Bluebird Bothered By Battle (1)

Back in the heady days of the Great Britain Bus Timetable, Alexander Midland ran its service 38 every 20 minutes between Linlithgow and Edinburgh. The service was hourly between Stirling and Linlithgow.

Later editions recorded the company's sale to First Bus.

A timetable leaflet suggests some stability in the service ...

... but with some journeys running as X38. Later the service was split into two separate routes. The X38 had a limited stop section in Edinburgh.

Later again, the service was reduced to be every half hour and became through to Stirling again!

[Grovellingly apologetic note :-  The above facts might be in the wrong order; old on-line timetables have not been removed but are not dated.]

First did have a noble effort at branding ...

 ... in recognition of Scottish Kings once resident at the Palace of Linlithgow.

Then came a minor rebranding into Fitst's widely applied gold and blue "express service" paint style.

See note above re fbb's memory and/or accuracy.

Both were better than a "replacement for Barbie" X38 ...

... bit nothing wa quite as richly blue as the original Alexander Midland colours.

There was something that oozed quality with the simple blue and cream. No twiddles, zigzags or swirls, just colours which matched and enhanced the architecture of the vehicle.

But it was all to no avail. First sold out to McGills whose half hourly X36, now from Falkirk rather than Linlithgow ...

... provides the sertvice into edinburgh.

At first, McGills Paisley based buses were rebranded with large stickers ... 

... but now have given way to some very attractive and stylish repaints for the X38.

There has also been some positive publicity.

McGills seem to be making a good fist of things in the former Alexander Midland territory; which is more than can be said for another bit of First Bus cast off, namely the remnants of First's Eastern Scottish business in West Lothian.

Having been under attack from Lothian Regional Transport (Edinburgh City bus as was) First were well pleased to get rid of their West Lothian business to McGills who in turn found the competition too great and simply gave up leaving the territory clear for the Edinburgh competition.

Is the wheel turning full circle for the X38? 

But, before we move on, maybe we should have a look at the X38 route map as it enters the Capital.

fbb will hijack tomorrow's scheduled mini-blog schedule to conclude this story.

Maybe you can giess what is about to happern?

Puzzle Pictures

Just a couple of teasers to prepare our sharp and incisive readership for Sunday's variety mini-blog.

Firstly, who occupied this house? It was real (or even "reel") in some senses, but not real in others.

Even tougher, where was it? The property is currently available as an OO scale laser printed model with versions on sale for all the other popular scales.

Secondly. Who owns this set of carriages and where was it originally used, and why.

 Next Battle blog : Sat 9th November