First Glasgow Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini
Last of their line?
With the addition of more electric buses into the First Glasgow fleet, it means the withdrawal of older types that have served the city well. It also means that Volvo, once the dominant marque in the First Glasgow fleet is now down to less than a hundred vehicles.
Gone now are all the Citybuses and B10M single deckers, Ailsas, Olympians, B10BLEs and B7Ls (thankfully in the case of the last one). The only active B7RLE single-deckers now are in the driver training fleet and First used the opportunity of the sale of First Scotland East to McGill’s to offload most of its remaining B7TLs as part of that fleet. Any left within Glasgow are now withdrawn and being used for spare parts as new Enviro 400EVs arrive. This leaves its remaining B9TLs as its remaining active passenger carrying Volvo buses. These are likely to be the last vehicles to bear that marque in the fleet for sometime.
Of course the B9TLs remaining have been upgraded with new Euro VI exhausts but with the newest now coming up for fourteen years old next year (2023), they’re definitely approaching the twilight of their years. Here is 37751 (SF09LFB), still resplendent in Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive (GGPTE) livery it received in 2019.
Of course having purchased Leyland Bus back in the latter part of the 1980s, Volvo could claim a history back as far as the 1920s of providing buses to Glasgow. However I’m going to disregard that as those buses were Leyland designed and built. So technically, the first pure Volvo bus dates back to 1973 and the latter days of the Glasgow Corporation Transport (GCT) fleet. GCT received a Volvo B9R demonstration vehicle and tried it on two routes. This bus, registered VEB566L, had two doors and was fitted with Marshall Cammair bodywork and was the first non-fully British bus to run for GCT. Volvo had started to see some success with coaches in United Kingdom (UK) and felt it could extend it to buses. With Leyland introducing its integral National model, it tested the water with this vehicle with several operators as it no doubt felt that bus companies may be put off by Leyland’s fancy new bus. No orders were placed, hardly a surprise in the double-deck dominated GCT fleet, but this demonstrator bus was supplied by the new Ailsa Bus company.
Alisa Bus was an offshoot of Ailsa Trucks which was based in Ayrshire, within sight of the Ailsa Craig off the west of Scotland. It was the UK importer of Volvo commercial vehicles, which at that stage was mainly trucks, where to be fair Volvo was enjoying some considerable success. It hoped to extend this to buses.
As GCT morphed into GGPTE, it became concerned over Leyland’s dominance of the double-decker market. With operators stepping up orders to get Government Grants for buses suitable for driver-only operations, Leyland could dictate the delivery time and specifications of buses. Assurances of priority deliveries one day became worthless if another aggrieved operator got similar assurances the next day. What was needed was an alternative option rather than wait for outstanding orders for the Atlantean. Whilst GGPTE and GCT before it were satisfied with the Atlantean, it wasn’t immune to its limitations. By looking at alternative designs, it would also be a shot across the bows of Leyland to not take Glasgow’s business for granted.
That option appeared to be the Metropolitan built by Metro-Cammell Weyman (MCW) in Birmingham. It was a semi-integral design which used Scania running units in a rear-engined layout. GCT had ordered 20 off the drawing board. However it also placed an order for three of the new Volvo Ailsa. The Volvo Ailsa, later designated the Volvo B55 when Volvo assumed full control of the project, had been developed on the behest of the Scottish Bus Group. However it was a bit different compared to other double-deckers on the market. It had a front engined layout but used Volvo’s incredibly compact - for a bus engine at least - 6.7 litre turbocharged engine to give enough space at the front for a passenger entrance and a conventional passenger layout. It was not as sophisticated as the Metropolitan by any standard but it was robust and importantly, reliable. Ailsa worked with Alexanders to design a very smart body for it with peaked domes, very in the style at the time.
Ailsa Bus built ten pre-production models and had hoped the PTE would take the full ten. In the end, the PTE took just the three and the others went to other bus companies. The PTE would later take a further 15 (plus an additional 20 Metropolitan as well) but the 15 were slightly different as they lost the peaked domes in their Alexander bodywork in favour of rounded ones, to make them compatible with the Atlanteans. Unlike the Metropolitans, which were withdrawn by 1982 due to corrosion of their steel frames, these early Ailsas had long lives with the company and lasted well into the 1990s, although their numbers were decimated by the Larkfield depot fire in 1992. Two of these earlier Ailsas are preserved, one of the earlier three and one of the latter 15, both within the collection at the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust.
