The largest state-owned fleet in Scotland from 1961 to 1985, Western SMT maintained a traditional look for its coaches and buses, but through all its changes of name it has always been registered at addresses in England
After the Alexander company was split in three in 1961, Western SMT was the Scottish Bus Group’s largest subsidiary, with over 1,000 vehicles serving most of the country to the south and west of Glasgow. Its territory included the Isle of Bute and a depot across the English border in the city of Carlisle, and its Anglo-Scottish coach services included the primarily overnight route between Glasgow and London, which in pre-motorway days followed the A66 between Carlisle and Scotch Corner before joining the A1 Great North Road. From October 1970, when SBG broke up the MacBraynes bus operation, it added parts of rural Argyll to its patch.
Like many territorial operators, it was an amalgam of significant pioneering businesses, established by Scottish Motor Traction in June 1932 to amalgamate Midland Bus Services, which it had acquired in 1929, with Scottish Transport, which it purchased from the BET group in 1931. Midland’s founder, John Sword, headed the business which was Scottish …
