@grahamwebb2000 No, that description was put there by iTunes because "By a sleepy lagoon" is later in the clip (the theme tune to Desert Island Discs). If you're referring to the opening music, it's called "In Party Mood" and was the music to Housewives' Choice.
Thank you. I grew up in Hampton Hill and remember catching the 667 to Twickenham a few times as a small child. It was the quiet of the trolleybus that impressed me. I never thought to see footage of a 667, let alone in colour.
@webrarian My pleasure! I think there should be a YouTube for us of a certain age to invoke memories of our youth. Much of my youth I only remember in black & white - possibly due to the televisoin of the time! - this DVD, of which this clip is a snippet, is a revelation to me and brings back so many memories.
In short, I want a time machine and I want it now!!!
@Quarkman0 I totally agree i wish i could go back to those times and the music fits so well as i remember all those radio shows. I grew up in Twickenham not far from the dip and i used to get the 601 everyday from Twickenham Green to Teddington for School until they sadly changed it to the Route-master Bus that was the end of an Era for the trolley bus there are some great memories here for me thank you for posting
You couldn't have anything betweeen the top of the trolleypoles and the back, because they would prevent them contacting the pickup wires. Occasionally the trolleypoles would come off the pickup wires and you would see the driver get out of his cab, get a long pole out from under the bus and use it to hook on to the trolleypoles, swing them back to the centre and push them up on to the pickup cables again. One of the many ways we used to entertain ourselves in those days .....!
brings back loads of memories,i used to live by the white city stadium,the trolley buses ran along wood lane which was made of tarmac,when it rained it turned it into a skating rink,this was in the 1950s.browser560.
brings back loads of memories,i used to live by the white city stadium,the trolley buses ran along wood lane which was made of tarmac,when it rained it turned it into a skating rink,this was in the 1950s
Very nice film, who made it? I would have liked to have seen the crew connecting up the booms, they used to have long poles to do that, last time I watched that was in Bournemouth in the 60's. Also would have been nice to hear the sounds of the bus, fitting music though.
Wonderful video! Brings back LOTS of memories from my bus spotting days as a pimply youth. Trolleybuses were my favourites. And I hummed along to ALL the tunes in this piece of film! I would sell my soul to go back to those days and live a permanent time-loop 1950-1960. lol!
Excellent video.....and very evocative music.....Two Way Family Favourites and Billy Cotton which will forever be associated with Sunday lunchtime. And The Adams Singers, how I hated them as a teenager.........
Another brilliant piece of film, just to see the cars, bikes etc another trip back in time and as for the soundtrack, Billy Cotton Bandshow, Dick Barton, brilliant, thanks for posting.
I was born right next to the Hampton Court terminus in 1959. By the time I was allowed out on my own, the 267 bus route was operated by DMS Daimlers, but the route was almost exactly the same (unlike the trolleybuses, they came over the bridge to terminate on the forecourt of Hampton Court Station) and the locations pretty similar.
Hah! At 4.50, - Kings Street, Hammersmith, N. Berg - bought a very smart navy gabardine raincoat there - in 1961 !!!
As a boy, I used to take the trolley bus from Hammersmith to Hounslow Heath to fly my model aeroplanes. Sundays were like a miniature air show - up to a hundred or so modellers flying.....and crashing!
Thanks for this video, Quarkman - took me back to teenage years and early married life, shopping in Hammersmith Market on Saturday morning, Poorer, but a better life.
@Quarkman0 I'll have to do something about that chanel thingy - more like BORN 1930!!
Lived in Barnes, school in Addison Road, Kensington (72 bus via Shepherds Bush), first job at Palmers on Hammersmith Broadway, Sat. morning job in Hammersmith Market.
At 06:23 and 07:22 the old Isleworth depot is still in use as a storage building. Then the next scene 06:29 Hounslow High Street is now paved over. At 07.04 the turning circle existed for a good few years after the trolleybus disappeared right into the early 1980s. Now with road re-building there's no trace of it. At 08:42 Twickenham was the start of the first trolleybus service in London on 16-5-1931 and the last service on 8-5-1962.
Fantastic video! All that wonderful magic has disappeared and it saddens me to witness the decay our society has been and still is experiencing. Therefore it is with great fondness I am enjoying your videos.
I love the music on this as well as the full-color film. Color is so wonderful in vintage films as it brings back the past as how it actually looked in real life. Black and white photography seems to create an exaggerated sense of antiquity to me. I would never say such a thing in my '20s. But now, as I'm pushing 60, I can appreciate that the past wasn't all that long ago. It's all in the perspective. I remember trolleybuses in NYC back in the '50s. Beautiful film. Thank you for posting this.
It really make me laugh the uk is worried about climate change and pollution and noise in london city, when they had the correct answer 50 years ago!!! Iv had a ride on one of these at a museum and its way better than the rubbish we have no choice with today, you may think I sound an old grump but I'm only 27 and I have a mad passion for vitage vehicles and transport.
Anyway
What a wonderful video really enjoyed it thanks for putting this on here. :)
Iconic or what! and check out the period traffic,can recall the routes from Wimbledon to Kingston luved it when the conductor thing fell off the wires and the big bamboo pole was bought out from under the 'bus!
