Manchester’s trolleybuses began running in 1938. Lancashire had nine trolleybus operators in total. Consequently, Although late to the party, Manchester developed one of the largest fleets. Moreover they continued to operate until 1966.
Manchester had a large fleet of trolleybuses. They were also known as trackless vehicles or trackless trams. Notably, Manchester’s trolleybuses ran for nearly thirty years, from 1938 until 1966. Moreover, by 1949 they had supplanted all the tram routes in the City. Trolleybuses were thought of as more flexible and cheaper to maintain than trams.
Trolleybus history
The first trolleybus came to Britain in 1911. At its peak there were 50 trolleybus operators in the country. Leeds was the first, with Bradford following shortly thereafter. Additionally, Bradford was the last to stop using trolleybuses in 1972. However Leeds only used them until 1928. Lastly, there were nine operators in Lancashire, these included St Helens and Wigan.
The main reason that Leeds tried trolleybuses was that it was cheaper than extending the tram network to outlying areas of the city. The vehicles were built by the Raillless Electric Traction Company (London) and used Siemens motors. Notably, Trolleybuses ran on 600 Volts DC.
Manchester trolleybuses
By 1938 Manchester had an extensive tram network. However by the mid 1930s the network was beginning to be phased out in favour of Diesel buses. Moreover, trolleybuses were used from 1938 to 1966 on previous tram routes. There was a large fleet of 189 trolleybuses and nine routes. Bob Rowe States:
“The tram services affected,
which had received an extended life, but which were
now to be converted, were 28 (Ashton & Piccadilly);
29 (Guide Bridge & Trafford Park) and 31 (Fairfield
& Chorlton), all of which operated along Ashton
Old Road.” ( Ashton and Manchester trolleybuses, 2006)
Many of the routes started at Piccadilly and some of the routes were shared with Ashton.
Trolleybus books
https://www.mdsbooks.co.uk/pub/media/wysiwyg/Ashton_Manchester_TB.pdf
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