| The latest addition to the world's largest
collection of trolleybuses here at The Trolleybus Museum is Lyon 1704. After being dedicated to route 6 Hôtel De Ville to Croix Rousse in the French city of Lyon, number 1704 was withdrawn over 6 years ago. Since then 1704 has been left in a tram depot on the outskirts of Lyon awaiting its fate. On Monday 18th September 2006 a team of three set out from The Trolleybus Museum to rescue this iconic French trolleybus for preservation. The trolleybus arrived at The Museum on Friday 22nd September 2006 and was inspected by our skilled engineers. After only an hour the trolleybus was hooked up to the wiring and, amazingly, after 6 years out of service, number 1704 was found to be in full working order. Some work needs to be done to make this vehicle available for service but we hope it will feature at our European Weekend in May 2007. Lyon 1704, registered 7830-LG-69, is a Vetra EH85, new in 1964 with a B22T+55 seating layout. Picture: Lyon 1704 basks in the French sunshine for the last time before being loaded onto a lorry for its long journey to The Trolleybus Museum. |
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Rotherham trolleybus number 37 has re-entered service at the Trolleybus Museum after 41 years. Officially re-launched on June 11th number 37 was one of the star attractions at this years Sandtoft Gathering, running with capacity loads.
Rotherham was a very early operator of trolleybuses in Britain, starting in 1912 with solid-tyred 'Railless' vehicles. Vehicle technology improved and by the late 1940's Rotherham had a fleet of 44 vehicles, all 3-axle single deckers from various makers - Guy, AEC and Sunbeam. These were replaced in 1950 by 44 brand new 3-axle single-deck Daimlers, all fitted with 38-seat East Lancs. bodies. After only 6 years 20 of the batch were rebodied by Roe as 70-seat double-deckers, 17 were exported to Spain whilst a handful remained untouched to work to Conisbrough route. Number 37 was the first to be rebodied and therefore Rotherham's first regular double-deck trolleybus, often working the busy Kimberworth and Thrybergh routes.
Number 37 now joins our extensive list of service
trolleybuses and can be seen on service again at the Six Wheeler event in August
or the St. Leger Rally Rally event in October.
Click here for a picture of 37 before
restoration
Click here for a picture of
37 after restoration - This is what we do here at The Trolleybus Museum, be
a part of it and become a member.
It is with deep sorrow that we report the death of Tony Peart who died on Friday 29th September in Doncaster Royal Infirmary after a long fight against cancer.
Mr Peart, or Tony to all who know him, was an influential character within the bus and rail preservation movements for many years. As far back as the 1950’s, when Tony was leading the Doncaster Grammar School Model Railway Society, he was supporting the bus preservation scene too. Indeed, he was also a staunch supporter of Doncaster’s trolleybus network, which sadly came to an end in 1963, and made many aware of the beauties and benefits of the trolleybus. There are still members at our museum today whose interest in trolleybuses Tony sparked in those early days.
Tony was a prominent figure in the Doncaster bus enthusiast circle and at a time when railway sheds were starting to close and railway enthusiasts were becoming frustrated, a group was formed to organise trips to bus and trolleybus depots in the area. This group became known as the Doncaster Omnibus & Light Railway Society (DO&LRS), a title deliberately designed to encompass all areas of bus, rail and light rail interests. As a co-founder of DO&LRS Tony become the Vice President of the group. With Tony’s involvement DO&LRS preserved five historic Doncaster Motorbuses and Doncaster’s last ever trolleybus, which all live at The Trolleybus Museum. Many members of DO&LRS played an instrumental role in the formation of The Trolleybus Museum and many early members are still involved with us today.
Tony had always had an undying love for vehicles with AEC engines. So much so that Tony’s biggest desire was always to preserve Doncaster Corporation Motorbus number 60, a pre-war example of an AEC bus. Unfortunately this never transpired but Tony was not deterred and he scoured the country looking for a similar example. Eventually finding an example in York, Tony purchased it and slowly and painstakingly restored this bus, number 64, into a pristine condition. Tony also purchased a Doncaster motorbus of his own, number 122, and having been significantly battered and bruised as a driver training bus, it too has been meticulously restored back to working condition. Tony traveled many thousands of miles each year with his buses parading them at bus rallies around the country. His buses are never seen in public if not in perfect condition. The effort he put in was almost always rewarded with a prize or two at each event he attended. Tony set the standard in bus preservation for many years and was a clear role model for anyone preserving a bus. Tony also had the foresight to buy a vast amount of spare parts for his vehicles when many examples were being scrapped in the 1970’s. This prudence not only enabled Tony to keep his two vehicles on the road but also allowed many other preservationists to acquire parts that simply wouldn’t still exist otherwise.
