Rise and fall of Doncaster’s trolleybuses
DURING THE 20th century, a number of Yorkshire councils switched from trams to trolleybuses for local transport – they included Hull, Huddersfield, Mexborough/Swinton, Rotherham and Doncaster.
Railless electric traction was first adopted in Westphalia, Germany in 1903; its first practical application in Britain was made by the municipalities of Bradford and Leeds during 1911. In their early days the vehicles were styled ‘trackless trolleybuses’ and generally had two motors operated and controlled on a parallel system in the same way as on a tramcar.
Doncaster man Geoff Warnes, who died in 2015 aged 79, photographed trolleybuses in the post-war years. He took a large number of pictures in his home town as well as amassing a collection images from the late 1920s and 1930s. Geoff ’s pictures and those from his collection are featured here.
Doncaster introduced trams in 1902 and the routes radiated to outlying parts of the town mainly, at that time, occupied by railway workers. Gradually, the trams suffered increasing competition from motorbuses, vans and lorries operating unscheduled services along the tram routes.
A serious fall in receipts and an increasing problem of track deterioration led Doncaster Corporation to make several far-reaching decisions. They abolished plans to extend the tramway network into new mining villages at Hatfield, Rossington and Armthorpe and gradually eliminated all tram services. Instead, they intended to operate motorbuses and trolleybuses.
The Avenue Road tram route was the first to close in 1925. The last tram to run in Doncaster was on the Brodsworth route on June 8, 1935.
Eventually all routes, with the exception of Brodsworth, were replaced by trolleybus services, whilst the Brodsworth and all new routes were served by trolleybuses and motorbuses.
These different forms of transport, operating in Doncaster’s narrow town centre streets, became a hindrance to each other from the outset. But the Corporation, though accepting the national trend of motorbus introduction during the 1920s, did not want to rely solely on this mode of transport because of its high operating costs and the short life expectancy of the vehicles used.
Trolleybuses could continue to utilize power from the electricity station, and as the lifespan and reliability of these vehicles was higher than that of motorbuses, both forms of transport were retained at Doncaster and coexisted for over 30 years.
The town’s first trolley service ran on the Bentley route on August 22, 1928 from North Bridge. Doncaster Corporation purchased eight vehicles to begin the service. In due course a further 23 vehicles were obtained.
Initial reaction to trolleybuses on the Bentley route came in the form of complaints about radio interference from wireless ‘hams’. Eventually after many experiments, condenser units and suppressors were fitted to the vehicles and this proved effective to solve the problem.
The Balby route, turned over to trolleybuses on July 26, 1931, was the busiest service. Six vehicles usually ran on the route during weekdays with ten on Saturdays. Trolleybus crews often complained that 12 minutes allowed for the outward journey and 13 minutes for the return was impracticable since the route was very busy and there were 16 stops to make.
On the whole, trolleybuses were very popular with the public, as they provided a smooth and comfortable ride in comparison with earlier trams and motorbuses.
The Second World War had little effect on Doncaster’s trolleybus services since they ran normally throughout the day, but terminated at 9.30 in the evenings.
During these war years there were two extensions made to the existing trolley routes. The Beckett Road route was extended for about a half-mile along Beckett Road in April 1941, and the Balby route extended along Warmsworth Road to Barrel Lane.
One of the difficulties of trolleybus operation was providing suitable facilities for the vehicles to turn round at the end of each journey. This was alleviated by means of a ‘turning triangle’ or ‘turning circle’ or the creation of ‘circular routes’ round the town.
Trolleybuses purchased in the 1930s were all three-axle 60-seaters. By the early 1940s, the original batch of trolleybuses needed replacing, and in 1943 Doncaster acquired its first twoaxle 56-seater. Other groups of two-axle trolleybuses were subsequently obtained, in most cases second hand from other companies.
Fourteen three-axle trolleybuses were withdrawn in 1955 as a result of the closure of the Bentley route. In this year building work commenced to replace the Mill Bridge and as it was envisaged this would take a considerable time to complete a decision was taken to convert the Bentley trolleybus route to motorbus operation.
A student trolleybus conductor who started in December 1955 had the following after his first shift: “At 3pm I retired exhausted [he’d started at 6.30am], even though I’d been ‘coupled up’ with an experienced conductor, to discover the delights of ‘cashing in’ at an office. The tough paper money bags and the stiff leather cash bag had torn the skin around my finger nails considerably, but at least I had made it without dropping too many clangers, and I could now make my journeys home free of charge as an employee, saving all of 1½ d.”
A calamity occurred at around 11.15 pm on April 25 1958 on the Racecourse route. Trolleybus no. 385 collided with a singledecker coach at the junction of Cleveland Street and Spring Gardens. No 385 was the first Doncaster Corporation vehicle to be overturned. Fortunately there were no serious casualties.
Two final developments in the trolleybus system occurred in 1958. One was a further extension of the Becket Road route and the second was an extension of the Wheatley Hill route.
The 1960s revealed a fundamental re-thinking of Doncaster Corporation’s public transport policy. Its aims for economy and efficiency, amidst wide-ranging town centre redevelopment, led to a serious appraisal of the future of electric transport in the area.
Coupled with an inherent inflexibility, the expense of rewiring for the projected new trolleybus routes cast serious doubts over the long term future of this form of public transport. The trolleybus network was gradually abandoned. It became superseded by the expanding and increasingly complex urban layout of the 1960s, and an escalating dominance of motorised transport which was able to adapt more successfully to changing times.
Trolleybus no. 375 operated a final commemorative run along the Becket Road route during the evening of December 14, 1963. At 7.30 pm, as the trolleybus began its last journey, a familiar and well-liked feature of Doncaster town life was about to end.
■ Thanks to Sue, Andrew and Rachel Warnes for help with this piece.
Reaction to trolleybuses came in the form of complaints about radio interference.