Trolleybus Societies in the United Kingdom.

This listing has been compiled by Daniel McIntyre with reference to various bus magazines, including Buses, (website at www.busesmag.com) which is published monthly and Bus Fayre, (website at www.autobus-review.co.uk) which is published bi-monthly, in order to show the variety of trolleybus societies and organisations that currently exist in the United Kingdom.

Links to websites are shown in blue text in the listing below.

Trolleybuses - National Societies

British Trolleybus Society

Formed as the Reading Transport Society in 1961, the title was changed to the present one in 1971, having acquired a number of trolleybuses for preservation from all over Great Britain. In 1969 it founded the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, near Doncaster, where its vehicles are housed and regularly operate on mains power from the overhead wiring.

Members receive a monthly journal, entitled Trolleybus, containing news and articles from home and abroad. Monthly meetings are held in Reading, London and Bradford.

National Trolleybus Association

Founded in 1963 and incorporated in 1968 as The Trolleybus Museum Co. Ltd. The vehicles and ancillary equipment collected by the National Trolleybus Association since its inception are now owned by the company, which is limited by guarantee and is a registered charity.

Members receive Trolleybus Magazine, a printed and illustrated bi-monthly journal documenting all aspects of trolleybus operation past and present throughout the world

Trolleybuses - Preservation Societies

Bradford Trolleybus Association

The aim of the Bradford Trolleybus Association is to raise funds towards the restoration of a former Bradford Corporation Weymann-bodied BUT trolleybus No. 758, currently residing at Sandtoft. This vehicle was the first in Britain to be fitted with flashing indicators. The Association holds monthly meetings in Bradford. There is also a list of other former Bradford trolleybuses that are in preservation, including membership news and transport news from the Bradford area of West Yorkshire on the Bradford Trolleybus Association website. The Association publishes a quarterly magazine for its members, called ‘Trackless’.

The Hastings Trolleybus Restoration Group

The Hastings Trolleybus Restoration Group is an enthusiastic band of volunteers dedicated to the restoration and preservation of Hastings Trolleybuses (Trolleybuses were trackless trams - electric vehicles drawing their current from twin wires suspended above the vehicles- the Hastings system was 500 volt DC -) The Trolleybus system in Hastings, St.Leonards and Bexhill followed on the abandonment of the trams in 1928/29 and closed in 1959. There are only four known survivors of the system and three of these are being cared for and restored by the Hastings Trolleybus Restoration Group.

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