Pictures show when trolleybuses were kings of the road

Initially, he used his father’s pre-war Kodak folding Brownie camera. Then, from the mid-1950s, he employed an Agfa Silette 35mm camera using either Agfa or Kodak film.

Geoff was particularly fond of trolleybuses and ventured to areas in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s where operations were winding down and other transport modes were being adopted.

Railless electric traction was first adopted in Westphalia Germany in 1903. Bradford and Leeds shared the honour of installing the first trolleybus systems in Great Britain.

They were established simultaneously in both cities at noon on June 20, 1911.

In their early days, the vehicles were styled ‘trackless trolleybuses’ and they collected power from overhead lines, similar to trams, but there were no rails. The vehicles were also steered like a bus.

Leeds ditched trolleybuses after a few years, but Bradford continued. Bradford’s Lord Mayor Ald.

Jacob Moser opened the Bradford trolleybus system at Laisterdyke whilst on board no. 240, the first of the two new vehicles. Public services did not begin at Bradford until Saturday, June 24 where the day's takings were, perhaps, a disappointing, at £3.

At the end of the First World War, Bradford continued to be at the forefront of trolleybus development with the building of the world's first double-deck, top-covered trolleybus. Often, the earlier vehicles were ridiculed by the public who said they were 'an abomination', caused teeth to chatter and cheeks to quiver.

The city’s trolleybus system was the last one in the UK to close, on March 26, 1972. Immediately before closure, the undertaking was the world's longest surviving trolleybus system.

On the final day, Friday, March 24, 1972, transport enthusiasts assembled outside the Duckworth Lane depot at 4 am to witness the first and last vehicles in service. Over Saturday and Sunday, when normal services were operated by motorbuses, there was a Last Trolleybus Weekend.

For this event Geoff Warnes and enthusiasts from all over the country flooded into the city. Geoff took the opportunity to take many pictures, whilst vehicles took passengers paying £1 each on a circular tour.

This extended from Thornton Road to Thornton, Squire Lane, Duckworth Lane, City, Thornbury and back to city.

A number of former Bradford trolleybuses are now preserved at various locations around the UK, including 11 of them the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, Lincolnshire.

Geoff Warnes never set out to copy any noted transport photographers like the former Bishop of Wakefield, Eric Treacy. He tended to think of people who had their pictures published as professional photographers and himself as a mere amateur.

His pictures – a large number of which have been published – were primarily taken for his own amusement and nobody else’s. They were like illustrations to his diaries.

Geoff photographed many aspects of trolleybuses in his hometown of Doncaster throughout the 1950s. Often, he captured staff taking a break at a terminus.

Trolleybuses first appeared in the area on August 22, 1928 on the Bentley route, travelling to and from North Bridge. Initial reaction to the vehicles on the Bentley route came in the form of complaints about radio interference from people listening to wirelesses.

On the whole, trolleybuses were very popular with the public in Doncaster and throughout the country. They provided a smooth and comfortable ride in comparison with earlier trams and motor charabancs.

The 1960s revealed a fundamental re-thinking of Doncaster Corporation’s public transport policy. Its aims for economy and efficiency, amidst wide-ranging town centre redevelopment, led to the abandonment of the system.

Geoff took a batch of pictures of trolleybus no. 375 as it operated a final commemorative run during the evening of December 14, 1963.

Geoff travelled around on his bike to various locations or on public transport and never learned to drive. To the west of Geoff’s hometown was the Mexborough & Swinton (M&S) trolleybus undertaking.

The National Electric Construction Company undertook the work on the overhead equipment, and following a Board of Trade inspection, two trolleybus routes opened on August 31, 1915. One of them ran from Old Toll Bar, Denaby to Elm Green Lane, Conisbrough and the other from Swinton Road, Mexborough to the Manvers Main Collieries.

The latter route provided considerable assistance to miners living in the Roman Terrace and Mexborough districts who were working at Manvers Main.

To begin with, services were operated by three 28-seater single-deck vehicles. The M&S was one of only a few organisations to use single deck trolleybuses.

They were to become familiar in their green and white, giving splendid service to South Yorkshire folk, for the next 45 years. During that time, they ran some 39,000,000 miles and carried 382,000,000 passengers.

They ceased to run on services at midnight, Sunday March 26, 1961 and were replaced by diesel buses. The following day, March 27, 1961, Geoff Warnes was present to take colour slides of a unique parade of trolleybuses.

The first seen was a vehicle specially altered and decorated for the occasion. This carried members of the Rawmarsh Prize Band who were to lead the farewell procession.

Rotherham Corporation made history on Thursday October 3, 1912 when introducing trolleybuses for the first time into South Yorkshire.

The Corporation's trolleybus enterprise was an attempt to cope with the rapidly increasing population, particularly with a glut of new mining developments around the area. The authority eventually introduced ten trolleybus routes serviced by a maximum fleet of 80 vehicles.

Colour slides were taken by Geoff in the mid-1950s and early 1960s on many of the Rotherham routes within and outside the town.

He also took views during a vehicle’s tricky manoeuvres at a terminus (particularly at Conisbrough) or when in the depot (often at Rawmarsh). Closure of the Rotherham system came on 2 October 1965.

Geoff travelled to Huddersfield to capture trolleybuses, in black and white in 1955, and colour on a number of occasions in the 1960s.

Huddersfield Corporation had realised in 1931 that the electric tramway system, would have to be renewed completely, or replaced by another form of transport.

Tram services ceased on the Almondbury route during the early part of 1933, and on December 4, 1933 the new trolleybus service began. In total, there were 15 trolleybus routes in operation in what was considered a medium sized system with a maximum fleet of 140 vehicles, mostly 6-wheeled, 60-seaters.

Free travel passes were issued to Huddersfield residents over 70 years old during April 1951 and proved to be very popular. These were introduced several years before the Public Service Vehicle (Travel Concessions) Act introduced in 1955.

Just as Huddersfield trams had given way to trolleybuses, so trolleybuses eventually bowed to motorbuses which had experienced considerable development during the first half of the 20th century.

Amongst the reasons given for the withdrawal of trolleybuses were that the trolleybus routes were losing money, motorbuses were cheaper to operate, and cost around 20% less to buy.

Also, on the Marsden and West Vale sections, rates had to be paid to other authorities on traction equipment lying outside the Huddersfield boundary. Although largely unpopular with the Huddersfield public, the planned abandonment of trolleybuses went ahead.

The first route to succumb to operation by motorbus was West Vale; motorbus services began on Thursday November 9, 1961. Others followed the same fate until Huddersfield's trolleybus operations ended on July 13, 1968.

Geoff Warnes was present in the town earlier in the month to record views in and around the area before the closure.

Thanks to Sue, Andrew and Rachel Warnes for help with this piece.