SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM

THE SCOTTISH VINTAGE BUS MUSEUM - 2000 EDINBURGH CLASSIC BUS RUNNING DAY PARTICIPATION

On 11th June 2000, a few of us took three buses over to Edinburgh to participate in the Edinburgh Classic Bus Running Day, organised by Edinburgh Transport Group.

The route changed from 1999 and mainly followed the river from the Western Terminus at Silverknowes to the Eastern Terminus at Eastfield.

The route was: Silverknowes Promenade; Marine Drive; West Shore Road; Granton Square; Lower Granton Road; Starbank Road; Newhaven; Lindsay Road; The Former Royal Yacht Britannia, Ocean Quay; Victoria Quay; Constitution Street; Lnks Place; Links Gardens; Claremont Park; Seafield Road; Craigentinny Avenue; Wakefield Avenue; Portobello Road; Portobello High Street; Abercorn Terrace; Joppa Road; Eastfield; Seaview Terrace Terminus. (The Former Royal Yacht Britannia and Ocean Quay had to be skipped owing to road works.)

The front three buses in the photo above are the SVBM buses, with three ETG buses behind.(Most of the ETG buses are also housed at the museum.)

The photo above shows 101 at the outer terminus at Eastfield.

The service observed all normal bus stops on the route and passengers are encouraged to board and leave the buses frequently, so they could travel on as many buses as possible. Buses ran at ten-minute intervals from around 10am until around 4pm.

One of the first buses out was ex Edinburgh Corporation Transport 101 (YSG 101), a 1961 Leyland Leopard PSU3/2R / Alexander 'Y' Type B33T (Three-door) on which I rode the complete route to familiarise myself for later in the day.

For the return trip to Silverknowes, I took another ex Edinburgh Corporation bus, double decker 135 (FSC 182) a 1949 Daimler CVG6 / Metro-Cammell H31/25R, seen on the left at Silverknowes. I travelled the whole route on the upper deck, hoping to get photos of the museum buses taking part.

I managed to get two, ex Central SMT BL346 (HGM 346 E), 1967 Bristol Lodekka FLF6G / Eastern Coach Works H44/34F (below left) and ex ECT 739 (ESG 652), 1948 Guy Arab III / Metro-Cammell B35R.

I then spent some time at Silverknowes, awaiting my shift on ESG 652 which I thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst there I managed to get some more shots of the museum buses including the Routemaster seen below left approaching Silverknowes. At the end of a most enjoyable day, an added bonus was being asked to drive ETG bus, ex ECT 777 (OFS 777), 1957 Leyland Titan PD2/20 / Metro-cammell H34/29R (below right), back to Lathalmond.