MICHAEL DRYHURST reminds us of significant developments that occurred at 10-year intervals between 1961 and 2001 involving trolleybuses, Routemasters, Regents, Leopards and bespoke vehicles built in a factory in the west of Ireland
In earlier 2021 editions of Buses, several London anniversaries have been marked, particularly the emergence of the DMS-class Daimler Fleetline into one-person-operated service, the demise of the roof number-box and the last of the lowbridge RLH-class of AEC Regent III.
Although three routes penetrated north of the Thames deep into trolleybus territory, in 1946 the London Passenger Transport Board announced that the remaining tram routes, which were located mainly in south London, would not be replaced by trolleybuses as intended originally but by motorbuses.
As a result of this change of plan, only 127 trolleybuses were purchased in the postwar period. These were all three-axle BUT 9641T with 70-seat Metro-Cammell bodywork, 77 arriving in 1948, the rest in 1952.
All were classified as Q1, numbered 1765-891 and the first 77 were purchased primarily to replace the elderly A1/A2 classes, the 60 AEC 663T trolleybuses dating from 1931 plus trolleybuses lost in World War Two thro…
