Subject: Bournemouth 78 (AEL 406)
Chassis: Sunbeam MS2
Body: English Electric H31/25D
Location: Preston, Strand Road works
Date: 1934

Bournemouth standardised on the Sunbeam MS2 chassis in the pre-war trolleybus fleet, with no less than 103 examples bought. The bulk had Park Royal bodies but six of the early ones (78-83) had English Electric bodies and the first is seen here on tilt test before delivery.

78 was delivered to Bournemouth on 14-Jun-1934 and entered service just eight days later. It spent most of the Second World War away from Bournemouth, helping to provide additional capacity first in London, then Newcastle, South Shields and finally Walsall. It was one of only three trolleybuses that were loaned to four different operators, although no less than thirty were on loan to various operators - a dozen trolleybuses worked for upwards of six years in Wolverhampton and two others also operated for Llanelly District Traction.

It was one of the first MS2s withdrawn, in December 1951, and was sold the following May.

Photograph from the GEC archive