Slim trolleybuses- 7 foot 6 wide- ours in Reading were 8 foot!One of my friends went to San Sebastian, Spain in'65 to see London trolleybuses in action- his dad must have beeen a fan. See the AEC WORKS sign on the Southall bridge? A lost world..
That scene at Southall is great- where the pannier tank reverses back over the bridge across the road. There's the big ad for AEC- and when I was a teenager, the man over the road got me to do DIY with him- taught me loads- he was a perfectionist. He had been an apprentice at AEC Southall and he had huge cans full of washers, split pins, nuts and bolts he had acquired there- thirty odd years before. I thought he was crazy with all that junk- now I wish I had all those treasures. I used to get to snog with one of his daughters on the sofa whenher parents were out and a couple of shillings for toiling away sanding the life out of anything and everything. I wish I could go back and start again!Happy days...AEC built trolleybuses chassis but later combined with Leyland and the new organisation was known as BUT- British United Traction- some were sold abroad.
great film, a little point, 1-48 to 2-02 is St Johns Hill Clapham Jct, and as I lived at the top of the hill, (Vardens Road) Bloody marvellous, great to see it how it was,
Great to see these shots, familiar territory for me. Slight errors in that Hanwell railway bridge is labelled Southall (which it nearly is) and the 607 did not run past Brentford Central (now Brentford) railway station, maybe confused with the 657. Good quality pictures too considering.
Trolleybuses are the best transport for towns and cities since they combine the best features of trams and buses. The last one in the UK ran in 1972 in Bradford. Why can't we have them now?
How about that for a wallow in Nostalgia? Brilliant!! I can still remember riding on the trolleybuses in Croydon over fifty years ago...so this lovely little film and the evocative music bring back so many memories. Thanks for posting this!
When I was a kid I lived in Norwood Green & had piano lessons in Hanwell so I got the 232 to Southall Town Hall then the 607 trolleybus to Hanwell, that was around 1958
i vaguely remember that planet I was young. I remember you could walk the streets in relative safety nobody had shooters unless you Reg and Ronnie Kray
@Quarkman0 Thanks. The routes (connecting old Middlesex towns and suburbs) were: 645 Barnet to Canons Park via North Finchley, Golders Green, Cricklewood, West Hendon, Colindale, Edgware. 662 Sudbury to Paddington via Wembley, Stonebridge Park, Harlesden, Harrow Road. 664 Edgware to Paddington via Harlesden, Harrow Road. 666 Edgware to Hammersmith via Colindale, Cricklewood, Willesden, Harlesden, Acton. The last of these routes were closed in early 1962. All the best.
wonderful, I grew up in ealing in the 50's&60's, nice to see shepherds bush and ealing common, we had a school visit to the AEC works, coal and timber barges still sailed the grand union canal well into the 60's, Lammertons still had a horse drawn furniture van with 4 horse team making deliveries, the milkman had a horse drawn milk float, replaced by three wheeler electric, gas lamps replaced with electric lights, rag&bone men bought the milk floats to go round shouting any old iron rags& bones
Really enjoyed the video. Pure nostalgia. As a former Eastender I rememberd trolleybus routes 557, 685, 687, 699 and 699 which went mostly between Chingford/Walthamstow and the Royal doack or Liverpool St. I wonder if anyone has any footage of these routes.
We should never have got rid of trolleybuses in London. They are arguably more practical than trams, as they don't require tracks to run on. The air quality in London would be better if trolleys were still running - no doubt about that. Even despite all the cars now.
Thanks for the memory,rode the 607 as a lad. Campaigned against 'Red Kens' Tram route, offered a Trolley system as an alternative, from manufacturer in Uruguay. Ken was against it, thankfully Ealing voted against it, so, no tram. Love to asee trolleys again so clean and quite
Yes, for once the residents voices were heard. The tram would have meant closing off parts of the Uxbridge Road and diverting all the other traffic down side roads. Great memories of the wonderful trolleys and the humming motors and Ealing as it used to be.
@Quarkman0 OOPS! not the Light Programme, it was Radio 2! The programme was called "Thanks For The Memory" and ran from 1972 until shortky before his death in 2004.
@20pipedreamer OK, cast your mind back to the fifties (oh to return!!), BBC Light Programme, Sunday afternoon (I think) - "Down Your Way" with Franklin Engleman> The piece of music is called "The Horseguards".
@MrLesbailey OK Les, I'll put you out of your misery! The piece of music is called "Time Was" and was the theme music for Hubert Gregg's show on the Light Programme.
Cont; Lammertons was a furniture store in ealing broadway by the way, when trolleys were tobe scrapped, the red rover was used to ride as many as possible at weekends, and when the saddle tanks were to be replaced by AEC engined DMU's I went to school and back on them for their last year, a longer walk than by bus. and at school a joke I didn't understand at the time about southall having its independance day! in ealing never saw any asians, a few african types, very few. but thanks 4 reminding.
I'm asian, born in Hillingdon, lived in Northolt since 1969, i do miss my earliest memories of Northolt/Southall/Greenford, i do agree it really is a third world mess now!
brilliant video is there anymore footage of this anywhere maybe dvd etc id love to see more of hayes and uxbridge its great to see i wasnt born in 1960 it looks alot better than it does know hate to say it but third world country is correct when you look back and see how it used to look nice and clean shame these trolley buses didnt survive but then they belong to a time thats been forgoten along with our heritage
@wordsmith52 I might be able to help there but can't promise anything! Do you remember any of the route numbers? That would help me to track footage down.
Not a speed camera in sight? 6,000 people died on the roads in the UK in 1960 compared with 2,000 in 2012. With far fewer cars around. Nail 'em up I say! Nail some sense into them! (speeding motorists that is).
Motorcyclists (see at 2:22 to 2:25) weren't required to wear helmets either - it was left up to the individual to decide to wear one - unbelievable! Most didn't........motorcycle accidents were unsurprisingly more frequent then (despite the smaller number of cars), and as now, fatal alot of the time.
That won't satisfy the car haters. They want zero road casualties. They think slapping down silly 20mph limits on most of the roads shown in this video will achieve that. It's leading to more tailgating and irresponsible overtaking, and making pedestrians (and cyclists even more) more careless than ever. Bring back the 30mph limits and enforce them properly, ditch the traffic lights and replace them by roundabouts.
Great memories preserved. I remmeebr these vehicles so well. Do you know if teher are any videos or stills of the Edgware / Willesden / Barnet routes? (As for BTF and their kind - they are totally selfish, ignorant and shortsighted idiots - like most copyright fanatics who think they own everyitng on earth outright!)
Wonderful footage of England, when people still had pride and decency, in the years before it started to collapse in to the Third World mess it has become. What a lovely time to be a Londoner this must have been ! Where did it all go wrong ?
