Having spent the afternoon on Saturday 18th July 2026 in Dundee, photographing ScotRail HSTs and checking out the city's latest electric buses, including Stagecoach East Scotland's Alexander Dennis Enviro400EVs and Volvo BZLs, along with Xplore Dundee's Yutong U11DDs and Ember's Yutong GTe14 coaches, I made my way down to Inverkeithing for the night. It was the closest place to Dunfermline where I could find a reasonably priced hotel, making it an ideal base before heading over to the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum at Lathalmond the following morning.

Finished off the weekend today with a trip up to the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum for their Low Floor & Late 90s Step Entrance Running Day, and what a brilliant few hours it turned out to be.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day for me was seeing former Lothian Buses 664 (SN04 AAJ), the Dennis Trident Plaxton President, looking absolutely superb back in its Airlink 100 livery. I believe this was its first outing since the restoration was completed, and the standard of work is outstanding. It's great to see another former Lothian President preserved, joining 219 (XIL 1489), 572 (W572 RSG) and 601 (SN51 AYB).

Another highlight was being lucky enough to have a private guided tour around the preserved Lothian Buses/Edinburgh Corporation shed. It was fascinating seeing so much of Edinburgh's transport history under one roof, with everything from an Alexander Royale, Alexander Dash and Leyland Lynx through to Leyland Atlanteans and a Titan PD2. Outside the shed there was even more to see, including Leyland Olympians with both Alexander and ECW bodywork, an LRT Plaxton Paramount and a Leyland National. For anyone who's a fan of Lothian's fleet over the years, it really doesn't get much better than that.

There was plenty going on elsewhere around the site too. It was good to see preserved Strathtay Optare Solo YJ55 BHW, while former First Aberdeen Volvo B10BLEs T125 OAH and Y629 RSA were both running. I managed to get a ride on both, including the trip into Dunfermline, and it was great to be back on these buses again.

Also in attendance were former Midland Bluebird Scania L94 Wright Axcess P578 DMS, First Glasgow Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban SF06 GZL, the impressive Volvo B9TL Alexander Dennis Enviro500 SN09 CCE, now with Merlin Travel, and D&E Buses' former Dublin Bus Alexander Olympian RH, all adding to the variety on show throughout the day.

Bay Travel also attended with former Lothian and London General Volvo B9TL LX60 DXK and Enviro400 MMC YX19 OUW, with the E400MMC providing my shuttle journey into the museum to start the day.

The journey home didn't quite go to plan. My original intention was to head back to Inverkeithing and catch the direct LNER service home. Unfortunately, signalling problems around Edinburgh meant the train was cancelled on arrival into Edinburgh, so a change of plan was needed. Instead, I caught the Stagecoach East Scotland X55 from Dunfermline on a very smart Volvo B8R Plaxton Panther LE, which is a coach I always enjoy travelling on, and headed through to Edinburgh. From there I was able to catch the amended 17:00 LNER service home following the disruption, so despite the unexpected change everything worked out in the end.

Overall, another cracking event at Lathalmond with a great mix of buses, plenty of variety and, as always, a friendly atmosphere. A big thank you to everyone at the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum, along with all the owners and volunteers who put so much time and effort into preserving these vehicles and making events like this possible.

Seeing SN04 AAJ back in Airlink colours was worth the trip on its own, but the amount of preserved Lothian buses on display made it an even more memorable day alongside all the other buses from my childhood in attendance.