London's 'Diddler' Trolleybus in Action

Filmed at the East Anglia Transport Museum, near Lowestoft, on Sunday 6th May 2012, this film shows the 1931 trolleybus which is nicknamed 'Diddler' in action at a special event to commemorate it being 50 years since the closure of London's trolleybus system in 1962.
The East Anglia Transport Museum has a website at www.eatm.org.uk

[@eisemanrenyardjake]

The trolleybuses were quiet, and (as long as their electricity was produced cleanly) were ecologically friendly. It seems a terrible decision, in retrospect, for London and so many other British cities, to have axed them.

[@samanli-tw3id]

In Britain, electricity was produced mainly by burning coal.

[@eisemanrenyardjake]

@@samanli-tw3id I know, but it could easily have been produced through renewable sources, which is especially true today

[@simongill4715]

@@eisemanrenyardjake the technology wasn’t available then

[@eisemanrenyardjake]

@@simongill4715 I'm pretty sure it was. Switzerland, for example, had hydroelectricity that powered its mainlines back then. Britain could have done something like this, too. It was more a case of "why bother when we have coal?" in Britain; a very bad choice in retrospect.

[@geneve2008]

Lovely trolleybus ! And many thanks to the London Transport Museum for its friend;ly cooperation !

[@timosha21]

I'm a train and I approve this video!

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

I am a human and I also approve this video!

[@sethguest781]

Thomas: PEEP PEEP! Hello! 🚂🚃🚃😀

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Thanks Andrew. The EATM is well worth visiting - and for the larger special events you don't even need to be able to drive a car, as there are frequent bus shuttles to and from Lowestoft railway and bus stations (plus sometimes other local areas as well). Full info on their website.

[@fares-please]

Very cool to see the Diddler in action!

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Unfortunately I was unable to ride on it - capacity was very limited and had to be booked in advance. Plus there was someone from London Transport Museum there watching proceedings, not that any issues were expected. So I did not even try to blag my way aboard, as it could have created an embarrassing situation.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Thanks - I had assumed that on Monday the Diddler would have repeated the same journeys as on the Sunday. So I am very pleased that I was there on the Sunday!

[@sp1midholm]

Thanks for these great shots of this wonderful trolleybus. I saw it at Fulwell depot's open day yesterday, but sadly there's no overhead in Fulwell for it to run.

[@sethguest781]

I read about these recently, does my heart good to see 2 survived into preservation, beauties, these!

[@northstar1950]

Lovely quality upload, as someone who has the privilage to be involved with trolleybuses, not at Carlton Coville I hasten to add, this was a much appreciated and interesting video.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Trolleybuses and trams from London and other British towns and cities (and even a few places overseas) are run on all opening days. I've added the EATM's website url to my video's test, so that you can visit their website and see their opening days and times. Once a year (in September) they open until 9pm so that night-time operation can be enjoyed.I think that the place really comes to life in a most magical way when night falls. Well worth visiting.

[@Duraganthelion]

To me, trolleybuses would be ideal for inner city commuting and set routes around congested towns and cities. They are environmentally friendlier, quieter and have a near limitless source of power to keep them operating. Imagine modern trolleybuses equipped with the latest technology providing phone chargers, electric screens for display information and comfortable air conditioning all while reducing their carbon footprint. The only real drawback would of course be the limitation of their overhead wiring limiting them to their routes, but as long as they provide the services needed to help people commute they will still be useful to anyone needing to get around. Honestly, I'd say its time they were reintroduced to cities and towns.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

I agree, although many modern trolleybuses also have batteries for off-wire travel, and charge them when connected to the overhead wires.

[@AMOGLES99]

excellent video, thanks. I've never been to the EATM but hope to go there some day.

[@davidcox6947]

What a classic trollybus

[@joshuahalla.k.a.controlla6333]

Great video. ☺️

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@albertbenajam4751]

The battery and overhead combination would be an ideal, as eliminating disadvantages of both modes. To wit: Trolley needs fullt full route wiring not suited for lite traffic routes. Comblicated yard & garage wiring. Battery, short routes and service hours. Not good for long hours, like rush hours with mid day charging, needing more vehicles. Combining both gives situation where main streets can run on wire and branches on battery. No garage wire complications, using battery there. Also historic portions of routes could be wireless for esthetics. Also diversionbfor fire or road work possible. Quiet smooth ride with no fumes.

[@buddyclem7328]

Great video! It's a shame that these trolleybuses aren't driven more often. In San Francisco, California, USA, before the trolley wires were erected, the trolleys would tow a small trailer with a generator, so that they could still have parades of trolleys every year. Even a battery trailer, hooked in the same way to the trolley poles, would enable any trolleybus to drive outside of electrified areas for special occasions or fundraising.

[@barry5111]

I remember catching the trolleybuses at Kings Cross to go to school in Islington. I remember the day when the 639 and 615 changed to 239 and 215 when the Routemasters did their first day. I was impressed by the RM and at the time didn't mourn the old "trollies", but on hindsight it was such a backward move for the environment. It seems the RM development needed a big order to justify it and the oldest buses to replace were the poor old trollies.

[@HomeMoviePerson]

Excellent video and well edited - thoroughly enjoyed watching. I attended the event on the Monday - the first time I've seen the diddler. Lovely trolleybus. Would you take a look at my films from the event - would very much appreciate it. Thanks for uploading - Hayden.

[@DaveInBridport]

Didn't realise they were so quiet. Can just about remember going on a Reading trolleybus in about 1967 and it was very noisy.

