The Adelaide trolleybus system formed part of the public transport network in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 1932 until 1963.

History

During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

Municipal Tramways Trust The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) was established by the Government of South Australia in December 1906 to purchase all of the horse-drawn tramways in Adelaide, Australia. The Trust subsequently also ran petrol and diesel buses and electric t ...

(MTT) needed to expand services, but finances prevented laying new tracks. A decision was made to trial

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es, and a converted petrol bus began running experimentally on the Payneham to

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

tram line during the off-peak on 18 May 1932. The trial concluded on 11 August 1934, with trams resuming operation. The trial was judged a success and the MTT planned its first permanent trolley bus line. In September 1937, the new service commenced from

Light Square Light Square, also known as Wauwi (formerly Wauwe), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre. Located in the centre of the north-western quarter of the Adelaide city centre, its southern boundary is Waymouth Street, Adelaide, Wa ...

in the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ade ...

to Tusmore. In 1938, services commenced from Light Square to

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

Semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...

and Largs Bay. In October 1952, the Linden Park tram line was converted followed by the Erindale line in May 1953. The trolleybus network closed in July 1963 replaced by

motor bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es.

Fleet

Green Goddess

Petrol bus 216 was bodied by the

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.open top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and s ...

on a Garford chassis in 1925. It was converted to a single deck trolleybus with rear platform and stairs removed and ran from May 1932 until August 1934. It was the first trolleybus in Australia and with a distinctive cream and green livery was known as "The Green Goddess". It seated twenty-three with room for twenty standing passengers. It was later used as a maintenance vehicle before being preserved by the

Tramway Museum, St Kilda The Tramway Museum, St Kilda is Australia's principal museum of the 19th and 20th century trams of Adelaide, South Australia. It is situated at St Kilda, north of the centre of Adelaide. It is operated by the Australian Electric Transport Mus ...

.Trolleybuses
Tramway Museum Adelaide MTT 216 Green Goddess

AEC 661T

To operate the permanent services, 30

AEC 661T The AEC 661T was a two-axle double deck trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus System ...

chassis were bodied by JA Lawton & Sons in 1937 and numbered 401 to 430. The double deckers seated fifty-seven with a

crush load Crush may refer to: Film * ''Crush'' (1972 film), a Hong Kong film * ''Crush'' (1992 film), a New Zealand film by Alison Maclean * ''The Crush'' (1993 film), a film by Alan Shapiro, starring Cary Elwes and Alicia Silverstone * ''Crush'' (200 ...

of eighty-four with all withdrawn by June 1957, a few briefly returning to service in August 1958. ex MTT 417/S106 is preserved at the

while 413 resides on a farming property in Penfield Gardens, north of Adelaide. MTT AEC 413 Adelaide

Leyland double deck

In 1942, the MTT bodied five Leyland chassis using JA Lawton & Sons components, entering service as 431 to 435. These double-deck, three-axle buses were the largest in the MTT fleet and remained so until withdrawn in 1958. One was preserved by Trevor Tate before being sold to the Sydney Bus Museum in 1993.The Leyland DD that the Sydney Bus Museum had was 433, this bus was eventually returned to Adelaide for preservation by Christopher Steele but unfortunately, he died before the project could be finished, it is currently in storage at the

Leyland Canton

26 Leyland chassis originally built for the

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

province in China, were purchased and bodied by the MTT between 1942 and 1945 and numbered 471 to 496. These single deckers had a seating capacity of thirty and a crush load of sixty. They became popularly known as ''cantons'' or ''wombats'' and remained in service until 1963. One has been preserved by the

Sunbeam MF2B

In 1952/53, JA Lawton & Sons bodied 30

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

MF2B chassis. These single deckers seated forty passengers, had a crush load of seventy-seven and were used on services until mid-1963. Originally numbered 497 to 526, the first four were renumbered 527 to 530 in August 1958. One has been preserved by the

Livery

The original livery was tuscan red and deep cream with black trim. The Sunbeams entered service in a new silver and carnation red livery. Except for the five 1942 Leyland double deckers, the rest of the fleet was repainted in this livery.

References

Notes

External links

Tramway Museum, St Kilda
{{Trolleybus systems in Oceania Transport in Adelaide Bus transport in Australia