Thanks for th memories. I used to live on Staines Road Hounslow, the trolleybuses passed by our and about 100 yards or so, tuned around(Hounslow Heath on the film) and came back down Staines Road (High Street).
I can't remember the numbers but there were many cinemas too, we could see 3-5 new films a week, Saturday morning ABC minors.
We moved to near Gatwick airport, it was too quiet I couldn't sleep.A good bit different now.
yes but in power stations. rathern than having thousands of diesel buses burning OIL on the streets under our noses. Even then trolleybuses were greener than diesels.
Nowadays trolleybuses would use a maximumum amount of renewable electricity.
It's called "In party mood" and was the theme to a 1950's BBC radio programme called Housewives choice. Broadcast on the Light programme, as I recall.
A great video with perfect soundtrack. My granny used to take me to Beddington Park from Croydon on the 654. Happy days! You can ride on a London Transport trolleybus at the East Anglian Transport Museum near Lowestoft.
Wonderful material. My friend and I used to ride the Trolleybuses every weekend thanks to the Red Rover passes. We rode every route and visited every depot. These films must have been made in the last months of Trolleybus operation as I remember Isleworth and Fulwell depots being the home of the Q1's. Do you have any films of the Tower Wagons, Albion and Leyland tenders, Pole Carriers and the Wire Lubricator ?
What's that music starting at 6:55? - - it sounds familiar - - My God, it's the theme from CAPTAIN KANGAROO! Every American boy and girl in the 1950's and 60's watched that show! Thanks.
Hi Rob! Sorry for the delay in replying. At the same time as "Captain Kangaroo", here in England we had a children's record request programme every Saturday morning entitled "Children's Favourites" which used the same signature tune called "Puffing Billy". All the Trolleybus videos on my channel use radio theme tunes from the 50's & 60's which, to my mind, fit in perfectly.
Greetings from New York City - great old movies and excellent use of music! I've never seen an electrified bus in my country, but I can imagine that yours were pretty quiet. Just one question (please pardon my ignorance of trolley bus terminology) - did any of those busses ever run off course, disconnect from the overhead wires and lose all power?
I don't remember the trolleybuses running off course but do remember the boom coming off the overhead wires, especially at busy junctions, and the driver getting out of the cab with a very long pole to hoist it back on. Ah, happy days!
There are trolleybuses in San Francisco. Bodywork was a bit creaky, but they went well enough. Most UK trolleybuses could travel short distances on their batteries for manoeuvring at depots and when the poles came adrift from the wires.Although trams usually had a retrieving cord attached to their contact pole, trolleybuses rarely did and the conductor had to get a gigantic bamboo-type pole out from under the vehicle and lift it up to retrieve errant poles, needing strong muscles!
@robertwmartens There actually were trolleybuses in Brooklyn when I was a kid in the '50s. I recall being in my uncle's car and following one down Church Ave. watching the trolley contact the electric wires with the sparks flashing. I was about 9 or so (1959).
Cracking Video, the music in Partcular.. Billy Cotton Band show and the black & white minstrals brings back memories I can even smell the ironing with my mam watching TV with a mountain to iron..Thanks a great video
Great film, not just for the trolleys but the general road scene spotting period cars and so quiet! The use of contemporary music is inspired and the captions really useful. Ten minutes well spent. Brilliant. Mike
This is great! And so is 'More Trolleybuses'. I rode trolley buses aged 7/8 from (I think I remember right) my school near/at Raynes Park to near home Wimbledon W20 (19?). They were so modern! Electric! Someone tell Red Ken: green means Back To The Future (they were on the right track back then),
this brought back memories of when my parents used to take me to visit relatives from golders green to willesden on the 660 every sunday i would only have been about 10.loved the music as well
Certainly! Housewives Choice, Desert Island Discs, Two Way Family Favourites, The Navy Lark, Billy Cotton Band Show, The Archers, Sing Something Simple, Meet The Huggets, Children's Favourites, Music While You Work, Dick Barton, Sports Report and, finally, Down Your Way. OK?
Such lovely, nostalgic footage. I barely remember the last days of trolleybuses, but I can remember much of the excellent music - as played on the "Light Programme"(early Radio 2!). Magic, and much appreciated.
What incredible footage, and amazingly nostalgic for me! I was only about 4 when they took the trolleybuses off the road. I can't believe the shots in this - the parts titled "Hounslow Heath" are actually just before the Heath, at the Wellington, where there was a turnaround point (in the first shots titled "Hounslow Heath" you can see the buses turning in). I grew up just round the corner from the turnround point, they actually left the turning section in place until about 15 years ago.
Yes quite right, slapped wrists for me! The turnaround was at The Wellington. I grew up in Whitton and only really went to Hounslow on a Saturday morning for swimming lessons at Treaty Road baths!
I have lived in Hounslow nearly all my life and it now seems almost incredible that the trolleys turned round opposite the Wellington. Do any of you remember whether the 222 single deck bus used to turn round at the Bulstrode, Hounslow Central?
This is marvellous footage. I come to this as a classic car and tram enthusiast, but love to see the trollybusses. It's my considered opinion that the world's gone mad, and doesn't it make you think that these were such better days when the cars, busses, and lack of ludicrous road markings make for such elegant street scenes. Thanks for posting this.
