This always brings a tear to my eye. I was born in Stratford, lived in Plaistow, but wouldn't live there now rent free. The whole place has changed beyond recognition. I always think of my dear late Mother when I watch this. She used to take me on the 669 from Grange Rd to Stratford Broadway when I was a child and over the ensuing years I developed a fascination for the trolleys. I dearly wish these days could come back, but they won't. But we do and always will have memories.
wonderful video. The 699 went past the house I grew up in. Loaded with punters for West Ham Stadium, silently swishing past the plane trees, was a marvel of engineering
I was born in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, moved to plaistow, then back to Stratford, spent a while in Burnham then Custom House, now Silvertown. Great to see my old town again! Nostalga is only for the old. Love this video!
brilliant film, to be totally honest it made me cry straight up, thinking back to when l was a nipper living in Ilford in the early `50s now l`m an old duffer in my late sixties l too remember the music from radio shows like `top of the form` and the Cliff Mitchell Singers when l listen to music like this and shut my eyes l think back to my Nan listening to the radio, life was so much bloodier easier then even if we didnt have a lot of money
As a youngster, I remember the Old Trams travelling along Southall Broadway on their way to Uxbridge. They were huge and we're always bringing the traffic to a standstill. Good old days, alas gone forever.
Fantastic video with a perfect contemporary musical accompaniment; a great view into the fairly recent past. It's telling to see how clean the streets were back then and how neat the buildings were, all the more since this was not long after WW2 during which the East End was heavily bombed. Look at the same area now; dirty rundown buildings, litter strewn streets and filth.
How enjoyable and informative. We make hires gopro walk through's of contemporary London on youtube and it's great for us to see others. London is still pretty spectacular. Thank you for adding it, we've subscribed.
Wow brings back memories. I live in Chingford and my dad was a bus conductor on the buses and worked from Walthamstow Bus Garage which is in the film. He had a bad accident. He jumped off the bus to pull the `frog` which changed the poles onto a different line and slipped under the the two back wheels of the bus and the bus went over is leg. Miraculously although it broke his leg it could have been far worse. He recovered and carried on working until the last day of the trolley buses.
Great video. They should never have got rid of Trolley buses - they were ideal as they didn't need tracks in the road like Trams did, but were cleaner than buses.
I remember catching the 669 at the corner of Hermit rd and Grange rd right next to the Beaconsfield pub . I t was later changed to number 69 when the Routemasters came in . A few pals and myself would all climb aboard and end up in Chingford Mount and spend a day exploring Epping Forest ..............Happy happy days
I grew up in this part of the East End (West+East Ham) along with generations of my family. It seems strange to see it how used to look compared to the chaos of it all now, very little road traffic and some actual industry!
Even though I'm not that old I remember lots of parts in the video including pier rRd @ north woolwich, silvertown, East ham, Upton park, Stratford, and hermit rd canning town.
I drove a black cab in the early 80's. Stratford, Plaistow, West and East Ham, Ilford, Barking, Dagenham etc. wow this brings back memories. I know almost every street in this film. memory going now but after watching this , its all coming flooding back. thanks so much for posting.
Yes just as I remember it as a child, Plaistow (BTW that is pronounced PLAH-STOW not PLAY-STOW) station which was a proper train station, though I mistook it for a tube station as the names were white on a blue background just like the tube, British Railways Eastern Region had signs that color. The tunes like "The Archers and Childrens Favorites" and the football (soccer) results on the wireless (radio) and Frenlite flour which was ground in windmills ; and the trollybuses (trackless trollies) sadly gone like everything else.
I was born in 1947, Bethnal Green. My mum's sister lived in Leyton. We would get the trolley bus from Hackney Road through to Leyton. Where it started and ended I don't know. I do remember going round the corner from Hackney Road into Cambridge Heath Road the trolley pole would frequently come off the overhead lines, making a terrific crash onto the top of the bus!
I never knew London had trolley coaches. I'm used to seeing shots of the underground trains and the old surface buses that are on the streets in downtown London. But seeing double decked trolley coaches is an undiscovered treat for me. I hope to visit London during the underground's 150th anniversary celebration. Good looking video that captures a rare form of public transit.
