Launch was at the 1957 Scottish Motor Show at the Kelvin Hall where an Alexander bodied coach demonstrator in Edinburgh Corporation livery weighing less than five tons unladen was shown.
The power unit on launch was a Leyland O350H 97 bhp 5.76-litre four-stroke direct-injection six-cylinder diesel, mounted horizontally in mid-wheelbase driving through a unit-mounted Albion clutch and constant mesh gearbox to an overhead-worm rear axle derived from that fitted to the FT and PF series lorries.
The fuel tank was a 35 gallon cylindrical unit transversely mounted between the frame members aft of the rear axle.
In another picture of this vehicle taken on the same occasion Robert Greives said that it was allocated to Newton Mearns to work expresses to Lancashire until transferred to Alexander (Northern) in 1963.
[2] At the time when the picture was posed by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders near Stirling Castle, Western's Glasgow to London run was the province of toilet-equipped Guy Arab UFs and LUFs and by the release date of the brochure they had ordered their first Leyland Leopards for this route.
North Western Road Car Company had six of the British Electric Traction group's 46, all of which were buses; the others going to PMT (34), Northern General Transport Company (5) and East Yorkshire Motor Services (1).The East Yorkshire bus had a Park Royal body, the other BET fleets had Weymann although PMT also took Willowbrook bodies.
[3] The major purchaser in the UK was the Ulster Transport Authority with 57 (following on from narrow Tiger Cubs), all bodied as 41-seat buses by the operator on Alexander frames.
There were seven Plaxton Highway buses seating 41-45, two for Armstrong of Ebchester, three to Welsh operators LCW, Llandeilo, Thomas Bros, Llangadog and Williams, Blayna; the other two went to Pepper of Thurnscoe and Hudson of Horncastle.
One other Aberdonian chassis 82525K registered XYF2 was new transporting Lola Cars then[4] went to the John Cooper motor racing team in London as a coachbuilt (coachbuilder unknown) car transporter[5] and a third chassis 82521A was bodied as a furniture van (registration as well as coachbuilder not currently known) to Lancashire furniture maker Eastham, Thornton.
Most of the UK vehicles served a full life with their respective operators but the SOL example and the three Western SMT coaches were transferred to Alexanders when around 5 years old.
When W Alexander & Sons was split into three, Midland had one Aberdonian, Fife had four and Northern (whose head office was in Aberdeen) had the rest, including the ex-Western coaches and the ex SOL saloon.