OTHER OPERATORS ON THE ISLE OF SKYE
from
years long gone by and a bit more more recently ...... a
scrapbook of names from the past
A kaleidoscope of reminiscences, not an exhaustive history as so many have run buses on Skye over the years .......
During
the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s MACLEODS
OF DUNTULM
ran a single route
along the west coast
of the
Trotternish peninsula - taken over from
Neil Beaton in 1953 when that company withdrew from bus operation -
with a daily service
from Kilmaluag through Duntulm and Uig to Portree. The morning
journey
south and the afternoon journey north were timed to connect with the
Macbrayne's
mail steamer at
Portree - long before Uig became the car ferry terminal for Tarbert and
Lochmaddy. As well as buses Alisdair and his brother Donald had a few
lorries in haulage. The two timetable advertisements below appeared in
the
'Clarion of Skye' newspaper and are for summer 1953 and winter 1954.
After nearly thirty years the service passed eventually
in 1981 from Macleod to NICOLSON OF BORVE who ran it through the 1980s and 1990s. The
route to Kilmaluag passed to Highland Country Bus (later Stagecoach in
Skye),
both the ex-Macleod route via Uig and also the other ex-Skye Transport
east coast route via Staffin to Kilmaluag. Extra
journeys operated by Scottish Citylink run between Portree and Uig connecting with the outer islands car ferries to Tarbert in
Harris and
Lochmaddy in North
Uist.
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| W J
SUTHERLAND ("Willie")
of Carbost operated from Portree via
Sligachan to the west of Skye and the shores of Loch Harport from 1959
until 1996. Originally Donald Steele of Carbost ran from Portnalong to
Sligachan (licenced in 1931). The route was extended to Portree in
February of 1936 and a partnership formed with Roderick Steele. Also in
February of 1936 Ewen Macrae of Glenbrittle on the lonely shores of
Loch Eynort started to run from there via Carbost and Sligachan to Portree. In 1939
the Steele's route passed to Neil Beaton of Portree who extended it
further westward to start at Fiscavaig. Macrae acquired the Fiskavaig
route in 1953 when Beaton's withdrew from bus operations. In the 1950s Macrae alsoa advertised haulage and removals. Sutherland
bought the Glenbrittle route from Macrae in 1959 and later acquired the
Fiskavaig route as well in
October 1962, later combining the two. Willie's vehicles had a blue livery
and were most often acquired from Highland Omnibuses of Inverness. The
undated Sutherland timetable illustrated
alongside shows services mainly by connection at Sligachan with only
the Friday return shopping journey running through to Portree. As well
as the more traditional
schools and shopping journeys, a feature of more recent years (eg 1980s) had been
a summer months early morning
departure from Portree outbound with a corresponding late afternoon
return - a
facility
useful to walkers and climbers for access to the Cuillin
Hills. |
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| Parked in Portree between duties in March 1978 are AEC Reliance / Plaxtons AJD529C of Sutherland of Glenbrittle and RVB412E of Macleod of Duntulm. (photo by John Sinclair) |
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| The Fiskavaig - Carbost -
Portree service passed to Nicolson of Borve (see below) probably in 1996. The
Nicolson families had been involved in the bus business on Skye for
many
years,
and it was Donald John Nicolson who operated the first bus on the island in
1927 as the
Portree Coach Company. The Nicolsons then sold this first business to the Highland Transport
Company of Inverness in 1930. Highland withdrew from the island in
March 1935 and the
Nicolsons became bus operators again over their old routes, but now
running as Skye
Transport. The SCWS (Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society)
took over the routes of
the former private firm Skye Transport in March 1946, and retained the
same
trading name as
