MUNICIPAL TROLLEYBUSES

 

 

Trolleybus extensions were increasingly rare as the sixties began. Bradford managed one (its last) near the very start of the decade, but Maidstone was another exception. Much of the then quite new Parkwood Estate there was still to be built when the route from the town centre was taken right into it in anticipation of serving the new housing. This ex-Hastings Tramways vehicle, a 1948 Weymann bodied Sunbeam, was photographed with signs of new housebuilding all around at the then terminus in the summer of 1964. It might be a little difficult to identify this exact spot today.  Maidstone's trolleys finally bowed out in April 1967. Their passing signalled the end of the attractive ochre brown/cream livery as replacement buses were attired in a not unpleasant shade of pale blue.   

 

           

At the start of the 1960s the future was not at all rosy for these hybrids, which had been adopted with great enthusiasm up and down the country, mostly in the 1930's as replacements for worn out tramways. Outside of London, where the probably then largest system in the world was well on the way out, only municipal operations were soon left, the last company owned fleet (Mexborough & Swinton - part of the BET group) succumbing in 1961. I have always had a sneaking admiration for them and indeed grew up cutting my London bus-spotting teeth on local routes to me 660/664/666/645, and when visiting my grandmother at Harlesden, also the 662, and the 626/628 & 630 when these were seen at Craven Park or Jubilee Clock or the Wormwood Scrubs area. Up to my mid-teens this included those remaining bespatted members of the AEC C classes - always my firm favourites.

It's now over 37 years since the last municipal examples graced British streets although our continental cousins are wiser and have kept on improving theirs in many places. It's not impossible that they'll make a comback here (Leeds??) but judging by the appearance of some of the latest European types I don't think I'm going to like them much if they do, (they won't get on this page as they won't be municipally operated anyway) and I'll have to live my old age with memories of better times - thank goodness for Sandtoft and Carlton Colville and the Black Country Living Museum (see page Rallies & The Preservation Scene - an occasional visit to these and a few rides helps keep those memories alive of what a trolleybus should look, feel and sound like).

From 1962 to 1972 I visited (some all to briefly,and with too many missed opportunities) all of the twenty-two UK systems remaining after London. Share with me then this selection from that fascinating era.................................

MAIDSTONE CORPORATION 

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1928-1967

 

Scenes from April 1963

 

 

One of the smart NCB bodied Sunbeam W's of 1947 in the town centre

 

 

No.54 was one of a batch of five utility bodied Sunbeams that were rebodied in the style shown by Roe in 1959

 

 

One of a pair acquired from Brighton Corporation in 1959

 

 

At the Loose terminus which then presented a very rural image - was there really a branch of the WI there?

 

.....and heres a few from the last two days in April 1967................................

 

 

 

Apart from a couple of shots of the last London  survivors Maidstone was the only trolleybus operator of which I obtained a colour record. I have a few mediocre shots taken on a wet and dull day in January 1965 and these below are on the last day in April 1967. For 40+ years I have kept these when getting them priinted was not a reasonably priced option. I used  my previously mentioned 1937 Agfa Billy. They are from large 6cm x 9cm 120 rollfilm colour transparencies, a format that could not be projected

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No.72 ran round the system like this for a week or so prior to the end but was not allowed to carry passengers until the official civic party boarded for the final journey. It was subsequently returned to normal appearance and restored. It is a long-time eresident of the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft regularly used for the carriage of passengers

 

 

Crowds welcome No. 72 as the last one home

 

ROTHERAM CORPORATION TRANSPORT  

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1912-1965

 

A brief visit in 1964

 

These shots were taken shortly before the mother of all electric storms burst- so much thunder & lightning that I was prevented from recording more or less anything else for at least an hour so I moved on to Sheffield. Sadly I never returned to see the trolleys again

 

 

No.44, now preserved, makes the turn at Thryberg terminus

 

 

 

Not sure of this location. Daimler trolleybuses were never a very common sight. These CTE6 models were new as single deckers, most being rebodied in this fashion by Roe in the late 1950s

 

 