Had things been different more Ailsas may have came in. But a change of Chief Engineer saw the company look to standardise on the Atlantean and make the best of running a standardised fleet.
However as the 1980s begun, the Atlantean was nearing the end of a glorious production run - mainly due to noise regulations. GGPTE was now Strathclyde PTE and with a new broom in charge, it turned to the Ailsa as its main bus ordering 134 over two years, These were the of the mark three design of the Ailsa and featured higher driving positions, sliding cab doors (instead of hinged) and most had attractive Alexander R-type bodies. It also picked up a couple of interesting one-offs, including two Marshall bodied Ailsas and the only single-deck Ailsa built, again with Marshall bodywork.
However of more interest was the prototype Volvo Citybus. This was a replacement for the Ailsa which used the underfloor B10M coach chassis as a base but with smaller wheels. This meant Volvo could offer the B10M as a coach, single-decker or double decker. Marshall’s designed a very thin floor to keep the vehicle’s height down. Even then, the Citybus (Volvo model B10M-55) was a tall bus and not suitable for all routes. Strathclyde PTE added it to its fleet.
SPTE then ordered a further 5 Citybuses but with Alexander bodies this time. These also featured tip-up seating in the lower deck and a wheelchair lift in the entrance. They were designed to be used on demand-responsive services run as part of the normal services which wheelchair passengers could prebook.
After deregulation, it saw the first Volvo B10M single-deckers arrive with two Plaxton Derwent bodies for a tendered route. It also picked up a few similar B10M buses when Paisley independent operator Graham’s of Paisley closed down, some with Caetano bodywork. These useful class of buses could also double as semi-coaches if needed.
It also ordered more Citybuses. Initially it ordered 55 Citybuses along with 65 MCW Metrobuses, a replacement for the Metropolitan. However issues at MCW meant that the 40 were chopped off the Metrobus order and an equivalent number of Citybuses took their place. These Citybuses, with attractive Alexander RV-type bodies were built to a unique specification and this batch of Volvo buses are generally regarded as the best buses ever to operate in Glasgow.
With Volvo purchasing Leyland Bus in 1987, it began to naturally push people towards the purpose built Leyland Olympian double-decker and although the Citybus remained available, sales withered. Strathclyde’s Buses, as SPTE’s bus arm had become, bought initially three all Leyland Olympians, to cover for warranty work on the Citybuses. It followed this up with 52 further Olympians. Strathclyde specified a particularly unusual gearbox and engine combination on its Olympians which probably explains why these were Leyland models when the revised Volvo Olympian was already on the horizon.
After that time, Strathclyde only ordered Volvo models. Four Volvo Olympians - two with Alexander Royale bodies, the other Northern Counties Palatine 2 bodies, were initially ordered to test engine types. When former Scottish Bus Group fleet Kelvin Central was acquired, Volvo B10M-55/Alexander PS-type single deckers were bought. A large order of Volvo Olympians for 150 was ordered - largely to a Stagecoach spec with Alexander bodies, Stagecoach having a stake in the company at the time.
However only around 50 of these were delivered as Strathclyde’s Buses was sold to Firstbus. Firstbus refined the order, with some being swapped for low-floor single deckers and First spec-Volvo Olympians. Although some Volvo B10Ls arrived with Wright Liberator bodies and Volvo B6BLEs with Alexander ALX200 bodies, it’s first non Volvo buses for a while came, these being Dennis Darts and Scania low-floor single-deckers.But it did receive 60 First spec-long wheelbase Volvo Olympians, ten with Northern Counties and the remainder with Alexander bodies. After its acquisition by Firstbus, the fleet has tended to favour Volvo for buses until the end of the naughties, having received large batches of B7RLEs (123), B7TLs (84) B10BLEs and B7Ls (over a 100) plus 10 unusual B7L tri-axle double-deckers with East Lancs Nordic bodieds. But after it’s last B9TLs came in 2009, no more Volvos have came, apart from six B7TLs cascaded from London. There will soon be no Volvo’s in the First Glasgow fleet. And that day is edging closer.
