Another ride through the capital’s trolley years

They may have last operated 60 years ago next May, and their wholesale withdrawal began three years earlier, but London’s trolleybuses continue to generate some substantial books of which this hefty, illustrated tome is one of the latest.

Mick Webber describes it as an indulgence, an opportunity to publish material — photographs mainly, but also some publicity, newspaper clippings, internal documents and correspondence — that have lain for years in cupboards and drawers in his home, left over from earlier books on the story of what in its day was the world’s largest trolleybus system.

Some of these, he explains, possess more interest than quality but are included to satisfy past readers’ belief that if the only picture of something long gone is a poor one, they would far rather see that than nothing at all.

The pictures cover all 31 years of London’s trolleybuses, from introduction 90 years ago in 1931 to closure in 1962, and the subsequent careers of those sold for further service in Penang and Spain. Most of the pictures are black and white (from archives, enthusiasts and picture postcards), supplemented by a colour selection towards the end of the book.