JANE’S JOTTINGS


Trolleys and Trams Occasionally


when I round the corner onto Well Hall Road, I imagine I can hear the clatter of trams and possibly see the figure of the famous children’s author E Nesbit emerging from her gates to give the drivers cups of tea.


The memories are stirred by the fact it is 100 years since the first trams ran between Eltham and Woolwich. Of course, to actually remember them, you’d need to be over 60, as they were withdrawn in 1952.


I personally am not of this vintage, although I freely acknowledge that this might be the last column in which I’m able to make this boast.


However, I do have memories of a similar creation, the trolley bus. These amazing creatures were superior to the trams of London, as you’d expect coming from canny northerners.


Many of my earlier years were spent in Bradford, the very last haven of the trolley bus, which continued 20 years beyond London trams, into the 1970s.


Their main advantage is that they were normal freewheeling buses, attached to overhead wires by two electric pick-up forks, but able to navigate amongst traffic


Amazing


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without recourse to tramlines.


For such bulky vehicles, they seemed to float noiselessly, picking up speed with great alacrity with only a high pitched mechanical whirr from the transformer box above.


In fact, I suspect it was Bradford’s steep hills and snowy winters which made the trolley the city’s choice over the conventional tram. The only downside was the spaghetti soup of overhead wires which despoiled the street scene and views to the hills which surround the city on all sides.


And even when it comes to running


trams, us northerners have the edge. Each autumn, elaborately-lit coaches run the six miles of Blackpool’s seafront through a light show similar to Oxford Street at Christmas.


Now, of course, trams are back in fashion. If only Bradford had hung onto its trolleys for another five years or so, it would have been considered visionary and not old-fashioned. As I approach 60, I’m hoping there’s a moral to be had there.


Jane Webb has lived in Eltham since '85 with her husband and daughter. She has taught at several local primary schools'


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