Albion Victor FT39AN

Delivered in 1955, no. 55 operated in the Channel Island of Guernsey until 1980 when it was sold to Classique Coaches of Paisley. Albions were built in Glasgow and a large number of them were operated on Guernsey. The Railway Company operated 81 in total buying them both new and second hand between 1950 and 1978.

As the name suggests this bus operator had not always operated buses. In 1879 a steam tramway was introduced although this rapidly succumbed to competition from local horse buses. In 1892 the tramway service was reintroduced, operated by electrically powered tramcars. This lasted until 1934 when the tramway closed, again due to the competition from local buses. The company had been operating its own horse buses since 1895 and motorbuses since 1909. The company continued with a variety of owners until 1980 when it ceased to operate. As the majority of the island’s roads are unsuited to large vehicles the bus operators always used small narrow buses hence the popularity of the small Albions and later the wide scale use of minibuses.