Well done - nice compilation of trolleybuses. I lived in Cardiff and we kept ours until 1970, Bradford was last. Pity was the diesel bus builders persuaded London Transport that the Routemaster bus was 'better, more efficient, blah blah' but needed to build 500 to be economical and the London trolleys were axed - whatever London did the rest of Britain did. Leeds have secured funding for a new trolleybus network. Perhaps there's hope for London and Cardiff yet!
Thanks for posting this, I can only just remember the Trolley Buses in London. The music also brings back memories. How's this for sad I was the only boy at our school that could tell the differance between the RT,RM, and RF, without seeing them. Each one had a distintive engine note, hence not only could I tell which bus but also which route...very sad indeed.
To those of us of a certain age, that's not sad at all believe me! We just wish for a return to those gentler times, hence the resurgence of childhood sweets and all things fifties and early sixties. Oh for a time machine!
Just watched The elephant will never forget on Yahoo! saw with my Grandma at the age of 7,couldn't uderstand then why thet got rid. Still to this day why trams and trolleys were erased with such gusto, do you know why Londons trams kept their headlight blackout hoods right to the last? its a point that has bugged me for years. Thanks again for posting.
I too can just about remember trolley buses in london, was`nt the headlight covers some thing to do with the pea-soupers? or was it just a legacy from the war, when buses and cars had to have hoods on headlights to stop aircraft spotting them from above? or something like that?
Thanks for your comment, what bugs me if you look at all the other post war trams, the headlight covers were removed. So I'll keep the pea souper remark in mind.
Brilliant. Agree with twoslices entirely. The 50's in my childhood - shopping with Mum, waiting for a trolley (no more than 3 minutes), evocative soundtrack. All in all 5 star!
love the vido takes you back to grate days iwas eght when thay finished in 1964 in hull have put some photose of hull ones on you tube thanks for puting on
Dont want to make you feel older, they finished in London in May 1962.I can only just remember them, Bournemouth much easier 67 if my failing brain box is correct.
I see a stray Bristol Lodekka. In Reading the RTS would spin its fleet some Sundays so you could see a London trolleybus in action up to the mid 60s. Olde england-almost forgotten.
I've lived in NY for years and years but these scenes of my childhood in London really blew my mind. This is a terrific piece of film and the background music of radio themes from those days adds to the nostalgia. Thanks a million to the person who posted this. Great. Great. Great.
Oddly, yes! Used to be in the Royal Signals Band, then pro for a while but then went semi-pro for many years until arthritis hit! Still have a piano and full (electronic) organ which I play when somebody comes round and moves the rest of the furniture out of the way for me ! ! !
At 1min 20secs you can see the 657's at their Hounslow terminus doing a U-turn at Wellington Road,..across the road from the Wellington Pub.
Yes the old railway bridge at Brentford Town Station was a top nostalgic feature of the film...in addition to the 657 turning out of Goldhawk Road..into Chiswick High Road.
Friends have enjoyed seeing the 657 (again!) doing a rare U-turn outside The Raven Pub at Stamford brook Station>
The accompanying music is spot on. Pass the handkerchiefs Norman!!
Thank you so much for uploading this. I find this kind of thing fascinating being raised and currently living in Shepherds Bush. The South side of Bush Green is unrecognisable and I can't make out anything of the Hammersmith I know today in those clips. I know where it is likley to be but nothing looks the same.
The Green used to look nice and there wasn't a single disturbed shouting person or gang of drunks like there are today, making the Green itself practically a no go area. :(
Too young to remember this myself, but lovely to see those monsters roaming the old streets of where i live, free from congestion, bus lanes, traffic bumps and speed cameras! They must have been halcyon days indeed!
not to mention twickenham i was born there in 1950 and i remember the trolley buses getting stuck under the dip in twickenham coming off the overhead cables and the sight of a trolley bus going past the green brings back a lot of great memories for me and the music is well placed to thank you for posting a great video
Those of us who lived in this West London area in the 50's and 60's will be bowled over by this nostalgic film of our yesteryears in Brentfod and Chiswick!
Very many thanks for posting it...and for the music too!
great views of the best public transport .... smooth, silent trolleybuses - no fumes or noise .... quite wonderful. other countries have them and are expanding their use - but not us .. in transport terms we in UK are dinosaurs !!
Thanks for posting this!! It's splendid! The buses are gracefully silent, and I finally get to see them in action. Still don't quite understand why London did not keep them, they are fast & swift, zero-emission and, cost less as compared to trams.
From a distance the trolleybuses were exactly the same size and general shape as the RT buses in appearance...until they got close enough or clear of traffic enough to spot the radiator or the pantograph on the roof. I remember many times waiting for a number 25 bus when I was a young child and being disappointed to finally make out the flat front.
Certainly nostalgic, not just the trolleybuses but the ads on the sides and the cars in the road too. There are some proposals in London to bring them back, not sure if it will happen or even if it's desirable.
But weren't they NARROW?!! Modern buses are much wider.