First Glasgow Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini
Last of their line?
With the addition of more electric buses into the First Glasgow fleet, it means the withdrawal of older types that have served the city well. It also means that Volvo, once the dominant marque in the First Glasgow fleet is now down to less than a hundred vehicles.
Gone now are all the Citybuses and B10M single deckers, Ailsas, Olympians, B10BLEs and B7Ls (thankfully in the case of the last one). The only active B7RLE single-deckers now are in the driver training fleet and First used the opportunity of the sale of First Scotland East to McGill’s to offload most of its remaining B7TLs as part of that fleet. Any left within Glasgow are now withdrawn and being used for spare parts as new Enviro 400EVs arrive. This leaves its remaining B9TLs as its remaining active passenger carrying Volvo buses. These are likely to be the last vehicles to bear that marque in the fleet for sometime.
Of course the B9TLs remaining have been upgraded with new Euro VI exhausts but with the newest now coming up for fourteen years old next year (2023), they’re definitely approaching the twilight of their years. Here is 37751 (SF09LFB), still resplendent in Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive (GGPTE) livery it received in 2019.
Of course having purchased Leyland Bus back in the latter part of the 1980s, Volvo could claim a history back as far as the 1920s of providing buses to Glasgow. However I’m going to disregard that as those buses were Leyland designed and built. So technically, the first pure Volvo bus dates back to 1973 and the latter days of the Glasgow Corporation Transport (GCT) fleet. GCT received a Volvo B9R demonstration vehicle and tried it on two routes. This bus, registered VEB566L, had two doors and was fitted with Marshall Cammair bodywork and was the first non-fully British bus to run for GCT. Volvo had started to see some success with coaches in United Kingdom (UK) and felt it could extend it to buses. With Leyland introducing its integral National model, it tested the water with this vehicle with several operators as it no doubt felt that bus companies may be put off by Leyland’s fancy new bus. No orders were placed, hardly a surprise in the double-deck dominated GCT fleet, but this demonstrator bus was supplied by the new Ailsa Bus company.
Alisa Bus was an offshoot of Ailsa Trucks which was based in Ayrshire, within sight of the Ailsa Craig off the west of Scotland. It was the UK importer of Volvo commercial vehicles, which at that stage was mainly trucks, where to be fair Volvo was enjoying some considerable success. It hoped to extend this to buses.
As GCT morphed into GGPTE, it became concerned over Leyland’s dominance of the double-decker market. With operators stepping up orders to get Government Grants for buses suitable for driver-only operations, Leyland could dictate the delivery time and specifications of buses. Assurances of priority deliveries one day became worthless if another aggrieved operator got similar assurances the next day. What was needed was an alternative option rather than wait for outstanding orders for the Atlantean. Whilst GGPTE and GCT before it were satisfied with the Atlantean, it wasn’t immune to its limitations. By looking at alternative designs, it would also be a shot across the bows of Leyland to not take Glasgow’s business for granted.
That option appeared to be the Metropolitan built by Metro-Cammell Weyman (MCW) in Birmingham. It was a semi-integral design which used Scania running units in a rear-engined layout. GCT had ordered 20 off the drawing board. However it also placed an order for three of the new Volvo Ailsa. The Volvo Ailsa, later designated the Volvo B55 when Volvo assumed full control of the project, had been developed on the behest of the Scottish Bus Group. However it was a bit different compared to other double-deckers on the market. It had a front engined layout but used Volvo’s incredibly compact - for a bus engine at least - 6.7 litre turbocharged engine to give enough space at the front for a passenger entrance and a conventional passenger layout. It was not as sophisticated as the Metropolitan by any standard but it was robust and importantly, reliable. Ailsa worked with Alexanders to design a very smart body for it with peaked domes, very in the style at the time.
Ailsa Bus built ten pre-production models and had hoped the PTE would take the full ten. In the end, the PTE took just the three and the others went to other bus companies. The PTE would later take a further 15 (plus an additional 20 Metropolitan as well) but the 15 were slightly different as they lost the peaked domes in their Alexander bodywork in favour of rounded ones, to make them compatible with the Atlanteans. Unlike the Metropolitans, which were withdrawn by 1982 due to corrosion of their steel frames, these early Ailsas had long lives with the company and lasted well into the 1990s, although their numbers were decimated by the Larkfield depot fire in 1992. Two of these earlier Ailsas are preserved, one of the earlier three and one of the latter 15, both within the collection at the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust.
