Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

Walter Alexander
Successor(s)	Alexander Dennis
Founded	1913
Founder(s)	Walter Alexander
Headquarters	Falkirk
Products	Bus builders and bus services.

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For other uses, see Walter Alexander (disambiguation).

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders was a Scottish bus coachbuilder and operater based in Falkirk.

[edit] History

Walter Alexander, notice a lack expasion by the Falkirk and District Tramways Company's especially in to Grangemouth which never hdd a tram line. In 1913 Alexander's Motor Service was created to provide the service to Grangemouth before expanding. ^[1]

In 1924 Walter senior was so confident about the future of the "omnibus" he decided to set up his own company not just to run them - but build them as well.^[2] In 1928, several of the major British railway companies bought into the Scottish Motor Traction Company Limited (SMT). Walter Alexander decided to sell his bodybuilding business to the SMT group in 1929, and through this action, received access to a vast supply of resources and services.

In 1945 the newly elected Labour Government brought about nationalisation of bus services which resulted in W. Alexander & Sons Limited becoming Walter Alexander & Co (Coachbuilders) Limited by 1948.

Between 1948 - 1961 its bus operation were operated a single intraday, before being split into 3 companies: Fife Scottish, Midland Scottish and Northern Scottish.

Coachbuilder's part of the business continued to flourish and expansion was rapid. In 1969 the company bought out Potters, a bodybuilder in Northern Ireland, and set up a subsidiary Walter Alexander & Co (Belfast) Limited, ^[3] while within 6 years started selling its first buses to the Far East.

The ownership of the company had been changed several times afterwards: In 1990 the family sold the company to Spotlaunch plc but within two years a management buyout and became a standalone company until 1995 when it was bought by the Mayflower Corporation plc. In 2001, it was incorporated into TransBus International. It is now part of Alexander Dennis.^[4]

[edit] Products

Walter Alexander built many different types of bodywork over 50 years, with the most famous being the Y-Type.

[edit] Railcars

British Rail Class 143 - on underframes by Andrew Barclay
British Rail Class 144 - on underframes by BREL

[edit] Double-deck buses

A type and J type - double-deck body (for Atlantean/Fleetline) to 1972
D type, K type and AD type (A for alloy) - lowheight double-deck body (mainly on Fleetline chassis)
L type and AL type - double-deck body (for Atlantean/Fleetline/VR) from 1972
AV type - double-deck body for Volvo Ailsa B55
R type - including RH, RL, RV, RLC, RVC, RHS and Royale - post 1981 double deck body
ALX series - including ALX400 & ALX500 - low-floor bodies
CB type - for China Motor Bus
KB type - for Kowloon Motor Bus
LB type - for New Lantao Bus
MB type - for Manila Bus
SB type - for Singapore Bus Service

Alexander AD type.
A Mercedes-Benz O305 double decker bus in HK with Walter Alexander R body.
Alexander AV type-bodied Ailsa.
A Royale-bodied Volvo owned by Ensignbus.

[edit] Single-deck buses and coaches

Y type - including AY and AYS types (A for alloy)
W type
M type - Motorway coach for Scottish Bus Group Anglo-Scottish services
T type - including AT, TS, TC, TE (A for alloy, S for stage, C for coach, E for express)
P type
PS type - development of P type, popular with Stagecoach and SBS Transit
AF type (Strider) - for full-size rear-engined chassis
AM type
- Sprint - minibus body
- Dash - midibus body (for Dennis Dart/Volvo B6)
Ultra - Alexander (Belfast) version of Swedish Säffle body for the Volvo B10L
ALX series
- ALX100 - minibus
- ALX200 - small low-floor single-deck
- ALX300 - full-size low-floor single-deck