Several dozen former 'A-class' Ailsas (or
Alphas as some called them) lasted well into 2006 (all withdrawn by the summer of that year), all based at Scotstoun primarily for school work by the end fitted with seatbelts and crash-pads on top of the seats. And yeah, the very last ones in service carried A & B-regs; now-preserved A735 PSU was among these.
Also worth mentioning that 735 was one of only 2 Ailsas to carry Barbie 2/Willowleaf livery; B27 YYS (31221; ex-A126) was the other one. Images of both (both from the haley111 Flickr collection) dating from August (213) & May 2005 (221) linked below. The aforementioned crash-pads can clearly be seen on both vehicles.
Ailsas didn't really hang around long enough to receive Barbie colours, apart from this one (there may have been one more). Seen in Bath Street passing the former Council transport offices (hiding behind scaffolding)
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Making a rare excursion on the 42 back in 2005 is one of the only Ailsas repainted into willow leaf livery. Seen here at the stop outside the King's Theatre in Bath Street, Glasgow.
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As to the final point, a number of second-hand deckers were parachuted into the FiG fleet in the early 2000s.
Noted among these were ex-London Dennis Dominators, ex-Greater Manchester PTE Leyland Olympians, 10 ex-Hong Kong tri-axle Leyland Olympians (ex-China Motor Bus/New World First Bus) and a sole ex-Singapore Bus Services Volvo Olympian; both of the latter 2 had worked with Greater Manchester prior to flitting north. Four ex-Eastern Scottish Volvos (3 Ailsas and a sole B10M
Citybus) also appeared within the same period. Linked below are two representatives of the first 2 examples (both taken by our own
@awsnews), both images dating from June 2003. There may have been others besides these, but they were the ones that sprang most readily to mind.
Another older view, this time from 2003, sees First Glasgow DD23 (later renumbered 31346), a Dennis Dominator new to Capital Citybus which moved to Glasgow at the end of 2002, heading for Baillieston on the 62. Somewhat unusual for a London bus in being single door from new.
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Another 2003 view shows another Northern Counties bodied import to the First Glasgow fleet, LO130 (later becoming 30167) being a Leyland Olympian new to Greater Manchester PTE and moving to Glasgow in March 03.
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