25 thoughts on “The Short Story of London's Trolleybuses”
Travelled all over London collecting bus numbers in the late Fifties. The hotspots for trolleybuses were Stratford Broadway, Gardeners Corner Aldgate, Kings Cross and best of all, Nags Head Junction Holloway where hundreds could be seen in the course of a day. The final batch, the Q1 class operating in west/south-west London were superb vehicles, so much more pleasant to travel in than most diesel buses in service today.
Although I have fond memories of the trolleybus, the advent of battery and hybrid buses doesn't make them a viable option for today as the installation and maintenance of the infrastructure they require would be disruptive and cost prohibitive.
Thanks for this informative video. A thought that comes to mind is that if trolley buses are re-introduced, would it be beneficial for them to use a three-phase ac power transmission system? This might require a third conductor on the overhead catenary, but would the potential for improved efficiency warrant the additional cable?
The big efficiency advantage that trollybuses shared with trams was 'regenerative braking' – the system we're now seeing on F1 cars. As a kid in London, I loved the trollybuses and would often make my grandparents ignore the buses and wait for the next trollybus. They were quieter, more comfortable and better fitted-out that the old RT buses – a joy to travel in. (And the last one ran in 1962 – not 1952.)
London and Brits in general are too thick (technically) and too poor for trolleybuses. Trolleybuses require a sophisticated O&M system that are way too fancy for Brits. Take a look at the state of regular buses depots and the state of the trams systems in London and you'll see what I mean. Under the veneer of a Western nation, UK is a backward and technically inept society. All smoke and mirror.
Thanks for a really enjoyable video. Bus spotting in the 1950's was a really popular hobby. My friend Mike and I were particularly interested in the trolleybus fleet and on a weekend we would purchase the Red Rover all day tickets and spend a day riding the trolleybus routes and sneaking into the various depots. Wonderful memories. How about a follow video covering the various service vehicles which kept the trolleybuses running.
Thanks you, back in the day several of us Navy guys paid the fare to ride a circle trip around London. Seems I remember the top deck being open air….We could still bomb damage of WW2, what a reminder of a recent past…..Thanks again from Yellow Springs Ohio USA…..
When I was a very young kid in 1950's my mum took me from Sutton to Croydon to go shopping on the bus. The weather was quite foggy and after a very short shopping stay she decided to we had to go home as the fog was turning into a peasouper. We boarded a trolley bus for the trip home (~7 miles) but the fog was so thick that the conductor had to walk along the kerb edge so the driver could see where he was going! It took over 3 hours to get to Sutton because the driver/conductor had to follow the road by memory counting the road junctions as they went, whilst at the same time ensuring the bus never detached from the overhead lines, which they couldn't see. Apart from the duty to get passengers home safely they couldn't leave a trolley bus blocking the route for other buses or leave the bus connected to the overhead lines. Ahh! Those were the days!
I am from Bologna, and over there the current system, which reopened in 1990, has five routes around the city. I also tried trolleybuses in Milan, Budapest, Rimini, and other cities around Europe. Its sad that there are no more trolleybuses in countries where the traffic is on the left
One inherent drawback of trolley buses is that they can’t pass another one on the same route – except – in Toronto in the early 70s on a trolley bus another one passed us. Almost in slow motion his pickups, having been knocked down when they hit ours, waved back and forth as he coasted by but almost magically ended up back on the proper wires and off he went. Unfortunately, ours were knocked off and at least one of them went up between the overheads and we rolled back a bit trapping it above an unfortunately located cross wire. We were stuck until another vehicle could push us forward enough to free the pickup. The other driver was likely filling in from a standard bus route.
I have ridden trams at Crich tram museum dozens of times, but I don't think they are a good idea on urban streets, I think trolley buses are a much better idea. Although the overhead is a lot more unsightly. I wonder whether they could have an trolley pole underneath connected to a conduit. The driver could only steer a just over 2.5 m from side to side but this would probably be enough to get round badly parked cars and pull into the kerb for stops.
I went home from school on trolley buses every day. I thought they were very clever, with the only occasional problem being that the arms connecting to the wires might occasionally detach, requiring the driver to hop out and pole them back into contact. The trolleys were replaced by smelly diesels, which seemed like a step backwards to me.
