NEIL BEATON
Once one of the principal bus operators on the Isle of Skye
| From the late 1920s until the post war years there were two significant bus operators on Skye. One was Neil Beaton, the subject of this history, whose routes ran until 1953. The other was Skye Transport who operated until 1958, the same trading name having been used across the years by several different proprietors of the business. The routes of the two operators were complementary rather than competitive. |
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Based at the Pier Garage in the island's capital Portree, the firm started in the 1920s when Neil Beaton returned home from the Great War. A hackney carriage licence was obtained in 1921 and a mail contract from Portree to Sligachan was obtained in 1923. July 1928 was advertised as the start date for a bus route from Kilmuir via Uig and Portree to Kyleakin, serving Armadale as an alternative destination on Thursday and Saturday. A 14-seater Morris Commercial bus ST5152 had been obtained the month before. Until after the second world war 14 seats was the maximum size bus allowed by law on the Isle of Skye. After
an initial period of
competition before the advent of the
Traffic
Commissioner and road service licensing in 1931 the firm developed a
network of
services on the
island to compliment those of Skye Transport.
For many years
the
Beaton's telephone number was simply Portree 2. Neil lived in
Hawthorn Cottage in Somerled Square, Portree (now
the Granary Restaurant). In their advertisement in that year's
edition of
Duncan Macpherson's Vest Pocket Guide to the
Isle of Skye the firm listed their routes as: Portree to Dunvegan
via Sligachan and Struan - commenced
by 1946 Portree to Glendale
via Bernisdale and Dunvegan - licenced
in 1931 Portree to Dunvegan, extended to Glendale in January 1934, Portree to Waternish
via Bernisdale and Fairy Bridge - believed
commenced in 1939 Portree to Kilmuir /
Kilmaluag via Uig - licenced in
1931, originally as Kilmaluag via Portree to Kyleakin (licence
curtailed at Portree 1947) Portree to Portnalong
/ Fiscavaig via Sligachan - taken
over from Donald and Roderick Steele in April 1939 |
So Beaton's progressively withdrew their network of green and cream liveried buses from the roads of the island. In March 1953 the Portree - Uig - Kilmuir - Kilmaluag service passed to Alexander Macleod of Duntulm at the same time as Ewen Macrae of Carbost, the operator of the Glenbrittle to Portree route - 'one of the most difficult routes in Britain, and the most beautiful' said the Clarion - acquired the Fiscavaig / Portnalong to Portree route from Beaton's. The Portree - Sligachan - Struan - Dunvegan service was also withdrawn about this time, sold to Murdo and Alexander Macphie of Shagarry in April 1953. There was always considerable duplication of mileage on the routes heading west from Sligachan.
At the same time the Portree - Edinbane - Dunvegan - Glendale route (and connection to Waternish) went to Alexander Nicolson of Skeabost Bridge. Subsequently it passed to Peter Carson of Dunvegan in 1965, who in turn sold the route to Macbraynes in 1970.
This left only the long but important routes from Portree via Sligachan and Broadford to Armadale, and the associated route from Glendale and Dunvegan to Armadale. These routes connected with the ferry from Armadale Pier for the half hour crossing across the sound of Sleat to Mallaig, terminus of the rail line to Fort William and Glasgow. The accompanying notice of cessation appeared in the August and September 1953 issues of the Clarion of Skye. Having survived for a final summer season with Beaton's the Portree route went to Macbraynes, but with a reduced timetable omitting the morning journey southward from Portree. The service from Dunvegan and Glendale went to Alexander Nicolson of Skeabost Bridge.
Beaton's were out of the bus business after nearly thirty years. After the Macbrayne takeover the service was operated from their Ardvasar garage in the south of the island (from whence they operated their Ardvasar to Kyleakin daily service taken over from Macdonald and Maclean in 1948). Now Macbrayne would run through to Portree and back from Armadale Pier once a day from 1st September 1953. There was also an additional summer only evening journey introduced from Armadale Pier on which passengers had to change from the Macbrayne bus to a Skye Transport bus at Broadford to continue the journey onward to Portree.
