Created 12-Mar-22
Modified 8-Mar-24
This small final batch of 'wartime' trolleybuses supplied to Bradford comprised 734-739 (DKY 734-739). These were again on Karrier W chassis and fitted with Roe UH30/26R bodies. These were to a more relaxed utility specification, the body design becoming more like the peacetime Roe product and new with upholstered seating. This batch had English Electric equipment and featured traction voltage lighting.
The seating capacity of the Roe bodies was increased to 59 in the mid-fifties. As with the other Karrier Ws these were rebodied during 1959 and 1960 and fitted with front-entrance East Lancs steel-framed bodies which were 27'-6" long and 8"-0" wide, the front-entrance arrangement now being adopted as standard by Bradford. The first two to be rebodied (733 and 738) were H37/28F, the remainder being H37/29F.
738 was the first of the batch withdrawn in November 1970. Others followed at various dates and only 735 ran until the end, being active on the last night of service operation and also operating on the final tour on 26th March 1972. It survives in preservation and is currently active at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, painted in Walsall Corporation livery.
© David Beilby
