Relive the great days of London Transport with an E1 tram and three iconic trolleybuses in LT livery, Wednesday 20th September 2017

About this event

For many, the bright colours, classic designs and associated artwork make London Transport iconic. We are delighted to present a day using predominantly LT vehicles at the only venue that can currently offer the sight of a London tram and London trolleybus working side by side. Trams ran in London until 1952 and trolleybuses until 1962. These vehicles were contemporary from 16th May 1931, when the first 'Diddler' trolleybus left Fulwell Garage, until 6th July 1952 when the last tram service worked by No.1951 arrived back at New Cross Depot.

The Museum of East Anglia Transport is located at Carlton Colville near Lowestoft in Suffolk, NR33 8BL, and has an outstanding collection of vehicles and other exhibits relating to Britain's transport heritage. The Museum aims not just to preserve vintage vehicles, but to create a living street scene environment where its exhibits can be seen running against an authentic period background of shops and period street furniture. The Museum was founded on its current site in 1965, some three years after four local enthusiasts had clubbed together to rescue Lowestoft Tramcar No.14 for preservation, at the time in use as a summerhouse. Over the years, the site has gradually expanded and now boasts not only an excellent collection but an interesting background against which its vehicles can run and be posed. It is over five years since the last photo events ran at the Museum, and we are very much looking forward to introducing photographers to another location offering fine photographic opportunities with historic vehicles.

For our event, we will be using E1 tram No.1858. The E1 (HR/2) trams were synonymous with London Transport in the 1930s and ran up until 1952 when the trams left the Capital's streets for the final time. No.1858 was built by English Electric in 1930 for London County Council Tramways with an all-metal body and current collection compatible with both London systems - overhead and conduit. These trams operated through the Dulwich area of South London and were fitted with run back brakes as extra security when stopping on Dog Kennel Hill. No.1858 was initially saved for preservation by enthusiast Peter Davis and spent the years 1962-64 on display at Chessington Zoo. Redevelopment at the Chessington site saw 1858 in need of a new home and, on 10th April 1964, the tram arrived at Carlton Colville.

Trolleybuses survived a further decade on the streets of London. At the peak of operation, London had over 1800 trolleybuses working some 68 routes. Metro Cammell trolleybus No.1521 holds a very special place in London Transport history as the last trolleybus to work on the system prior to closure in 1962. Late on the evening of 8th May and into the early hours of the following day, 9th May, vast crowds thronged to see the progress of 1521 as it made its way through the streets along part of Route 604 from Wimbledon Town Hall back to its depot at Fulwell. A way had to be cleared through those gathered to witness this last journey in order to get 1521 back into the depot and nearly 100 people were aboard the vehicle for this historic last run. London Transport allowed 1521 to be stored at Fulwell Depot, the vehicle having been presented for preservation to the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club (HCVC) by the George Cohen 600 Group who were scrapping other vehicles in the fleet. After several years at a variety of venues, including the ultimately unsuccessful motor museum project at Burton-on-Trent, HCVC transferred ownership of 1521 to the London Trolleybus Preservation Society for the princely sum of £5.00. No.1521 went to Carlton Colville initially during the period 1966-68 under HCVC ownership, and later moved permanently to East Anglia in Spring 1970. It became the first trolley bus to operate from the Museum's overhead power supply system on 10th January 1971, though it would not be until 1992, thirty years after leaving the service of London Transport, that No.1521 entered passenger-carrying service at Carlton Colville.

The second trolleybus for our event will be No.796, an 'H1' type trolleybus of 1938 vintage. No.796 soldiered on despite sustaining air raid damage during the Second World War whilst at Bexleyheath Depot in June 1944 to be eventually withdrawn from Walthamstow on 11th November 1959. The vehicle was presented to the Paris Transport Museum in 1960. After some time on public display, 796 went into storage until, in 2009, agreement was reached for the vehicle to be loaned to the London Trolleybus Preservation Society; it arrived at Carlton Colville in October 2010.

Also available for our event will be 'K2' type Leyland trolleybus No.1201, licensed on 1st December 1938 and first allocated to Stamford Hill Depot on 5th February 1939. No.1201 also worked out of Hammersmith until closure of that depot in July 1960 saw it returned to Stamford Hill from where it was delicensed on closure of that depot on 19th July 1961. Sold for scrap, then reprieved to become a store, the vehicle was purchased by the London Trolleybus Preservation Society in August 1968 for £100.00. Although delivered to Carlton Colville in 1968, it would be 1987 before restoration commenced when the vehicle moved to Sandtoft, where it moved under its own power for the first time in preservation on 30th May 1997; No.1201 returned to Carlton Colville the following year.

In addition to the tram and trolleybuses, we hope to use some of the smaller vehicles in the Museum's collection to add variety to the scenes, plus one or two period passengers to augment our cameos. London Green Line RT No.1325 is also serviceable and available for use, should sufficient time present itself on a busy day!

There is also likely to be a visiting privately-owned trolleybus in the form of T291 of 1961 vintage from Teesside (prior to that a Reading vehicle). No.T291 is an historic vehicle in its own right, being the last Teesside trolleybus to operate, on 18th April 1971. Barring unforeseen problems, we also hope to use this vehicle in some separate cameos as it will be on site at the time of our visit. 

We look forward to a number of you joining us for what promises to be an excellent and nostalgic event rekindling memories of London Transport of more than fifty years ago.

Event cost £59.00 per person.

Images taken on previous visits to the museum.

Event requirements