had been used by the previous proprietor, D J Nicolson. From 1953 ALEXANDER NICOLSON OF SKEABOST BRIDGE was in the bus business running the ex-Neil Beaton service from Portree to Dunvegan and Glendale. One of the vehicles used by Nicolson's Bus Service was a 1951 Bedford SB / Duple appropriately registered SB8701. This route subsequently passed from Alexander ("Alex") Nicolson to PETER CARSON of Dunvegan in 1965, and Carson ran it until it was taken over by Macbraynes in 1970. |
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NICOLSON OF BORVE took over in 1981 the ex-Macleods of Duntulm route from Kilmaluag via Uig to Portree and then operated it for some years in the 1980s and 1990s. The Borve-based firm seems to have been in and out of the timetabled bus service business at different times but were usually involved in school contract work, sometimes with double deckers (eg an ex-Southdown "Queen Mary" for a time). In the summer of 2001 we found Nicolson operating on the route from Portree via Edinbane to Dunvegan and Glendale, as well as Portree to Peinchorran, Portree - Sligachan - Dunvegan (school journeys), Portree to Carbost/Fiskavaig, and the Portree town service. And then it seems that Nicolsons were once again out of the bus business as their bus routes were deregistered in January 2002 after retendering and the contract for their operation passed to Highland. |
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| Nicolson of Borve
Mercedes parked in
Portree in July 2001 |
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| A weekly
express coach service was
operated by SKYE CARS
(the trading name adopted by
A Sutherland and Sons, who also ran excursions on
the island from their Sutherlands Garage, Broadford base) between Skye
and Glasgow in the
1950s and 1960s.
The southbound journey was on Friday with return northbound on
Saturday. Taken over from Neil Beaton in 1953, this passed to Wallace
Arnold Tours of Leeds in the early 1970s who operated from the
Glasgow end, so it was then
north on Friday and south on Saturday. Wallace Arnold used
vehicles hired
in from other operators as they did not have a Scottish base.
Another
operator with a similar range of tours and excursions from Broadford
and
Kyleakin in the 1950s was Campbells Tours. |
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MACDONALD AND MACLEAN were taken over in 1948 by Macbrayne's and this brought their buses on to the island for the first time on their Ardvasar - Armadale - Kyleakin service, which bus route Donald ("Danny") MacLean and Peter MacDonald had introduced in 1940 when they won the mail contract from previous provider John MacInnes of Broadford (see Elgol entry above) who had run it since at least 1923. The M and M garage at Ardvasar in the south of the island became the Macbrayne base for Skye. Then MACBRAYNE'S, after modest beginnings on just the one route on the island between Ardvasar and Kyleakin, took over the remaining Neil Beaton bus route from Portree to Armadale after 31st August 1953. Armadale was the island port for the ferry from Mallaig, the terminus of the rail line from Glasgow and Fort William. Subsequently Macbrayne's took over all of the Skye Transport bus operations in 1958 when SCWS wished to withdraw from the bus business, which made Macbrayne's the major operator on the island. The garage at Ardvasar still stood in summer 2001, used for car and tractor repairs. |
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Perhaps the classic
Isle of Skye bus
picture - waiting for the ferry to arrive at Kyleakin are two of Macbrayne's
Thornycroft Nippys:
FGE 678 of 1947 with 14 seats and mail compartment; behind is HGG 357
of 1950, a 20-seater. The front bus clearly marked for its destination
at Ardvasar, with the one behind probably bound for Portree.
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| From the 1950s, three Alexander Maclennan sailing bills above for the Armadale - Mallaig ferry and also pleasure cruises from Mallaig. | ||||
Some years later in 1970
Macbraynes
took over the Portree - Dunvegan -
Glendale route, which left only Macleods of Duntulm, MacKinnon of Elgol
and
Sutherlands of Carbost operating independently. Following the
break-up of
the Macbraynes bus operations in 1970, their routes passed to Highland
Omnibus
(the wheel having turned full circle nearly 40 years later after
Highland's
withdrawal from the island in the 1930s).
