Undiscovered Scotland

 

There's something about old buses that brings out the inner geek in all of us. Actually, that may not be entirely true. "Buses of Clydeside Scottish and Clydeside 2000" by David Devoy is certainly going to appeal to the many bus and transport enthusiasts out there who want to know more about the buses of this, until now slightly obscure, corner of Scottish bus history from the last few decades. But it's easy to overlook the fact that buses form part of many of our own individual stories. As a result, many people have an affection for buses that have nothing to do with their merits as mechanical objects: rather theirs is an affection based on memories of times spent travelling by bus, perhaps to and from school or to work; or perhaps memories of a first date that might, or might not, have had a life changing outcome.

Based in Renfrewshire, Clydeside Scottish was a member of the Scottish Transport Group from its formation in March 1985, at which point it had no fewer than 334 of what may be the brightest coloured buses ever to have graced Scotland's roads. It later competed against Strathclyde Buses using a fleet of Routemaster buses purchased from London Transport, a move that the author hints in his introduction may not have been particularly well thought through. In 1991 the company was relaunched as Clydeside 2000 before eventually becoming part of Arriva Buses.

The author's two page introduction sets the scene for what follows, which is a lovely collection of his photographs of, as the title of the book suggests, buses operated by the company in its various guises. The result is a riot of red and yellow, given variety by the company's coaches, which were bedecked in blue and yellow, plus a few vehicles in silver, white, blue or yellow. As with any book of this sort, part of the joy comes from spotting the changes in the backgrounds, in the town centres and bus stations that might be regarded as the natural habitat of these buses. But at the end of the day, this book is really all about the red and yellow buses that grace so many of its pages.