Aileen Paterson (McLaggan Smith Cats) created a series of delightful stories and images for children about Maisie the cat and her family. Some of the scenes and episodes were based on Edinburgh locations and feature our very own red buses, notably on route 23 going from Trinity to Morningside. Aileen would always say you'll see a better class of passenger on the 23!.

There's a wide range of products and merchandise are available to order.

Red buses have been a much loved trade mark in Edinburgh for as long as most of us can remember, but as of the 1st of September 2009 they would be no more and the final running day featured 5 Alexander Royales on the 29th of August 2009.

The livery pigment is no ordinary red and is known as madder red. 'Madder' is the common name of the plant genus Rubia, the type genus of the Madder family Rubiceae. The colour has an almost blood red
formation and was used as far back as the 1890's on cable trams and the newer transporting vehicles of the early 20th century.

Here I am in the driver's cab about to set off on a Volvo Olympian Alexander Royale, fleet number 426. It's Christmas Eve 2008.
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A glorious autumn morning and here is 401 on route 42 at the Silverknowes terminus after having climbed the road up along side the public golf course from the sea front. This part of the route has been withdrawn and the last day for Lothian to run daytime buses on the joyous few miles from Muirhouse was the 17th of January 2009.

Edinburgh tramways, and those in Portobello and Leith, were built by the Edinburgh Street Tramways Company, starting in 1871. Most routes were very successful, which was surprising for such steep hills using horse power. Two routes, the Goldenacre and the Comely Bank, proved too much and an alternative power was sought.

In 1893, Edinburgh Corporation took over the tram tracks within the city and they offered a 25 year lease to Dick, Kerr and Co., who formed the Edinburgh and District Tramways Company to operate the system, still using horse power. In this same year Edinburgh Corporation decided to convert the entire system to cable operation. Work began in 1896 and the last horse tram ran in 1907. At this time electric trams would have been possible, but the Corporation decided against this as the overhead wires would be too unsightly for such a beautiful city.

The Edinburgh and District Tramways Company used different colours on the horse-drawn trams and, in 1897, decided to standardised the colour on a new, madder red and white livery. This was at the time of the first change from horse to
cable. Incidentally, the white was often cream as the whole vehicle was varnished and varnishes in those days were never transparent. So It is therefore safe to say that the madder red and white livery in Edinburgh has been in use for more than 100 years.

Alexander Royale fleet numbers 401 to 429 were withdrawn from public service in Edinburgh on Friday the 16th of January 2009.
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Perhaps an unlikely spot to have a bus terminus and this is the central road running through Leith Links where route 21 would have a short break.

On January the 18th 2009 route 21 was moved over to single deckers and so the long and winding 21 route from Clermiston to Leith and round to the new Royal Infirmary would no longer see the use of red buses.
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The charming and modern crescent shaped terminus at Edinburgh's Gyle shopping centre is an attractive end to a route and a wide range of different vehicle types can be seen almost constantly during a busy week-day while shoppers come and go about their business.

Here we see the back of 403 on what is the standard rear finish for most Olympian bus designs. Older Olympian types were pretty well squared sharply all round while the Alexander Royales have a softer looking, more curved wrap-around frontage.
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I've never heard of bus racing before but here's 404 being chased vigorously by 405 on route 26. This photograph was taken at the Clermiston terminus - a chilly and lonely place even on a summer's day with it's brick hut for a bus shelter alongside. The whole area, which sits on the edge of Clermiston woods, has a distinct 1970's feel about it and slightly eerie at that (I wouldn't want to go up there at night!). It's always nice to catch pairs of buses from the same fleet and especially consecutive numbers.
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