Related Research Articles
Maidstone Corporation Transport was the operator of trams, trolleybuses and motorbuses in Maidstone, Kent from 1904 to 1974. The operations of Maidstone Corporation passed to Maidstone Borough Council Transport in reorganisation of local government in 1974, expanding the Borough boundaries.
Portsmouth Corporation Transport was a tram, trolleybus and bus operator formed in 1898, serving the city of Portsmouth, and owned by Portsmouth Corporation. Tram services ended in 1936, trolleybus services in 1963, while bus operations continued until the company was privatised in 1988.
The Wolverhampton trolleybus system served the city of Wolverhampton, then in Staffordshire, England, for much of the twentieth century.
The Portsmouth trolleybus system once served the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Opened on 4 August 1934, it gradually replaced the Portsmouth tramway network; the last trams ran on 10 November 1936.
The Belfast trolleybus system served the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the only trolleybus system built in Ireland. Opened on 28 March 1938, it gradually replaced the city’s tramway network.
The Reading trolleybus system served the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire and was owned by Reading Corporation, who had operated an electric tramway since 1901. As there was a need for major refurbishment of the tramway in the 1930s, they decided to replace it with a trolleybus network. The first route was converted on 18 July 1936, and by mid 1939, trolleybuses were running over most of the tramway routes, with the last tram running on 20 May. By the standards of the various now-defunct trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom, the Reading system was a moderately sized one, with a total of four routes, and a maximum fleet of 63 trolleybuses, a size that lasted from 1 December 1950 to 27 March 1952.
The Derby trolleybus system once served Derby, the former county town of Derbyshire in central England. The trolleybus service started in 1932 and ran until 1967.
The Teesside trolleybus system once served the conurbation of Teesside, in the North East of England. Opened on 8 November 1919, it was unusual in being a completely new system that was not replacing any previously operating tramway network.
The Grimsby trolleybus system once served the seaport of Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, England. Opened on 3 October 1926, it gradually replaced part of the Great Grimsby Street Tramways, a tramway that had served both Grimsby and the neighbouring holiday resort of Cleethorpes. It was closed on 4 June 1960.
The Cleethorpes trolleybus system once served the holiday resort of Cleethorpes, in Lincolnshire, England. Opened on 18 July 1937, it replaced part of the Great Grimsby Street Tramways, a tramway that had served both Cleethorpes and the neighbouring seaport of Grimsby. It was closed on 4 June 1960.
The Hastings trolleybus system once served the town of Hastings, East Sussex, England. Opened on 1 April 1928, it gradually replaced the Hastings tramway network, with the first route to be converted that from the Fishmarket to Hollington, East Sussex and the last, the circular route. Tram replacement cost £1,383 per mile, but increased average speed from 7.5 to over 10 mph and cut costs from 13d to 10d per mile.
The South Lancashire trolleybus system once served towns in South Lancashire, England, including Atherton, Bolton, Swinton and Leigh and St Helens. Opened on 3 August 1930, it replaced the South Lancashire Tramways network.
The Cape Town trolleybus system was part of the public transport network in Cape Town, South Africa, for nearly 30 years in the mid-twentieth century. The trolleybuses on the system were always referred to by English-speaking locals as "Trackless trams", and even the systems's stops were marked "Trackless Tram Stop".
The Durban trolleybus system was part of the public transport network in Durban, South Africa, for more than 30 years in the mid-20th century.
The Pretoria trolleybus system was part of the public transport network in Pretoria, South Africa, for more than 30 years in the mid-twentieth century. The trolleybus system was opened in 1939 and was closed in 1972, lasting for over 32 years.
Cape Town, South Africa, has had two tramway networks forming part of its public transport arrangements. Both networks are now long closed.
Llanelly and District Electric Tramways operated a standard gauge tramway service in Llanelli, Wales, between 1908 and 1933. It was the successor to a 3 ft gauge horse tramway, which ran from 1882 until 1908. A complex series of negotiations took place in the early 1900s, resulting in the horse tramway being converted to an electric tramway. Standard gauge horse trams were run initially, until the company completed North Dock power station, which supplied electricity to the tramway. Two of the employees who worked on the construction went on to found Balfour Beatty.
The Johannesburg tramway network formed part of the public transport system in Johannesburg, South Africa, for just over 70 years until the start of the 1960s.
Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles was a commercial vehicle manufacturing offshoot of the Wolverhampton based Sunbeam Motor Car Company when it was a subsidiary of S T D Motors Limited. Sunbeam had always made ambulances on modified Sunbeam car chassis. S T D Motors chose to enter the large commercial vehicle market in the late 1920s, and once established they made petrol and diesel buses and electrically powered trolleybuses and milk floats. Commercial Vehicles became a separate department of Sunbeam in 1931.
References
Further reading
- Beeton, Frank (November 2011). "The time of the trolleybus". FOCUS On Transport and Logistics. FOCUS On Transport and Logistics. Retrieved 2 March 2012. Broken link
- Pabst, Martin (1989). Tram & Trolley in Africa. Krefeld: Röhr Verlag. ISBN 3-88490-152-4.(in English and German)
- Patton, Brian (2004). Double-Deck Trolleybuses of the World: Beyond the British Isles. Brora, Sutherland: Adam Gordon. ISBN 978-1-874422-50-1.
