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100 Years of British Buses and Trolleybuses

Thylacine

Thylacine

master brummie
Public transport enthusiasts will enjoy these two YouTube videos celebrating 100 years of British buses and trolleybuses:
Included are some fascinating Birmingham (and Midland Red) scenes.
 
Great films Thylacine I remember trolly buses when we sayed with my aunt in Bournmouth. I was facinated by the sparks that came off the overhead connection. I also remeber the man with a big pole attaching the trolly bus or moving them around.....funny what you remeber as a child.

Michael worked for 20 years Stoke on Trent from the 80's and I always found it funny the bus company was called PMT. Michael then told me it was Potteries Motor Transport, I still found it amusing though!
 
Yes those videos bring back a lot of pleasant memories (though even I don't go back as far as the horse buses!).

When I lived in Sutton Coldfield in the early 1960s I used to go to Walsall especially to travel on the smart blue trolleybuses. The Walsall system lasted from 1931 to 1970 and was one of the last in England to close. Other West Midlands trolleybus systems were Birmingham (1922-1951) and Wolverhampton (1923-1967). Were there any others?

You can still travel on an ex-Walsall trolleybus (amongst others) at the Black Country Living Museum (Dudley). See below (picture courtesy of Wikipedia).
 
Hello Thylacine,

unfortunately this is not the case at the moment as some low lives have stolen some of the overhead wires at the Black Country Museum. I am a regular there at the transport group on Wenesdays and some Saturdays. The wire is easily spotted as it has an unusual profile, I have not seen any close up but I believe it is oval in section with a slight groove in it. No doubt it has been melted down by now.

Neither the tram ot the trolley buses are in use, I will keep you posted or you can visit the museums website. There is a Bournmouth Trolley bus at the museum but it should have gone elsewhere but the group who own it have disbanded so its ownership is unknown at the moment. It was sin operation until recently but has failed earth testing.

https://www.bclm.co.uk/index.htm
 
G'day Bill,

I'm sorry to hear about the theft of overhead wire. What a stroke of bad luck. Expensive to replace too, I expect.

Anyway, keep up the good work with the BCLM transport group!
 
I saw that on the news about the wire being stolen it's just ubeliveable these places struggle enough to keep going without scum stealing from them:redface:. A couple of years ago some volunteers working in Key Hill Cemetery found some big rolls of wire. They reported it to the police who said it had been stolen and probaly dumped there for collection later. They were worth about 11,000 pounds. I don't think there was a reward:(

I hope the trams are back working soon.:) I am overdue a visit I would love to see the Bournmouth Trolly bus....happy days!
 
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Hi Wendy,

as I mentioned the Bouremouth trolleybus is out of action anyway with electrical problems, as it happens with part of the overhead gone it makes no difference.
The museum now has a new director and it has been decided that only trolleybuses that have a direct link to the operational side of the black country will stay. Departed so far have been a Belfast one and a Derby one,both to fresh fields(not literally!) this leaves us with the Walsall and Wolverhampton trolleys. There is a Bradford trolley as well and the museum is quite happy to have this stay provided it is re painted into Walsall livery! Apparently Walsall corporation did have some similar ones purchases second hand so this is not so odd as it sounds. The buses owner was quotes as saying "They can paint it any colour they like as long as it can stop there"

The descision made by management has caused some controversy but I can see the point they are making, visitors dont come to the museum to see buses from Belfast and Bournemouth on the site, despite the fact they all had chassis made in Wolverhampton, by Sunbeam. The Bournmouth trolleybus as mentioned, is still there because the group that own it had disbanded so its ownership is in some dispute. This is a great shame because I doubt if its electrical problems (Earth leakage) are going to be a big problem to overcome. The appearance of the bus is loveley but I wa stold its interior needs a little work.
Hopefully its ownership problems can be resolved and it future made safe, if you visit the museum on a Wednesday and it a nice warm day we tend to open the doors to the transport depot and if you ask for me there is a good chance I will be around.

Cheers Bill
 
Thanks Bill I will do my best but have to work still so I will try and get a Wednesday off and come and see you.
 
View attachment 64558View attachment 64557Here are a few the Derby ones, before my time here, I might add, Bernard (there should have been three, one has gone walkabouts)
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In what could be a modern day Birmingham City Transport colour scheme, how about this handsome newly designed double decker now being built in the Slovak Republic. (Perhaps Lloyd could alter them to right hand drive for us).
 
Many thanks Lloyd. I used to be able to change photos round on my old computer but the one I have now dosen't seem to give me a way of doing that now.

To cheer us up and in line with this thread, here are a few busman's humour postcards from over the years.
 
That is very infuriating about the stolen wires, I had seen on the website that the trams and trolleys were off but didn't realise why until now. As for the new policy on "local" only vehicles I would have mixed feelings, I can understand both sides of the arguement. Personally I feel that vehicles built in the area are deserving of inclusion as well but as long as they are moved to secure homes then all is well. I get quite a bit of stick for preserving Birmingham and Coventry Daimler Fleetlines outside of their country of origin!!

