Alexander is no more
Page 49
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THE IMPENDING restructure of the Scottish Bus Group into 12 smaller subsidiaries will coincide with the elimination of two of the best-known names in the Scottish bus industry. The SMT name, used since 1907, and the Alexander name, of almost the same age, will vanish into company titles with a "Scottish" suffix.
The story of Alexander's is told in Stewart J. Brown's Alexander's Buses (Fleetline/Roadliner; £7.95) and relates the tale of the company's expansion from small beginnings just before the First World War to a 2,000-vehicle enterprise covering an 8,000 square mile area of Scotland by 1961. It was divided that year into three separate companies — Fife, Midland and Northern — which have developed their own policies since then but retain the Alexander name.
The book is largely illustrated, mostly with pictures which have never been published before, but the text both of introductory chapters and of the captions to the photographs is informative and often entertaining.
Separate sections at the end of the book look at some of the larger private companies bought by Midland and Northern in the Sixties, at the companies Scottish Citylink express coaches, their recovery vehicles, and manufacturers' demonstration buses loaned to the companies. A.L.M.
Roadliner Transport Books, 5 Hallcroft Close, Ratho, Newbridge, Midlothian EH28 8SD.