Now everyone is getting the chance to take a trip down memory lane – and on a genuine vintage bus.
Hidden away from sight in Glasgow's East End are more than 100 vintage vehicles, kept in pristine condition by a team of dedicated enthusiasts.
But this weekend the doors of Bridgeton Bus Garage are to be thrown open – for one day only – offering visitors the chance to wander among buses, lorries and fire engines that date back to 1904. The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust's annual open day, on Sunday, will have more than 100 vehicles on display – and buses from the 1950s and 1980s will take people on free trips to the city centre and the Riverside Museum.
Iain McGregor, chairman of GVVT, said: "People come in and say: 'I remember going to school in these and I remember the older people went to work on them'. We have got some that took people on their holidays. We even have a few McBrayne's vehicles that went up to the western islands from Glasgow."
The oldest bus in the collection dates back to 1934 – from the North of Scotland – and there is the shell of tram from 1904. Most of the buses are part of the GVVT's collection, alongside visiting vehicles from as far away as Australia.
The trust, which has leased Bridgeton Bus Garage as a home for the buses from Glasgow City Council for nearly 10 years, aims to promote the restoration, preservation and use of historic passenger carrying and commercial vehicles. And the garage – built in 1965 for the Glasgow Corporation – provides the perfect setting for the vintage vehicles.
Iain said: "The vehicles come from a variety of sources. Some came from bus operators straight out of services and some were found in farmyards and the like where they have been used for different purposes, and our members gather them up.
"The big problem has always been places to keep buses, particularly double deckers, because we can't keep them in a small garage, it needs to be something with height.
"This was built as a bus garage, so we are not only preserving the buses but hopefully preserving the garage as well as keeping the vehicles in a proper setting.
"It is 1960s architecture, which is pretty basic. It is no cathedral. But we always plug that it is 1960s architecture and so much of that has now been demolished in Glasgow. Examples from that period are disappearing and it maybe not the architects' finest hour but it is still part of the city's heritage."
The bus preservation movement has taken off in the past 30 years, but buses dating back to before this period are very rare.
Iain, 69, from Bishopton, said: "Buses pre that period tended just to get scrapped and very few of them survived. So anything pre-Second World War or from the forties or fifties you would say are pretty thin on the ground."
The buses in the collection are all privately owned by enthusiasts and groups who pay to store them in Bridgeton. Iain, along with a group of others, owns a Glasgow-built Albion bus, which they acquired in 1967.
The Albion Automotive warehouse in Scotstoun used to make lorries and buses for the British Empire and visitors can see an Albion bus that was used in Australia and is now stored here. Visitors will also be able to see, first hand, how buses have changed.
Iain explained: "The main difference is in double deckers where the entrance was at the back on an open platform and the driver sat in their own wee cabin on top of the engine.
"That was the whole joy of them, that you jump on and off at traffic lights and so on, the health and safety folk would have nightmares now but that was what you did. As it was pulling away from a stop you could run after it and jump on."
The garage, at Fordneuk Street, will be open from 10am to 5pm on Sunday. As well as the buses there will be stalls selling books, models and spare parts, as well as catering.
Admission is £5 for adults, £3 for concession and £12 for families. For more information visit www.gvvt.org.
matty.sutton@ eveningtimes.co.uk
