Trolleybus Museum (1 mile outside Doncaster)

Trolleybus System

The Trolleybus transport system is still widely used today, particularly in Europe with very modern infrastructure for mass-transport.

The trolleybus transport system was widely used in England from the late 1800s to the early 1970s and is preserved in the Trolleybus Museum on the doorstep of Doncaster. This forgotten age of English transport was very popular and following the deregulation of bus services that allowed for private bus operators to start running independent services, it’s use declined as services were decommissioned.

Where are trolleybuses used, today?

Trolleybuses are still used today all over the world, but not the United Kingdom.

Argentina
Armenia
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chillie
China
Croatia
Czech Republic

Ecuador
Estonia
Ethiopia
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iran
Italy
Lithuania
Japan
Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan
Latvia
Mexico
Moldova
Mongolia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
North Korea
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia

Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Slovenia
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Tajikistan
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela

Trolleybuses are not used in England due to ‘deregulation’ in 1980s

Up until the 1980s bus services were regulated and then came the deregulation of bus services, allowing operators to apply for licenses to run private bus services. Whilst trolleybuses were already replaced, deregulation meant that huge change was happening and the trolleybus service would struggle to ever come back and compete against flexible operators that were not on a trolley system.

Will trolleybuses come back?

Trolley buses were and are popular because they are quiet, fast and clean compared to buses with engines. They are typically cheaper to operate than trams and more flexible in terms of their route and they can carry large numbers of passengers, with ease. Recent battery tech advancements have been given favour to, allowing for battery operated buses instead of trolleybus systems, allowing for flexible routes and no overhead technology.

A rich history at the Trolleybus Museum in Sandtoft

The Trolleybus Museum in Sandtoft, is a national attraction and located less than 5 miles from Hatfield Woodhouse. As a museum it preserves not only the buses but also a showcasing operating network of how trolley buses used to be in their original form. Trolleybuses were exported from the UK for operation in other countries and on visiting the UK, the Sandtoft museum for trolleybuses is often on many peoples destinations to go tom when arriving in the when in the UK because it has preserved so well the operation of these buses that were used in the early development.

The word ‘bus’ is derived from Omnibus

Omnibus in latin simply means for all. The word was shortened to bus, dropping the ‘Omni’, so you will see the words Motorbus and Trolleybus to describe the types of buses used over the period.

Read more about Trolleybuses used in Doncaster on Wikipedia.

The liveries

At the Trolleybus Museum, you can see all the individual liveries used on various trolleybuses, with each bus having coats of arms for its designated area, really taking you back in time, to see how things were. There are buses featured from the Isle of Man, Reading, Bradford, Doncaster and lots of places throughout the UK.

Old signage

There are plenty of example of old signage used on the transport networks, whether that is on the trolleybuses themselves or throughout the site – most notably for South Yorkshire transport.

The colours, advertising

The buses were very colourful, advertising was bold in this era and the signage was very crisp and things were built to last. It really is a spectacle to see these buses in operation from a forgotten time. They’re silent, run on electric and it does make you wonder wonder and reflect on modern progress as these systems were and have been in operation very successfully until the deregulation in the 1980s of buses.

There is even local artifacts, from Doncaster

The museum is closely situated to Doncaster and it a number of the artifacts are from Doncaster. They show local livery, local signs, local places and it is brilliant to see how these have been preserved.