The Hartlepool trolleybus system once served the town of

West Hartlepool West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland. The former town was originally formed in ...

, and linked it with the town of

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

, in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. The two towns have since been fused.

History

Opened on , the Hartlepool system initially replaced the West Hartlepool portion of the Hartlepool Electric Tramways. That portion had been purchased by the West Hartlepool Corporation on 31 August 1912. The first of the West Hartlepool tramways to be closed was the Foggy Furze line, which was shut down on 4 October 1923. The services on that line were temporarily replaced by motor buses, until opening of the trolleybus system. The

Ward Jackson Park Ward Jackson Park is a municipal park located in Hartlepool, England. It is named after Ralph Ward Jackson, a local industrialist, who founded West Hartlepool in the 19th century. In later life, Ward Jackson encountered financial difficulties an ...

tramway was next to be closed, in November 1925. Conversion of the tramway from West Hartlepool to Hartlepool was a more complex process, because the Hartlepool Corporation had obtained powers to run motor buses. Following lengthy negotiations, Hartlepool purchased the portion of the tramway within its boundaries, and, under the ''Hartlepool Corporation Trolley Vehicles Act 1926'', was given powers to operate trolleybuses. Conversion of the West Hartlepool to Hartlepool line then took place on 22 February 1927. One month later, on 25 March 1927, the

Seaton Carew Seaton Carew is a seaside resort and civil parish in the Borough of Hartlepool in County Durham, England. It had an estimated population of 6,018. The area is named after a Norman French family called Carou who owned lands in the area and set ...

tramway was converted, bringing Hartlepool's tramway era to an end, and its trolleybus system to its greatest extent. The system as a whole was operated by West Hartlepool Corporation. However, the route between the two towns was run on behalf of both authorities. The trolleybuses used on that route were jointly owned; each Corporation paid half the running costs of the joint route and was entitled to half of its revenue. After the end of World War II, West Hartlepool Corporation decided to replace the trolleybus system with motor buses. In 1949, the Seaton Carew route was shut down. Closure of the other two West Hartlepool lines soon followed. Finally, on , the joint route was closed.

Services

By the standards of the various now defunct

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 ...

systems in the United Kingdom, the Hartlepool system, with its four routes, was quite small.

Fleet

West Hartlepool's first trolleybuses were four Railless 4-wheel vehicles with

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

36-seat bodywork. They were numbered 1–4. In 1926, they were joined by two similar vehicles (Nos. 5–6) and a double-deck version (No. 7). The first jointly owned vehicles were twelve Straker-Clough single-deckers (Nos. 8–19). They entered service in 1927. In 1938, these vehicles were replaced by more jointly owned units, this time high capacity double-deckers (Nos. 32–39), built by

Daimler Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to: People * Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies * Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler * Paul Da ...

. All of the jointly owned vehicles carried the armorial devices of the two Corporations on their side panels. The system had a total fleet of 48 trolleybuses, with a maximum of 31 in service at any one time. None of them is recorded as having survived.

References

Notes

External links

National Trolleybus ArchiveBritish Trolleybus Society
based in Reading.
National Trolleybus Association
based in London. {{Historic UK Trolleybuses Transport in the Borough of Hartlepool

History of Hartlepool