Subject: Tees-side Railless Traction Board 1
Chassis: Railless
Body: Railless B28R
Location: Cargo Fleet, South Bank Road
Date: 1919

A nearside view of the first of the ten original Railless trolleybuses, the construction of which was interrupted by The Great War, during which the original supplier (RET Construction Company, Leeds) became insolvent having completed four of the vehicles. The remainder were completed by Railless Ltd, who had taken over the goodwill of the earlier company.

The ten trolleybuses were delivered in April 1918 to the concisely-named North Ormesby, South Bank, Normanby & Grangetown Railless Traction Company and 1 is seen here carrying their livery.

However, before the system opened a new Joint Board was established by Middlesbrough Corporation and Eston Urban District Council, the Tees-side Railless Traction Board, which took over the company.

1 has been posed outside the depot. Note how the depot wiring does not connect into the route wiring and it was necessary for the conductor to manually transfer the booms from one set of wires to the other. At this time trolleybuses didn't carry registrations - in 1921 this changed and this bus was registered AJ 5857.

The bodywork on these vehicles may well have been built by Roe as Charles Roe established his coachbuilding business in the former RET premises and could well have been employed as a sub-contractor.

Photograph from the GEC archive, taken by William Haig Parry