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Double Deckers

VOLVO AILSA

AV AILSA MK 1. All of these buses, except for *, were delivered new to W. Alexander (Fife) and survived well into SBG days. They were built on an Ailsa B55 chassis and seated 79 passengers (H44/35F). The driver entered the cab via an off side door due to a small powerful turbo charged engine layout at the front. The 'N' and 'P' reg buses are from 1975 and the 'R' reg buses are 1977 deliveries. FRA1 - FRA10 went to Highland Omnibuses about 1980 and returned to Fife in 1991. My thanks go to fellow Stagecoach Fife driver Malcolm Nicholson (owner of LSX16P) for the Ailsa information.

*KSF8N - FRA8 Destroyed by fire when with Highland Omnibuses in 1984.

**LSX9P - FRA9 never re-entered service when it returned in 1991, instead, being cannibalised for spares.

***YMS714R was new to Alexander (Midland) in 1977 as MRA14. Was acquired by Highland (PHOTO HERE) as a replacement for KSF8N as mentioned above. Came to Fife in 1991 in place of KSF8N.

#NSP334R & NSP336R - Thanks to information from Robert Clark, I now know that these buses came to Fife from A1 Service in 1995.

##LSX25P seemed to be a jinxed bus. It had it's roof ripped off at the low bridge near the bottom of the New Row in Dunfermline in the late 1970's. This was presumably the low bridge near the end of Woodmill Street at the start of the railway viaduct when leaving the railway station. It was rebuilt then caught fire whilst in Dunfermline depot sheds. It was repaired again before being written off in an accident. (This information was supplied by Malcolm Nicholson. Many thanks.)

AV AILSA MK 2. This batch of 20 buses are 1979 deliveries, and the only visual difference from the MK 1's is the higher driver position. They are built on a Volvo Ailsa B55 chassis and have the same seating arrangement as the MK 1.

#OSC52V - 852 WAS APPARENTLY WRITTEN OFF FOLLOWING AN ACCIDENT IN GUARDBRIDGE (YEAR UNKNOWN BUT OBVIOUSLY IN STAGECOACH ERA)

RV AILSA MK 3. These 1984 buses had the new 'R' type bodywork which squared the design up a bit - no more peaked domes on the roof. The windows were bigger, but the first 8 buses still had the same seating arrangement in the upper saloon. They had 2 extra seats on the lower saloon by altering the seats over the rear wheel arch to forward facing. They still had the bulky turbo area at the front, so these 8 buses still had an off side drivers door. They were early leaving Fife, all ending up with Cardiff Bus. They were built on a Volvo B55 chassis and seated 81 passengers (H44/37F). I have emailed Cardiff bus on several occasions with a view to preserving one of these buses, unfortunately, they don't seem to want to reply to me.

VOLVO CITYBUS. The next batch of  buses - 10 in 1985 and 21 in 1986 - were again on a Volvo B55 chassis, but did away with the bulky turbo area. This resulted in the driver being able to enter cab via internal door. The upper saloon bus seats were altered to do away with the single rows at the front, to a more conventional layout and increase passenger capacity to 84 (H47/37F). The 'B' reg vehicles were ordered by Alexander (Fife), whilst the 'C' reg vehicles were ordered by Fife Scottish. After FRA93, the re-numbering system, which seemed so easy to understand, became a bit of a 'spiders web' and didn't seem to make a lot of sense. They were great buses to drive if you were tall like me as they offered great leg room

*****FRA108 WAS NEW TO VOLVO IN 1985 AS A DEMONSTRATOR. IT HAD COACH SEATS AND A RECTANGLE SHAPED DESTINATION DISPLAY.

We next have 2 coaches in the RV category that were transferred from a Western Scottish order in 1987. They have a CH47/23F layout seating 70 passengers. They were built on a Volvo B10M chassis.

RVC CITYBUS COACH. These 2 vehicles were coach versions of the 'R' type body. They seated 70 with a CH42/28F layout, and were built on the Volvo B10M chassis. They were ordered in 1984 for Alexander (Fife) and were primarily used on express or 'Citylink' duties.

NORTHERN COUNTIES bodywork with a DPH43/33F layout. Came to Fife from SOUTHDOWN in 1991.

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