Foxton96
Dunedin No. 1 in Foxton, 1998
Reminiscing on the halcyon days of trolleybus operation in Foxton under the stewardship of Ian Little, a reboot of a snap posted on 28 November 2014.
Dunedin No. 1 is viewed turning from Wharf St. into Harbour St. in 1998 shortly having a Dulux makeover after being acquired from the Wellington Tramway Museum in Paekakariki in March that same year and was in Foxton from the Wellington Tramway Museum (was towed from Queen Elizabeth Park to Foxton on 28/3/1998) on a lifetime loan arrangement.
TROLLEYBUS NO. 1 RETURNS
By Timothy Brown
25 June 2016
Dunedin's first trolleybus has returned to the city, 50 years after it was taken out of service and sent to the North Island.
The bus was stored in Wellington for years before beginning its journey south last year and finally returned to Dunedin last Friday after spending almost a year in Christchurch.
Otago Heritage Bus Society chairman Anthony Holliday said he was pleased the bus had returned.
"After 50 years it's come home again,'' he said.
DCT No. 1 left Dunedin in 1966, after 16 years of commercial service and was driven to the North Island under its own power, towing a generator.
The vehicle was built in Wellington for Dunedin City Corporation Tramways by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd, as a prototype design specifically for Dunedin.
The first route to open was No. 6, Queen's Gardens to Gardens, via Castle St, followed by route No. 8, Queens Gardens to Opoho, via Castle St.
The society had ambitions of returning the derelict vehicle to operating condition, but that hope remained years and thousands of dollars away, Mr Holliday said.
"We are talking three to five years at least,'' he said.
"We are probably talking of hundreds of thousands [of dollars to fix it]. High tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.''
The bus had spent decades parked by the seaside in Wellington [Queen Elizabeth Park in Paekakariki] and the society was yet to assess the damage caused by the years of salty sea air.
The society hoped to begin assessing and working on the vehicle in spring and would be raising funds to contribute to the repair, Mr Holliday said.
If returning the bus to operating condition proved too difficult, the society would "at least'' make it a static display, he said.
The group had access to another trolleybus which would be used for spare parts.
Each year, the society's restored vehicles make an appearance on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday as the Suburban Rumbler, Dunedin's public holiday bus service operating along two major Dunedin bus routes. - Otago Daily Times.
Story and video:
www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/388126/trolley-bus-no1-returns...
Dunedin City Transport (DCT) No. 1 [British United Traction RETB1 chassis built by Leyland with NZMB B40D bodywork and Metropolitan-Vickers electrics] was built under the directions and specifications of the Dunedin City Corporation Transport board, (later known as Dunedin City Transport) in 1945. The Government of the time encouraged local government “to Buy British and help our Mother Country”. New Zealand Motor Bodies won the tender to supply Dunedin with initially 73 trolleybuses with British United Traction motors and Leyland chassis.
The fully built buses were delivered between August 1950 and September 1958. An extra 6 were ordered in 1958, which were delivered in 1962 to make 79 in total.
DCT No. 1 was the first trolleybus for Dunedin to roll off the production line at the New Zealand Motor Bodies Petone workshop in Wellington on the 6th August 1950 and was soon shipped South to Dunedin where it awaited its turn to be put to work, two other trolleybuses arrived one month later.
No. 1 was distinquished from its subsequent Christchurch-bodied examples by its square-cornered front windscreen and the small visor above.
After a few trials and driver training along the a new route, Queens Gardens to Opoho via Castle Street. All three trolleybuses were put to work on 23 December 1950 showcasing Dunedin’s new modern comfortable enclosed public transport to the delight of the Christmas shopper. The Dunedin trolleybus system covered 26 miles of overhead wire, 19 routes and a total of 79 vehicles over the duration of its operation.
Dunedin boasts to have had the world’s most southern trolleybus system and DCT No. 1 was the first bus to be operated on it. DCT No. 1 retired in 1966 from the Dunedin City Transport fleet only after 16 years of service. The average age of a trolleybus to retire in Dunedin was 19 years. DCT No. 1 had travelled over 249,147 miles.
