Trolleybuses in Glasgow

Glasgow trolleybus system

TB116 en route to Clarkston, near Victoria Bridge.
Operation
Locale Glasgow, Scotland
Open 1949
Close 1967
Status Closed
Operator(s) Glasgow Corporation

The Glasgow trolleybus system operated in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, between 1949 and 1967, with the network reaching its largest extent in 1959.[1] It was the only British system to open after World War II.

The trolleybuses were owned and operated by Glasgow Corporation's Transport Department (along with the city's buses, trams and the Subway).

Routes

All Glasgow's trolleybus routes were numbered from 101 onwards. Summary of services:[2]

Vehicles

TB110 at the route 105 terminus in Mearns Road, Clarkston.

The majority of Glasgow's trolleybuses were double-deck vehicles, painted in Glasgow Corporation's orange, green and cream livery (though in a different style from the buses and trams). The destination blinds on the trolleybuses used white letters on a green background (unlike the trams and buses, with more conventional white lettering on a black background).

Glasgow's first trolleybuses were a fleet of 34 three axle (six-wheeled), double-deck B.U.T. vehicles with bodywork by Metro-Cammell of Birmingham.[3] They were almost identical to those built for London Transport, even briefly including London's distinctive trolleybus symbol (a "T" over the London Transport roundel). In 1950 Glasgow bought 30 Daimler trolleybuses.[4]

Between 1957 and 1959, a fleet of 90 B.U.T. type 9613T trolleybuses with Crossley double-deck bodywork were built. Unlike the earlier vehicles, these trolleybuses had two axles.[5]

Closure

The trolleybuses (as well as the city's much larger tram fleet) used electricity generated at the Pinkston power station, later sold to the South of Scotland Electricity Board. Following the closure of the tram system in 1962, the maintenance of the electrical supply system solely for the trolleybuses became impractically expensive.

Construction of approach roads to the Clyde Tunnel led to the abandonment of trolleybus services to Linthouse and Shieldhall in 1964. In 1965 Glasgow Corporation agreed to purchase 150 new Leyland Atlantean diesel buses to replace the remaining trolleybuses.[6] Glasgow's last trolleybuses ran on 27 May 1967.

See also

References

Notes

  1. B. T. Deans, Glasgow's Trolleybuses, p 3
  2. B. T. Deans, p 16
  3. G. Lumb, British Trolleybuses 1911-1972, p 41
  4. G. Lumb, ibid, p 60
  5. G. Lumb, ibid, p 44
  6. B. T. Deans, p 30

Books

External links

Media related to Trolleybuses in Glasgow at Wikimedia Commons