Incidently a Wolverhampton Guy trolleybus was recovered a few years ago from here in Ireland, is there any news or updates on it? I last visited the museum in 1996 (really enjoyed it) but hope to get over again in the next couple of months.
 
6918, the Wolverhampton trolleybus you mentioned is fleet number 78 (Guy BTX registered UK 9978 with H33/26R body new 1931 withdrawn 1945). "Lady Wulfrun" has posted a fascinating picture of a very similar vehicle (number 79) taken in 1937.

Perhaps Bill can update us on progress with the restoration of 78. It is surely an expensive and labour intensive project, but it will be lovely to see it restored to its former glory. Made in Wolverhampton too of course.
 
Thanks Thylacine. Wolverhampton 78 was found on a Co. Kilkenny farm. God knows how it got to Ireland or why as the only trolleybus system in Ireland was Belfast which is a very long way from Kilkenny! Belfast did buy some newer trolleys from Wolverhampton in 1952 in the shape of Park Royal bodied Sunbeam MF2's nos. 282, 286-295 but they had short second lives being withdrawn in 1954 & 1956.
 
The real reason 78 ended up in Ireland is unknown, but is postulated as follows:
On withdrawal is was sold to a local builders and was converted into a site office and store (that is known - and some of the extra internal partitioning is still visible) and it is assumed the firm's owner was Irish. He then either got other contracts in Ireland, or returned to his home country and took the 'mobile office' with him. It was known to have been used as a holiday home, being towed a few miles every year from a storage place to wherever he and his family sent their holiday, and then changed hands again (possibly several times) and ended up in a permanent site, the field where it was found, still as a holiday retreat.
The owner at the time of its acquisition for preservation did not know its previous history, and had won it as payment for a bet in a pub - he could not even remember who from!
It certainly had no connection with the sale of the Sunbeam MF2s to Belfast Corporation.
Despite its decrepit condition, it was towed to the docks for a ferry to Liverpool, and towed from there to Dudley! (See attached photo.)
It is a very important and historic survivor, and if the BCLM are not interested in its future I hope it will pass to one of the other museums that take a particular interest in the "trackless", as trolleybuses were known in their early days - at Carlton Colville in East Anglia or Sandtoft in North Lincolnshire.
 
Thanks Lloyd for that detailed history (and picture) of Wolverhampton 78. Very interesting indeed. I quite agree as to the importance of this early "trackless", and hope that it receives the TLC it deserves.
 
Thanks Lloyd for filling in some of the gaps on Wolverhampton 78. When it was rescued and removed from the farm it was towed on this side of the Irish Sea by a cut down Leyland Titan OPD2/10 then in use as a "tow car" by the Transport Museum Society of Ireland.

So far I have never had a chance to travel on a "trackless" but hope to put that right soon.
 
As an update to my previous post moves are ahead to get the tram wires back in operation and last Tuesday three of us spennt the morning sorting out some hefty lenghts of solid copper drawn wire, its round insection, not as I had previously stated but does have the afore mentioned groove. We also sorted various bits of tackle for the spans that support the wire. Im not expert on overhead but thankfully Don knew exactly what everything was and where it should go.
Wednesday the wire was taken down to the appropriate part of the site and after helping to get it off loaded I went back inside the shed to carry on working on the Ex West Brom Daimler No174 along with the rest of the Wednesday group, so I dont know how far things have progressed. The trams may be working sooner than later but I have no idea when the trolley buses will be working again.
Incidently those thieves took considerable risk cutting this wire, it is under considerable tension and combined with its weight could have resulted in some nasty injuries.
 
Thanks for the update Bill. Good news! :thumbsup:

Mike, do you have any of those postcards with bus drivers in them? :D
 
Thylacine said:
6918, the Wolverhampton trolleybus you mentioned is fleet number 78 (Guy BTX registered UK 9978 with H33/26R body new 1931 withdrawn 1945). "Lady Wulfrun" has posted a fascinating picture of a very similar vehicle (number 79) taken in 1937.

Perhaps Bill can update us on progress with the restoration of 78. It is surely an expensive and labour intensive project, but it will be lovely to see it restored to its former glory. Made in Wolverhampton too of course.
Click to expand...


If you search through Flickr very carefully you should find a copied photo of 78 in the field being used as a caravan. I noticed it a few evenings back. As far as I am aware nothing has ever been done with the bus at the BCLM, and that goes for the other gem in the shape of the REDD.

I probably should not say this but I will, I dont think the current administration have much interest in running the trolley buses they are just interested in getting the trams running , this might be because they fear complaints from the public, this is my own opinion and not that of anyone else and at the end of the day this is a free country!

I can see their point in having non BC trolley buses removed as the site is supposed to reflect what the area looked like in the past and this did not include "foreign" buses. Buses unlike cars, lorries or cars have a direct link with a specific area and its not typical to have a Belfast Trolleybus in the Black Country, so I have to agree with that decision and it has also freed up some much needed space elsewhere.
 
Thanks Bill for those updates. I'm a bit disappointed that both 78 and the REDD are no further on than when they arrived, two now unique vehicles. I really hope trolleybuses continue to be operated on the site even it is against the wishes of the current administration.
 
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