The Huddersfield trolleybus system once served the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Opened on ,Joyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 69–72, 159. London:

Ian Allan Publishing Ian Allan Publishing was an English publisher, established in 1942, which specialised in transport books. It was founded by Ian Allan. In 1942 Ian Allan, then working in the public relations department for the Southern Railway at Waterloo st ...

. . it gradually replaced the Huddersfield tramway network, which closed on Saturday, 29 June 1940. 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 trol ...

systems in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the Huddersfield system was a medium-sized one, with a total of 15 routes and a maximum fleet of 140 trolleybuses. It was closed on . A notable feature of the system was the Longwood trolleybus turntable, which was one of only four such turntables ever to have been constructed worldwide (one of two in the

). The turntable was manually operated, and was in use only in 1939–1940 until wartime conditions forced the introduction of other arrangements. However, it remained ''in situ'' until demolished in the 1980s. Three of the former Huddersfield trolleybuses are now preserved, at

the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is a transport museum which specialises in the preservation of trolleybuses. It is located by the village of Sandtoft, near Belton on the Isle of Axholme in the English county of Lincolnshire. Description The ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

History

The first conversion was the

Almondbury Almondbury () is a village south-east of Huddersfield town centre in West Yorkshire, England. The population of Almondbury in 2001 was 7,368 increasing to 18,346 at the 2011 Census. Almondbury appears in the ''Domesday Book'' as "Almondeberi ...

tramway. It was converted in sections with a temporary motor bus link as the road was resealed and electrified. Six different 6-wheel buses were bought to trial on the route with Karrier, Ransomes and Sunbeam chassis and bodies by several builders. Most later buses were Karrier, though the local factory had closed. The Almondbury route closed on 14 July 1965. The dates of the rest were: In 1958 Edgar Dyson became general manager. The council then agreed to a closure programme, ending with 5 crowded Outlane buses on 13 July 1968. Rates paid to the county council were among reasons for early closure of the West Vale and Marsden routes.

References

Notes

External links

Trolleybuses Galore!
- Huddersfield trolleybuses fan site
National Trolleybus ArchiveBritish Trolleybus Society
based in Reading
National Trolleybus Association
based in London
Huddersfield Examiner Trolleybus gallery
{{Historic UK Trolleybuses Transport in Huddersfield

1933 establishments in England 1968 disestablishments in England

History

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

External links