Wigan Album

Fantastic photo of the Punch Bowl Atherton with the Savoy Cinema where I spent many a Saturday morning watching the old cowboy movies

Great photo,wished I had a pound for every time I went on a Trolly Bus,it's just going to pass the Letter's,which I think is still there,quick too those Trolly's.

spud, you answered my question before I got to ask it, we used to call them trolley buses, not trams.... we went on them all the time going to see my grandparents in Haydock.....lovely memories..

Hi Janet,Trolley buses were great,they ran using overhead electric cables,there was a long pole at the side of the bus,it was used to switch cables to go in another direction,they were almost silent when moving,no pollution either.

This is pre 1956 coz the trolley buses were decommisioned at the time of the Suez Crisis

can anyone tell me how they park the buses once they return to the depot it must have been a task with the overhead pickup arm

To change direction the long pole was used,to hook up to another cable,it had to be done at the end of each journey anyway.

Gerry, the trollies were due to be replaced by buses in 1956 but I think they were kept on until 1957/1958 because of the shortage of fuel caused by the suez crisis. I have a book showing photos of them still operating in 1957. On another tack, am I right in remembering that they ran for a short while behind the main road in the King Billy area of Platt Bridge, and that this was a rough section of road that caused the trolley pole to come off the wire regularly, or is this something I am imagining I remember?

Trolleybuses at Atherton depot were driven to the end of the shed on to a large turntable,the trolley booms were hooked down the the bus turned completely round to face the opposite direction,then the the turntable traversed sideways to put the bus at the designated bay,where the booms were hooked up to the overhead wiring,then driven off the turntable to its place in the bay ready for moving out the next day.Note all the bays had inspection pits,so you had to be careful when driving over them.I know I did it often enough..

I lived in the Punch Bowl Hotel on and off with my grandparents (Anne & Harry Smith) from around 1965 up untill 1974 ...don't remember seeing them Trollybuses at all...oh and if the landlord of the Punch Bowl sees this..I would Love to look up stairs ...it's soon going to be 50 years since I was last up there...