[@Ben31337l]

I've never actually ridden on a trolley bus or tram, your generation was lucky in that regard. Everyone born after the 1980s missed out, I didn't even know they existed until I stumbled across them and I'd like to know as much about them as possible.

[@buddyclem7328]

Ben 1337 Actually, in the United States, there are at least 3 cities with older trolleys and trams in revenue service. Philadelphia, PA has the newest, made in 1981, and they also run in subway tunnels. Kenosha, WI and Boston, MA have PCC streetcars. Dayton, OH has a trolleybus system that still uses the original trolley infrastructure. Other cities have relatively new trolleys and trams. Washington, DC; Cincinnati, OH; and Pittsburgh, PA; all have newer trams. The one in Pittsburgh goes through a subway downtown. Pittsburgh is also home to 2 funiculars, incline railways, some of the last in the world, and still in revenue service.

[@buddyclem7328]

Ben 1337 If you can visit the Pittsburgh area, in Washington, Pennsylvania there is the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. For a $124 donation, you get trained, and later drive a trolley for an hour! I will definitely do that soon!

[@alexmckenna1171]

Shame I missed it. DO they often run the other London trolleys together normally, or only special days?

[@JamesPetts]

Would you have any objection if I were to use fragments of the audio from this and other of your videos as sound effects in a free, open-source non-commercial computer game called Simutrans? I should happily credit you, of course.

[@BusTransportvideos]

Looks like a routemaster with no front grill

[@josueuribe213]

¡Guau! También en Londres, Inglaterra hay trolebuses de dos pisos. ¡Una maravilla! Y muy bonitos.

[@Steven_Rowe]

I loved the trolleybuses when I was a small boy. They use to run through Tottenham and remember them well. So we got rid of them and we got rid of pea souper smogs, pollution you could actually see. But now we have something far more troublesome, something you cant see. All these cars pump so much pollution in the air, chemical pollution , what is it doing to our bodies????????? Normally you cant see it but it doesnt mean it isnt there. To put it bluntly we are all guilty of crapping i. our own beds. The visual pollution of wires above the road doesnt kill but breathing petrol chemical gases will damage us

[@RevPeteS]

revpete. I was fortunate to travel on the Diddler in the last year of operation also spent many happy hours on the 657 and all the routes in that area. Having a PSV licence I would of loved tohave driven a trollies.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

I was too young to travel on it, but I was able to source some photographs of the lower deck when I saw it at the London Transport Museum Acton Depot. This was done from the outside of the vehicle, since visitors were not allowed to enter it. I was also delighted to have been able to see it in action, even if in a very limited way, when I filmed this footage. As an aside, I also used one clip showing this trolleybus in the "2014 Year Of The Bus - Regent Street London Bus Cavalcade" film.

[@buddyclem7328]

Peter Sparks In Washington, Pennsylvania, USA, for a $124USD donation, you get training, and then get to drive a trolley for an hour at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum!

[@BusTransportvideos]

How fast can they go?

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

I am not sure - only that to help preserve their lives nowadays they are restricted to something like 30mph

[@PradeepSingh-yj5yq]

जय हिंद जय भारत भारत में भी ट्रेन सेवाएं अधिक अधिक से अधिक चलानी चाहिए जिससे खर्च भी कम आता है जय हिंद

[@k.m4061]

Ah yes cyclops eyed tbus

[@vincentdeguard4726]

There is much to be said for clean public transport...in terms of pollution and inside the vehicles...thank goodness smoking was banned "long ago" too. The issue we face now is how to get rid of all the haze and smog that has replaced the soot & grime of the past. Far too many vehicles even with the new enviro-standards is giving places like London problems for peoples health. "We"/government seem unable to act in a forceful way to solve it...Congestion Charging has not worked, taxes have not worked, scrappage schemes have got rid of what were suppose to be dirty cars and in part replaced them with diesel cars that were meant to be cleaner but havw turned out to be worse! We have a introduction of a new breed of London buses (NB4Ls) that seem to run most of the time on diesel than electric power and taxis still stuck with diesel engines too. With projected increase of 1million people in London in the next decade something has to be done, very soon rather than later.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

+Vincent de Guard I think that things are changing / going the right way. But slowly. Maybe in 15 years from now the situation will be very different.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

LOL re: oyster cards. :-)

[@godfearingheathen]

What's that I see on the buses? Cigarette ads! Highly illegal lol. I'm sure there's some sort of historic licence invoked like in period movies.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

oh yes, at one time tobacco advertising was everywhere - it was very lucrative. I have no idea about the present-day use of such adverts, nor even if the exact products being advertised even still exist.

[@godfearingheathen]

@@CitytransportInfoplus When I was growing up in UK in 50s I knew what Bovril was but I'd no idea what players were pleasing whom or who was craven a what. Now here in Oz at least all tobacco products are hidden behind shutters in the shops so I've no idea what brands are left for sale.

[@user-ps1oc5bf5b]

Electric

[@abbeymaddox3114]

:)

[@Lego_TV_2017]

3:35 это утка крякает!

[@redevilrrr]

Too bad that trolleybuses are being changed for regular buses or battery powered buses. Trolleybus network requires more maintenance and the vehicle is more expensive to buy, but they have lesser maintenance cost and longer life than regular buses, hybrid or electric buses. Not to mention they don´t pollute the city air and are quiet. Battery powered buses still need recharging and are unsuited for long lines and the overall environmental footprint is bigger, as long as the electricity for trolley comes from cleaner source than goal, oil shale.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

I agree - and to avoid creating a hazardous waste problem batteries need special 'environmental' handling when they are 'spent'.