Brighton Trolleybus History
The roots of the Brighton, Hove and District Omnibus Company
can be traced back to the 12th September 1884, when the Brighton,
Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company was formed to amalgamate
the interests of the major horse bus operators in Brighton. When
Brighton Corporation introduced tram services in 1901, the
Company, although not competing with the Corporation trams
directly, decided the time was right to begin replacing the horse
buses with motor buses. By 1910 there were around 40 vehicles of
varying types in operation, and in 1911 the Company obtained
powers to operate trolleybuses, although the powers were
purchased by Brighton Corporation in 1913.
In February 1915, the buses of Thomas Tilling commenced working
on a service between Portslade Station and Castle Square,
Brighton. The Tilling concern had moved from London to the
provinces after an agreement limited the number of buses the
Company could operate in the capital to 150, seriously
restricting any further expansion there. On the 22nd November
1916, Thomas Tilling Limited purchased the urban routes of the
Brighton, Hove and Preston United Company [the Brighton to
Worthing route and excursions had been transferred to Southdown
Motor Services in 1915], including a number of second-hand buses,
licence's for 41 petrol, 12 electric buses and 8 horse buses,
which were replaced as soon as additional vehicles became
available. By 1922 Tilling was operating between Portslade and
Kemp Town; Sackville Road and Castle Square; Hove Station and
Kemp Town; Old Steine and Rottingdean; Old Steine and Patcham;
Portslade and Brighton Station, and Hove Station and Kemp Town.
In 1926 additional routes and vehicles were acquired with the
business of the Brighton Downs Motor Service.
Although several attempts were made at co-ordinating services
within the Brighton area, nothing came to fruition and
eventually, on the 26th November 1935; the Brighton, Hove &
District Omnibus Company was incorporated as a wholly owned
subsidiary of Thomas Tilling Ltd. In July 1937, Brighton Council
and the Company finally reached an agreement on co-ordination,
which provided for the pooling of receipts and running expenses
in the ratio of 72½% to the Company and 27½% to the
Corporation. The agreement was confirmed by Act of Parliament in
1938. A joint operating area came into force on the 1st April
1939 covering Brighton, Hove, Portslade, Rottingdean and
Southwick, although Southdown Motor Services routes within the
borough were not included. Each concern was responsible for the
purchase and maintenance of their own vehicles and buildings, but
in the event of trolleybus operation the Corporation was to have
sole responsibility for the fixed equipment such as overhead with
the Company having the right to run 20% of the mileage.
The introduction of joint working heralded the end of the Corporation
tramway system and the first closure took place in April 1939
when motor buses commenced running between Old Steine and Tivoli
Crescent North, replacing the trams on the Dyke Road route. On
1st May 1939 trolleybuses of Brighton Corporation replaced more
tram routes although it was not until 1945 that Brighton, Hove
& District trolleybuses were seen in the borough when the
Black Rock to Race Hill section was wired for use. The
trolleybuses had actually been delivered in 1939, but had been
stored for the duration of the war at Whitehawk depot and their
introduction made BH&D unique as the only Tilling group
company that operated trolleybuses. With the onset of World War
II, Brighton became a restricted area because of the fear of
invasion and much of the BH&D fleet became surplus to
requirements and was loaned out to other Tilling group companies.
When the war ended a number of new routes were opened to keep pace with the
construction of new housing estates on the outskirts of Brighton. The large
Hollingbury Estate was wired for trolleybuses during 1951 and finally opened in
September of that year, although BH&D did not operate on the route.
In February 1952 the workings on a number of services were re-allocated
between the Corporation and the Company. BH&D trolleybuses that formerly
operated exclusively on the 43 [West Pier to Race Hill, via Old Steine], 43A [Old
Steine to Race Hill] and 44 [West Pier to Black Rock via Seven Dials and Race
Hill] routes could now be found on the erstwhile Corporation routes [Nos. 41 and
42] between Brighton Station, Old Steine, Queens Park and Elm Grove. The
seven-mile long sea front service between Portslade and Rottingdean had been
introduced in 1936; using 1930/31 vintage open-top AEC Regents that were by
now coming to the end of their working lives. As replacements the Company
rebuilt ten of the 1940 Bristol K5G's with convertible open-tops for use in the
summer.
