Supplied by Peter Ellingworth. All images © Robert J Harley
Roger Simmonds… Loved the old trolley buses!
Peter Ellingworth… I would strongly recommend Robert Harley’s book, it has an absolute wealth of detail and certainly filled me in on a lot – I bought mine while at the East Anglia Transport Museum just outside Lowestoft, on a day incidentally when Hastings T-Bus no.34, the last one to run in Hastings under its own power on June 1st 1959, was working. I would, if you don’t want to buy the book outright, as like a lot of these publications they mainly cater to a niche market for sad anoraks like me and are not cheap, Hastings Library may well have a copy or can obtain one through the inter-library request service for a small fee. Re. The photos : the last two were taken a couple of weeks before the end, and the one with Happy Harold on an enthusiasts’ tour in 1958. I believe in latter years the High St. was made traffic signal controlled one way working for buses, such as when this particular photo was taken. At the top of the High Street is I think, at least it still was the last time I passed that way, the one remaining street traction pole still used for a street light that used to support the overhead wiring going back to tramway days complete with finial. The other two are in the grounds of Silverhill depot, and are visible from the road. And a number of wall mounted rosettes to carry the span wire that supported the running wires are still around the town. Again these date from Tramway days. Many thanks for an excellent coffee meet Alan, good to see such a well supported turn out and looking forward to the next.