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Cover of 1969 Macbraynes timetable for Skye - if you are interested in the activities of David Macbrayne you may wish to view the website of the Macbrayne Circle. | |
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Macbraynes
as fondly
remembered, passing through Broadford on the way to Armadale Pier and
the Mallaig ferry. |
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Macbraynes
summer 1955
timetable for their then only two Isle of Skye bus routes: Armadale -
Portree and Armadale - Kyleakin
Clicking on this link will take you to the full Macbrayne's Islands Area timetable dated 2nd May 1955 If you remember the Clarion of Skye published in the 1950s by Alli Nicolson of Struan, or the Vest Pocket Guides to the Isle of Skye published by Duncan Macpherson in Kyle of Lochalsh you may find this link of interest! |
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Since bus deregulation in
the
mid-1980s, routes have changed hands from time to time. The
opening of
the Skye bridge itself in 1995 bought changes too.
From 1981, there was competition between SKYEWAYS
and
Citylink's predecessors, with Skyeways operating a summer only service
from Kyle
of Lochalsh to Glasgow. Extending on to the island in 1982,
over the next
two or three years the fleet was gradually increased and services to
Glasgow and
Inverness were successfully extended to operate as far as Portree and
Uig on the
Isle of Skye for 7 days a week, 12 months of the year. Their
blue liveried
coaches and buses were to be a familiar sight on the island for nigh on
twenty
years. But for the past few years these services have been
rationalised into a Citylink-only
operation after Citylink invested in the Skyeways
business. Skyeways
/ Clan Coaches still continue in the private hire and contract business
with a
fleet of over thirty vehicles from their mainland base.
Skyeways (based primarily in Kyle of Lochalsh and known formerly for many years as Clan Coaches) also operated in the summer months over "local" routes on the island, Kyle/Kyleakin to Portree/Armadale and Armadale to Portree. These routes were then served year round by HIGHLAND COUNTRY BUS (the name adopted after the sale of the Highland Omnibus business to then new owners Rapsons of Brora). However, the Skyeways local services ceased at the end of the summer 2000 season and were not operated in 2001. To a degree CITYLINK competed with Highland Country Bus on the island bus routes as local passengers can be conveyed on the five times a day express coach services between Portree and Kyle of Lochalsh, on the way to Glasgow and Inverness respectively. |
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| At
their Portree depot,
Highland
Country Bus in the summer of
2001 had
an allocation of 17 buses plus 3 express coaches that parked overnight,
crewed by 22 bus and 5
coach drivers. The coaches are operated on behalf of Citylink
on routes to
Inverness and Glasgow. In practice many of the buses are
outstationed around the
island, 2 at Flodigarry, 1 at Uig, 2 at Broadford and 1 at Kyleakin
(also 5 on
the mainland just across the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh). In
January 2002 Highland assumed responsibility for the
routes until
recently operated by Nicolson of Borve from Portree to Glendale;
Peinchorran;
Fiskavaig; also the Portree town service. (Highland Country Bus, as part of Rapsons,
was acquired by Stagecoach in May 2008 and is now known as Stagecoach
in Skye). |
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Highland
Country Bus seen in
action in Broadford in July 2001 on the way to Armadale. |
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These are the services that were operated in the SUMMER OF 2001 |
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| Highland Country Bus | 50 Portree - Broadford - Kyleakin - Kyle of Lochalsh (one return journey plus school journey) |
| (Rapsons) | 52 Portree - Broadford - Armadale - Ardvasar (five or six journeys a day, mid-summer) |
| 150 Portree - Broadford - Torrin (school journeys only) | |
| 154A Isleornsay - Kyleakin - Kyle - Plockton (school journeys only) | |
| 355 Kyle - Kyleakin (low floor Dennis Dart across the Skye Bridge, every 30 minutes, 7 days a week) | |