The thousands of miles travelled each year were not simply for self-pleasure. As he traveled, Tony spread the word about both The Trolleybus Museum and DO&LRS. Often carrying posters on his buses for our events he also handed out leaflets and encouraged others to attend our events. Tony also enabled others to travel the country with him to enjoy seeing other fine preserved vehicles, one of his regular passengers for many years being otherwise quite immobile.
As well as preserving his two buses Tony took the unusual step of taking sound recordings of many specific buses and railway locomotives. This has ensured that sounds from the day’s of silent films have not been lost. Some of these recordings have been used by filmmakers to add the correct sounds to silent footage to accurately recreate the scenes of yesteryear for the viewer and to ensure history is not forgotten.
Tony’s knowledge of transport history and the bus preservation scene was unbound. He had regular features in several nationally published transport heritage magazines. Through this work he continued to influence and educate others around the country as he championed the transport preservation movement. Money earnt from this work, and all work throughout his life, had been put back into his preservation work. As well as passionately supporting his own two buses, Tony was a member of many other transport groups and societies, all of whom require financial support.
Tony Peart was a widely renowned
and respected authority on bus and railway preservation. He allocated all his
life to recording transport history and was instrumental in preserving
Doncaster’s transport heritage too. A friendly man who always had time to
talk, Tony will forever be remembered for his everlasting and enduring
commitment to transport heritage, he will be sorely missed.
| Following its recovery from France's second
city, Marseilles in summer 2006, trolleybus number 202 entered service
at the Trolleybus Museum on Sunday 14 October.
Number 202 was due to be relaunched at the European Weekend in may 2007 but a number of technical difficulties prevented it from carrying passengers although it was able to operate on demonstration. A working party from The Museum visited the trolleybus system in St. Etienne during summer 2007 to collect some spare parts required for number 202. Now, with fully functional rear suspension and interior handrails amongst the completed repairs, number 202 joins the growing fleet of operational trolleybuses at the Trolleybus Museum. |
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| The Trolleybus Museum was a sea of green
during August Bank Holiday 2007 with Nottingham and Derby trolleybuses in
operation.
The East Midlands area had several trolleybus operations. Derby, Nottingham and Chesterfield Corporations all had their own system, as did private operator Notts & Derby Traction Co. The year 2007 marks 75 years since the start of the Notts & Derby and Derby Corporation systems, whilst it is 80 years the first trolleybus ran in Nottingham and Chesterfield. The Trolleybus Museum held a special event over the 2007 August Bank Holiday to commemorate and relive the heyday of trolleybuses in the East Midlands. Trolleybuses ran in Nottingham, mainly replacing trams, between 10 April 1927 and 30 June 1966. Number 506, one of the 4 trolleybuses operating in service over the weekend, operated the official last journey, on Friday 1 July 1966. Also from Nottingham was trolleybus number 493, which was new in 1948 and returns to service after 10 years out of service. Nottingham trolleybuses numbers 367 and 466 are preserved at Sandtoft, along with ‘tower wagon’ number 802. Number 172 represented Derby. Built during WWII no. 172 has a utility body with single skin panelling and wooden slatted seats! We were pleased to welcome Derby trolleybus number 224, which was on loan from our colleagues at the East Anglia Transport Museum. We
also had a variety of new and old motorbuses visiting over the weekend to
add to the East Midlands theme. |
A line-up of the 4 East Midlands Trolleybuses in service over the weekend. L to R: Nottingham 506, Nottingham 493, Derby 172 & Derby 224. |
A line-up of Nottingham vehicles. L to R: 506, 493, Tower Wagon 802, motorbus 137 & trolleybus 466. |
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Nottingham trolleybus 493 back in service after 10 years. |
The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is pleased to announce the purchase of additional of land to expand the museum.
