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Picture 1 526 [Sunbeam S7 with NCB H39/31R body] crosses the Jesmond Road/Osborne Road junction on the circular 41 service from Central Station
to Heaton Road, returning vis Shields Road. Service 42 covered the route in the opposite direction. |
Picture 2 A 'Q1' [BUT 9641T with Metro-Cammell H40/30R body; see also see notes for picture 5] turns from Osborne Road into Jesmond Road on the
43 service, ostensibly to Denton Road Terminus on the other side of the City. However at that point it will transform into a 36 and loop back to the Central Station via Fenham.
Numbers 44 and 33 - or 33A - were used in the reverse direction. The combined route was Newcastle's longest, at 9.8 miles and 53 minutes. It is fully described in
"Trolleybuses of N-upon-T" by Tom Canneaux and Noel Hanson. |
Picture 4
One of the batch received in 1948 with LPTB body. This is on the Osborne Road terminal loop, with the number blind being changed from 33 [or 33A] to 43 for the return journey. |
Picture 5 Two of Newcastle's 70 'Q1' trolleybuses at the layover point at Osborne Road terminus, waiting to head for the west end of the city via
Elswick Road. Nicely posed, they show how similar Newcastle's two batches of these buses were. The older of the two is at the rear. Can you spot the differences?
The first batch of twenty, urgently required in 1948 for tram replacement on the Gosforth route, was identical to London Transport's then new Q1 class. The other fifty
arrived in 1950, with several detail differences to suit service in Newcastle. |
Picture 6 This is a rare shot of a trolleybus turning from The Fossway into the back-street link to Union Road, which gave access from Byker Depot to the
'country' end of routes in Walker and Wallsend. It looks like this was taken towards the end of the system when the two-way Fossway overhead had been substantially removed, leaving only
part of the westbound wiring so that trolleys could make the manoeuvre shown and also gain access from the depot to City-bound wiring at the Fossway/Shields Road junction [situated at the
front of Black's Regal cinema whose rear end is just shown in the shot]. |
Picture 7 Two trolleybuses on the 35 group of services [to Brighton Grove or Denton Square] wait for the off at Welbeck Road terminus. They will have
turned on the loop round the traffic island in the background, just short of the wires on the 34 route to Wallsend which passed across the bottom of Welbeck Road. |
Picture 8 Watched closely by the conductor, 506 [Sunbeam S7 with NCB H39/31R body] reverses into Vine Street at Wallsend Park Road terminus. 'Central Station'
on the rear blind wasn't a valid destination for this route, so this is either a shipyard workmen's special or more likely 506 has come from Byker Depot and has yet to enter service. |
Picture 9 490, one of Newcastle's first batch of Q1s, sits on the Vine Street reverser at Wallsend Park Road terminus. Its number indicates it's on a workmen's service.
Amazingly, the decorative brickwork around the three small advertisements on the adjacent wall is still clearly visible on Google Earth Street View, fifty years or so later. |
Picture 10 506 [Sunbeam S7 with NCB H39/31R body] stands in Wallsend Park Road opposite Q1 no. 628. This was the 34 terminus and trolleys left here for
Denton Square so the indicator blinds on both vehicles are intriguing! 628 is beautifully preserved in working order at the East Anglia Transport Museum in Carlton Colville and this is one of
the very few pictures of it in service. |
Picture 11 504 [Sunbeam S7 with NCB H39/31R body] turns from Welbeck Road into Bothal Street with a cross-city service from Walker via Byker to
Brighton Grove. The wiring it is about to cross is in fact a reverser, enabling trolleys to turn at this point by backing over a busy junction [wouldn't be allowed these days!] into
Allendale Road. From there they turned into a siding in Bothal Street to pick up crowds from Brough Park, Byker's greyhound and speedway stadium. |
Picture 12 Bothal Street, showing the siding referred to in the caption for picture 11. The Q1 is equipped with the fluorescent yellow indicator blinds trialled
towards the end of their lives. |
Picture 13 Still at the Welbeck Road/Bothal Street junction [see also pictures 11 and 12] this view shows Q1 no. 612 turning towards Walker with a 35 or 35A
service to Church Street. 612 overturned after colliding with a traction pole in Benwell in 1959 but was returned to service following an extensive front-end rebuild. |
Picture 14 Q1 no. 611 heads out of Welbeck Road into Bothal Street with a service 35C to Delaval Road. The 35C was an odd route in that it matched the other
35 group of services east of the City Centre only. Thereafter it headed west along Elswick Road to reach Delaval Road terminus. Outside of the peak periods some services turned back short
via Pilgrim Street in the City Centre. |
Picture 15 A busy Delaval Road terminus, with two Q1s in service and a Sunbeam S7 heading for Byker Depot. The Osborne Road bus standing in the terminus
siding will work a 33A service while on the opposite side of the road a sister vehicle prepares to turn and head back east to Westbourne Avenue on service 35C. |
Picture 16 A current-day Health and Safety no-no at Delaval Road terminus! Q1 no. 610 has reversed into the steeply sloping Delaval Road, but thankfully the
wiring required trolleybuses to head for the row of shops at the roadside, not straight down the hill.
Memories |