British Trolleybus Systems - Wales, Midlands and East Anglia: An Historic Overview

By Peter Waller

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 the trolleybus coming to dominate the provision of local public transport in places like Derby and Ipswich. This volume – one of four that examines the history of all trolleybus operators in the British Isles – focuses on the systems that operated in Wales, the Midlands and East Anglia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: May 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9781399022491

Peter Waller

Brought up in Bradford, Peter grew up as the city's trolleybus network gradually declined. In 1986, Peter commenced in a career in publishing, working for a number of years as Ian Allan Ltds Publisher (Books), where he oversaw the commissioning and publication of a wide range of books. The first book that he wrote was British and Irish Tramway Systems since 1945 in 1992. Since then he has written a number of books on transport subjects. Moving to Shropshire in 2007, Peter is now a full-time author and editor. He is also a director and secretary of the Online Transport Archive, a director of Shrewsbury Dial-a-Ride, a trustee of the West Shropshire Talking Newspaper, a committee member of the National Railway Heritage Awards and a past president of the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury.

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ABERDARE

Although there had been proposals by BET in the late nineteenth century for the construction of an electric tramway to serve Aberdare, these had come to nothing and during the first decade of the twentieth century Aberdare UDC decided to apply for powers to construct its own tramway. In 1911 it obtained authorisation to build a single route – from Trycynon to Aberaman (a distance of 2¾ miles) – which was shorter than the original proposed route which would have extended further south to Abercwmboi.

Alongside the tramway plans, the UDC also decided to adopt trolleybuses to act as feeder routes to the main tramway and powers to operate trolleybuses was also included in the 1911 Act. Four routes were planned: from Trecynon to Cwmdare; Aberdare itself to Abernant; and from Aberaman to both Cymaman and Abercwmboi. The total trolleybus route mileage proposed was about 3½ miles.

Work on the construction of both the tramway and trolleybus routes proceeded concurrently. A trial run for the first trolleybus took place on 22 September 1913 and, following the inspection, the official opening occurred on 9 October 1913. Public tram operation commenced from that day, but it was not until 15 January 1914 that regular trolleybus services were introduced.

With St Elvan’s church and one of the of ten single-deck four-wheel tramcars acquired for the system’s opening (subsequently ten open-top double-deck trams were also acquired) in the background, the first of the eight Cedes-Stoll trolleybuses operated by Aberdare UDC stands at the junction of Commercial Street and Cannon Street in the town centre. Commercial Street was the terminus of the one-mile long route to Abernant. F.K. Farrell Collection/Online Transport