Nostalgia

[Greybeard]

A Henlys filling station appears on this 1950’s shot of the Ardwick Green Roundabout, Manchester. The picture comes the Manchester City Police Museum and the J series Morris is one of their vans. The view is from the Ardwick Apollo on the corner of Stockport Road, venue for many epic rock concerts.

[edboy]

also an electric trolley bus. way ahead of its time.

[Greybeard]

also an electric trolley bus. way ahead of its time.

I presume that comment was irony. I remember Trolley buses in London in the 1950's

[Triton Thrasher]

also an electric trolley bus. way ahead of its time.

It should wait at the stop then.

[Swarfcut]

I reckon that picture is the early 1960's. A couple of the cars are Ford Anglia 105E's, introduced in 1959. In the foreground is another Ford, a Consul Classic, which came in soon after.

 I remember trolley buses in Walsall in the 1960's. The conductor would move the pick up on the overhead wires when changing to another route or turning round using a long (Bamboo?) pole stored under the bus.

 Electric motors develop their maximum torque at zero revs, and if the driver was late and the bus lightly loaded, leadfoot acceleration would press you into the seat.

 Swarfy

[Black Sheep]

Here's a different kind of nostalgia. There's hope for us all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XXPGE0klmc

[Topdad]

Thanks GB,  that brought back many memories. I lived about 10 miles from there as a kid  , but went past the hippodrome many times on the bus etc. Trolley buses were used there til 62/63  ,big thing getting "proper" ones .  I I still remember seeing Tommy cooper there as a kid, it was panto
and he did  a fill in during the break ,so so funny I still recall it 63 yrs later , so thanks again GB

[RoyC]

also an electric trolley bus. way ahead of its time.

I presume that comment was irony. I remember Trolley buses in London in the 1950's

Walsall bus company (blue buses) also ran electric trolley buses.
When they turned round the conductor used to pull a long pole from under the bus and change the poles on  top of the bus over to another set of wires. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3kJ4Tx0q9U

[bsa-bill]

Not to be left out here's the Tyneside version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWAhICgkZow


went on till around mid-sixties, never thought about it before but reversing must have put some strange stress on the pantograph thiningy

[Greybeard]

I'm wondering if Trolley Buses had a battery to allow for manoeuvring to get onto an overhead route.

[Topdad]

I think not GB, in Haughton green where nr where I lived the terminus around which the trolley buses turned had massive stone in the centre to support t pole which held the power cables right the way round ,even so the conductors alway had there poles ready should power contacts slipped off  slipped of th e wires ,had there been a battery sure it would have been easier/faster to just unhook and drive round however i await someone having a greater knowledge about them than me especially as i was only about 12 !

[Roger (Doomtrainbarx)]

Trolley buses certainly did have betteries

[BagONails]

We were in Wellington, NZ on hols in 2013 and they still had quite modern looking trolley buses running all around the town. It sounds like they may have finally stopped running in 2017 although electric buses would now make more sense with the latest battery tech. I believe Volvo are building and testing 'ebuses' here in Oz, they did a feature on TV on one not long ago. Probably already on UK streets?!

[Butch (cb)]

Well I did wonder, what with all the fuss and expense when towns choose to reintroduce trams, why trolley buses - that presumably only need a set of overhead lines, weren't the preferred option?