Undiscovered Scotland

 

Bridgeton Bus Garage, in the heart of the East End of Glasgow, is home to the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust (GVVT). In this huge and hugely impressive place you can find one of Scotland’s largest collections of historic buses, coaches and commercial vehicles. The garage is also home to a Museum & Archive that tells the wider story of Glasgow and Scottish transport through photographs, records and artefacts. Also on the site is Clippies Cafe, which provides refreshments.

The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust offers a living museum that opens its doors to the public on regular event days advertised on its website (linked from the Visitor Information section of this page). It also offers guided tours that require advanced booking.

Many of the buses and other vehicles are kept in running condition and part of the attraction on event days is getting to ride on magnificent old buses that, for those of us of a certain age, bring back memories of times gone by. Vehicles from the collection also participate in other events within the city and beyond, though are not available for hire. (Continues below images...)

 

The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust was formed at the end of 2002 and is a registered charity. It has twin aims. The first revolves around the restoration and preservation of historic passenger carrying and commercial vehicles, while the second focuses on social inclusion in the local community. The two run in tandem through the Trust’s Back on the Road programme, in which participants develop skills by working with GVVT’s members and volunteers on the restoration of old vehicles.

Bridgeton Bus Garage was opened by Glasgow Corporation Transport in 1965 as the city’s last purpose-built bus garage. It closed just 11 years later in 1976 and was then used for a variety of purposes by the local authority. The garage was leased by GVVT in 2003, and then purchased by the trust in 2020, giving it a secure home and future.

The garage is now well established as a heritage centre for buses and commercial vehicles. There are over 130 buses, coaches, commercial vehicles and fire appliances in the collection. Vehicles are usually owned by individuals or small groups and range from hulks rescued from scrap yards and awaiting restoration to fully restored and active examples.

The first visitor’s first impression of Bridgeton Bus Garage is simply how enormous it is. The second is just how full it is. Many people have collections, but it’s not until you see a collection of buses and commercial vehicles that you begin to appreciate the scale of the enterprise. Once you’ve got past the sheer number and variety of the collection, the next thing that leaps out is their beautiful condition. These are vehicles that are truly loved.

For us, some of the vehicles that really stood out included a 1928 Leyland Titan with an external set of stairs at the back and four-abreast seating on the upper deck (which must have been awkward to use); an Albion Victor from 1957 that spent its working life on Guernsey; and an Albion Venturer from 1947 that had its body installed in Australia before working there for 34 years. It finally returned home in 2004.

At the other end of the yard from the bus garage itself is the building housing the Museum & Archives. These live on the upper floor, in what was originally the gym used by those working in the bus garage. The observant will notice the square of fluorescent lighting in the ceiling that was once above the boxing ring that was installed here. Again, everyone is going to have their own favourite exhibits. For us it was a small area given over to information about, and models of, Glasgow’s short lived trolleybus system.