you take the rose-tinted specs off, we in Edinburgh have it far better, with a much less frenetic pace to everything. Our stay overlapped slightly with the much publicised tube strike, which didn't help matters, but that does not excuse the many examples of dangerous overcrowding that were to be seen. Several times we shied away from overloaded buses. Mercedes Citaro artics, designed as standee cattletrucks, were the worst offenders, each of their three sets of doors being used as both entrance and exit with all the attendant pushing and shoving. These regularly passed us crush-loaded with easily 200 bodies crammed into every inch of space, ready to disgorge like a burst dam the moment the doors opened. On one journey on a Dennis trident double decker, I counted at least 40 standees on the bottom deck, plus as many again on the stairs and upper deck, before the driver finally decided the bus was full. What was more worrying was the way that, apart from us, everyone seemed to accept this as 'the norm.'

By far the least pleasant journey was on the tube the morning we left. having allowed five or six overloaded trains to pass by, one finally arived with a space big enough for us and maybe a couple of others. By the time the doors closed, that space had accepted another 15 - 20 bodies, leaving barely room to expand our lungs, let alone turn around or make any sort of attempt to leave at your stop.

Transport gripes aside, though, the break was thoroughly enjoyable, and we will definitely be visiting again.

The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust (GVVT) held its annual Open Day in October. True to form, this offered an impressive variety of static displays, stalls, and the opportunity to travel on a variety of vehicles, from wartime to late 1980s vintage. The route links the Bridgeton Garage site with George Square, Killermont St (for Buchanan Bus Station) and the Museum of Transport, making it easy to get to, and offering time out to visit the Kelvin Hall displays as well; a number of the photos this time around come from here.

I drove the SVBM's Western SMT Seddon Pennine VII / Alexander T-Type, DSD 936V, to the event. Owing to a few unresolved chinks in its armour, the decision was made not to make it available for service on this occasion; however, it provided an interesting static exhibit, buses of this type being operated regularly into Glasgow from their arrival in the mid 1970s right through to the early 1990s.

I never fail to be impressed by the organisation of the GVVT's events. A number of bus operators could learn lessons from their service provision! Another success...

The SVBM's annual spring event was held on Sunday 18th May, and once again proved popular. Weather was variable, but mainly dry.

The format of this event differs from the August event in that, as the name would suggest, the emphasis is on actually running the vehicles, with less in the way of static displays. There are six timed routes, (Internal service; Dunfermline; Saline; Gask Toll circle; Tomnhill; Kelty) and the timetable and vehicle allocations are worked out in advance. A temporary bus station is set up inside one of the sheds, and with the constant activity, the whole thing has much more of a true bus operating atmosphere to it - there is even an inspector, in the form of Allan Condie, ready to jump out from behind the trees and catch unwary crews running ahead of time!

The format for this event was devised for the 2007 season largely by Roland Williams.

Parks impressive fleet are a common sight throughout the UK and Europe. They can often be identified by the 'SK' registrations used. the firm has a long standing relationship with Volvo and Plaxton, although in recent years Jonckheere coachwork has started to gain a foothold.

Photos dated prior to 2008 have been shifted over from the 'Miscellaneous Coaches' collection. I once tried to find their operating centre in hamilton to build a reasonable number of starting shots, but could I find it? Could I hell.... Still, I doubt if the engines are ever cold, so there's probably more chance of finding them on the road anyway...

As this website approaches its third birthday, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the changes that have taken place in that time.

The photos all appear within other collections, but are rearranged here to be viewed in pairs, giving the viewer a new perspective on their content.

Established in 1986, the family owned firm E & M Horsburgh now boasts a fleet in excess of 90 vehicles.

Probably the most commonly spotted vehicles are the white and yellow schools' transport fleet - these range from 8-seater Ford Transits up to 83-seat Leyland Olympian double deckers. However, these are only part of the story. A sizeable fleet of coaches is retained for private hires, and there is a stage carriage fleet providing a network of services in and around the West Lothian area. Pride of the fleet are a quartet of Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Geminis new in 2007 - the first in the area, beating both Lothian and First Edinbugh by a few months. These carry a smart black, maroon and gold livery and are to be found on circular services connecting West Lothian towns with Edinburgh Airport.

Initial photos are of the school's fleet in the yard; others will be added as time allows.

Many thanks to the staff for kindly permitting access for photography.

The anual Open Weekend at lathalmond took place on Saturday and Sunday 16th and 17th of August. Weather, although variable, remained mainly dry, belying the doom-and-gloom of press reports in the run up to the event.

The format was as in previous years; as ever, the museum's own collection were joined by visiting vehicles old and new, trade stalls, and the event incorporated the Scottish Road Run for vintage vehicles.

