Transport in Delhi - trolleybus - Background

Transport in Delhi - trolleybus - Background

The history of the trolleybus dates back to 29 April

1882, when Dr. Ernst Werner von Siemens ran his

"Elektromote" in a Berlin suburb. This experimental

demonstration continued until 13 June 1882, after which

there was little progress in Europe, although separate

experiments were conducted in the USA. The next

development was when Lombard Gérin operated an

experimental line at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 after

four years of trials. Max Schiemann made the biggest

step when on 10 July 1901 the world's first

passenger-carrying trolleybus operated at Bielathal

(near Dresden) in Germany. Schiemann built and operated

the Bielathal system, and is credited with developing

the under-running trolley current collection system,

with two horizontally parallel overhead wires and rigid

trolleypoles spring-loaded to hold them up to the wires.

Although the Bielathal system only operated until 1904,

Schiemann had developed what is now recognised as the

standard trolleybus current collection system. In the

early days, however, there were a few different methods

of current collection being developed. The Cedes-Stoll

system, designed by Carl Stoll, was once operated near

Dresden between 1902 and 1904, and in Vienna. The

Lloyd-Köhler or Bremen system was tried out in Bremen,

and the Filovia was demonstrated near Milan.

Leeds and Bradford became the first cities to operate

passenger-carrying trolleybuses in the UK on 20 June

1911. Bradford was also the last to operate trolleybuses

in the UK, the system closing on 26 March 1972. The last

rear entrance trolleybus in Britain was also in Bradford

and is now owned by the Bradford Trolleybus Association.

Birmingham was the first to replace a tram route with

trolleybuses, while Wolverhampton under the direction of

Charles Owen Silvers was responsible for turning the

"trackless tram" into the trolleybus. There were 50

trolleybus operations in the UK in total, London's being

the largest. By the time trolleybuses arrived in Britain

in 1911, the Schiemann system was well established and

was the most common, although the short-lived Stockport

operation used the Lloyd-Kölher system and Keighley used

the Cedes-Stoll system.

In the USA, some cities, led by the Brooklyn-Manhattan

Transit Corporation (BMT—New York), subscribed to the

all-four concept of using buses, trolleybuses, trams (in

U.S. called streetcars, trolleys or light rail) and

rapid transit subway and/or elevated lines (metros), as

appropriate, for routes ranging from lightly-used to the

heaviest trunk line. Buses and trolleybuses in

particular were seen as entry systems that could later

be upgraded to rail as appropriate. Although the BMT in

Brooklyn built only one trolleybus line, other cities,

notably San Francisco, California and Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, built larger systems and still maintain

"all-four". If one includes cable cars as another mode,

San Francisco could be called "all-five," as its cable

cars provide general transportation as well as being a

tourist attraction.


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