Great Britain was full with trolleybuses. Last system was closed in 1972. Last double decker trolleybus service was in Porto, Portugal (1994 I think). They where Italian made.
Nice. I hope I'm not getting nostalgic in my old age. I was born in Barking in the last 18 months of the 50's and was brought up in Walthamstow. My Dad had Docks connections through work so I used to go with him (we always had a car) and briefly he had a shop at Chingford Mount. The cars and locations are familiar but I have no memory of trolley buses at all so they must have all gone either before I was born or before my memory kicks in !
Hi, I was born in Dagenham in 53 and only just remember travelling on trolleybuses. Wish I remembered more about what routes we used to take and where we went on them….shame they're gone really
I am curious to know if you could re-upload this video in the higher quality that RU-vid allows us these days? Are you in position of the original film?
This would be so great as I was so delighted to see some things here I have never seen film of and to see them a little clearer would be wonderful if it's possible.
As a US citizen growing up in the Chicago area in the 1960s and 1970s, I only got to see single level trolley buses. It is great to see the double decker trolley buses of the UK here. These we knew of only through Matchbox Lesney toy vehicles. Wow! That bus at 4:57 has to make a very wide turn and just barely clears the fence on the street. Well done, as the Britrs say. Thanks for posting!
As regards the music, this is clearly taken from BBC Radio programme theme tunes..Harry Worth, Top of the Form, Sportsview (TV), Sing Something Simple, Does the Team Think, In Town Tonight etc...most written by the wonderful Eric Coates. They are easily found and my guess is that this is a compilation CD of BBC Radio music....and all wonderful stuff filled with memories for me certainly. Happy listening!
I’ve got vague memories of a trolley bus at east India dock road which had come off its track or was being changed over by a chap with a pole must have been about 5 at the time
I remember my grandfather taking me on a "trolly" as they were called, it was as they were being phased out and he told my mother he wanted to make sure I had been on one. Happy days.
The routes 689/690 as described in the video are wrong. They went from Stratford Broadway via Plashet Road turning right into Green Street. Then one route turned left into Plashet Grove to East Ham High Street, then to Barking Road where it turned right back to Green Street, left into Plashet Road and back to Stratford. The other route instead of turning left at Plashet Grove carried on along Green Street to Barking Road and basically did the trip in a anti-clockwise direction.
Thanks for this time travel 10 minutes, I grew up in East London in the 60 and although I don't remember trolleybus, I recognised an awful lot of the places, Stratford Broadway for one, Silvertown, the prefabs, oh dear, whatever happened to our country?
What an absolutely brilliant video, we live in a totally different world today compared to this, Im from Birmingham and can't relate to any of the streets, but I remember the scene well, as a young lad, my mom would drag me off all over the place, usually the hairdressers by trolly bus, can still picture it now. You also forget just how quiet these buses were, you wouldn't hear these roaring up the street... What a gem. 5*
Lovely!!!. Its a window back on a vanished ( totally ) East London. I remember it like that when I was small. My Grandmother used to take me from Walthamstow to Stratford Broadway to visit Boardmans department store. She would be horrified and possibly fascinated by what has changed!. All the Health and Safety stuff would put a stop to the conductors jumping off while the bus was moving.......
Thanks for Trolleybus film. In the 1950s used to go to secondary school on 660 (if I remember its route number correctly) from Temple Fortune to Cricklewood Lane. A pity that London, and other towns scrapped them. The electric motors were less polluting than diesel engines. And how London has changed, much of it not for the better!
I have vague childhood memories of the Trolley Buses. Perhaps memories play tricks but I seem to recall they were fairly quiet and certainly comfortable. As well as enjoying seeing the buses the background scenery is also of interest showing some places I knew which of course are nothing like that now and you could almost say it was a different country.
Ultra low emission zones- electric vehicles -zero emission vehicles -pollution from diesel engines, all current topics, a lot of these problems were solved almost sixty years ago, so how as far as busses goes did we get where we are now?
