Glasgow and the Bus Rally

[cessna152towser]

The planned flying trip on Saturday to the western isles of Scotland had to be called off the night before due to unfavourable weather forecast and I had decided to head for Glasgow. I am a member of Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust which is a charitable trust which employs people on community service from the courts or on drug re-habilitation to maintain one of the old city council's bus depots and some of their vintage buses. The trust also raises money by renting garage space to owners of classic vehicles of all types. The depot is quite close to Glasgow Green where the World Pipe Band Championships were being held so I thought I would call in at the bus depot first. Hawick Pipe Band had qualified for the finals in their grade and would be playing, but I had already seen many of the overseas bands playing at North Berwick games the previous Saturday and the weather did not look promising and I was unsure if I would be too late to get a ticket for a decent view of the Pipe Band Championships, so when I was offered a ride to the bus rally on the yellow Leyland Olympian I did not refuse.

Soon we were over the Kincardine Bridge and into Fife with a view of the Firth of Forth from the upstairs window.
More to follow shortly.

[cessna152towser]

Our destination was the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum at Lathalmond in Fife, an old military naval stores depot. For this one weekend in the year, hundreds of buses and coaches old and modern from far and wide meet up with the museum's own collection of old buses and trains for the biggest bus rally in the country.

I'd known that this place was an old navy depot but even so I was surprised to find such a large boat several miles away from navigable water.

The latest buses and coaches were on show, like this 2009 Volvo with Acron coachwork by Van Hool.

This 1966 AEC Reliance was for sale at offers of around £3,000. It would be ideal for driving xmarkers around on tours of Scotland but where could I garage it within easy reach of my home?

This bus was an old friend, a 1961 Leyland PD3 of Western Scottish Motor Transport, on which I had often travelled in my younger days, so when I heard it was rostered for a round trip across the Forth Road Bridge I just had to go along.

The old double deckers had these bench seats upstairs, accessed by a sunken gangway on the right hand side, so that they could squeeze under low bridges.

A view of the Forth Rail Bridge from the top deck as we crossed the Forth Road Bridge between North Queensferry and Dalmeny, near Edinburgh.

Back at Lathalmond I spotted this Leyland National of Fishwick, from English Bloke's home town of Preston so I took a ride on it into Dunfermline.

Arriving in Dunfermline, I did not wait there, look what is peeking out from behind!

Yes it was an Ulsterbus from Northern Ireland, not exactly one you would expect to see on this route, and being 25% Northern Irish I just had to ride back to the rally on this one.
More to follow shortly

[cessna152towser]

Two of the members of the Glasgow trust had bought this 1961 ex London Transport Routemaster which had been based at Lathalmond and had been painted as an Edinburgh bus, and one of them was about to drive his new purchase to Glasgow so I hitched a ride back to Glasgow.

The Routemaster is geared for driving in the London traffic and has a top speed of 43mph so it was going to be a two hour trip.

An off duty driver enjoys the ride home.

Crossing the Firth of Forth by the Kincardine Bridge, with a First Glasgow Volvo Citybus following behind.

A photo call at Cumbernauld

The Routemaster duly arrived in Glasgow.
Meantime, Hawick Pipe Band had finished last in their Grade, but at least they had qualified for the finals of the Worlds this year!
That's all folks.

[Rex_Tremende]

Wow - what an amazing collection. I wonder how many of them have ended up in period movies?

Regards,
Rex.

[Tartan Hiker]

Very nice photos. What a grand way to spend a cloudy day!

[JSFMACLJR]

I enjoyed these pics, Alex. Thanks very much for sharing them!

[KFCarter]

What a great collection of shots. I love that Routemaster... it looks to be in excellent condition from the photos.

[English Bloke]

Fascinating photo's Alex. As you know, I love buses.

Fishwick's are based in Leyland but do still run public bus services around Leyland, Chorley and the south side of Preston as well as holiday and touring coaches nationally.

The other historic Bus company in the area, The Preston Bus Co. have finally been swallowed up by the mighty Stagecoach and are no more.

Sadly their final and less than inspired twitch before they passed quietly away was to obtain bus side advertising from Blackburn Rovers.

In an attempt to fight back against the ever expanding Stagecoach who flooded the City with buses to kill off the competition, this was a move to source vital funding to keep them afloat. Unfortunately it didn't go down too well with the mostly Preston North End fans using their services. Many would rather walk than get on a bus with a Rovers badge on the side.

As it turned out they didn't have to walk far as Stagecoach were waiting in the wings to snap up all the disgruntled passengers and so another small independant bus company was consigned to history.

Sad really but Football loyalty runs deep here it seems.

[starbkjrus]

snip...

This 1966 AEC Reliance was for sale at offers of around £3,000. It would be ideal for driving xmarkers around on tours of Scotland but where could I garage it within easy reach of my home?

...snip

Alex,

I know you are a good driver and are studying for your bus license as a new "retirement" career but good heavens....

I've driven enough in Scotland to be very worried about riding in that on the roads to Caerlaverock Castle and Sweetheart Abby. I had enough trouble in a little Vauxhall. The Reliance or much less that Volvo monster would never fit on those roads; and where in the world would we park in Glencaple? We must have cheese and pickle sandwiches in the hotel pub. ith:

P.S. Oh and thanks for the pics. I love your photo journeys.

[Paul]

Great collection of auld buses! It's really made me want to revisit the transport museum