***1 TICKET BACK ON SALE***

Full day using trolley and motor buses, period vehicles and re-enactors at a brand new venue, 20th May 2017

About this event

We are delighted to be making our first visit to the Trolley Bus Museum at Sandtoft in Lincolnshire for a full day of photography using vehicles from the Museum's extensive collection. This will be the first photographic charter held at this venue and we hope to make it an outstanding success. The Museum will be closed to the public on this day so that we can set up scenes without the difficulty more modern intrusions.

Sandtoft Museum is located on a relatively small site but has a huge collection of historic vehicles and is home to the largest collection of trolley buses in the world. It was jointly started by four preservation groups in 1969 and is based on a former Royal Air Force Second World War airfield near Doncaster in an area known as the Isle of Axholme. It is a few miles from Junction 2 of the M180 motorway. 

Trolley buses are a relatively rare form of transport in the United Kingdom and there are only a handful of operational sites in this country. Systems operated from June 1911 when Leeds and Bradford trolley buses took to the roads until March 1972 when Bradford, one of the first, became the last UK city to lose its trolleys. We will use a number of trolley buses from the Museum's collection from several different cities. Of course, we will keep each scenario separate so as to create period scenes reminiscent of times gone by when trolley buses remained a living part of some of our major towns and cities.

One of the most photogenic liveries is that of London Transport and we will be using LT1348. Completed in June 1939, this six-wheel 'K2' Class trolley bus worked routes in North London and was not withdrawn until July 1961 (stage eleven of the conversion programme). In partnership with 1348 we will have AEC Regent III motor bus RT3323 which entered service from Palmers Green Depot in 1951. We also hope to have a 1948-built London taxi available to appear in cameo scenes alongside the other two vehicles.

June 2016 marked the fiftieth anniversary of closure of the Nottingham trolley bus system. We will be using Nottingham 493 which entered service in 1948 and was not withdrawn until 1965, the year before the system closed in June 1966. Although Tower Wagon 802 long since ceased active use, it has been cosmetically restored in Nottingham dark green livery and we will pose this as part of our Nottingham scenes. Provided we can get permission from their private owners, we hope to use other appropriate Nottingham vehicles; this will be confirmed nearer the time of the event.

Cardiff Corporation Transport had one of the more elegant designs of three-axle, six-wheel trolley buses. The city had fourteen trolley bus routes and closed on 11th January 1970. Cardiff 203 is finished in the crimson lake and cream livery in which the vehicle was repainted in 1946. This thirty-foot long vehicle was in service for just over twenty years, from 1st March 1942 until December 1962. It was not until mid-way through the Second World War that trolley buses began replacing the remaining tramways in Cardiff and 203 entered service in the year the system opened, one of the first five vehicles (201-205) and initially carried wartime grey livery on Route 6A between Wood Street and Clarence Road. In its current guise, we will be able to recreate scenes from 1946 and into the 1950s. Only four of the city's trolley buses have survived into preservation. 

We aim to have additional re-enactors in appropriate period costume and a selection of other period vehicles to augment our scenes. Numbers of participants will be limited to ensure comfortable conditions for photography. We expect the Museum's cafe to be open during the day serving teas, coffees, light refreshments such as bacon and sausage baps and similar, so you are unlikely to die of thirst or hunger during the day!

We hope a number of you will be joining us for the first photographic charter at Sandtoft Trolley Bus Museum - a new venue and a brand new range of photo opportunities.

Event cost £52.00 per person.

Event requirements