I WAS delighted with both Robert Smith’s and Colin Hingston’s recent contributions on the age of the trolleybus and how good it would be to see a return to such vehicles. Yes, why not here?

I absolutely loved the ‘trolleys’.

Although born and raised in Southampton, I was late for the tram – by a full three years actually. The last one left Southampton in 1949.

I did though grow up spending a few days every summer with an aunt in Southsea up to the age of ten, where the trolley bus was, up to then, a wonderful travel option. So instantly fascinated I became (still am) with trolleybuses having never seen anything like them before.

They were brilliant to travel on. I used to appeal to the parents to wait for one to arrive in preference to a diesel bus. The Pompey trollies were sleek and stylish with archetype flat sloping front, very smart in their maroon and white livery, city crest and “Heavens Light Our Guide” civic motto emblazoned on the side. Sadly the familiar clatter, as they changed direction on the overhead cables, and the crackle of the sometimes visible blue sparks and distinctive, undulating, low whining sound, as they glided gracefully to and from the stop, ceased on their withdrawal by 1963.

I probably rode my last trolley as an excited schoolboy at Southsea in 1962, if my memory serves me well. The also familiar yellow and claret Bournemouth equivalent lasted several years longer in service – but they too disappeared in the end.

It happened that I was staying in Manchester around the time the super-tram first appeared early 1990s and travelled from Piccadilly Gardens out to Bury. In addition I also undertook a half day’s drivers’ tuition on the Seaton, East Devon Tramway back in 2007 as I’d always wanted to drive a trolley bus or at least a tram. I contributed to their newsletter on request, later on, saying my experiences that day were “Tramtastic”.

My partner Linda’s late father Norman Groves (a second father to me), former Railwayman and one-time Southampton Central Station Master, rode as my passenger from Seaton to Colyton and back that day. After which we were shown around the depot and workshop. My instructor whose name I recall was Neil, was also a top bloke. Sadly though I fear Colin Hingston’s contribution (Daily Echo Letters, November 30) is on the right track, in that the many “wish fors” of trolley, tram and rail enthusiasts, become derailed before ever becoming reality for a variety of reasons. In fact around maybe ten years ago, a former city councillor on the blue benches (having a good idea for a change), mooted the idea of restoring a tramway along Southampton’s waterfront. However, he switched his passion to kite flying up in Parliament instead along with everybody else.

So any wait for trams, trolley buses or the one-time overhead People Mover project, forever remains, a never-ending queue.

Chris Newman

Southampton