W. Alexander & Sons Ltd was a bus operator and coachbuilder in Scotland. The company grew from small beginnings to become the largest bus operator in Scotland, and one of the largest in the U.K., by the time it was split up in 1961. [1] Its coachbuilding activities, which were transferred to a separate company in 1947, still survive as part of Alexander Dennis.
Alexanders' Motor Services began running 'omnibus' services in the Falkirk area from a base in Camelon in 1913, [2] and by 1924 the company was registered as W. Alexander & Sons Ltd. [3] It was run by father and son, Walter Alexander (1879–1959) and Walter Alexander (1902–1979). [4]
From 1929 the company was controlled by the Scottish Motor Traction Company (SMT), [5] which had itself come under control of the LMS and LNE Railway companies the previous year. [6] Expansion was rapid, partly achieved by acquisition. An early gain was the Scottish General Omnibus Group, which, through a northern subsidiary, took the growing Alexanders empire as far away as Aberdeen and Inverness by 1930. The company acquired Bydand Motor Omnibus Company of Aberdeen in 1932. [7] In 1934 another notable achievement was an agreement with Perth Corporation to run city bus services on their behalf. [3] Some acquired companies were initially operated as subsidiaries rather than being immediately absorbed by Alexander, notably General Motor Carrying Co. Ltd. of Kirkcaldy (1930–37), [8] Simpson's and Forrester's Ltd. of Dunfermline (1929–38), [8] Pitlochry Motor Services Ltd. of Pitlochry (1929–42) [9] and David Lawson Ltd. of Kirkintilloch (1936–61). [9] [3]
In addition to running services, Alexanders had also been building bus bodies since 1924, initially for their own use and then for their subsidiary operators and other members of the SMT group. [3] However, when the bus and coach operations of the SMT group were about to be nationalised [10] following the new Labour Government's Transport Act 1947, [11] it became necessary to move the coachbuilding to a separate company, Walter Alexander & Co. (Coachbuilders) Ltd, in order to keep it in private hands. [3]
Nationalisation of the railway companies in 1948 made the British Transport Commission majority owner of the SMT group, and complete nationalisation took place in 1949. [10] Some minor restructuring of the companies then took place, with the SMT parent company's detached operations in the Dundee area being transferred to Alexander later that year. In 1952 Highland Omnibuses Ltd. was formed by the merger of the group's Inverness-based subsidiaries Highland Transport and MacRae & Dick, and Alexander's Inverness operations were also transferred to the new company. [3]
The geographical extent of the company's services was huge, extending from Glasgow and Oban in the south west to Aberdeen and Forres in the north-east, so for management purposes there where three operating areas - Fife (within the county of Fife, which prior to the construction of the Forth and Tay road bridges had a relatively self-contained bus network), Southern (south and west of Perth) and Northern (Dundee and the north east). In 1961 the operating company was split into three smaller units corresponding with these areas, W. Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd. based in Kirkcaldy, W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd. based in Falkirk and W. Alexander & Sons (Northern) Ltd. based in Aberdeen. Alexander (Midland) also absorbed the David Lawson subsidiary at this time. The old company's buses had used a blue livery, apart from Perth City and Kirkcaldy Town buses and the David Lawson subsidiary, which fleets were usually painted dark red. Soon after the split, however, the Fife and Northern companies adopted bright red and yellow liveries respectively, while the Midland company retained the original shade of blue. The Alexander fleetname was not used on vehicles thereafter, although the bluebird logo used on Alexander's coach fleet continued to be used by all three successor companies.
As part of a rebranding exercise within the Scottish Transport Group in 1978, fleet names Fife Scottish, Midland Scottish and Northern Scottish were adopted. In preparation for deregulation of bus services, a further reorganisation of the Scottish Bus Group occurred in 1985 in which boundaries were realigned again and the three companies became five: Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., Kelvin Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., Midland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., Northern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. and Strathtay Scottish Omnibuses Ltd.
The Scottish Bus Group (SBG) was a state-owned group of bus operators covering the whole of mainland Scotland.
Central Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Central SMT, and operated until July 1989 when it was merged with Kelvin Scottish to form Kelvin Central Buses.
Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. was a bus and coach operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland and a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group. Eastern Scottish was formed in June 1985 from the main part of Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., which had itself traded as 'Eastern Scottish' since the 1960s. Following privatisation in 1990 the company traded as 'SMT' reviving the original name of the company. It operated until 1994, when it became part of GRT Bus Group plc.
Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a former bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group, formed in June 1985 from Walter Alexander & Sons (Fife) Ltd in preparation for bus deregulation and the subsequent privatisation of the Scottish Bus Group. The company today trades as part of Stagecoach East Scotland.
Highland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was formed as a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group in June 1985 from Highland Omnibuses Ltd, and operated until October 1995 when the company was split into two - Highland Bus & Coach and Highland Country Buses. The companies have since remerged and operate today as Highland Country Buses. It is now Stagecoach Highlands.
Kelvin Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group based in Bishopbriggs, Strathclyde, Scotland. It was formed in March 1985 from parts of Walter Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd and Central SMT, initially with six depots and a varied fleet of 381 vehicles.
Lowland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operator in south eastern Scotland and parts of Northern England. The company was formed in 1985 and operated under the identities Lowland Scottish, Lowland and First Lowland / First SMT, until 1999 when the company's operations were combined with the operations of Midland Bluebird in a new company, First Edinburgh Ltd. As of 26 March 2017 these operations were transferred to West Coast Motors.
Midland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operator formed in June 1985 as a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group, created from part of W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd. The company operated as Midland Scottish until 1991, when it was renamed Midland Bluebird in preparation for privatisation.
Stagecoach Bluebird is a Scottish bus company which operates bus services in the areas of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group.
Stagecoach East Scotland is a bus operator providing services in eastern Scotland, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Fife. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group.
The National Bus Company (NBC) was a nationalised bus company that operated in England and Wales between 1969 and 1988. NBC did not run buses itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies.
Walter Alexander Coachbuilders was a Scottish builder of bus and coach bodywork based in Falkirk. The company was formed in 1947 to continue the coachbuilding activities of W. Alexander & Sons when their bus service operation was nationalised. After several mergers and changes of ownership it now forms part of Alexander Dennis.
The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government-owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport Commission (BTC). It came into existence on 1 September 1962, with certain assets of the BTC vested in it on 1 January 1963.
First South East & Central Scotland, formerly known as First Scotland East, was an operator of both local and regional bus services in Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders, Stirling and West Lothian, as well as the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup, which operates bus, rail and tram services across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was a Scottish bus operator founded in 1905 that ran services for most of the 20th century.
The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948.
The Seddon Pennine 7 was a mid-underfloor-engined single-deck bus or coach chassis built by Seddon Atkinson between 1974 and 1982.
David MacBrayne is a limited company owned by the Scottish Government. Formed in 1851 as the private shipping company David Hutcheson & Co. with three partners, David Hutcheson, Alexander Hutcheson and David MacBrayne, it passed in 1878 to David MacBrayne.
Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. (SOL) was a company set up by the British Transport Commission on 4 April 1949 to take over the bus and coach operations of Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) and its subsidiaries under the nationalisation provisions of the Transport Act 1947. SMT itself remained in private hands, continuing its motor sales, service and insurance businesses. SOL took over the holding of SMT's former subsidiary companies, while those buses and coaches it operated directly continued to use the SMT brand until the early 1960s, when, after a brief flirtation with "Scottish", the fleet name "Eastern Scottish" was adopted.