Doing the maths, Strathclyde bought 152 Ailsas new - AV1-3 (the pre-production trio) then AV4-18, A1-133 and AS1.
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The Volvo B55 Ailsa - Origins/Development, Service History & Survivors
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overthewater
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The Book has spilt the order between Greater Glasgow PTE then switches to Strathclyde PTE, Nor does it include those three pro-productions.
AV1-3 were still Ailsas, though, even if they were pre-production buses - they still count! That's would be like me saying Lothian only bought 213 Atlanteans since all of the others were new to Edinburgh Corporation. The bottom line is that Edinburgh bought 588 Atlanteans over 16 years, who they were new to is irrelevant.
If you count the 18 Ailsas new to Glasgow in GGPTE days, and the 134 bought by SPTE, you still end up with 152.
overthewater
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That's the publisher problem 
Strathclyder
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Yep, that was the total I got when compliling the off-the-shelf Glasgow examples, the pre-production examples and AS1 included. Two oddites in the Strathclyde Ailsa ranks that I don't think have been mentioned yet are the pair of Marshall-bodied deckers (A483-484 UYS (A117-118)) that found their way into the fleet. Both managed to last into the First era as far I can work out (pics of A118 in First ownership are hard to come by, that said), A117 receiving the London Imitation Red livery. Linked images of both below, orginally taken by David Devoy & Geoffrey Morant respectively.
FIRST GLASGOW A117 A483UYS
The only one of the trio of Marshall bodied double-deckers bought new by Strathclyde PTE in the 1980's to receive the red First Glasgow livery was Volvo Ailsa A117 (A483UYS).
flickr.com
Strathclyde Volvo/Ailsa A118 A484UYS in 1984 - Jun - Geoffrey Morant
thetransportlibrary.co.uk
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In fairness to the publisher, it only published what was submitted to them!That's the publisher problem
Differed by customer, I think. All of the SBG Ailsas had hinged cab doors, as did the 25 which Eastern Scottish bought second-hand from South Yorkshire in 1986-87. I'm pretty sure that at least some of Strathclyde A1-116/9-33 had sliding ones.
I'd love to speak to drivers that had experience with both then, see which they preferred, in the summer I imagine if allowed, having the sliding door even slightly open would help especially with a Front engined bus but I bet the sliding doors got stuck a lot or even jammed.
Stan Drews
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The Alexander bodied SPTE/SBL ones from A41 upwards had sliding doors. They were very welcome in the summer, provided they would stay open! Some had a tendecy to slam shut when you braked, as the catches that were meant to hold them in the open position, didn’t always work!!
They were either fully open or closed, there wasn’t any in between option.
if an inspector caught you with the door open in service, was it allowed or did you get into trouble for it, I can imagine in the summer it would have been needed for definite.
I quite enjoyed driving the ex Merseybus ones at Edwards Coaches for that exact reason in the summer, fabulous on a 30c day going along the motorway at 55mph with the door open! Though they were all good in the winter for keeping you warm if the engine insulation was missing
This one was the last I drove before I left for Cardiff Bus, they were alot quicker than the ones native to Cardiff for some reason;
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What a great thread - as I am rapidly approaching 50 this really takes me back to my teenage years in Scotland. After my parents split and I moved up to Scotland with my father we lived up in Caithness where the Highland Scottish Ailsas were all based - there were 9 of the original Fife Scottish ones (I believe there had been 10 but one was detroyed by fire? There was certainly no G308, the others being numbered G301 - G307 and G309/G310) and YMS714R had been acquired as a replacement from Midland Scottish (G311) - they were split between Thurso and Wick depots.
My grandfather and lot of relatives were in Dundee - truly the home of the Ailsa in the late 80's - in fact from 86 until late 89 there were only 3 early Volvo Citybuses (86/87/88) in the Tayside fleet of normal service buses that were not Ailsas.
The Mk1 and Mk2 ailsas I was thought were a little bit rough and basic but I absolutely loved the Mk3s which were all had voith transmission. The Mk3s in the mid - late 80s were mainly on the 15/17, 20/22 and 26/28/29 group of services until the fleet of 15 Citybuses displaced them on the 26/28/29 service. All of the Tayside Ailsas were originally delivered dual door and I know all of the Mk3 were converted to single door between 1989 and about 1991 and I think a few of the Mk2s were also converted but I can't remember the details.
A real treat was to get on a Mk3 at the end of the evening peak when it was about to come out of service - my god some of those Tayside drivers weren't scared to put the foot down - racing into the city centre with the retarder screaming away was a real treat - bygone days now though unfortunately.
As I said when I moved up to Scotland I fell in love with the Ailsa - so much better in my opinion than the boredom of the bland ECW bodied VRT I had been used to.
My grandfather and lot of relatives were in Dundee - truly the home of the Ailsa in the late 80's - in fact from 86 until late 89 there were only 3 early Volvo Citybuses (86/87/88) in the Tayside fleet of normal service buses that were not Ailsas.
The Mk1 and Mk2 ailsas I was thought were a little bit rough and basic but I absolutely loved the Mk3s which were all had voith transmission. The Mk3s in the mid - late 80s were mainly on the 15/17, 20/22 and 26/28/29 group of services until the fleet of 15 Citybuses displaced them on the 26/28/29 service. All of the Tayside Ailsas were originally delivered dual door and I know all of the Mk3 were converted to single door between 1989 and about 1991 and I think a few of the Mk2s were also converted but I can't remember the details.
