regentlad
The Birkenside Bus
Eastern Scottish had more than a preference for the Bristol Lodekka and up to 1966 were still placing orders for them.
1966 wasn't just an ordinary year for the company though. It was the year a new bus station-cum-depot was opened in the town of Dalkeith, ironically on the site of the old railway station - a casualty of the infamous Dr Beeching. The new facility gave local travellers not only a spacious and well planned bus station but also 25 brand new Bristol FLF6 LX double-decked buses with seating for 76 passengers. Seen in York Place Edinburgh is AA231G (GSG 231D) the final bus of the series and became a regular on the Edinburgh-Birkenside route for many years. This route matched up with the Edinburgh-Rosewell route - requiring at peak times around 26 buses, two thirds of which were provided from Dalkeith. Staff on these routes had to be acquainted with a large group of route numbers - ranging from route 78 through to route 90 and some with letters suffixed (87A as seen here) - all serving an assortment of variations on the route and all still transfixed in my mind 40 years later !
The Birkenside Bus
Eastern Scottish had more than a preference for the Bristol Lodekka and up to 1966 were still placing orders for them.
1966 wasn't just an ordinary year for the company though. It was the year a new bus station-cum-depot was opened in the town of Dalkeith, ironically on the site of the old railway station - a casualty of the infamous Dr Beeching. The new facility gave local travellers not only a spacious and well planned bus station but also 25 brand new Bristol FLF6 LX double-decked buses with seating for 76 passengers. Seen in York Place Edinburgh is AA231G (GSG 231D) the final bus of the series and became a regular on the Edinburgh-Birkenside route for many years. This route matched up with the Edinburgh-Rosewell route - requiring at peak times around 26 buses, two thirds of which were provided from Dalkeith. Staff on these routes had to be acquainted with a large group of route numbers - ranging from route 78 through to route 90 and some with letters suffixed (87A as seen here) - all serving an assortment of variations on the route and all still transfixed in my mind 40 years later !