Preserved Edinburgh Corporation bus 101 (YSG 101)

English: Edinburgh Corporation bus 101 (reg. YSG 101) is a unique 3-door example of a Leyland Leopard (PSU3/2R) single-decker with Alexander Y-Type bodywork, which has been preserved.

Design

Taking advantage of the extension in legal lengths to 36 feet, 101 was an experiment by the Corporation in the use of a continental style single-decker bus layout with more doors and standees than the tradtional British design (Edinburgh was an exclusively dual-doored double-decked fleet, except for those routes with low bridges). 101 had a single entrance via a twin-door at the rear, with passengers then leaving via one of two single-doored exits - one in the middle, one at the front. The conductor sat at a desk forward of the entrance at the rear, to take fares from boarding passengers. This produced a capacity of 33 seated and 30 standees.

History

Service

After being displayed at the 1961 Scottish Motor show, 101 entered service on the double-decker route 16 in April 1962. The trial was not a success - no further buses were ordered, and by 1969 101 had been rebuilt with a single-entrance at the front and fitted with coach seats, for use on the airport shuttle in the black & white livery of the coach division. By 1975 it had returned to bus duties, in the traditional Corporation white & maroon livery, but with the new LRT Lothian fleetnames replacing the Corporation crest (the Corporation had became Lothian Region Transport in the same year). It remained in bus service until 1988, a relatively long time for an Edinburgh vehicle, conducting the last of many farewell tours in April 1988.

Preservation

It was subsequently bought for private preservation, and was returned to its original Edinbrugh Corporation condition - restoring the three door layout, the conductor's desk and the original upholstery using both new replacement parts made using the original drawings, and some of the original parts that had been removed and stored by the company in 1968. A manequin conductor in authentic uniform completes the restoration, and the bus now appears at many rallies and events.

Images

Scottish Vintage Bus Museum

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  15 June 2003
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  19 August 2007
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  15 August 2010

Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust

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  11 October 2009

South Shields, 2012 HCVS Tyne-Tees Run, 3 June 2012

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