London Trolleybuses Abroad There are three pages to read first before viewing the pictures: [ Introduction | Spanish Listing | Feed Back from Site Visitors ]

Prior to the closure of the London trolleybus system, a few trolleybuses were purchased by overseas buyers, either as revenue earning vehicles or for exhibits in museums. The PSV Circle's London Trolleybuses Fleet History records that a five trolleybuses were despatched, in 1959, to George Town, Penang, Malaya. These were 'C1' class vehicles numbered 138, 142, 148, 175 and 183 and had been withdrawn from London service in 1956.

Later, a Paris Museum acquired 'H1' class vehicle #796, which can still be seen at AMTUIR, association pour le Musée des transports urbains, interurbains et ruraux located at 60 avenue Sainte-Marie 94160, SAINT-MANDE. A 'K2' class #1348 was also shipped to the National Transport Museum at Howth Castle Demesne, Howth, Co. Dublin. [The vehicle is currently stored securely with other vehicles at Castle Rudderey in Ireland. Its current condition is poor; complete, but with superficial vandalism. Restoration plans hinging on moving the vehicle to Sandtoft through a 12 year loan agreement. Please support the appeal for funds].

With the phased withdrawal of trolleybus routes, surplus older vehicles were quickly scrapped, but others were retained to facilitate the sale to Spain of 125 of the most modern vehicles then in use. This was effectively the whole of the 'Q1' class. Two of this class were not included in the sale, #1768 [used to populate the LT Museum] and #1841 [scrapped because of the presence of non-standard automatic acceleration equipment. The electrical equipment was presented to the Imperial College Museum but subsequently handed over to the British Trolleybus Society and is now stored at The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft].

A representative selection of pictures of these ex-London Trolleybuses operating in each of the Spanish systems are shown on this WEB site. All of the pictures were taken by Hugh Taylor and are reproduced by permission. Few have caption information but this will be added as information comes to hand. Use the email link below to write to me if you would like to add any background information you may have.

When ready, use the green panel on the left to select the Spanish town of interest, but don't forget to read the feed back comments also. These can be found using the menu at the top of this page or by clicking on this red square:

Click on any thumbnail for a larger image but wait until all thumbnails have downloaded

Picture FI1		Picture FI2
Picture BR1	Picture BR2	Picture BR3	Picture BR4
Pictures FI1 and FI2 [by Fred Ivey], showing an unidentified Q1 trolleybus waiting at Dagenham Dock level crossing and another Q1 #1795 just inside Samuel Williams Dagenham Dockyard. Pictures BR1 to BR4 [by B.H.Russell], show a batch of 'Q1s' loaded on a ship at Dagenham Docks, in July 1961. This small group of vehicles were shipped to Pontevedra but subsequently re-sold to Vigo where most languished in the tram depot until being broken up in 1977. However #1789, seen in the deck pictures, together with #1790 changed ownership again to go into service in nearby La Coruna / Coruna-Carballo. They were rebuilt into their #51 / #23 respectively.