I rode trolley buses regularly. In todays climate of being environmentally friendly they would score very highly. However with current traffic congestion in London dedicated routes for trolley busies would be essential. I cannot dee that ever happening on the scale needed to ensure their priority on the roads of London.
Trams & Buses have played their part in my life. My maternal Grandmother (and my Mum of course) lived in Bowles Road off Old Kent Road and this had a tram depot in it which changed to buses during their lifetime. The Bus (tram) depot was totally destroyed in the blitz, unfortunately so was my Mum's house! As you've guessed my Mum and family survived without a scratch but lost everything. I have photos of the destroyed Bus garage. My maternal Grandfather drove buses post WW1 after driving Old Bill Bus ambulances in France. My wife's Father & Grandfather worked on London Buses.
Despite being born in the year of the last London tram, I never rode a trolley bus in London, though did se them at Crystal Palace. I only rode the Portsmouth ones when visiting relatives, the turning circle on The Hard just outside the dockyard gates was large, but not as big as the new bus station built by the Portsmouth Dockyard railway station. One other thing I read was that because (as you said) they were considered to be railways the laws about indicating by only using flip-out trafficators did not apply to trolley buses so they could pioneer the indicators, that all road vehicles now use, on British roads.
I think they would be good, but the sheer amount of RTC’s on the bus routes means constant diversions. Of course the answer is to just severely restrict cars through london, but then the government lose revenue and the public go ape (at not having the cost of ownership and instead having a faster more reliable and ultimately cheaper transport system!).
There’s been talk of pantograph charging which I guess is the closest we might see to trolley buses, but with the need for shorter sections of over head cables. Just enough to get in a good charge.
Travelled all over London collecting bus numbers in the late Fifties. The hotspots for trolleybuses were Stratford Broadway, Gardeners Corner Aldgate, Kings Cross and best of all, Nags Head Junction Holloway where hundreds could be seen in the course of a day. The final batch, the Q1 class operating in west/south-west London were superb vehicles, so much more pleasant to travel in than most diesel buses in service today.
Although I have fond memories of the trolleybus, the advent of battery and hybrid buses doesn't make them a viable option for today as the installation and maintenance of the infrastructure they require would be disruptive and cost prohibitive.
Thanks for this informative video. A thought that comes to mind is that if trolley buses are re-introduced, would it be beneficial for them to use a three-phase ac power transmission system? This might require a third conductor on the overhead catenary, but would the potential for improved efficiency warrant the additional cable?
Trolley buses could be the answer is battery electric busses need assistance mid route.
I wonder how much cleaner the air would be if we had trolley buses? I'd bet it would clean the air more than the ULEZ project.
I’ve driven through Shannon Corner hundreds of times but now I’ll look at it differently. Thank you Mr H 😊
The big efficiency advantage that trollybuses shared with trams was 'regenerative braking' – the system we're now seeing on F1 cars. As a kid in London, I loved the trollybuses and would often make my grandparents ignore the buses and wait for the next trollybus. They were quieter, more comfortable and better fitted-out that the old RT buses – a joy to travel in. (And the last one ran in 1962 – not 1952.)
London and Brits in general are too thick (technically) and too poor for trolleybuses. Trolleybuses require a sophisticated O&M system that are way too fancy for Brits. Take a look at the state of regular buses depots and the state of the trams systems in London and you'll see what I mean. Under the veneer of a Western nation, UK is a backward and technically inept society. All smoke and mirror.
A visit to Sandtoft, North of the Humber estuary on an operating day is well worth getting a ride on a trolleybus or Carlton Coalville near Lowestoft.
Thanks for a really enjoyable video. Bus spotting in the 1950's was a really popular hobby. My friend Mike and I were particularly interested in the trolleybus fleet and on a weekend we would purchase the Red Rover all day tickets and spend a day riding the trolleybus routes and sneaking into the various depots. Wonderful memories. How about a follow video covering the various service vehicles which kept the trolleybuses running.
I remembered travelling on trolley busees, what I remember mostly about theme was the unique sound they made although I could never describe it.