In the early part, you see the post-war Q1s which were 8ft wide, just like the Routemaster.Unfortunately they were sold to Spain, and the pre-war trolleybuses, only 7ft 6in wide were used for the last few months. People were slimmer then, so no problem!
Went to school in 1950's on 657 trolleybus. the school was next to Isleworth Depot. Good to see them again.
Preflyovers 2 weeks ago
awesome music
iIamITheIMaster 5 months ago
What is the music to this? It isn't "By the sleepy lagoon" as described.
grahamwebb2000 6 months ago in playlist bus vids
@grahamwebb2000 No, that description was put there by iTunes because "By a sleepy lagoon" is later in the clip (the theme tune to Desert Island Discs). If you're referring to the opening music, it's called "In Party Mood" and was the music to Housewives' Choice.
Quarkman0 6 months ago
Thank you. I grew up in Hampton Hill and remember catching the 667 to Twickenham a few times as a small child. It was the quiet of the trolleybus that impressed me. I never thought to see footage of a 667, let alone in colour.
webrarian 9 months ago
@webrarian My pleasure! I think there should be a YouTube for us of a certain age to invoke memories of our youth. Much of my youth I only remember in black & white - possibly due to the televisoin of the time! - this DVD, of which this clip is a snippet, is a revelation to me and brings back so many memories.
In short, I want a time machine and I want it now!!!
Quarkman0 9 months ago
@Quarkman0 I totally agree i wish i could go back to those times and the music fits so well as i remember all those radio shows. I grew up in Twickenham not far from the dip and i used to get the 601 everyday from Twickenham Green to Teddington for School until they sadly changed it to the Route-master Bus that was the end of an Era for the trolley bus there are some great memories here for me thank you for posting
rocky5554 2 weeks ago
Cor! I remember when the roads were like that (give or take a few years) I'm getting old.
freethoughtmusic 11 months ago
Erm... Why doesn't it have that safety wire between the top of the trolleypoles and the back on it? And how did they then attach the trolleypoles?
X2an 1 year ago
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Mittelbaum 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@X2an -
You couldn't have anything betweeen the top of the trolleypoles and the back, because they would prevent them contacting the pickup wires. Occasionally the trolleypoles would come off the pickup wires and you would see the driver get out of his cab, get a long pole out from under the bus and use it to hook on to the trolleypoles, swing them back to the centre and push them up on to the pickup cables again. One of the many ways we used to entertain ourselves in those days .....!
!
Mittelbaum 6 months ago
Now I found out that these trolleybuses are very classic!
Negibus 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
brings back loads of memories,i used to live by the white city stadium,the trolley buses ran along wood lane which was made of tarmac,when it rained it turned it into a skating rink,this was in the 1950s.browser560.
browser560 1 year ago
brings back loads of memories,i used to live by the white city stadium,the trolley buses ran along wood lane which was made of tarmac,when it rained it turned it into a skating rink,this was in the 1950s
browser560 1 year ago
England was wonderful in those days.
amarone1956 1 year ago
Very nice film, who made it? I would have liked to have seen the crew connecting up the booms, they used to have long poles to do that, last time I watched that was in Bournemouth in the 60's. Also would have been nice to hear the sounds of the bus, fitting music though.
tvfilmglamdirector 1 year ago
Wonderful video! Brings back LOTS of memories from my bus spotting days as a pimply youth. Trolleybuses were my favourites. And I hummed along to ALL the tunes in this piece of film! I would sell my soul to go back to those days and live a permanent time-loop 1950-1960. lol!
rawdealray 1 year ago
Whenever i heard that music i knew i was late for school.
jrobertsoneff 1 year ago
notice how the road signs are still very much the same today as they were then in this clip. still white backgrounds. some things will never change
1982FMJ 1 year ago
Remarkable footage..
ta455driver 1 year ago
Excellent video.....and very evocative music.....Two Way Family Favourites and Billy Cotton which will forever be associated with Sunday lunchtime. And The Adams Singers, how I hated them as a teenager.........
jet936 1 year ago
I lived at The Farm Wellington Road North.
I remember the trolley stops outside The Grove Works with their big trees
and Soapers hardware opposite.
I expect all us locals went to the school in Martindale Road.
drahcirt1 1 year ago
Another brilliant piece of film, just to see the cars, bikes etc another trip back in time and as for the soundtrack, Billy Cotton Bandshow, Dick Barton, brilliant, thanks for posting.
tileajb1 1 year ago
Wonderful!!
bigboxbobby2 1 year ago
I was born right next to the Hampton Court terminus in 1959. By the time I was allowed out on my own, the 267 bus route was operated by DMS Daimlers, but the route was almost exactly the same (unlike the trolleybuses, they came over the bridge to terminate on the forecourt of Hampton Court Station) and the locations pretty similar.
MrOrganist 1 year ago
Не понимаю, зачем в Лондоне убрали троллейбус?
CrazyTramify 1 year ago
Hah! At 4.50, - Kings Street, Hammersmith, N. Berg - bought a very smart navy gabardine raincoat there - in 1961 !!!
As a boy, I used to take the trolley bus from Hammersmith to Hounslow Heath to fly my model aeroplanes. Sundays were like a miniature air show - up to a hundred or so modellers flying.....and crashing!
