The longest route

“An out-of-town Dundonian and an avid Dundee Corporation Transport buff posed a question about the city’s bus routes in the late 1950s with Robert Taylor at the helm as BCT general manager and named on every vehicle,” writes Fraser Elder.

“The caller was keen to find out what was the longest distance covered over any city route and, as a summertime student conductor with the DCT during a college recess in this period, I felt qualified to come up with an answer.

“Assigned to a veteran driver named Peter during my stint as a novice ‘ clippie’, our duties were mostly connected to runs in brand new Daimler vehicles to Douglas and Angus and in elderly AEC buses known as ‘dupes’ (duplicates) to Broughty Ferry beach and Caledon Shipyard workers specials which involved hundreds of passengers every weekday.

“But ‘in-the-hipper-ham’ (overtime) was often on offer for other runs and we gladly stepped in to perform on the cross-country bus number 13, for my money the longest route at the time.

“As a result, I was able to take my caller down memory lane on the No 13 from Shore Terrace, Dock Street, Broughty Ferry Road, Greendykes Road, Kingsway East, Pitkerro Road, Clepington Road, Johnstone Avenue, Loons Road, Lochee Road, Lochee High Street, Coupar Angus Road to the Camperdown Park Gate terminus.

“An estimated seven miles, running time over an hour. In the next few years, the route numbers 7 and 8, in a total of 40 operating from the city centre, circled Dundee between Shore Terrace, Broughty Ferry, Douglas, Hilltown, Dudhope Terrace and Blackness Avenue and in reverse and this probably matched the No13 of old for distance,

“Any further information about the DCT post-war era is welcomed. Fares please!”

“Recently you featured a photograph of long poles and someone suggested that they were the poles from the salmon netting at St Cyrus,” says Pat McGregor of Blairgowrie. “This picture, taken in 1951, shows the salmon being transported by Nellie the donkey and her handler.”