Trolleybuses in Bradford

Bradford trolleybus system
A trolleybus in Bradford's city centre
Operation
LocaleBradford, Yorkshire, England
Open1911 (1911)
Close1972 (1972)
StatusClosed
Routes17
Infrastructure
Electrification(?) V DC parallel overhead lines
Stock187 (maximum)

The Bradford trolleybus system served the city of Bradford, Yorkshire, England for much of the 20th century. It was one of the first two trolleybus systems to be opened in the United Kingdom, along with the Leeds system.[1][2]

Both systems commenced operations on 20 June 1911.[1][2] However, the public service on the Bradford system did not start until four days later.[1][2] The Bradford system lasted the longest of all the UK's urban trolleybus systems.[2] Having been one of the first two such systems to open, it was also the last one to close, on 26 March 1972.[1] Just before its closure, it was also the longest-lived surviving trolleybus system in the world, but with the Bradford closure that distinction passed to the Shanghai, China, trolleybus system, opened in 1914.[3]

Many of the former Bradford trolleybuses are now preserved at various locations around the UK, including eleven of them at the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, Lincolnshire.[4]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Joyce, James; King, John Stanley; Newman, A. G. (October 1986). British trolleybus systems. ISBN 978-0-7110-1647-7.
  2. ^ a b c d Bruce, Ashley. "British Trolleybus Systems". British Trolleybuses website. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  3. ^ "Shanghai Anniversary" (November–December 2004). Trolleybus Magazine No. 258, pp. 134–135. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.
  4. ^ Zebedee, John (30 November 2010). "A List of Preserved Trolleybuses in the UK". British Trolleybus Society. Retrieved 14 July 2011.

Further reading

  • Brearley, Harold (1960). A History of Bradford Trolleybuses. Lingfield, Surrey, UK: Oakwood Press.
  • Brearley, Harold (1961). History of Bradford Trolley Buses, 1911-1960. Lingfield, Surrey, UK: Oakwood Press.
  • King, John Stanley (1972). Transport of delight: the Bradford trolleybus, 1911-1972. Guildford, Middlesex, UK: National Trolleybus Association. ISBN 978-0-85024-005-4.
  • King, J.S. (1994). Bradford Trolleybuses. Glossop, Derbyshire, UK: Venture Publications. ISBN 978-1-898432-03-6.
  • Lockwood, Stephen (2003). Bradford Trolleybuses. Midhurst, West Sussex, UK: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-904474-19-7.
  • Lumb, Geoff (2003). Bradford and its Trolleybuses. Colour Prestige series, no. 2. Glossop, Derbyshire, UK: Venture Publications. ISBN 978-1-898432-94-4.
  • Stainforth, J. A. L. (1974). The Bradford trolleybus system: being the history of Britain's first and last trolleybuses. Huddersfield, Yorkshire, UK: West Riding Transport Society. ISBN 978-0-905043-00-5.
  • Uden, M J (1971). Sixty years of Bradford Trolleybuses. Surrey, UK: National Trolleybus Association. ISBN 9781904474197. OCLC 219881275.
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