Edinburgh History - Broughton

Buses

Annandale Street Garage, Broughton, Seafield and Bellevue

Thank you to Alex Dow, Fife, Scotland, formerly Edinburgh, for the following recollections from the 1950s.

Annandale Street Bus Garage

I lived in Bellevue Road, just round from Annandale Street bus garage. Along with other lads from around there, we would help with recording the refueling of the buses as they came of duty in the early evenings, up in the room above the Green Street entrance, spiral staircase access nearest Bellevue (Drummond) School, greasy pole high-speed exit at the other end. I met up with three of them back in September, after almost fifty years.

The diesel double decker fleet numbers were prefixed 'G', single deckers 'A' and the petrol single deckers (mainly tours) 'X'."

Panorama Photo

"I am pretty certain that the diagonal parking was not the norm; and the photos were probably specially posed to show the first major post-war refurbishment of the fleet with mainly Daimlers (fluted radiators), so late 1940s and clearly before the (re-)introduction of advertising in the early 1950s, also appearing on the remaining tram fleet.

It may coincide with the major conference of Transport Managers held about 1950 or 1951, when many buses of other operators and also export were exhibited at the west/school end of the garage."

Trolleybus

"That week, a Glasgow trolleybus was demonstrated on Seafield Road Portobello, being towed there each morning and back each evening. On the demonstrations, the trolleybus ran on it batteries, parking at the King's Road tram terminus to recharge. This was achieved by connecting one trolley to the tram overhead and a chain or cable to a weight in the tram rail."

Severe Winter

"In the early 1950s, there was a very severe winter and Edinburgh City Transport had taken over what was the coal yard (now fire station) of McDonald Road Power Station. To prevent engine damage etc, those buses and any outside at Annandale Street, had their engines running continuously overnight. It was quite a sight to see and hear (and probably smell) at McDonald Road."

TV Broadcast

"Later, about 1956, the western end of the garage was cleared of buses to allow a live, TV broadcast of a car manoeuvering rally to take place. Several double-deckers were parked around the sides of the cleared area, rather like ropes around a boxing ring. Sheets and blankets were used to hide the adverts.

I helped the TV crew during rehearsals, using a rusty bit of wire to trace the intended car route through the obstacles. The wire was lying on the garage floor and was nicely matt, so avoiding unwanted reflections into the cameras."

Bellevue

"As part of the agreement for Bellevue Road being publicly-adopted, the Town Council agreed that no buses would use Bellevue Road; and I have seen the notice to that effect inside the Annandale St door of the garage.

Bellevue School was part of a park at one time, hence the janitor having to keep the gates open for access to the longer of the school and/or public park hours; and also the "park-style" of boards at its gates for many years"

Alex Dow, Fife, Scotland: October 24, 2005