Here's one that didn't get a double-deck body. seen languishing in the depot yard. Sadly one of these in this condition was not, I think, saved but progress is apparently being made on rebuilding an earlier example of about 1943

 

CITY OF GLASGOW CORPORATION TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1949-1967

 

views from 1966

 

 

 

 

The most numerous class of vehicle in use after about 1964 was this BUT type dating from 1957 or 1958 with Crossley built bodies

 

 

Along with Newcastle Corporation Glasgow took delivery of a postwar batch of  BUT trolleybuses that were in most respects identical to the London Transport Q1 class. While some of Newcastle's even had identical London style destination screens Glasgow specified its own version

 

 

 

 

By the mid-1960s Glasgow was the only UK operator of single-deck trolleybuses, employing a small fleet of these BUT/Metrovick 50 seaters dating from 1958

 

 

They were dedicated to service 108 which ran from Pisley Road toll to Ballogie Road

 

NOTTINGHAM CITY TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1927-1966

 

1964

 

 

 

 

 

 

DERBY CORPORATION

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1932-1967

 

 

Well - there's a fine start! - Crunch - no sooner had I arrived at the town centre terminus when I saw the trolleybus in front roll back smack into the front of No.215. Don't know whether they used chocks here but obviously if so one was not placed under the wheel.

 

 

 

Just a few seconds later and an Inspector moves to survey the damage which can be seen. Not too serious for 215 it seems but it can't have helped its chances of staying on the road. It was one of only a few of the once thirty strong 1948/9 Sunbeam F4s still licenced - the only one I managed to photograph. Come to think of it, wasn't it preserved - if so where is it now??

 

 

By contrast, the newest Sunbeams of which No.239 was one only arrived in 1960. They had Roe bodywork

 

 

 

Another, No.242 is seen threading its way sedately across the Mitre roundabout. I drove along this road passing this place a couple of years ago. The pub is still there and I don't think it's a roundabout any more, although I could be wrong. It all seemed much wider and the traffic was much faster. A sign of the times I suppose. 

 

 

The intervening years 1952/3 saw the arrival of  twenty more Sunbeam F4s. This time the bodywork was provided by Willowbrook

 

 

No.226 is seen pausing outside the imposing edifice of the Midland Station c.1964. In the name of so called progress I believe this has been demolished now and replaced by something modern, ugly and simple

 

 

 On 9th April 1967 No. 236 was the last one home, greeted by many well-wishers. Sister vehicle 237 was later preserved and operates at the working museums occasionally to this day over forty years after its withdrawal

 

 

 

 

 

BRADFORD CITY TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1911-1972

 

April 1963

 

 

Seen at Hall Ings 651 was a pre-war AEC rebodied in 1956

 

 

Formerly a Mexborough & Swinton single-decker rebodied 1962

 

 

Most of the later former Hastings Tramways (Maidstone & District) fleet were snapped up on abandonment in 1959 by Maidstone and Walsall. Bradford picked up only two of these plus some of the oldest from 1946, possibly with intentions to re-body. In the event however this did not happen and they were all withdrawn for scrap by the end of 1963

 

 

Formerly St Helens Corporation - This vehicle was later preserved repainted in its original red & cream colours and resides now at Sandtoft - see Preservation page. 2008 was the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the St.Helens system and the vehicle returned temporarily to its home town for a celebration of the event.

 

 

Ex Notts & Derby - Bradford bought its whole fleet of 32 vehicles when the system closed in 1953. Many received new bodies in the 1950s but not 773. One of a batch of 1949 BUT's it was only four years old when acquired. One of these survived and is undergoing restoration,  though not as part of an  operational collection - I hope it will be back to its original operators livery, something that cannot be contemplated for many of Bradford's preserved second-hand trolleybuses.

 

 

and here's one that was.. Being an older chassis dating from 1941/2 this batch received new conventional rear entrance bodies by East Lancs in 1958. The chassis were AEC661T's and at the time of their withdrawal in the summer of 1968 they were the last trolleybuses of this make running in Great Britain and possibly worldwide.

