Created 17-Jan-22
Modified 8-Mar-24
Although two separate services with very different histories, it is easier to consider them together as for some time there was a cross-city service that linked the two and the practice was to use route 33 for journeys to Eccleshill and 44 for journeys to St. Enoch's Road (Top). In those circumstances it is very difficult to allocate photographs correctly if separate galleries were used.
The Eccleshill service started much earlier. With the opening of the trolleybus services to Saltaire and Greengates much of the tram route to Eccleshill was under trolleybus wiring and it was a logical step to convert the route, which was Bradford's highest-numbered tram route.
The first trolleybuses ran on 30th May 1934 terminating initially by turning right into Moorside Road and then reversing back onto Stony Lane. This was replaced by squeezing in a rather tight turning circle in the same junction in front of the Mechanics' Institute in 1941. The City terminus was off Forster Square on Bolton Road and the service took the same number as the tram service it replaced - 33.
The service for many years settled down to a quiet and largely-unrecorded existence. Once the bridge on the Clayton route was lowered and double-deckers could run there, it became the last part of the network to see regular single-deck operation with the exception of the Oakenshaw service which ceased in 1940. The next change would follow developments on the other side of the city.
The services to Wibsey and Buttershaw were one of the earlier manifestations of the pro-electric traction policy advocated by the new General Manager, C. T. Humpidge, who took up the post in early 1951. Reductions in electricity tariffs and increases in the cost of diesel had helped to swing the economics back in favour of electric traction.
Work started on the extension in April 1953 but proceeded quite slowly, being carried out by overhead staff in between other work. Progress was such that the first trolleybuses could run as far as Little Horton from 8th November 1954.
The extension from that point took services up St. Enoch's Road, which had rather jocularly received that name in honour of Enoch Priestley, who as chairman of North Bierley U. D. C. had extracted the building of this new road and tramway to Wibsey as part of the settlement associated with the absorption of that district into Bradford. Trolleybuses first ran up that road to St. Enoch's Road (Top) and Wibsey on 24th April 1955 and to Buttershaw on 8th April 1956, the roads in the estate having to be hastily completed to allow the service to start.
A spur was added along Horton Park Avenue in January 1957 and first used on 6th May 1957. This served both football (Bradford Park Avenue) and cricket grounds, Yorkshire County Cricket Club being a peripatetic team playing several matches a season in Bradford.
It had always been planned to link the service across the City to Eccleshill, but work in the centre prevented that at first. Workings were numbered according to direction, with the journeys to Eccleshill numbered 33 and those to St. Enoch's Road (Top) numbered 44. This through service started on 3rd November 1957.
A significant extension in Eccleshill was opened from 9th August 1959 which took the service down Bank to Faltis Square. This involved a steep descent at 1 in 9 and to protect the service in the event of severe winter conditions the original terminus was retained.
The cross-city service was converted to motorbus operation from 19th February 1964 and trolleybus operation to Eccleshill was then confined to peak-hour extras. This lasted until 31st October 1964 when the service finished without ceremony.
The Wibsey and Buttershaw services had always started from Tyrrell Street and the only changes to services occurred as the City Centre was re-modelled and affected the route at the bottom of Little Horton Road. A series of small changes culminated in the outbound service being diverted to Princes Way from 21st September 1969. This was the last short stretch of new trolleybus route to open in Bradford.
The spur along Horton Park Avenue closed on 2nd July 1969, whilst the last trolleybuses ran to Wibsey and Buttershaw on 31st July 1971.
Service numbers were allocated as follows:
Eccleshill - 33
St. Enoch's Road (Top) - 44
Wibsey - 45
Buttershaw - 46
Little Horton - 47
The Eccleshill service was worked by Bolton depot, initially by a mixture of six-wheelers and single-deckers, until that depot closed in 1958, after which Thornbury depot provided the vehicles. Thornbury had also supplied vehicles for Wibsey and Buttershaw, but the closure of the Allerton service created space in Duckworth Lane depot for the services to be operated from there from 1st March 1971 for the last five months. By this date demand had fallen and fewer vehicles were needed to maintain the services.
© David Beilby