Large municipal estates had been built at Bevendean, Coldean and
Moulscombe, all of which were now exclusively served by the buses of
Southdown Motor Services, a situation that was heavily criticised by members of
the local council and public alike. It meant that passengers had to change buses
in order to shop at Brighton's main shopping centre on Western Road. As a
result it was suggested that the joint agreement between the council and BH&D
should be re-negotiated although the proposal was defeated and joint workings
between the three parties did not commence until the early 1960's.
One of the main arterial roads in Hove, The Drive, crossed the Brighton to
Portsmouth railway line and in 1954 the bridge carrying the road was rebuilt.
When it was re-opened to traffic in July the opportunity was taken to extend and
re-organise the route network in Hove. Several journeys were re-routed via The
Drive, including some of those on route 3, which was extended from Hove
Station to Sunninghill Estate via the new bridge. Route 14 was diverted across
the bridge between Dyke Road and Church Road and additional routes serving
Palmeira Square and Eastern Road were introduced. Planned new services to
the Woodingdean estate had to be dropped when Southdown Motor Services
objected and introduced their own services to cover the area.
Negotiations were subsequently commenced with Southdown concerning the
integration of services in the Brighton area.
A meeting of the town council on the 28th July 1956 decided in favour of
abandoning the town's trolleybus system, but a final date was not agreed. On the
24th March 1959, the trolleybus routes in the eastern part of Brighton ceased
operations and the BH&D trolleybuses were withdrawn. A few months later in
May 1959, BH&D became the last Tilling group company to place the Bristol
Lodekka into service when two [Nos. 4 and 5] commenced operating on the
route between Pool Valley and Coombe Road. Of the eight Lodekkas delivered
three [Nos. 1-3] had convertible open-top bodywork, whilst the remainder had
normal bodywork.
Towards the end of 1960 negotiations with Southdown Motor Services were
completed and from 1st January 1961 a new joint agreement between Brighton
Corporation, Brighton, Hove & District and Southdown came into force. This
resulted in the appearance of BH&D vehicles on erstwhile Southdown routes and
to avoid duplication of route numbers some were re-numbered. Since the 1938
agreement all Corporation and Company buses had carried the fleet name
Brighton, Hove & District Transport, supplemented, in the case of Corporation
owned buses, by the coat-of-arms of Brighton. Following the 1961 agreement
Corporation buses displayed Brighton Corporation Transport on their sides
whilst the Company vehicles showed simply Brighton, Hove & District.
In 1962, the Brighton, Hove & District Company became a part of the Transport
Holding Company, which had been formed to try to re-organise the nationalised
bus companies. BH&D had been a nationalised bus company since the Tilling
group had sold their interests to the British Transport Commission in 1948 and
when the BET group was acquired in 1968, Southdown Motor Services joined the
nationalised companies. With the formation of the National Bus Company on the
1st January 1969, Brighton, Hove & District was merged with its larger brother,
combining operations in the Brighton area and the company became dormant,
bringing to an end almost 35 years of the Brighton, Hove and District Omnibus
Company.
From: "Martin Nimmo" <Martin.Nimmo@cimaglobal.com>
I noticed that you state that the BH&D trolleybuses ran on the 43 [West Pier to Race Hill via Old Steine] and the
44 [West Pier to Black Rock via Seven Dials and Race Hill]. The 43 was normally a depot working, and only ran
from Old Steine to Whitehawk garage/Black Rock via Race Hill, and the 44 did not serve the West Pier [it was Seven
Dials to Black Rock via Race Hill]. The extensions were only made to the motor bus replacement routes! You got
the 43A right, however!
The last Brighton trolleybus ran on 30 June 1961. Also, as far as I am aware, no Brighton trolleybus ran with the
"Brighton Corporation Transport" fleet name, though two of the new forward entrance PD2s, 5006/7 CD, ran
from 1 June with these [side by side with the remaining trolleybuses]. Trolleybus 32 which was in the depot
withdrawn was use as a test-bed for the new fleet name, however!