Twirlies you know, the ones who stand at bus stops with their free passes and ask if they are ‘too early’ because it is not yet 9.30am.
Well they would have needed to get up early in the morning to catch the Bradford Corporation Trolley Bus No 7 to Thornbury.
Ten Bradford trolleybuses are now preserved at the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft , Lincolnshire. In the tram shed at Bradford Industrial Museum there is the pictured Trolley bus plus the only tramcar left in Bradford.
The Bradford trolleybus was an electric bus that drew its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolleypoles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit, unlike a tram or streetcar, which normally uses the track as part of the electrical path and thus needs only one wire and pole. This increased the amount of street furniture and the cost of maintenance. However the buses were quite, clean and exceptionally good for the hills rising from the center of Bradford to the suburbs.
Bradford became the first (1911) and last city (1972) to operate trolleybuses in the United Kingdom. Bradford introduced a one-man operated trolleybus route to Bolton Woods in 1915, with the West Yorkshire Road Car Company, which later formed the City Circle route with the link to Bankfoot and Lister Park service.
Double deck trolleybuses were first introduced in 1921. The last rear-entrance trolleybus in Britain was also in Bradford and is now owned by The Bradford Trolley Bus Association
Many of the Twirlies will have enjoyed the experience of riding to the Trolley buses but also remember the delays when they were ‘off their Trolleys’. As a Twirly my self I even remember Bradford’s trams that pre-date the trolley service but that is a whole new subject. The Trolley bus evokes a distinct nostalgic feeling and even though it is out of the county I will have to visit Sandtoft.
This is the only book I can find on Electric buses and Trolleys but be warned it costs £41.65 and that is from discounter amazon.
