Lothians Prototype Olympians

Lothian the bus company of Edinburgh got into a political row with local Scottish residents when it ordered it's first large series of Leyland Olympians with Eastern Coach Works bodies from Lowestoft in Suffolk rather than the home grown product from W. Alexander and Son of Falkirk nearby. However before the large order was placed the undertaking took two of these buses with Alexander R-Series bodywork and if good looks alone were to be taken as the criteria I think the more elegant ECW design would have won the show of hands over this box. Still it was not too surprising for even though the city had standardised on Alexander bodied Leyland Atlanteans in the past, numerous lightweight Birmingham built MCW Orion's had graced the PD2 and MCW-Weymann of Addlestone had bodied 100 Tiger Cubs. Some time after I took this view in the Eighties these two interesting buses were whittled down to just one when this particular bus was destroyed by fire. After the ECW bodied were all delivered Lothian turned to Alexander again and future generations of these buses did arrive allbeit with a more attractive front.