Some Bradford Trolleybuses

On Sunday 26 March 1972, the last operational trolleybus system in Britain, that of Bradford City Transport, came to an end after 60 years of public service. Here are some pictures (sadly not a comprehensive record) that I took on a visit in April 1970.

DKY 709, No. 709 Karrier W of 1945, originally fitted with Roe H30/26R body. Rebodied with East Lancs H37/29F in 1960, it was withdrawn in 1971.

DKY 719, No. 719, another Karrier W of 1945, but originally fitted with Park Royal H30/26R body. Rebodied with East Lancs H35/28RD in 1957, it, too, was withdrawn in 1971.

EKU 745, No. 745, BUT 9611 of 1949, with Roe H31/25R body, reseated to H33/25R in 1955. It was the last of this 1949 batch of twelve (Nos. 740 to 751) to remain in passenger service when it was withdrawn in 1971. It is seen here on driver training duties.

EKU 746, No. 746, BUT 9611 of 1949, with Roe H31/25R body, reseated to H33/25R in 1955. It was withdrawn from passenger service in 1964, but remained as No. 063 in the training fleet, as seen here, for many more years, possibly to the end of the system.

Two views of EKU 749, No. 749, BUT 9611 of 1949, with Roe H31/25R body, reseated to H33/25R in 1955. It was withdrawn in 1970, and was the penultimate survivor of this 1949 batch to remain in passenger service.

FWX 911, No. 841, Sunbeam F4 of 1948. The entire 1948 and 1950 Sunbeam F4 trolleybuses of Mexborough & Swinton, FWX 911-914 and JWW 375-7, originally equipped with Brush B32C bodywork, were acquired by Bradford as chassis only. They were given new East Lancs H37/29F bodies in 1961 and numbered 841 to 847. One of these splendid vehicles, No. 843, operated the last passenger journey on the system in 1972. No 841 was withdrawn in 1971, but the rest remained in service to the end.

A short video that shows some Bradford trolleybus scenes may be found here:- www.youtube.com/ It runs on into other videos about Bradford matters so be prepared to stop it when appropriate.

OBP regular, David Beilby, has a splendid page of pictures at this site:- http://davidbeilby.zenfolio.com/

Roger Cox
06/2017

08/06/17 - 08:02

Thank you, Roger, for sharing your Bradford trolleybus shots with us. You were lucky to capture some of the non-rebuild vehicles in service. Making special trips can be either rewarding or disappointing depending on weather and what's in service. You succeeded on both counts.

Paul Haywood

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