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Trams and Trolleybuses

The black-and-white photograph below, reproduced from a faded 60-year old press cutting, is of nostalgic interest to me in spite of its poor quality because it was the first of my photographs ever to appear in print. It was taken in 1947, shortly after I joined the staff of the Brighton and Hove Herald as a junior in the darkroom. Many thousands of publications later it still holds a place in my memory, not least for the fact that I got into trouble for borrowing the firm's Leica (the only camera at the time capable of taking hand-held night photographs) without permission!

I have often wondered if it was worth the trouble: newsprint was in short supply in the immediate post-war years and some of it was of exceptionally poor quality, and the picture did not look much better than this when newly published!

Trolleybuses were often referred to as 'whispering death'. They were very quiet and often could not be heard coming, which resulted in many accidents to pedestrians and cyclists who strayed into their path.

A common problem with trolleybuses was that the collector arms had a habit of coming away from the wires and had to be manually replaced with a long hooked pole. It was also necessary to take them down when parked, so that other vehicles using the same wires could pass.

The photographs below show a maze of overhead wires at the East Anglian Transport Museum near Lowestoft, double for trolleybuses and single for trams, which used the rails as the second conductor.

The Flying Scotsman

I had the pleasure two years ago of travelling the 42 miles from Scarborough to York on a train hauled by the rercord-breaking Flying Scotsman, built in 1928 and withdrawn from service in 1963 after covering more than two million miles. Now owned for the nation by the National Railway Museum in York and used for summer summer specials. Currently out of service undergoing extensive restoration but is expected to be back on the rails by the end of 2008.



Above: No 4472 arrives at Scarborough station. Left: the souvenir ticket. Below: turning the train for its return journey to York.

BELOW (left): All passengers on the Scotsman specials receive a souvenir brochure outlining the history of the locomotive. (Right): As there are no turning facilities at Scarborough station the train had to reverse several miles up the track to the nearest turntable. A local taxi driver knew exactly where to take me to get these photographs: the police garage adjacent to the track!

All steamed up in the Cotswolds

A busy scene on the Gloucester-Warwickshire steam Railway, a former GWR line in the Cotswolds, now run by volunteers over a restored 10-mile stretch from Cheltenham Racecourse to Toddington.
©2006 Arthur Loosley