| 356/357/358 Portree - Staffin - Kilmaluag - Uig - Portree (circular, 356 out via Staffin, 357 out via Uig, 4/5 times a day) | |
| 360 Portree - Sligachan - Glenbrittle (17 May to 30 September only) | |
| Scottish Citylink | 915/916 Uig - Portree - Broadford -
Kyleakin -
Kyle
- Fort William -
Glasgow (three times daily, including 915 via Glasgow Airport once each way) |
| 917 Portree - Broadford - Kyleakin - Kyle - Inverness (twice daily) | |
| Royal Mail Postbus | 106 Broadford - Elgol (14-seater, twice daily, once on Saturdays) |
| 102 Dunvegan - Glendale - Milovaig (4-seater, 2/3 times a day) | |
| 103 Portree - Edinbane - Waternish - Geary - Dunvegan (4-seater, 1/2 journeys a day) | |
| Nicolson of Borve | Portree - Peinchorran (schooldays and Fridays) |
| Portree town service (six journeys Monday to Friday) | |
| Portree - Sligachan - Carbost - Fiskavaig (two journeys Monday to Friday) | |
| Portree - Sligachan - Struan - Vatten - Dunvegan (school journeys) | |
| Portree - Edinbane - Dunvegan - Glendale (Dunvegan 4 times a day, Glendale 1/2 journeys) | |
| Portree - Waternish - Geary (school journeys) | |
| Glenedin Coaches | Portree - B885 - Struan - Vatten (Tuesday and Friday, also daily in school holidays) |
| Portree - Waternish - Geary (Monday and Wednesday, also daily in school holidays) | |
| Day tour Portree to Dunvegan Castle and West of Skye, Monday Wednesday and Friday | |
| Evening tour Portree to North End of Skye, Tuesday and Thursday | |
| Murdo Macdonald | Portree - Sligachan - Carbost - Fiskavaig (one journey Saturday) |
| Wheelchair accessible minibus 'on demand' in Dunvegan, Glendale, Waternish, Struan areas | |
| Comments
on 2001
The only Sunday buses were the Citylink services and the 355 Skye
Bridge
shuttle. In 2001, in the absence of the Skyeways
services, there
were no early buses westwards from Kyle and Kyleakin to Portree, and no
late
afternoon buses back. There were also no direct services that
year linking
Kyle/Kyleakin with Armadale Pier (for
Mallaig). The winter
service on Skye is very much reduced from summer levels, and is
basically to
meet shopping and school requirements only. An
additional provider
in the winter months was Waterloo Bus Service of Broadford (a taxi and
minibus
operator) who provided some shoppers journeys (MWF Armadale to
Broadford and
Kyleakin) and TThS Armadale to Broadford and
Portree). |
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And these are the services that were operated in the SUMMER OF 1956 |
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| Macbraynes | Ardvasar - Kyleakin (three return journeys) |
| Armadale - Portree (one/two return journeys) | |
| Macleod | Portree - Uig - Kilmaluag (two return journeys) |
| Nicholson | Portree - Edinbane - Dunvegan - Glendale (two return journeys) |
| Portree - Waternish (one/two return journeys) | |
| Macrae | Portree - Sligachan - Fiscavaig (one return journey, via Sconser on Tuesday) |
| Portree - Sligachan - Glenbrittle (two return journeys) | |
| Mackinnon | Broadford - Elgol (two return journeys) |
| Skye Transport | Kyleakin - Dunvegan (one return journey) |
| Kyleakin - Portree (four return journeys) | |
| Portree - Staffin - Kilmaluag (one/two return journeys) | |
| Portree - Peinchorran (schooldays and Fridays) | |
In contrast, these are the services that were operated eighty ago in the SUMMER OF 1936 |
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| Neil Beaton | Ardvasar - Kyleakin (one return journey) | |||||
| Portree - Uig - Kilmaluag (two return journeys) | ||||||
| Portree - Edinbane - Dunvegan - Glendale (three return journeys) | ||||||
| Portree - Armadale (two return journeys) | ||||||
| Portree - Sligachan - Sconser (one evening return journey with mails **) | ||||||
| Skye Transport | Kyleakin - Dunvegan (one return journey) | |||||
| Kyleakin - Portree (three return journeys) | ||||||
| Portree - Staffin - Kilmaluag (one return journey) | ||||||
| MacIntosh | Broadford - Elgol (one return journey) | |||||
| Macrae | Sligachan - Portnalong (one evening return journey connecting with ** above) | |||||
| Recommended reading is John Sinclair's well illustrated 2014 book
'Buses of Skye and the Western Isles' A selection of photographs of buses on Skye from days gone by is in the Isle of Skye Transport album |
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