Thanks for this video, Quarkman - took me back to teenage years and early married life, shopping in Hammersmith Market on Saturday morning, Poorer, but a better life.
Mittelbaum 1 year ago
@Mittelbaum My pleasure Mittelbaum, that's what these videos are all about!
I am a little confused though - you bought a gabardine raincoat in 1961? You must loan me your time machine, your channel states that you're 30!! : )
Quarkman0 1 year ago
@Quarkman0 I'll have to do something about that chanel thingy - more like BORN 1930!!
Lived in Barnes, school in Addison Road, Kensington (72 bus via Shepherds Bush), first job at Palmers on Hammersmith Broadway, Sat. morning job in Hammersmith Market.
That raincoat took 3 weeks wages!
Mittelbaum 1 year ago
I do agree with you about Poorer, but a better life.
nalibos 6 months ago
Comment removed
Mittelbaum 1 year ago
At 06:23 and 07:22 the old Isleworth depot is still in use as a storage building. Then the next scene 06:29 Hounslow High Street is now paved over. At 07.04 the turning circle existed for a good few years after the trolleybus disappeared right into the early 1980s. Now with road re-building there's no trace of it. At 08:42 Twickenham was the start of the first trolleybus service in London on 16-5-1931 and the last service on 8-5-1962.
Butchuk2007 1 year ago
Fantastic video! All that wonderful magic has disappeared and it saddens me to witness the decay our society has been and still is experiencing. Therefore it is with great fondness I am enjoying your videos.
FalconSupreme 1 year ago
I love the music on this as well as the full-color film. Color is so wonderful in vintage films as it brings back the past as how it actually looked in real life. Black and white photography seems to create an exaggerated sense of antiquity to me. I would never say such a thing in my '20s. But now, as I'm pushing 60, I can appreciate that the past wasn't all that long ago. It's all in the perspective. I remember trolleybuses in NYC back in the '50s. Beautiful film. Thank you for posting this.
singinjohnny 1 year ago
Lovely !
yasminyanescu 1 year ago
what fun !! now I can see my local area as my parents knew it.
thank you !!
joanofarcwasatart 1 year ago
It really make me laugh the uk is worried about climate change and pollution and noise in london city, when they had the correct answer 50 years ago!!! Iv had a ride on one of these at a museum and its way better than the rubbish we have no choice with today, you may think I sound an old grump but I'm only 27 and I have a mad passion for vitage vehicles and transport.
Anyway
What a wonderful video really enjoyed it thanks for putting this on here. :)
Blaken81 1 year ago
Thanks,Quarkman.Though we moved out of London to Orpington in 1952 I still remember trolleybuses in the Leyton area when I was very young.
Great music with the video brings back many memories.
bulgebaby 1 year ago
If you lived in the Leyton area, you might recognise some of the places in the "East End Trolleys" video!
Quarkman0 1 year ago
Amazing! Thank you so much for this wonderful video. Daniel exW4
spacewarp2008 2 years ago
Great music takes me back as well.
20pipedreamer 2 years ago
Awesome! =D
TrainzDr3ver 2 years ago
Has anybody noticed?.........no litter/rubbish anywhere in these shots....Oh dear,what has happened to our once lovely country !!!
soundnicetome 2 years ago 7
@soundnicetome immigration and extreme socialism, thats what happened.
ukdotcom 1 year ago
@soundnicetome immigration and extreme socialism, thats what happened.
ukdotcom 1 year ago
wow shepherds bush actually looks nice
wendalboy 2 years ago
Yeah you will find all of London looked noce pre 1963 before it became full of dirt
staypress 2 years ago
Iconic or what! and check out the period traffic,can recall the routes from Wimbledon to Kingston luved it when the conductor thing fell off the wires and the big bamboo pole was bought out from under the 'bus!
jamestheengine 2 years ago 2
Bring back the Trolley buses.Far superior than the buses of today.Brings back fond memories of the past.Thanks for posting!!
soundnicetome 2 years ago
Thanks for th memories. I used to live on Staines Road Hounslow, the trolleybuses passed by our and about 100 yards or so, tuned around(Hounslow Heath on the film) and came back down Staines Road (High Street).
I can't remember the numbers but there were many cinemas too, we could see 3-5 new films a week, Saturday morning ABC minors.
We moved to near Gatwick airport, it was too quiet I couldn't sleep.A good bit different now.
bigh3847 2 years ago
Did you know Carpenter's grocery store near the Bell? I went to college with his grandson. Don't know where they are now.
malo66 2 years ago
So enjoyable and the music couldn't have been better
Rubbermaskman 2 years ago
I remember when Hounslow had a High Street...Now paved over.
I used to drink in Hounslow. Most of the pubs have gone now...One has been turned into a Lebanese restaurant. Yep - Hounslow has seen better days.
JollyRodders 2 years ago
Lebanese food is good ?(!?)
soniccage 2 years ago
Lebanese food is brilliant, but I think the point was all the pubs have changed or are gone now...times change!
malo66 2 years ago
@malo66 I think my tummy was talking !
soniccage 2 years ago
awesome!
benowahoo 2 years ago
Trolley bus with "People Love Players" following a Standard Vanguard ! Priceless !
knausspiano 2 years ago
How Green.And this is 70 years ago.What happened?
rutlandplace 2 years ago
more like 45 to 50 years ago. the pictures were taken up to 1962.