Calling All Workers ! SUPERB wow lovely shot of a steam train and the trolley passing! Could you list the tunes used in you marvellous soundtracks please, my old brain cannot keep up, so far I think i have found Hancocks Half Hour? Thats about it !
Keyboard Krazy : The opening march is "Calling all Workers" written by Eric Coats from Hucknall near Nottingham of "Dambusters" fame. This was the signature tune of the BBC Light Programme morning and afternoon music programme "Music While You Work" which was introduced during the second world war. It was good to see s uch good colour film of the trolleys. Here in Nottingham they were sometimes called "Trackless" which, as they were introduced to replace trams, that's exactly what they were - Trackless Trams! As a child I saw my first female bus driver - driving a 6wheeled 72 seater trolleybus. Women were not permitted to drive the smaller diesel buses, not being considered strong enough to cope with the heavy steering but the trolleys had electrically assisted steering so that was o.k.! Sorry to ramble on a bit. Hope this helps.
Thanks for sharing this: The street scenes and backing music are a wonderful reminder of how things were in postwar London. Looking at the cars I would date this footage as being around 1958. London was certainly a huge shipping hub at the time: The biggest in the world in fact. Thanks again.
What a lovely film and as regards date, it is certainly after October 1959 and yet not far into 1960. You can spot this from the various cars including a 1959 model Wolseley 1500, a 1958/9 Standard Sportsman, a 1958/9 Ford Zephyr Six and an early Triumph Herald. What brings it back to early 1960 is that there is not one Morris Mini Minor/Austin Se7en to be seen so as they were introduced at the October 1959 Motor Show, they would be appearing early 1960. My guess.March 1960!
All the way to CHING FORD TO LIVERPOOL STREET STATION????!! BLOODY HELL!!! NO WAY WOULD A COMPANY EVEN DREAM OF HAVING A 1 WAY TRIP BACK N FORTH LIKE THAT TODAY! TOO MUCH MONEY TO MAKE IN CHANGING LINES AND BUSES
Lovely video, thanks. My parents came from the East End and this is an evocative portrayal of a time and place. I was brought up in Portsmouth, which had a fabulous trolleybus system with many complicated junctions. Sadly, all swept away on the 27th July 1963.
Too right!. If I was Mayor of London I'd double the Congestion Charge. Bring back Trolleybuses and have a suspended (or hanging) railway running the entire length of Oxford Street.........from Marble Arch to Holborn. We need to think outside the box. Our transport policies aren't bold enough and the political will just doesn't seem to be there to make London greener, or the air, cleaner.
London had the world's largest trolleybus system and it was wiped away because diesel fuel was cheaper. These great, silent, pollution free vehicles were replaced by the inferior Routemaster bus. Now mayor Johnson wants to bring back the Routemaster. Perhaps someone should show him this film and then he might consider bringing back the superior trolleybus. I'm luck, I live near Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum where I can ride on a London trolleybus.
This what London should have now.....and hydrogen cell buses. It's crazy that we still have diesel buses in London in 2020......even hybrid ones are still not ideal. Still, given how dirty the air generally was in London during the 50's, 60's and 70's from coal - all those chimneys belching out thick smoke.
I remember all the piece's of music...Please can you tell me the name of the music that starts at 5:36 ? its so evocative of the time of my childhood in the 1940's and 50's...
Where do you get this stuff? its fascinating, not just the trollys but the old cars (not that they were old then) even the conductors changing the points, love it. I'd forgotten all about that stuff. More please :)
Great video...on one of the best types of bus...the Trolleybus...remember them well,fast comfortable...and a great turn of speed too? Sadly all gone but not forgotten,your video takes me back to when things seemed `normal` Like the music,goes well with this era...used to listen to this music while going off to work in the mornings...great days. Our country is sadly missing all the great innovations back then.Thanks again for posting,Im off to seek out the purchase of a Trolleybus model..youv`e started me off again ha ha?
