A recent visit to the Scottish Capital city along with an earlier article on the website in respect of the Guide Friday sightseeing operation (HERE), reminded me of a most interesting bus operation in Edinburgh.

I always find it amusing when a programme is advertised as being “recorded in front of a live audience”. Just what IS the alternative? And anyway how much truth is there in any such statement. In the literature provided by MacTours back in the very late 1990s, they then proclaimed to be the only company that offered a Grand Tour of Edinburgh with a live guide and hop on hop off service. I found out that that was the case when my wife and I made one of our regular pilgrimages north of Hadrian’s Wall. Indeed we took advantage of the company’s hospitality to ride on a selection of vehicles from their fleet. And what a fleet. It was not quite like anything that operated then on such a service anywhere else on the British mainland, unless of course someone out there knows better.

I recognise that the English Capital did have its own vintage fleet in the shape of the Routemaster, but that was altogether something different.

What I refer to was a varied fleet of vintage buses, the majority being half-cab open-toppers that operated during the tourist season, and like that ‘beneath the kilt’ joke, everything was in perfect working order.

Turning to my C.O.D (Concise Oxford Dictionary), trawling for an explanation. Tour is partly defined as “a rambling excursion”, and Mac as “Scotsman or patronymic prefix in many Scottish and Irish surnames”. Put the two together and one can arrive at a Scot who rambles around. And indeed that was the case with the MacTours set-up that operated in Edinburgh. A tour with the fleet one really did feel that you are enjoying a jolly good ramble around the Scottish Capital. Maybe though a rumble could better describe the manner in which one was transported.

During the 2001 season buses operated from early May through to late October.

The company employed staff on the buses to provide a well-informed and constructed verbal guide on both routes. However, multi-lingual scripts were also available in seven languages, but of course with these, individual questions remain unanswered. Two tourist routes were operated, colour designated red and blue. The Red Route took in the majority of the city centre and operated about every 15-minutes, whilst the Blue Route wandered out through the north side to the Firth of Forth on a 40-minute frequency. Each route’s duration was just over the hour.

Boarding the Blue Route

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Having journeyed up one particular morning from our relative’s farmstead in the eastern Borders, the day was still somewhat damp by the time we decided to take a run round on the Blue Route. Being cautious like the operators, we opted for the 1025hours departure; this being a closed top 64-seater East Lancs bodied Leyland PD3. Built in 1964 the vehicle began life as Rawtenstall fleet number 31 and had a front entrance which featured a sliding door. From the departure point at Waverley Bridge this circular tour took in the west of the city centre, through Dean and the Galleries, past Fettes College (the seat of learning for one T.Blair), the Royal Botanic Garden, Harry Ramsden’s Fish & Ship outlet and the Port of Leith and Docks. Here at the Ocean Terminal a comfort stop was taken adjacent to the Royal Yacht Britannia. After the circuitous route to here, the return was more direct, being straight down Leith Walk and back to the city centre. With a bus every 40-minutes there was plenty of opportunity to hop on and off and enjoy the many attractions along the way.

Upon our return to Waverley, my good lady made a beeline for the Princes Street retail outlets, leaving me to point the Box Brownie in all sorts of directions. I added to my picture collection of the Mac Tours fleet and some representation of the opposition. But how could you compare the likes of a half-cab whatever with say, a Roe bodied 1984 Leyland Olympian of Guide Friday or a purpose built year 2000 Plaxton President provided by Lothian Buses on a Dennis Trident. All very nice but I know what I would rather ride on given the opportunity.

What was in the fleet - Transports of Delight

Originally the company applied for and was granted five Operating discs from April 1999. The fleet then grew by 2001 to what is listed below, although a couple of former Blackpool Volkswagen LT55 midibuses (hush my mouth) with Optare 528 21-seater bodies were operated for a while. By April the following year the discs were increased to ten.

As you can see from the fleetlist, whilst there appeared to be only three producers of the mechanical bits, the variety was quite wide ranging from small open-top to larger double-deckers with roofs and a number of differing body designs. All the buses were converted so as to operate with low sulphur emission diesel. The livery did do the vehicles justice being red and cream and applied in a somewhat traditional form as one would expect with such a vintage fleet. There were good clean straight lines, without any of your fancy wavy or diagonal ‘go faster’ bits. All right on today’s models, but not so good on a half-cab. What was also evident then was that only twenty years separated the oldest and the youngest vehicles. The two fine Leyland PS1s celebrated their golden jubilee during the 2001 season. These last two were the latest additions to the fleet, coming after the demise of the Guernseybus operations.