Idiot politicians, big oil companies etc meant the end of green transport.
middxguy58 2 years ago
Let's not forget that the "green" energy used to power these vehicles was produced by burning thousands of tons of COAL!!!!
186mpv 2 years ago
yes but in power stations. rathern than having thousands of diesel buses burning OIL on the streets under our noses. Even then trolleybuses were greener than diesels.
Nowadays trolleybuses would use a maximumum amount of renewable electricity.
aufstand1848 2 years ago 7
I hope it wasn't 70 years ago. I used to go to school on the 667 and I'm not 69 yet.
186mpv 2 years ago
Today it's the habitants of the cities who complain about the contact wires who "destroy" the authentic image of a city.
ypluess 2 years ago
can anyone remember the name of the tune at the beginning of the video?
hunfitz 3 years ago
Housewife's Choice.
HTH
Thanks for some lovely footage, Quarkman0 !
greatwesternsaabs 3 years ago
It was used as the theme to Housewives choice, and I think that's what it's called. But I could be wrong.
johnniescarlett 2 years ago
It's called "In party mood" and was the theme to a 1950's BBC radio programme called Housewives choice. Broadcast on the Light programme, as I recall.
johnniescarlett 2 years ago
Thanks for posting...very enjoyable!
frglee 3 years ago
the video is great AND THE MUSIC IS ALSO GREAT IT BRINGS BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES !
XTREMEGEEZER 3 years ago
Give it a few more years nostalgia fans, and these will be back on the streets where they should have stayed!!!!
baconsandwich2007 3 years ago
A great video with perfect soundtrack. My granny used to take me to Beddington Park from Croydon on the 654. Happy days! You can ride on a London Transport trolleybus at the East Anglian Transport Museum near Lowestoft.
geordy58 3 years ago
Wonderful material. My friend and I used to ride the Trolleybuses every weekend thanks to the Red Rover passes. We rode every route and visited every depot. These films must have been made in the last months of Trolleybus operation as I remember Isleworth and Fulwell depots being the home of the Q1's. Do you have any films of the Tower Wagons, Albion and Leyland tenders, Pole Carriers and the Wire Lubricator ?
Thanks for reliving great memories.
denisxx61 3 years ago
What's that music starting at 6:55? - - it sounds familiar - - My God, it's the theme from CAPTAIN KANGAROO! Every American boy and girl in the 1950's and 60's watched that show! Thanks.
robertwmartens 3 years ago
Hi Rob! Sorry for the delay in replying. At the same time as "Captain Kangaroo", here in England we had a children's record request programme every Saturday morning entitled "Children's Favourites" which used the same signature tune called "Puffing Billy". All the Trolleybus videos on my channel use radio theme tunes from the 50's & 60's which, to my mind, fit in perfectly.
Quarkman0 3 years ago
Greetings from New York City - great old movies and excellent use of music! I've never seen an electrified bus in my country, but I can imagine that yours were pretty quiet. Just one question (please pardon my ignorance of trolley bus terminology) - did any of those busses ever run off course, disconnect from the overhead wires and lose all power?
robertwmartens 3 years ago
I don't remember the trolleybuses running off course but do remember the boom coming off the overhead wires, especially at busy junctions, and the driver getting out of the cab with a very long pole to hoist it back on. Ah, happy days!
Quarkman0 3 years ago
There are trolleybuses in San Francisco. Bodywork was a bit creaky, but they went well enough. Most UK trolleybuses could travel short distances on their batteries for manoeuvring at depots and when the poles came adrift from the wires.Although trams usually had a retrieving cord attached to their contact pole, trolleybuses rarely did and the conductor had to get a gigantic bamboo-type pole out from under the vehicle and lift it up to retrieve errant poles, needing strong muscles!
crossleydd42 3 years ago
@robertwmartens There actually were trolleybuses in Brooklyn when I was a kid in the '50s. I recall being in my uncle's car and following one down Church Ave. watching the trolley contact the electric wires with the sparks flashing. I was about 9 or so (1959).
singinjohnny 1 year ago
Cracking Video, the music in Partcular.. Billy Cotton Band show and the black & white minstrals brings back memories I can even smell the ironing with my mam watching TV with a mountain to iron..Thanks a great video
swiftshaw 3 years ago
A beautiful video. I remember those times. Thanks.
adebarde 3 years ago
Great film, not just for the trolleys but the general road scene spotting period cars and so quiet! The use of contemporary music is inspired and the captions really useful. Ten minutes well spent. Brilliant. Mike
MikeDragon87 3 years ago 2
This is great! And so is 'More Trolleybuses'. I rode trolley buses aged 7/8 from (I think I remember right) my school near/at Raynes Park to near home Wimbledon W20 (19?). They were so modern! Electric! Someone tell Red Ken: green means Back To The Future (they were on the right track back then),
speedyRJW 3 years ago 2
this brought back memories of when my parents used to take me to visit relatives from golders green to willesden on the 660 every sunday i would only have been about 10.loved the music as well
nicsstrachan 3 years ago
loved it, can anyone tell me all the radio progs. that the music was from
nicsstrachan 3 years ago
Certainly! Housewives Choice, Desert Island Discs, Two Way Family Favourites, The Navy Lark, Billy Cotton Band Show, The Archers, Sing Something Simple, Meet The Huggets, Children's Favourites, Music While You Work, Dick Barton, Sports Report and, finally, Down Your Way. OK?