 

 

716 was a Karrier W of 1945 which had had its utility style body replaced as shown by East Lancs in 1957

 

 

Karrier - Ex Llanelli & District rebodied at Bradford

 

 

Another pre-war AEC chassis dating from 1937 with the unusual combination of a replacement body by Crossley. This vehicle was withdrawn in November 1963

 

 

Another ex Mexborough & Swinton rebodied single-decker. Nearside view shows then modern style front entrance body with power operated doors. Three of these with  consecutive registrations  have been preserved JWW376 377 and 378

 

 

At the old Forster Square terminal point. Major road layout changes here, some already underway in 1963 profoundly affected trolleybus services

 

 

This Roe bodied BUT survives today at the Sandtoft site but is not operational

 

 

HUDDERSFIELD CORPORATION TRANSPORT 

 TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1933 -1968

 

Without any shadow of doubt my firm favourite. I went there three times, in 1966, 1967 and 1968 and these views are from the first visit. On the subsequent two occasions I took a cine camera and anyone who has tried it will confirm that it's difficult to concentrate on using one of these and worry about a still photo record as well so I tended to ignore the latter much of the time. My record undoubtedly suffered and when I see some of the fascinating locations in the numerous books published since I wonder now why and how I missed them. In 1966 the system, always so smart and seemingly efficient, looked to be flourishing despite earlier cutrbacks and it was then difficult to imagine that it would all be gone in just over two years 

 

 

Daimler motorbus 434 heads out for Marsden. Trolleybuses on this long sometimes bleak route gave way early in 1963. 624 is setting out on the climb to Newsome Church and soon had me as a passenger.

 

 

No. 624 arrives and is reversing at Newsome Church. The steep climb to here was the last section of the system requiring the use of the coasting and run-back brake. I  well remember the application of this and on the downhill run of 638. I much regret now not alighting to capture a view of a trolleybus on the steep Newsome Road hill. When this scene was captured the trolleys on it had only a few weeks to go. A close look at the original print here reveals that the conductor is guiding his colleague back throogh the reverser with a whistle in his mouth!. Were these standard issue to conductors on Huddersfield trolleybuses? It occurred to me at the time that drivers of the soon to be replacement buses, assuming they were to continue to make this manoeuvre, would not have been able to hear such a signal would they?

 

 

Going all the way - 638 was the next one up and heads for Newsome South

 

 

 

Nominally two of the oldest trolleybuses running in 1966 (albeit re-bodied) 602 & 606 illustrate the mini-skirt effect on this batch caused by the removal some years before of deep front bumpers. The grimy state of the largely Victorian town centre buildings can be seen in the two above shots but a visitor today due to a major clean-up will see them quite differently, especially the magnificent railway station which the Corporation stepped in to save in the late 1960s  when British Railways wanted to demolish it(!). There's been quite a lot of other demolition and not a little road layout change too.

 

 

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Surely one of the most photographed locations on the system - the famous turntable at Longwood, although for many years only used as a reverser. This structure was built into thesteeply graded hillside and was on stilts about fifteen feet above ground level. The railings are intact here which indicates that the photo pre-dates the unfortunate incident when a trolley reversed through and fell into the field below. No passengers were on board and the crew both escaped serious injury although the vehicle, one of the newest Sunbeam S7s of 1959 had to be written off. In practice however this occurred only a matter of weeks before it would have been scrapped anyway. I went here last year and it's all gone now - it's difficult to imagine it how it was. I remember it was quite a narrow road and buses now turn a short distance furthet up. There's a road to the left with some recent houses and I'm not sure about the imposing mill building in the background.

 

 

 

Memory plays tricks now but I believe this is the Riddings terminus

 

 

Oops! - These things did happen, though not that often. Having been to Huddersfield many times since these days I am sure that this scene has changed a lot and all the older buildings have now gone

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Home - 636 emerges from Northumberland Street to head for the depot at Longroyd Bridge

 

 

 

Yes - 631 is back to front but not printed so in error! - In, I think, Market Street I was sheltering  from the rain in a shop doorway where they had a very large mirror which enabled me to record this scene. If you would like to see this bus the right way round, and ride on it too, then go to Sandtoft Transport Centre where she survives and has been a regular performer over very many years. There's a shot of her on the PRESERVATION SCENE page.