2 electric car charging points just been installed at local supermarket . . . all very modern and eco friendly . . . but we already had excellent electric vehicles , not just the trolleys , but trucks , milk floats as well . . and what did they do , those highly educated leaders of the country ? . . they scrapped them , for diesel vehicles . !! . . . . . idiots .
The government didn't replace electric with diesel, businesses did. I don't remember electric trucks, although Harrods had some nice little electric vans (they still do), milk floats survived a long time, but trolley buses just couldn't compete. They couldn't go off route, couldn't overtake each other and of course required all the cables and their gantries.
I well remember Bournemouth doing away with their smart yellow trolleys and converting to diesel, apparently that was progress! I bet they wish they could go back in time. Same story on the rails, not just close them, obliterate them.
I was born in Queen Marys Hospital in West Ham Lane in 1952 and remember so much of this. I lived next to Leyton Station, in Calderon Rd. The film made me cry! Many of my novels are set in this period and place. Thank you so much for this film.
Do you know Mile end? had a great drinking session in the Bancroft arms back in 2009....one of the best times i'd ever had!...maybe 1/2mile down from the blind beggars going east
@taffy402 . Those types of switches changed the overhead junctions to allow a Trolley to take a different route, much like a signal box changes the points on a railroad. I remember seeing it done in North London back in the 1950's, and the conductor,when asked, told me he was 'changing the frogs' if I recall correctly, he clarified it by saying 'the points'. Hope this tit-bit pleases :-)
@chrisg1947 Agree entirely mate many say I look through "Rose coloured glasses" no way, we had very little but everyone respected everyone and we had "communities" then not "multi cultural hovels" like today I am so glad I was a youngster then, I too am aon old duffer ( well in my 60s ahyway) and remember when times were good, not everything granted but most things. I am from Leicester and the same happened here.
Yes, that is Leyton Tube station on Leyton High Road. Just before that at 7:32 is Walthamstow Garage which is now Omnibus Way. However, the "Tramway Office" is still there, converted to flats.
Wow this brings back memories seeing the old cars etc, i remember the songs from the radio, dessert island discs, family favorites etc. Thanks for posting this, do you have any from barking area?.
Had another look, what struck me this time was the nifty work for the conductors when it was necessary to change the overhead junctions. I wonder how the Health and Safety people would react to operating like that today?
Thank you so much for this, I saw local areas on film and especially delighted to see at 00:31 St James Street Walthamstow and the long demolished St James Church, wow! Somebody above asked if you still have the original film as he says the quality would be much better now with HD and he said something about the compression...smarter than me! But if you could do so please it would be wonderful, the film of St James St for me especially is very special and dear to me. Thank you
I remember these well though mine were down the Edgware Road, 666 and 645 and maybe 660 from memory. Loved riding the trolleys. Never should have been scrapped nor the trams. I remember stealing into Colindale when they were being scrapped and 'borrowing' some destination blinds. Wish I had kept them.
Hear hear..never had many South side..used to love upstairs onn a 654 as it bombed down Anerely Hill 🤣 also round Wimbledon and Mitcham but most s.london lacking.. bring em back om main roads st least on main roads at least
Fantastic little film, I would like to know what era it comes from ? Look's like the 1950s ? ? I recognize EVERY street, And a lot of the shops, Wonderful piece of social history,
is that leyton rd tube station at 7:51? i used to live near there- right up until the early 90s they had a disused cigarette machine on the platform advertising "cadets"!
I keep watching this, i cant get over theres hardly any cars on the road, i just remember the trolly buses being born 1955. once again thank you for posting this love the songs as well.
Thank you for posting this, i used to live in barking before emigrating to canada in 76 watching this and listening to the music brings back a lot of memories.
I have to say what an excellent piece of film, this was my stamping ground during my teen years (1960's) and to see it like that is like time travel, I drove buses out of West Ham garage during the early to mid seventies and to see so many familiar streets is nothing short of amazing, thanks for saving this iconic piece of film and thanks for posting, well done.
I do remember the 277 trolley bus in Well Street in Homerton/Hackney. In particular I remember the rather evocative 'whining' noise they made as they sped along.
