Published: Thursday, 20th March, 2008 11:00
Trolley good show!
By David Cliffe
Comments (0)
Print Article
THIS week, we salute the trolley buses, which served Reading for some 32 years , from 1936 to 1968.
The rather fine picture comes from a colour slide, one of a set recently given to the library.
We already had a number of pictures of Reading trolley buses, but almost all of them were in black-and-white, so these colour slides were particularly welcome.
They were taken in 1968, the last year of operation, and must have been stored suitably, away from light, because the colours have remained true, despite the intervening 40 years or so.
The name of the trolley bus is intriguing, because there doesn’t seem to be a trolley anywhere in sight.
But on the original invention, there was indeed a trolley which ran on top of the two overhead wires – the website www.trolleybus.co.uk has a good historical section, with a picture of the 1882 invention of Werner von Siemens, complete with a trolley riding on top of the wires, picking up the current. This was along a road in the suburbs of Berlin.
The trolley-wheel on the end of a pole which made contact with the wire from below was an American invention, and the website illustrates the many different ways that were tried of picking up the electric current.
Reading’s Tramways Committee was investigating these “railless cars” as early as 1912. One of the routes planned went over Caversham Bridge, along Church Street, up Prospect Street and Peppard Road, then along Kidmore End Road past the Emmer Green Golf Club to Brooklyn Drive.
It was never built: the First World War put the proverbial tin lid on many such schemes.
Reading has, of course, a very enthusiastic branch of the British Trolley bus Society, who donate copies of their magazine, “Trolley bus,” to the local studies collection in the Central Library.
It’s interesting to see that trolley buses aren’t obsolete, but have been brought up-to-date in other countries, while at the same time, there are articles about the old Reading system, and the Reading vehicles which have been preserved.
Further Details