It is almost 40 years since Michael Dare, a school teacher from Reading, bought a section of the former RAF Sandtoft airfield to start a trolleybus museum. Now with over fifty examples, The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is home to the world’s largest collection of preserved trolleybuses. The additional, adjacent, land increases the size of the Museum by 30%.
This expansion completes phase 1 of an ongoing development plan by the Museum which will eventually include a new exhibition hall and extension of the current trolleybus operating circuit. Steve Harrison, Managing Director explained this ‘would enable the Museum to better demonstrate and explain the full history, capabilities and advantages of the trolleybus.’
Remarkably, this expansion has been funded without any external support. Commenting on this achievement Trolleybus Museum Company Chairman, Graham Bilbé, who negotiated the deal, said ‘the achievement is not mine but that of the members who have all contributed enormously in the last four years.’
Fundraising at the Museum, located just outside Doncaster, does not end here. As development moves into phase 2 the Museum continues to seek donations and is also planning a volunteer’s recruitment day in June. The Museum is open on selected weekends throughout the summer.
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The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is pleased to announce the appointment of Stanley King F.S.A as its new President. Stanley, a City Councillor in his hometown of Bradford, fought hard to save trolleybuses from withdrawal during the 1960’s. More recently, as Chairman of West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, Stanley has spearheaded the campaign to revive trolleybuses in Leeds. Upon receiving his invitation to the role of President for the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, home to the world’s largest historic trolleybus collection, Stanley said he was both, “honoured and proud” to have been considered and readily accepted the position. Bruce Lake, Company Secretary for the Trolleybus Museum commented, “we are pleased to have such an influential, knowledgeable and well respected trolleybus advocate as Stanley as our President.” RIGHT: Stanley King (left) is welcomed to his new role by Bruce Lake, Company secretary for The Trolleybus Museum. |
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Stanley is a Bradfordian by birth and upbringing, but one-quarter of a “Lincolnshire Yellowbelly”, as befits the incoming President of a Lincolnshire museum. He learned to drive trams at the age of twelve and, illicitly, put theory into practice in the streets of Bradford in 1950.
However, having born on a tram route, conveyed to school by bus (diesel and occasionally petrol) and to work by trolleybus, he concluded that for urban transport in medium-sized towns and cities the trolleybus has no equal.
His first glimpse of a trolleybus occurred at the tender age of 2½, and, by a stroke of good luck, the vehicle in question was Bradford’s avant-garde AEC/EEC “Q”, which left him with a lifetime’s enthusiasm for progressive change and evolutionary development. This led, at the age of 9, to a personal guided tour of the Corporation’s tram, bus and trolleybus repair works by the Assistant Rolling Stock Engineer, Mr. Ronald Edgley Cox. Thus, the Trolleybus Museums’ first and third Presidents became acquainted while trolleybuses were firmly in the ascendant.
A close colleague of Bradford’s post-war trolleybus transport manager Mr C.T. Humpidge (1951-1961), Stanley was well placed to criticise and oppose the illogicality and flawed rationale of the post 1961 abandonment policy, a battle which nine years later led to his election to City Council as a member (and subsequently Deputy Chairman) of the Passenger Transport Committee. Regrettably, this was too late for a change of policy, but he ensured that the trolleybuses received a fitting funeral, and that a vehicle should be preserved in the city’s Industrial Museum.
In 1985 he became leader of the Conservative group on the newly formed West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, ultimately serving as Chairman in 2004/5 and 2006/7, and alternating as Deputy Chairman in 2005/6 and from 2007 to his retirement in May this year.
Following the failure of the PTA / PTE bid for a Leeds Supertram, Stanley proposed and accompanied study visits to Holland, Germany, Switzerland and France which resulted in the formal adoption of modern, Continental-style trolleybuses (officially designated NGT – New Generation Transport) as the preferred option for a Supertram substitute. The outcome depends on Department for Transport consent at a future date, but as a sound, professional business case has been formulated, Stanley can step down in the knowledge that genuinely sustainable environmentally-friendly public transport is back on the agenda.