My other half, Vicki, recently decided she couldn't see green cheese going by her, so she set up her own fotopic site! Nice to see her following in my footsteps ;o)

Exhibited here are a small selection of her phoaties. The full collection can be found at

www.galleryvicki.fotopic.net

As well as the core transport content, there are also some collections from some of our holidays, as well as some shots taken by the third budding photographer in the family, our wee boy Calum (Aged 7).

We hope you'll take the time to have a look.

The GVVT's well organised annual event was held on 12th October at Bridgeton Bus Garage, with the usual impressive selection resident and visiting vehicles runing on free services around the city, and connecting with the Museum of Transport. The coordination and professionalism at their events continues to improve and never fails to impress.

This collection will serve as a repository for shots of the weird and wonderful in the world of buses and transport, from vehicles completely out of their natural habitat, to conversions and anything else that doesn't logically fit anywhere else.

The 'Tornado' in question is Peppercorn A1 Pacific class Steam Locomotive No. 60163 'Tornado.' Launched in late 2008, 'Tornado' is the realisation of the dream of a group of dedicated enthusiasts: the first mainline steam locomotive to be built in the UK since 1960.

Arthur H Peppercorn, CME of the London & North Eastern Railway from 1946 - 1949, designed the new A1 Pacific to be the LNER's premiere mainline express engine. The order-to-build was placed by the LNER, but realised under British Railways following nationalisation in 1948. 49 of the Peppercorn A1 Pacifics were built between 1948 and 9, and none survived into preservation, the last (60145 'St. Mungo') succumbing to the cutter's torch in 1966.

Fast-forward to 1990, and enter the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, formed with one simple goal: to build, completely from scratch, a fiftieth Peppercorn A1 Pacific locomotive, for mainline-charter and preserved railway operation. Many a cynical voice said it couldn't be done; these have been overwhelmingly silenced as 'Tornado' has indeed taken to the rails, and now regularly hauls charter services on the main lines.

March 2009 saw 'Tornado' make her first visit to Scotland, taking charge of the annual 'North Briton' York-Edinburgh Waverley-York steam charter. Yours Truly was able to capture these few shots of her on her departure date of March 7th 2009 at Edinburgh Waverley.

The SVBM held its now annual Running Day on May 17th. The format was broadly as in the past, with the addition this year of a fifth route in the form of the Townhill Circle. As ever, a most enjoyable day was on offer, and despite the pessimistic forecast, the weather was as good as it's been for this event.

To avoid simply repeating the same shots of the same vehicles, I have instead focused mainly on the visiting vehicles as well as a sizeable number of museum vehicles which have returned to the road since last year.

A selection of Lothian Wright Eclipse Geminis carrying large-scale advertisements - or, to put it another way, a potential contravision nightmare.

Expect the same vehicles to appear repeatedly, wearing new clothes each time.

It's that time of year again. 15th and 16th of August saw Lathalmond play host to a varied and impressive selection of preserved and modern vehicles, with a few significant debuts, including a milestone vehicle recently retired from service with a high profile operator, and also the welcome repatriation of a Scottish stalwart from long term exile in the south of England.

Photos can inevitably be a bit 'samey' from these events, with the same vehicles appearing again and again; with that in mind, I have once again biased the content towards the more unusual.

I have also arranged a number of the photos to take you on a 'Fantasy Preserved Bus Tour of Scotland and Points South' - for which you will need to accept a fairly fluid timeline!

Enjoy.

Saturday 29th August 2009 is a date that will remain in the minds of enthusiasts for years to come. This was the day operation of Madder and White, step-entrance buses on normal service ceased in Edinburgh.

The madder and white colour scheme dates back to the very earliest days of the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company in 1871; This would later become Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department, and through time, trams would be supplemented , then ultimately replaced during the 1950s, by motor buses. Deregulation in the 1980s would see Edinburgh Corporation transport become Lothian region transport, and then Lothian Buses which we know today.

In the four and a bit years I have been running this site, I have accrued a significant number of photos of current vehicles in the traditional colours. This collection presents these, together with a number of up-to-date shots taken in the dying months of madder, plus a few very kindly provided by my other half, Vicki. No apologies for the perhaps slightly ropey quality of some of the earlier shots - the object here is simply to provide as complete a record of the final years of Madder and White as possible.

The collection ends with a selection of shots taken on the very last journeys on the very last day. Many thanks to both Iain, 278's driver, and Andy, the unofficial 'conductor' for the last run; without their efforts, it is doubtful if there would have been any event for we mere mortals to participate in.

Hankies at the ready....

**Captions will follow - and it's going to take time!**