Had things been different more Ailsas may have came in. But a change of Chief Engineer saw the company look to standardise on the Atlantean and make the best of running a standardised fleet.
However as the 1980s begun, the Atlantean was nearing the end of a glorious production run - mainly due to noise regulations. GGPTE was now Strathclyde PTE and with a new broom in charge, it turned to the Ailsa as its main bus ordering 134 over two years, These were the of the mark three design of the Ailsa and featured higher driving positions, sliding cab doors (instead of hinged) and most had attractive Alexander R-type bodies. It also picked up a couple of interesting one-offs, including two Marshall bodied Ailsas and the only single-deck Ailsa built, again with Marshall bodywork.
However of more interest was the prototype Volvo Citybus. This was a replacement for the Ailsa which used the underfloor B10M coach chassis as a base but with smaller wheels. This meant Volvo could offer the B10M as a coach, single-decker or double decker. Marshall’s designed a very thin floor to keep the vehicle’s height down. Even then, the Citybus (Volvo model B10M-55) was a tall bus and not suitable for all routes. Strathclyde PTE added it to its fleet.
SPTE then ordered a further 5 Citybuses but with Alexander bodies this time. These also featured tip-up seating in the lower deck and a wheelchair lift in the entrance. They were designed to be used on demand-responsive services run as part of the normal services which wheelchair passengers could prebook.
After deregulation, it saw the first Volvo B10M single-deckers arrive with two Plaxton Derwent bodies for a tendered route. It also picked up a few similar B10M buses when Paisley independent operator Graham’s of Paisley closed down, some with Caetano bodywork. These useful class of buses could also double as semi-coaches if needed.
It also ordered more Citybuses. Initially it ordered 55 Citybuses along with 65 MCW Metrobuses, a replacement for the Metropolitan. However issues at MCW meant that the 40 were chopped off the Metrobus order and an equivalent number of Citybuses took their place. These Citybuses, with attractive Alexander RV-type bodies were built to a unique specification and this batch of Volvo buses are generally regarded as the best buses ever to operate in Glasgow.
With Volvo purchasing Leyland Bus in 1987, it began to naturally push people towards the purpose built Leyland Olympian double-decker and although the Citybus remained available, sales withered. Strathclyde’s Buses, as SPTE’s bus arm had become, bought initially three all Leyland Olympians, to cover for warranty work on the Citybuses. It followed this up with 52 further Olympians. Strathclyde specified a particularly unusual gearbox and engine combination on its Olympians which probably explains why these were Leyland models when the revised Volvo Olympian was already on the horizon.
After that time, Strathclyde only ordered Volvo models. Four Volvo Olympians - two with Alexander Royale bodies, the other Northern Counties Palatine 2 bodies, were initially ordered to test engine types. When former Scottish Bus Group fleet Kelvin Central was acquired, Volvo B10M-55/Alexander PS-type single deckers were bought. A large order of Volvo Olympians for 150 was ordered - largely to a Stagecoach spec with Alexander bodies, Stagecoach having a stake in the company at the time.
However only around 50 of these were delivered as Strathclyde’s Buses was sold to Firstbus. Firstbus refined the order, with some being swapped for low-floor single deckers and First spec-Volvo Olympians. Although some Volvo B10Ls arrived with Wright Liberator bodies and Volvo B6BLEs with Alexander ALX200 bodies, it’s first non Volvo buses for a while came, these being Dennis Darts and Scania low-floor single-deckers.But it did receive 60 First spec-long wheelbase Volvo Olympians, ten with Northern Counties and the remainder with Alexander bodies. After its acquisition by Firstbus, the fleet has tended to favour Volvo for buses until the end of the naughties, having received large batches of B7RLEs (123), B7TLs (84) B10BLEs and B7Ls (over a 100) plus 10 unusual B7L tri-axle double-deckers with East Lancs Nordic bodieds. But after it’s last B9TLs came in 2009, no more Volvos have came, apart from six B7TLs cascaded from London. There will soon be no Volvo’s in the First Glasgow fleet. And that day is edging closer.