Thanks you, back in the day several of us Navy guys paid the fare to ride a circle trip around London. Seems I remember the top deck being open air….We could still bomb damage of WW2, what a reminder of a recent past…..Thanks again from Yellow Springs Ohio USA…..
When I was a very young kid in 1950's my mum took me from Sutton to Croydon to go shopping on the bus. The weather was quite foggy and after a very short shopping stay she decided to we had to go home as the fog was turning into a peasouper. We boarded a trolley bus for the trip home (~7 miles) but the fog was so thick that the conductor had to walk along the kerb edge so the driver could see where he was going! It took over 3 hours to get to Sutton because the driver/conductor had to follow the road by memory counting the road junctions as they went, whilst at the same time ensuring the bus never detached from the overhead lines, which they couldn't see. Apart from the duty to get passengers home safely they couldn't leave a trolley bus blocking the route for other buses or leave the bus connected to the overhead lines. Ahh! Those were the days!
I am from Bologna, and over there the current system, which reopened in 1990, has five routes around the city. I also tried trolleybuses in Milan, Budapest, Rimini, and other cities around Europe. Its sad that there are no more trolleybuses in countries where the traffic is on the left
One inherent drawback of trolley buses is that they can’t pass another one on the same route – except – in Toronto in the early 70s on a trolley bus another one passed us. Almost in slow motion his pickups, having been knocked down when they hit ours, waved back and forth as he coasted by but almost magically ended up back on the proper wires and off he went. Unfortunately, ours were knocked off and at least one of them went up between the overheads and we rolled back a bit trapping it above an unfortunately located cross wire. We were stuck until another vehicle could push us forward enough to free the pickup. The other driver was likely filling in from a standard bus route.
I have ridden trams at Crich tram museum dozens of times, but I don't think they are a good idea on urban streets, I think trolley buses are a much better idea. Although the overhead is a lot more unsightly. I wonder whether they could have an trolley pole underneath connected to a conduit. The driver could only steer a just over 2.5 m from side to side but this would probably be enough to get round badly parked cars and pull into the kerb for stops.
They had a wonderful smell of ozone
I went home from school on trolley buses every day. I thought they were very clever, with the only occasional problem being that the arms connecting to the wires might occasionally detach, requiring the driver to hop out and pole them back into contact. The trolleys were replaced by smelly diesels, which seemed like a step backwards to me.
They were quiet and good acceleration
I rode trolley buses regularly. In todays climate of being environmentally friendly they would score very highly. However with current traffic congestion in London dedicated routes for trolley busies would be essential. I cannot dee that ever happening on the scale needed to ensure their priority on the roads of London.
Trams & Buses have played their part in my life. My maternal Grandmother (and my Mum of course) lived in Bowles Road off Old Kent Road and this had a tram depot in it which changed to buses during their lifetime. The Bus (tram) depot was totally destroyed in the blitz, unfortunately so was my Mum's house! As you've guessed my Mum and family survived without a scratch but lost everything. I have photos of the destroyed Bus garage.
My maternal Grandfather drove buses post WW1 after driving Old Bill Bus ambulances in France. My wife's Father & Grandfather worked on London Buses.
I was born in central London in 1959 and was taken home to Wood Green in north London on a trolley bus.
I remember the trolley buses in Finchley..
Despite being born in the year of the last London tram, I never rode a trolley bus in London, though did se them at Crystal Palace. I only rode the Portsmouth ones when visiting relatives, the turning circle on The Hard just outside the dockyard gates was large, but not as big as the new bus station built by the Portsmouth Dockyard railway station.
One other thing I read was that because (as you said) they were considered to be railways the laws about indicating by only using flip-out trafficators did not apply to trolley buses so they could pioneer the indicators, that all road vehicles now use, on British roads.
I think they would be good, but the sheer amount of RTC’s on the bus routes means constant diversions. Of course the answer is to just severely restrict cars through london, but then the government lose revenue and the public go ape (at not having the cost of ownership and instead having a faster more reliable and ultimately cheaper transport system!).
There’s been talk of pantograph charging which I guess is the closest we might see to trolley buses, but with the need for shorter sections of over head cables. Just enough to get in a good charge.