Trolleybusses - Great Britain: Books - History

The Colours of Yesterday's Trolleybuses

In this book one of the foremost trolleybus authorities in the country, Michael Russell, writes detailed captions to around 500 colour photographs of trolleybuses from the 37 systems that existed in the UK post-war. The book follows a geographical sequence so that neighbouring operators are in the same section of this large work. An indispensable feast for trolleybus fans everywhere.

A-Z of British Trolleybuses

In the last century, the trolleybus developed into a successful provider of public transport in many towns and cities around Britain. It is often described as being part tram and part motorbus. The trolleybus was a fast vehicle whose acceleration from rest was far superior to that of any motorbus.
Added to this it was quiet and fume-free, and consumed home-produced electricity generated using coal.

During the last twenty years, there have been many books about trolleybuses published, but hardly any of these has tackled the subject from the vehicle manufacturers' angle, instead concentrating on individual trolleybus systems.

This volume is, therefore, a summary of the British trolleybus, describing each manufacturer and its products, and then showing what happened to these vehicles throughout their life.
It contains an alphabetical listing of all the manufacturers, detailing company history and trolleybus types produced including production totals. A second alphabetical company-by-company listing gives full details of every trolleybus built for British use, including data such as chassis number and any subsequent significant changes. As far as possible it is all presented in a non-technical way.

British Trolleybuses in Colour : The Last Decade 1961-1972

Covers the general demise of the British trolleybus from 1961 to 1972 when the last Bradford trolleybus entered the Thornbury Works for the final time on 26 March 1972. Gripped by a fascination of trolleybuses, John Bishop and Malcolm Keeping decided to capture the vehicles on both cine-film and colour transparencies.

Having seen the demise of their 'home town trolleybuses', both authors travelled the country photographing the remaining trolleybus systems, including the capital cities of Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London.
The photographs not only capture the vast array of colours of the vehicles, but the changing scene of the so called 'Swinging Sixties' when attitudes relaxed dramatically.

Since these colourful days, the scene has changed even more so when the local government in the Seventies altered municipal operations becoming companies and many changed names or disappeared altogether.
Therefore, this book records far more than just the demise of the trolleybuses, but changes in society as well.

Trolleybus Twilight - Britain's Last Trolleybus Systems

In this new photographic album from Pen & Sword, transport historian and photographer Jim Blake presents a fascinating selection of pictures of a form of public transport now sadly missing from Britain's streets: trolleybuses. Britain's last trolleybuses ran in 1972.

Most British trolleybus systems flourished in the inter-war years, particularly the 1930s. The biggest fleet was that of London Transport.
But for the Second World War, it would have been bigger still if South London's trams had been replaced by trolleybuses, as intended. London, however, replaced these with motor-buses instead, influencing other operators to abandon their trolleybuses, too. By the 1960s, their demise was well under way.

Fortunately, during that decade, Jim travelled throughout England and Wales, photographing buses, coaches, steam locomotives and trolleybuses.

This book features the latter, beginning with their final weeks in London, then continuing to places as diverse as Bournemouth and Cardiff, Bradford and Maidstone. Most pictures have never been published before.

Taken between 1962 and 1968, they transport the reader back to a wonderful land with many quaint forms of public transport, particularly trolleybuses!
What will strike readers is their variety of liveries, manufacturers and so on.

British Trolleybus Systems - London and South-East England: An Historic Overview

Although there had been experiments with the use of a new form of transport - the 'trackless tram' (better known as the trolleybus) - during the first decade of the 20th century, it was in June 1911 that Bradford and Leeds became the country's pioneering operators of trolleybuses.
There had been earlier experimental users - in places like Hove and London - and as the tide turned against the tram in many towns and cities, the trolleybus became a popular alternative with London becoming, for a period, the world's largest operator of trolleybuses.

This volume - one of four that examines the history of all trolleybus operators in the British Isles - focuses on London and the other systems of south-east England.

Bradford Trolleybuses - The Early Years and Jubilee Celebrations

Bradford trolleybuses were the 'first and the last' in the UK - first introduced in 1911 and last used in 1972. With only one flat road out of the centre, appropriately called Canal Road, Bradford city centre is in a 'bowl' surround by 200 to 400 metre hills. Therefore, the operating environment in Bradford was perfect for quiet passenger transport that soared up the hills that surround the city.

This book focuses on the 50th anniversary year of 1961, and the 19 variations of trolleybuses used in that year are illustrated along with a fleet history from 1934 (many 1934 chassis were still working in 1961). It also details the second-hand trolleybuses Bradford bought after 1951 and the extensive rebuilding and rebodying programmes that ran from 1944.

The changes in livery are fully explained and illustrated, with a look at the fleet bought new and those bought from other operators, and the depot structure and service vehicles used to maintain the network are also covered.
Finally, the route history and development from 1911 is fully detailed. With over 180 images, this book, the first of two volumes on Bradford trolleybuses, showcases the trolleybuses at work on different routes around the city, returning them to their heyday of 1961.