Of the Bristols, the re-registered FS6G version had spent some time previously based at Swanage with Wilts & Dorset and could be found wandering the Purbeck Hills. One of the Park Royal Routemasters began life with British European Airways fleet, having once pulled a trailer on its daily travels. LST 873 once operated with the London Sightseeing Tours company, hence the registration. At some stage during its time in London, the bus was converted to make it appear as a pseudo open-backed open-topper.

There were a small number of buses with engines in an ‘alternative position’. But that aside, even these two were worth sampling.

Vehicle origins ranged from Corporations, Local Authorities, the National Bus Company (and earlier), and also the private sector.

Riding the Red Route

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By now it was time to have a go on the Red Route around the city centre. Having finally rounded up my good lady wife from the therapeutic surroundings of Jenners department store we made our way back onto Waverley Bridge. The bank account felt distinctly lighter!

To our delight it was one of the Leyland PS1 single-deckers that hoved into sight. Once number 16 in the Guernseybus fleet this bus featured a covered cab with front entrance and a fully open-topped passenger area. Donald Dewar, the man behind the company, who as a pastime enjoyed a faster form of movement in the shape of motor racing, appeared to deftly position the bus onto the stand. I was then treated to a history lesson of the bus, which went straight over my head as I slavered lovingly over the bodywork. She who is obeyed must have thought she was losing me to another, as she dragged me to the back seats and told me to sit down and behave myself. This I did with difficulty, as I wanted the whole bus to myself. But financial constraints dictated that we allowed others to also enjoy the surroundings. Thus at around 4.30pm with first gear engaged, we pulled off of the departure point again and up the short steep incline into Princes Street. Open to the elements and with a gentle breeze blowing about our heads, we soon moved west along Princes Street and mingled with the likes of Dennis, Volvo and various other modern forms of vehicle, but nothing as exciting as the transport of delight that we trundled along in.

With the imposing Edinburgh Castle on our left we made our way back round and up into the top end of the Royal Mile. Our visit to the capital generally coincided with the annual Fringe and Festival time. Thus the population was swelled by the many that ventured from such faraway locations as Europe, USA and even the exotic East Lothian. By now the streets were a mass of human movement as we descended towards the temporary home of the Scottish Parliament. Such was the popularity of the Fringe, that part of the roadway was closed off for the duration, which meant our bus had to divert off route for some distance. Thus we bounced over cobbles and the steep descent to the back end of Waverley. A task the bus and our pilot seemed to relish. But soon we were back on our line of route, and passed various museums and The Brass Rubbing Centre. Personally I’ve never rubbed a brass in my life, but there you go. With the evening rush home by now in full swing, a huge traffic snarl-up was encountered around The Palace of Holyrood House, the new Dynamic Earth Exhibition and the building site of the new Scottish Parliament. Much comment was forthcoming over this, many on the bus muttered ‘Dome’-like phrases over cost, usage and practicality. By now all thirty-five seats were filled and the gangway swayed in time with standing passengers. I lost count of the different number of nationalities now encased within the confines of the firm wooden bodywork. Chicken wire would have definitely well buckled by now.

Gradually we edged our way on through the ever-increasing traffic. Eventually we stumbled across the cause of the hold-up. It was a visiting coach that had come to grief on a narrow gradient that led to a set of traffic lights. This modern North European product appeared to have lost a considerable amount of fluid from the bowels of its year 2001 chassis.

The United Nations would have been proud of us as we as one, cheerfully greeted the hang-dog faced looking driver and those that aided him in his plight. There appeared to be much scratching of temple and shaking of head going on. And I’m sure over the gentle rumble of our engine, I heard someone take a sharp intake of breath and utter those immortal words “Looks like an expensive job to me mate”.

Donald steered his 50-year old charge onwards, with the broadest grin you will ever see this side of the M25.

Eventually some time after our allotted hour we arrived back at Waverley Bridge. The bus and driver as refreshed as when they departed. For me I was exhausted by the sheer pleasure riding on something of such an age. To say that one could experience a rattling good ride would be detrimental to the standards of maintenance and upkeep of the fleet. When considering the daily tasks these vehicles contended with, stop/start, steep hills and cobbled streets, one would expect them to shake rattle and roll. That could not be further from the truth.

Now to view for yourself the wonderful variety of buses that operated during that period CLICK.

For 'Taken over and developments to date – The Lothian Years' CLICK.