The discovery of 5,000 unpublished negatives from what was once Scotland’s biggest bus and coach operator has prompted the first of a series of books.
W Alexander and Sons Ltd 1955-1956, by prolific transport author Henry Conn contains some 180 images from a time when the company covered an area from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Inverness and Aberdeen.
Although the Alexander coachbuilding operation, still in operation as Alexander Dennis, was part of the combine not all of the operator’s vehicles had this bodywork.
“This collection of negatives is a truly priceless find. I very much enjoyed putting this book together, and hope other who enjoy it too. I am very grateful to Robin Fell of Transport Treasures for use of the pictures,” said author Henry. “There have been other books on Walter Alexander but this is a collection of never before seen photos not just of the vehicles but the people who ran them and the areas in which they operated. I thoroughly enjoyed putting this book together and hope people will enjoy looking at these images which are true social history.”
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Henry was born in Aberdeen, which at the time was served by Alexander Northern, before his family moved to Midland-served Perth. He bought his first camera in 1970 and built up a vast collection of self-taken and acquired images. This prompted Henry to seek a meeting with publishers Silver Link.
His first book, British Trolleybuses 1950-1970, was published in 2010 and the Alexander publication is his 26th. A further volume covering Alexander in 1960 is scheduled to appear in June.
The 1955-1956 book covers an era when Alexander had surprisingly few underfloor-engined coaches and was still running pre-war Leylands. As well as informative captions the book contains a history and vehicle lists.
W Alexander – a brief history
The operator started running buses in Falkirk, and from 1924, the year it started building bodies, became a limited company run by father and son – both called Walter Alexander.
In 1929 control of the company passed to railway-owned Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) and it expanded rapidly. The legendary Bluebird name was adopted for coach operations.
The coachbuilding side of the business became a separate company to keep it in private hands after the railways were nationalised.
The company was subsequently split into three, reflecting its three broad operating areas and leading to the creation of the Northern, Midland, and Fife identities, which became five when Kelvin and Strathtay were created by the Scottish Bus Group.
Most of what was the vast Alexander empire, stretching from Scotland’s west coast and Glasgow across to Fife, the north-east , Aberdeen and into the Highlands is now in the hands of Stagecoach.
W Alexander & Sons Ltd Buses and Coaches 1955-1956 is published by Silver Link Books (ISBN 978-1 85794 559 1) at £25 www.mortonsbooks.co.uk
