WELCOME WESTERN SCOTTISH ENTHUSIASTS

Your online resource for all things Western Scottish.

We aim to create as comprehensive a history of the former Western Scottish bus company as possible and would love to hear from anyone who could provide either written or photographic material for inclusion on the site. If you can help please get in touch via our Contact Us Page.

Make sure and register as a member if you wish to comment on any of our posts or download Western Enthusiasts Club newsletters from our Features pages.

We hope you enjoy a nostalgic journey through the history of one of Scotland’s most famous bus companies.

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Got a Western Scottish related question?

Why not post it on our DISCUSS page and hopefully one of our members will be able to provide an answer for you. Your question or query could be anything from a depot you used to work at, a technical bus related one or maybe just something that’s been bugging you for years and you never got round to getting it answered.

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Latest Questions

FEATURED IMAGE

Stranraer’s solitary DMS

1 Comment

The Western Scottish depot at Stranraer was well renowned for it’s double decker allocation in the 80’s and 90’s, mainly for schools work to Stranraer Academy and between the Machars and the Douglas Ewart High School in Newton Stewart, the latter operating out of the Stranraer’s outstation at Whithorn.

The double decker allocation itself was made up almost exclusively from cascaded Daimler / Leyland Fleetlines from Western’s Glasgow garages and would normally be their last depot of operation before their withdrawal / sale.

Our featured image depicts something of an oddball in Stranraer’s double decker allocation as SR827 KUC997P was the only ex-London DMS type ever to be allocated there out of the 32 such vehicles purchased second hand by Western. Her centre staircase and automatic gearbox were all pretty “non-standard” for Stranraer depot and her stay was sadly very short lived.

This particular bus was purchased from Ensign (dealer) in December 1983 and her history with Western was as follows:

12/83	Purchase from Ensign	01/84	Centre Door removal / refit	04/84	Numbered R999
04/84	Allocated to Dumfries	11/87	Re-numbered R827	12/87	Allocated to Stranraer
10/88	Allocated to Kilmarnock	12/89	Repainted black, white, red & grey	12/90	Withdrawn & sold

Featured Image archive

LATEST POSTS

LATEST COMMENTS

1. 

   Such a pity that Western didn’t do a better job of the destination display.

2. 

   Comment from member, Graham Hand. Hi Had no idea this site existed. Excellent work all round! Delighted to see so…

3. 

   Would loved to have seen this in the traditional red and cream livery.

4. 

   Really great. Had never seen the newsletter before.

VIDEO ARCHIVE

The History

Find out more about the history of Western Scottish Omnibuses and follow the company through it’s Scottish Bus Group days until it’s sale to the Stagecoach group in 1994.

The Depots

With an operating area covering as far north as the Island of Islay and as far south as Carlisle in England it’s easy to understand why Western required a lot of depots to house its fleet.

Find the buses

Search our Western Scottish vehicle database and discover specific bus chassis & body numbers, seating capacity, allocation history, company transfers and lots more.

Preserved Buses

Western Scottish had a long and distinguished history within the transport industry and, luckily for us, a wide variety of former vehicles have been restored for preservation.

When was Western created?

Western Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd and operated until 1997, when it became Western Buses Ltd. This company is now a part of Stagecoach West Scotland.

Where were Western’s depots?

Westerns main depots were located at Kilmarnock, Ayr, Cumnock, Stranraer and Dumfries as well sub depots at Annan, Ardrossan, Carlisle, Girvan and Whithorn. Vehicles were also ‘out-stationed’ at Kirkcudbright, Newton Stewart, Lockerbie, Port William, Penpont and Sanquhar. The company also established bases on the Isle of Arran and the Dunoon peninsula.

Where did Western operate?

Western Scottish was the largest bus operator in South West Scotland and was responsible for bus services in the towns of Kilmarnock, Ayr, Cumnock, Girvan, Stranraer and Dumfries as well as rural services, interurban connections and cross-border journeys into England.

Did privatisation affect Western?

Western Scottish was purchased by its management and employees in October 1991 for £1m with an immediate onward sale of the Clydeside operations and their depots to their management and employees as Clydeside 2000 plc (with Luton & District taking a 24% stake). The depot at Largs was closed, and Rothesay depot remained with Western Scottish. The Ardrossan depot closed shortly afterward.

What livery did the buses wear?

The traditional, smart red and cream livery that Western Scottish vehicles wore gave way to a black, white and two-tone grey scheme shortly after the company was created. This livery was short lived, however, and a black, white and red scheme took over within a couple of years.

What happened to Western?

Stagecoach bought over Western in July 1994 for £6m. Trading as Stagecoach Western Scottish, the company adopted the corporate Stagecoach white with red, blue and orange stripes and began expanding. Arran Transport was purchased in October 1994 followed by the purchase of Clyde Coast in 1995 & the bus operations of Dodds of Troon, AA Buses & Shuttle Buses in 1997.