Quarkman0 3 years ago
Such lovely, nostalgic footage. I barely remember the last days of trolleybuses, but I can remember much of the excellent music - as played on the "Light Programme"(early Radio 2!). Magic, and much appreciated.
lelboy 3 years ago
What incredible footage, and amazingly nostalgic for me! I was only about 4 when they took the trolleybuses off the road. I can't believe the shots in this - the parts titled "Hounslow Heath" are actually just before the Heath, at the Wellington, where there was a turnaround point (in the first shots titled "Hounslow Heath" you can see the buses turning in). I grew up just round the corner from the turnround point, they actually left the turning section in place until about 15 years ago.
bagendbabe 4 years ago
Yes quite right, slapped wrists for me! The turnaround was at The Wellington. I grew up in Whitton and only really went to Hounslow on a Saturday morning for swimming lessons at Treaty Road baths!
Quarkman0 3 years ago
I have lived in Hounslow nearly all my life and it now seems almost incredible that the trolleys turned round opposite the Wellington. Do any of you remember whether the 222 single deck bus used to turn round at the Bulstrode, Hounslow Central?
malo66 3 years ago
This is marvellous footage. I come to this as a classic car and tram enthusiast, but love to see the trollybusses. It's my considered opinion that the world's gone mad, and doesn't it make you think that these were such better days when the cars, busses, and lack of ludicrous road markings make for such elegant street scenes. Thanks for posting this.
Ronniethefish 4 years ago
I remember living in London in 1982, and saw the remaining trolley poles in Shepherds Bush and the other areas (I lived in Acton).
I loved this video! By the way, watch for a 1960 Buick convertible at 9:47!!!
catfan 4 years ago
An excellent reminder of the trolleys (wish these polution free buses would return).
We had an excellent service in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, was sad to see them go. The music clips are excellent....I remember them all.
rayemsgy 4 years ago
Magnificent!
albyfoxx 4 years ago
Well done - nice compilation of trolleybuses. I lived in Cardiff and we kept ours until 1970, Bradford was last. Pity was the diesel bus builders persuaded London Transport that the Routemaster bus was 'better, more efficient, blah blah' but needed to build 500 to be economical and the London trolleys were axed - whatever London did the rest of Britain did. Leeds have secured funding for a new trolleybus network. Perhaps there's hope for London and Cardiff yet!
Lordphilip
magretdecanard 4 years ago
Fortunatlely I had to travel on Trolleybuses for times a day , and always used the top deck
amberley41 4 years ago
Thanks for posting this, I can only just remember the Trolley Buses in London. The music also brings back memories. How's this for sad I was the only boy at our school that could tell the differance between the RT,RM, and RF, without seeing them. Each one had a distintive engine note, hence not only could I tell which bus but also which route...very sad indeed.
baldgit646 4 years ago
To those of us of a certain age, that's not sad at all believe me! We just wish for a return to those gentler times, hence the resurgence of childhood sweets and all things fifties and early sixties. Oh for a time machine!
Quarkman0 4 years ago
Just watched The elephant will never forget on Yahoo! saw with my Grandma at the age of 7,couldn't uderstand then why thet got rid. Still to this day why trams and trolleys were erased with such gusto, do you know why Londons trams kept their headlight blackout hoods right to the last? its a point that has bugged me for years. Thanks again for posting.
baldgit646 4 years ago
I too can just about remember trolley buses in london, was`nt the headlight covers some thing to do with the pea-soupers? or was it just a legacy from the war, when buses and cars had to have hoods on headlights to stop aircraft spotting them from above? or something like that?
whu58 4 years ago
Thanks for your comment, what bugs me if you look at all the other post war trams, the headlight covers were removed. So I'll keep the pea souper remark in mind.
skeleion 4 years ago
Brilliant. Agree with twoslices entirely. The 50's in my childhood - shopping with Mum, waiting for a trolley (no more than 3 minutes), evocative soundtrack. All in all 5 star!
smelgy 4 years ago
FANTASTIC I grew up in this area and remember these buses very well. Great video and music, capture's the past very well.
TonyTeesside 4 years ago
thanks for posting this makes you wonder how such an environmentally friendly form of transport could be scrapped and not improved on instead
billyrootes 4 years ago
Great street scenes with excellent trolley shots. Like the location captions too. Surely not filmed on 8mm?
