Greyfriars Bobby meets a mass of shivering tin
The Skye Terrier who spent 14 years of his life guarding the grave of his deceased owner is commemorated with this statue outside the Greyfriars cemetery in the centre of Edinburgh. Roaring up behind is another part of Edinburgh’s folklore, a representative of the ‘Monstrous Masses of Shivering Tin’ that reduced one city councillor to apoplexy as they were drafted in to replace Edinburgh’s beloved trams.
Edinburgh City Transport LFS446 belongs to the original 1954 batch of Leyland PD2/20s, whose spartan MetroCammell bodywork provoked the councillor’s ire. At the date of this photograph, withdrawal of the LFS-batch was well under way, many finding second homes with independent operators. Edinburgh took delivery of some 300 of the breed between 1954 and 1957, with at least three examples surviving in preservation.
I had long wanted to update this photograph with a modern representative of today’s Lothian Transport fleet, but in truth I had forgotten the whereabouts of the Greyfriars Bobby memorial, popular tourist attraction though it is. Maybe next time in Auld Reekie?
September 1971
Zorki 4 camera
Agfa CT18 film.
Greyfriars Bobby meets a mass of shivering tin
The Skye Terrier who spent 14 years of his life guarding the grave of his deceased owner is commemorated with this statue outside the Greyfriars cemetery in the centre of Edinburgh. Roaring up behind is another part of Edinburgh’s folklore, a representative of the ‘Monstrous Masses of Shivering Tin’ that reduced one city councillor to apoplexy as they were drafted in to replace Edinburgh’s beloved trams.
Edinburgh City Transport LFS446 belongs to the original 1954 batch of Leyland PD2/20s, whose spartan MetroCammell bodywork provoked the councillor’s ire. At the date of this photograph, withdrawal of the LFS-batch was well under way, many finding second homes with independent operators. Edinburgh took delivery of some 300 of the breed between 1954 and 1957, with at least three examples surviving in preservation.
I had long wanted to update this photograph with a modern representative of today’s Lothian Transport fleet, but in truth I had forgotten the whereabouts of the Greyfriars Bobby memorial, popular tourist attraction though it is. Maybe next time in Auld Reekie?
September 1971
Zorki 4 camera
Agfa CT18 film.