 

IPSWICH CORPORATION TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1923-1963

 

Ipswich was yet another of those towns with trolleybuses where I was only able to make just a brief visit. In fact it was accomplished en-route with my parents to a holiday with relatives in Lowestoft in September of 1962. The trolleys lasted only a year or so after this and the next time I was here the only sign was one of the trolleys surviving as a staff canteen/rest room at Electric House terninus. Although in two batches differentiated by their distinct registration series the only vehicles remaining at this time were all more or less identical to the eye. As we approached the town for a lunch stop which I decided to forgo to get some photos I observed a new AEC Regent motorbus under the seemingly recently redundant wires at the Rushmere Heath terminus. The photos I managed to get were almost all taken at or near the town centre terminus although, fortunately perhaps, we got a little lost leaving the town and managed to pass the depot and I got one more shot that I'll put on later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KINGSTON-UPON-HULL CORPORATION TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1937-1964

 

By the time I got here in the summer of 1964 the Corporation had but one route still running and this required retention of only the modern looking 'Coronation' class vehicles dating from 1953 to operate it. I therefore only got a very small record and should have spent more time and made more effort to improve it. However I allowed myself to get side-tracked with a determination to ride through the Beverly Bar and to sample one of the latest EYMS underfloor engined single-deckers on a ride to Hessle and back then caught the ferry (no bridge then!) to Grimsby.

 

 

 

 

It really is such a pity that one of these did not survive into preservation. I have been told that the Corporation Transport Department actively precvented this! I do believe that no other Hull trolleybuses do either although, ironically, there is a tram.

 

---ooo000ooo---

 

TEES-SIDE RAILLESS TRACTION BOARD

 TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1919-1970

 

June 1963

 

This necessarily brief visit was accomplished as part of a Saturday marathon sortie started by taking an overnight train to Newcastle, arriving there about 06.00. I then moved on to South Shields, Sunderland, Stockton and Middlesborough (thence Tees-Side) before finishing at Hartlepool and West Hartlepool and managing to miss the last train back from there to London! I therefore resorted to another overnight trip. I went back to Tees-Side just once, in mid-1968 I think, when I managed to get a few seconds of precious cine-film including one or two vehicles in the new TMT pale greeny/blue colour. This was before the arrival there of the ex-Reading Sunbeams which I never personally saw in service there, and of course I never sampled what was to be the very last extension to a British trolleybus system which took place there. and was destined to have a very short operational life

 

 

Tees-Side Railess Traction Board No1 approaches Cargo Fleet in June 1963 not long before it received a replacement body by Roe.

 

All the other I saw that day had the newer bodies................................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CITY OF NEWCASTLE  CORPORATION TRANSPORT & ELECTRICITY UNDERTAKING

JUNE 1963

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1935 - 1966

 

 

Almost identical in every respect to London Transport's 1948/52 Q1's, Newcastle took two batches of these BUT 9641T's. The first, of which No.479 is an example, even had London specification destination blind boxes

 

 

 

 

 

WOLVERHAMPTON CORPORATION TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1923-1967

 

 

British summertime! - Wolverhampton in June 1963

 

 

 

 

WALSALL CORPORATION TRANSPORT

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1931-1970

 

 

Same time as above- A Walsall Corporation Sunbeam on the joint service 29 between the two towns. This is one of a number of vehicles acquired from Ipswich Corporation as it wound down its own system

 

ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE CORPORATION

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1925-1966

 

 

"It always rains in Manchester" said my mum when I set out on my first holiday sortie to there in June of 1963, and she was right too for it was a very unpleasant day. This shot of 79 was the only one I got of this type. I have a few shots of the later Bond bodied BUT's which I will add here in due course

 

BELFAST CITY TRANSPORT

 TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED  1938-1968

 

 

 

It seemed to rain much of the time when I went out photographing transport. Belfast at Easter 1966 was no exception as can be seen in these two views. The results of my well soaked labours  at this particular location need careful printing which is hard to find on the High Street nowadays. Hopefully I can improve them when I can scan the negatives -

