The
Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft
(Sandtoft
Transport Centre Limited)
Belton Road,
Sandtoft, Doncaster, North Lincolnshire, DN8 5SX
To celebrate H.M.
Queen's Golden Jubilee, the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft has
decorated one of its trolleybuses (an example from Maidstone) in
a lavish style that was often used in various towns and cities
for special events in the bygone days of the trolleybus - and the
tram before it.
The Museum's decorated trolleybus has been specially painted gold and is adorned with gold, purple, red and white sign-written boards the length of the bus incorporating the Golden Jubilee logo, coloured lights and red, white, blue and gold bunting. The Golden Jubilee logo is also prominently displayed on the front, surrounded with Union Jack flags and more lights and bunting.
It is expected that visitors to the Museum, which will be open to visitors on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of the Jubilee Holiday Weekend (i.e. 2, 3 and 4 June 2002) will be able to travel in a truly unique celebratory fashion on the decorated electric trolleybus as it journeys around the Museum.
Trolleybuses were introduced into Britain in 1911, when the cities of Bradford and Leeds each opened their first trolleybus routes: eventually, fifty towns and cities around the UK operated trolleybuses. When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, a good proportion of these operations were thriving concerns (most of them owned by the local authorities), providing a cheap and very efficient form of public transport, with almost all having new vehicles to replace ageing rolling stock worn out after 6 long years of just basic maintenance during the war. There was always a trolleybus about when you wanted to catch one!!
However, the rise in car ownership during the 1950’s and 1960’s resulted in a downturn in public transport usage. One by one, towns stopped running their trolleybuses and in 1972 Britain's last trolleybus ran - in Bradford, where it had all started!
Operators around the Sandtoft area included Doncaster, Mexborough & Swinton, Rotherham, Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Kingston-upon-Hull, and slightly further afield, Nottingham, Derby, Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, York and Keighley.
Trolleybuses (and trams before them) were quite often chosen by their municipal owners to be decorated to celebrate Coronations, Jubilees and other national and even civic events: the practice virtually ceased when trolleybuses finished.
The trolleybus chosen to be decorated is a 1947-built example from Maidstone. Numbered 72 in that fleet, it has a Sunbeam 2-axle chassis, a Northern Coach Builders 56-seat body and is powered by a 550 volt DC, 85hp electric motor. It ran in Maidstone until 1867, becoming Maidstone’s civic Last Trolleybus, being appropriately decorated and illuminated for the occasion. It was retained by Maidstone Borough Council for preservation and eventually put on long-term loan to the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft. Quite an amount of restoration work has taken place on no.72, and once the Golden Jubilee celebrations have finished, the refurbishment work will resume.
A number of Maidstone trolleybuses have been decorated in the past, so the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft chose no.72 to continue the tradition. They lavish style in which no.72 has been decorated for the Golden Jubilee is reminiscent of the way many towns used to celebrate such an important national event
The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is just off Junction 2 of the M180 in North Lincolnshire, on the Belton Road at Sandtoft. Gates will open at 12.00 noon on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (i.e. 2, 3 and 4 June 2002). with last admissions at 4.00pm. Admission costs just £3.50 (adults) and £2.00 (concessions), with a reduction for a car with up to 2 adults and 4 children. There is ample free car parking available and the admission charges include free trolleybus rides.
Attractions
at the museum include Trolleybus rides, an exhibition of public
transport artefacts & equipment, a free motor bus tour of the
Isle of Axholme, period shop window displays, slide shows,
“have a go” trolleybus & bus driving simulators, a
souvenir shop and a children's play area. Light refreshments are
available and there is also a picnic area.
On Monday and
Tuesday the Museum will operate a FREE bus service
from Doncaster: the bus will depart Doncaster South Bus Station
(stand B2) at 1.30pm and Doncaster Rail Station at 1.35pm, with
the return journey departing the Sandtoft at 4.30pm (Journey time
approximately 30minutes).
A full programme
of events is planned for other open days during 2002.