MikeDragon87 4 years ago
I was born in Chiswick in 1960.. sadly by the time i knew what a bus was the 667 had become the 267 routemaster bus! Itself now a lost icon of London
metadyneman 4 years ago
amazing stuff nice one
Owentheguitarist666 4 years ago
wow gr8 vid thanks for putting it on youtube
Ablackmanxz 4 years ago
love the vido takes you back to grate days iwas eght when thay finished in 1964 in hull have put some photose of hull ones on you tube thanks for puting on
yours nick cox hull
nickladey 4 years ago
Dont want to make you feel older, they finished in London in May 1962.I can only just remember them, Bournemouth much easier 67 if my failing brain box is correct.
baldgit646 4 years ago
Loved this.Memories of childhood in England and the music took me back.England in the 50s . Never be the same again.
twoslices 4 years ago
I see a stray Bristol Lodekka. In Reading the RTS would spin its fleet some Sundays so you could see a London trolleybus in action up to the mid 60s. Olde england-almost forgotten.
NickRatnieks 4 years ago
I've lived in NY for years and years but these scenes of my childhood in London really blew my mind. This is a terrific piece of film and the background music of radio themes from those days adds to the nostalgia. Thanks a million to the person who posted this. Great. Great. Great.
joshea98 4 years ago
I had no idea such good quality stuff was still in existence! Excellent work! Thoroughly enjoyed it and the music was most fitting too!
eflatsharpness 4 years ago
Eflatsharpness? Not a jazz musician by any chance?!
Quarkman0 4 years ago
Oddly, yes! Used to be in the Royal Signals Band, then pro for a while but then went semi-pro for many years until arthritis hit! Still have a piano and full (electronic) organ which I play when somebody comes round and moves the rest of the furniture out of the way for me ! ! !
eflatsharpness 4 years ago
Begone dull care!!
DADRENO 4 years ago
Only if you were in the band - in which case, WHO!
eflatsharpness 4 years ago
Lovely Stuff, Wow, plus Billy Cotton, & Sunday Lunchtime
Nostalgia par excallance
arvee88 4 years ago
At 1min 20secs you can see the 657's at their Hounslow terminus doing a U-turn at Wellington Road,..across the road from the Wellington Pub.
Yes the old railway bridge at Brentford Town Station was a top nostalgic feature of the film...in addition to the 657 turning out of Goldhawk Road..into Chiswick High Road.
Friends have enjoyed seeing the 657 (again!) doing a rare U-turn outside The Raven Pub at Stamford brook Station>
The accompanying music is spot on. Pass the handkerchiefs Norman!!
helsinki275 4 years ago
Ah, but did anyone spot the biggest missing feature, the shot of a trolleybus going under the railway bridge at Brentford. Truly great vid!
abelseeman 5 years ago
Thank you so much for uploading this. I find this kind of thing fascinating being raised and currently living in Shepherds Bush. The South side of Bush Green is unrecognisable and I can't make out anything of the Hammersmith I know today in those clips. I know where it is likley to be but nothing looks the same.
The Green used to look nice and there wasn't a single disturbed shouting person or gang of drunks like there are today, making the Green itself practically a no go area. :(
retread01 5 years ago
Too young to remember this myself, but lovely to see those monsters roaming the old streets of where i live, free from congestion, bus lanes, traffic bumps and speed cameras! They must have been halcyon days indeed!
raouldukesfirebird 5 years ago
not to mention twickenham i was born there in 1950 and i remember the trolley buses getting stuck under the dip in twickenham coming off the overhead cables and the sight of a trolley bus going past the green brings back a lot of great memories for me and the music is well placed to thank you for posting a great video
rocky5554 5 years ago
I was born in Whitton in 1948 coincidentally. I remember the booms regularly coming off the cable outside Fulwell depot.
Quarkman0 5 years ago
This is a knock-out!
Those of us who lived in this West London area in the 50's and 60's will be bowled over by this nostalgic film of our yesteryears in Brentfod and Chiswick!
Very many thanks for posting it...and for the music too!
helsinki275 5 years ago
absolutely amazing video! The sig tunes brought it all back as well - thanks!
colinsymes 5 years ago
great views of the best public transport .... smooth, silent trolleybuses - no fumes or noise .... quite wonderful. other countries have them and are expanding their use - but not us .. in transport terms we in UK are dinosaurs !!
trolleyboy278 5 years ago
Thanks for posting this!! It's splendid! The buses are gracefully silent, and I finally get to see them in action. Still don't quite understand why London did not keep them, they are fast & swift, zero-emission and, cost less as compared to trams.
jemdude22 5 years ago
I meant to say...spot the LACK of a radiator...of course
nostromoau 5 years ago
From a distance the trolleybuses were exactly the same size and general shape as the RT buses in appearance...until they got close enough or clear of traffic enough to spot the radiator or the pantograph on the roof. I remember many times waiting for a number 25 bus when I was a young child and being disappointed to finally make out the flat front.
nostromoau 5 years ago
Certainly nostalgic, not just the trolleybuses but the ads on the sides and the cars in the road too. There are some proposals in London to bring them back, not sure if it will happen or even if it's desirable.
But weren't they NARROW?!! Modern buses are much wider.
JimTLonW6 5 years ago
In the early part, you see the post-war Q1s which were 8ft wide, just like the Routemaster.Unfortunately they were sold to Spain, and the pre-war trolleybuses, only 7ft 6in wide were used for the last few months. People were slimmer then, so no problem!
middxguy58 5 years ago
Highly nostalgic! some great things seen in passing too.
nostromoau 5 years ago