please empty your brain below
Stick a '321' and 'Uxbridge' or 'Maple Cross' in the panels on the London Country bus and that would do the trick.

The RMLs had all gone when I came on the scene. We had Leyland Atlanteans on the 321 and W4/6 routes. Meh. I'd much rather have had RMLs instead.

THC | 13.05.12 - 4:05 a.m. | #

I was at Fulwell on the night of the last trolleybus, and remember it well. I was also there yesterday at 10.00am for the trolley bus day. Always wishing the trolley bus would come back into use in this country. Well the "Boris Bus" is electric, so maybe just add some overhead cables...

John | 13.05.12 - 8:29 a.m. | #

Indeed, the same slightly impatient, slightly peevish camera-toting enthusiasts were also at the Coventry Corporation Transport celebrations just a few miles north. I bet they didn't use the bus to manage both ; )

The link between Coventry and London is, of course, the black cab.

Busing | Homepage | 13.05.12 - 9:31 a.m. | #

That should've read:

http://omnibuses.blogspot.co.uk/

Busing | Homepage | 13.05.12 - 9:32 a.m. | #

Sadly, I missed this due to another commitment at the other end of route 601. (in fact I was quadruply booked!)

It is a source of some annoyance to those of us regularly travelling between Kingston and Twickenham that, 50 years after the trolleybuses were replaced by diesel buses that were not constrained by where the wires went (and the tramlines before them) - the 281 - the successor to the 601, London's last (and indeed first) trolleybus route - still follows the circuitous route by way of Fulwell insteaad of the more direct one by Strawberry Hill.

timbo | 13.05.12 - 10:01 a.m. | #

Buses, I can take 'em or leave 'em, but I too had a pang of mild nostalgia on reading this, as the 604/605 used to run along the bottom of our road. It was my transport to and from school for about five years.

Great Aunt Annie | 13.05.12 - 11:26 a.m. | #

In my childhood in Zaragoza, Spain, I have often crossed the Puerta del Carmen on the second-hand London trolleybuses that my city bought when they were withdrawn in London. I didn't know their provenance and it used to puzzle me that the steering wheel was on the right hand side. Many years later I liked seeing them in the Transport Museum in Covent Garden.
Best regards

Pepe | 13.05.12 - 11:43 a.m. | #

The caption for the post-war trolleybus calls it a pre-war trolleybus, and Alan's photo link at the bottom takes you to HoosierSands.

I know I really ought to have gone to this, but I did manage to get my fix of trolleybuses (and trams) last year at the East Anglia Transport Museum. They've got some wires set up in a circuit and were actually taking people for trolleybus rides!

swirlythingy | Homepage | 13.05.12 - 12:11 p.m. | #

Don't forget Tramlink, which has lasted.

None | 13.05.12 - 1:49 p.m. | #

Damn, I missed both John and DG (although I may not have missed him, being the man of mystery, unless he was the kind soul checking I was ok after a fall off my bike). Nice to see the old buses again, sat on the 267 and the man dinged the bell for me and said hold tight (wise words I should have heeded lol).

My brother was at the one 50 years ago and took some photos which I gather the Rich and Twick will be printing next week - he wrote a piece for them about it.

Debster | Homepage | 13.05.12 - 3:23 p.m. | #

I seem to remember trolleybuses at Waltham Cross during my courting days.

popartist | 13.05.12 - 6:43 p.m. | #

It was a great event :)

Marina | 13.05.12 - 8:35 p.m. | #

There's a great comparison of a modern bus vs a trolley bus doing the Twickenham to Teddington route on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERyR0OWd22k


Ross | 13.05.12 - 9:13 p.m. | #

One good part of the EATM event was not a single staff member in an "I'm important/in charge" hi-vi.

Kim | 14.05.12 - 3:12 a.m. | #

Always amazes me that we in Britain got rid of useful technology such as trams and trolleybuses. But then we're obsessed with cost in this country far more than common sense.

BTW if you want something that will really scare the hell out of Boris Johnson, pop to Switzerland where a bendy trollybus happily twists and turns through the historic narrow streets of Bern without noticeable problems.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 14.05.12 - 2:54 p.m. | #

I remember riding on the 654 trolley from West Croydon to Beddington Park, as a child. I think it went on towards Sutton. There was also the 630 but this went into London I believe. It was a quiet smooth ride, and I was sad to see them go. There is of course a web site devoted to them with some excellent nostalgic photos.

TinafromSurrey | 15.05.12 - 8:59 p.m. | #











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