HERE'S A FEW BETTER ONES FROM BEFORE IT STARTED RAINING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appropriate to finish with the last one built and the only two-axle vehicle in the fleet at this time -  a Sunbeam F4 of about 1958 intended as a forerunner of a new fleet that, due to a change of policy, was never built. We were lucky to see it - it was not often out in 1966. It actually survives in preservation, normally at EATMS Carlton Colville but was on loan for Trolley 2008 to the The Black Country Living Museum in July this year where I was able to sample a second ride after a gap of over 42 years!. I know little about the workings of a trolleybus but I must say that it emanated a rather worrying noise from underneath most unlike a trolleybus  when running there.

 

BOURNEMOUTH CORPORATION TRANSPORT

 TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1933-1970

 

 

Caught just leaving the Christchurch terminus in 1969 is 296, one of the last nine trolleybuses to be delivered completely new to a British operator, in late 1962. The famous turntable, which apparently still exists in the grounds of some flats on the site can be seen clearly in the foreground

 

 

 

Taken a few minutes before the above shot this was the everyday scene at the Christchurch terminus where crews  manually turned their trolleybuses on the steel turntable. This man is doing it right, pushing the front end round. On other occasions I often noted that the rear platform grabrail was pulled, which cannot have helped that fitment to stay secure

 

 

 

 

Just about the newest complete trolleybus in the UK at the time 296 was only a week or two ol when seen in September 1962. Nine were delivered eventually and this may have been the first. There were no others on the road this day and I saw none at either Mallard Road or Southcote depots. They were the only UK mainland trolleybuses to bear reverse registrations. This one was 296LJ. Fate was cruel to these fine vehicles which, apart from a couple later preserved, were scrapped on abandonment less that seven years later 

 

 

One of a pair acquired from Brighton in 1959

 

 

A number of these 1935 Sunbeam MS2 veterans were still giving sterling service

 

 

Sadly not on the road during my day visit, the three open-top conversions of pre-war Sunbeams are seen here lined up in the depot

 

 

Some of this type would later be rebuilt and have their front staircases removed to improve capacity

 

TO APPEAR IN DUE COURSE - More views of above plus,  South Shields, Manchester, Portsmouth, , Doncaster 

 WATCH THIS SPACE ...............

READING CORPORATION

TROLLEYBUSES OPERATED 1936-1968

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I often found when visiting trolleybus systems, usually when they were part way through closure proceedings, that the crews were quite fond of their charges and sometimes, like this pair, wanted to be photographed with them. I remember sending each of them a print

 

THE FINAL CURTAIN - READING'S LAST DAY

 

Scenes from 3rd November 1968

 

 

Surely they were never so popular? - Long queues forming for a last chance to ride on 3.11.68

 

 

Local businesses sponsored 'Goodbye To Reading's Trolleybuses' side adverts. This one seems to have come a cropper!

 

 

 

These Burlingham bodied Sunbeams were only about seven years old at closure, although I think some electrical parts from older trolleys went into some of them. A few had their lives extended by a couple of years by being moved north to Tees-side for further operation there

 

 

Town centre area roadworks in the final days only served to complicate matters

 

 

Seen at the other end, a lane for trolleybuses only was specially created and an official MOT style sign made. I'll bet that this unique sign was spirited away and saved afterwards - I hope so anyway.

 

 

....at Mill Lane Depot the end draws near

 

 

 

 

Trolleybuses 174 and 181 were later preserved and sometimes operate at Sandtoft today

 

 

 

No.144, the last one approaches

 

 

What I called the chap who ran in front above and this motorcyclist at the time does not bear printing here, but now when I see the images (they have never been printed before) I regard them as part of the excitement and sadness of the scene

 

 

 

Yes....... after 32 years it really was all over.

 

 

CARDIFF CITY

 

I only went to the capital city of Wales once in its trolleybus era, sometime near the end I recall. I took a cine camera but used some cheap Russian film which unfortunately yielded no usable results. Concentrating on using this I managed only four still views which I show here.