A real treat was to get on a Mk3 at the end of the evening peak when it was about to come out of service - my god some of those Tayside drivers weren't scared to put the foot down - racing into the city centre with the retarder screaming away was a real treat - bygone days now though unfortunately.
As I said when I moved up to Scotland I fell in love with the Ailsa - so much better in my opinion than the boredom of the bland ECW bodied VRT I had been used to.
Stan Drews
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Yes it was allowed. That was kinda the whole point of having them!
Well, not really - the whole point of having them was because there was a muckle great lump preventing access to the cab from the passenger door!
Think he is referring to the sliding type door as opposed to the regular hinged ones.
When South Yorkshire had theirs, I used to visit Attercliffe to go to a model shop there. I remember once, getting an Ailsa back into Sheffield on the famous 69 service, I think it was the fastest ride I've ever had on a double decker.
The speed it achieved along Attercliffe Road was quite astonishing.
The speed it achieved along Attercliffe Road was quite astonishing.
PG
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Bit of a strange request here but I don't think I've ever seen a picture or even a diagram of an Ailsa chassis - can anyone help me out please?
I've seen a picture of it in a book. Essentially it was a perimeter frame, similar to the Olympian.
*Edit* I've found the book - it's in Beyond Reality: Leyland Bus, the Twilight Years by Doug Jack, p74.
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Stan Drews
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Indeed!
Trying to get the hinged doors to stay open as you drove along was a real pain!!
I'm trying to work out what you could use to keep the hinged doors open, did the windows match up when the door was open? as that is the only place I can see that you could try and bodge something.
I couldn't work that out myself, unless some sort of clip was bodged onto the handle and corresponding receptacle on the bodywork. I always found it easier just to climb over the engine to get in anyway.
Devon Sunset
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I could do that too back in the day, not much chance now
PG
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Grand, thanks
Makes me wonder if there wouldn't have been some way to stick the engine over the front axle? Even if it meant having a nearside staircase, though I'd have thought it would have fitted under forward ascending stairs?
Maybe simpler was better in order to get the SBG to take it!
I suppose the trickiest part of the design was getting the transmission under/over/past the front axle. That was the problem which couldn't be solved on the Wulfrunian so it proved impossible to employ a normal beam type axle, hence the alarming angle of the front wheels.
Of course, the Wulfrunian was intended to be a low height bus whereas the Ailsa was primarily a full height bus although there was a single low height version supplied to Derby Corporation but it's interior was a rather unsatisfactory arrangement and the exterior was odd looking also.
Of course, the Wulfrunian was intended to be a low height bus whereas the Ailsa was primarily a full height bus although there was a single low height version supplied to Derby Corporation but it's interior was a rather unsatisfactory arrangement and the exterior was odd looking also.
I don't know if it was here I read it, was the reason Eastern Scottish didn't have a full Ailsa fleet because of the lack of a lowheight version and issues at one of the Depot's, prompting Ailsa and Volvo to develop the unique lowheight version that the SBG ended up rejecting anyway because it looked ungainly.
TheGrandWazoo
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I don't know how true that is.
It is true that New Street (fantastic building as it was) in Edinburgh had some challenging issues given its location and internal clearances. Again, will need to refer to the experts e.g. @DunsBus whether it was this that precluded new Ailsas being allocated there. Not certain where the secondhand ones were allocated for city services.
However, there were plenty of other depots that could have had Ailsas but didn't. From what I can recall, during the 1970s, Eastern standardised on the low height ECW bodied Fleetline, 5 batches during the 1970s as well as getting some ex Central ones. Eastern then experienced a major vehicle shortage (hey, it was the 70s). So it gained 10 Ailsas at Musselburgh, diverted from Fife in 1977, before resuming Fleetlines that were dispersed across the network.
With the end of Fleetline production, they had a choice to buy Ailsas or something else. They dual sourced with Ailsas for other mid-Lothian depots at Musselburgh and Dalkeith. However, other depots (aside from New St) with deckers received Olympians with ECW and Alexander bodies, namely Livingston, Bathgate, Baillieston and Dunbar - don't know if any had height issues though I doubt the first three had.
As an aside, all of these huge NBC and SBG monoliths had these disparities in the extent of their territory but still find it sort of odd that you had one single firm with services and a depot in Glasgow, and in Edinburgh, plus places like Jedburgh, Kelso and Berwick. Mind you, they shared the latter with a firm who also had a depot in Scarborough!
Devon Sunset
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The Ailsas for the city services were based at New Street, the only height restrictions that I can remember is that only lowheight deckers could use the "In" door and the Volvo's and Lions had to use the "Out" door in both directions. Livingston and Bathgate could both accommodate Lions which were 14'10' but again at Bathgate you could only use one door but I forget which one. Not sure about the height of Dunbar depot but the low bridge at East Linton meant that no highbridge vehicles would be allocated there anyway.
TheGrandWazoo
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Thanks for that - I was sure that New Street had its challenges but couldn't remember what. That was why Ailsas didn't go there from new but I thought that the secondhand ones (esp the Van Hools) were based there but your explanation makes perfect sense.
Didn't realise Bathgate had any restrictions but it was an old depot IIRC. Baillieston and Livi were, of course, much newer and had no such issues.
And yeah, good point on East Linton
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