After being purchased for private use in 1966, DCT No. 1 was transported North under its own power, using a DC generator towed in a trailer with the destination of Wellington to become part of the Wellington Tramway Museum at Queen Elizabeth Park.
After operating successfully along side the museum’s trams and other trolleybuses with the Wellington Tramway Museum, DCT No.No. 1 moved North to a coastal settlement of Foxton in March 1998 to join Ian Little’s collection of heritage buses. Here DCT No. 1 operated on the small museum trolleybus system of Foxton alongside other retired trolleybuses from all over New Zealand, and continued good service until 2008 when Ian Little passed away.
Mr Little’s passing prompted the return of DCT No. 1 to Wellington Tramway Museum in late 2008. Unfortunately since DCT No. 1 had initially left, the Wellington Tramway Museum had a change of policy, and trolley-buses are not part of that policy allowing the focus to remain on the regions trams and other rail transport. DCTNo. 1 was then de-accessioned later in 2009, but retained and waiting for a new owner that the Wellington Tramway Museum deems appropriate.
In early 2011 the Wellington Tramway Museum approached the Otago Heritage Bus Society to see if they would like to acquire DCT No. 1 for the Society’s heritage fleet. After some careful consideration the Otago Heritage Bus Society has kindly accepted DCT No. 1. In July 2015 No. 1 was at the Ferrymead Historic Park in Christchurch on its trip south from Wellington.
By the time the network was completed, Dunedin trolleybuses more completely dominated city's public transport than was the case in any other city in New Zealand. In 1958 the council had only 25 diesel buses in service compared to 73 trolleys. In all other New Zealand cities the trolleys were outnumbered by diesels even at the very height of their respective systems.
The trolleybus had a particular appeal in Dunedin because some routes were extraordinarily steep, being in excess of 1 in 8, and the diesel alternatives of the day just could not offer anywhere near comparable performance. The need to face these considerable gradients led to some of the most remarkable braking specification ever found in any New Zealand bus. Not only were they fitted with the full-air and rheostatic brakes usually found in trolleybuses, but they were also equipped with special coasting and runback brakes to prevent runaways on the hills and these were so designed as to be operative even under conditions of dewirement. As a further precaution battery manoeuvring capability was intentionally omitted so as to prevent the deliberate operation of the vehicles on gradients in the absence of line power.
Dunedin No. 1 in Foxton, 1998
Reminiscing on the halcyon days of trolleybus operation in Foxton under the stewardship of Ian Little, a reboot of a snap posted on 28 November 2014.
Dunedin No. 1 is viewed turning from Wharf St. into Harbour St. in 1998 shortly having a Dulux makeover after being acquired from the Wellington Tramway Museum in Paekakariki in March that same year and was in Foxton from the Wellington Tramway Museum (was towed from Queen Elizabeth Park to Foxton on 28/3/1998) on a lifetime loan arrangement.
TROLLEYBUS NO. 1 RETURNS
By Timothy Brown
25 June 2016
Dunedin's first trolleybus has returned to the city, 50 years after it was taken out of service and sent to the North Island.
The bus was stored in Wellington for years before beginning its journey south last year and finally returned to Dunedin last Friday after spending almost a year in Christchurch.
Otago Heritage Bus Society chairman Anthony Holliday said he was pleased the bus had returned.
"After 50 years it's come home again,'' he said.
DCT No. 1 left Dunedin in 1966, after 16 years of commercial service and was driven to the North Island under its own power, towing a generator.
The vehicle was built in Wellington for Dunedin City Corporation Tramways by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd, as a prototype design specifically for Dunedin.
The first route to open was No. 6, Queen's Gardens to Gardens, via Castle St, followed by route No. 8, Queens Gardens to Opoho, via Castle St.
The society had ambitions of returning the derelict vehicle to operating condition, but that hope remained years and thousands of dollars away, Mr Holliday said.
"We are talking three to five years at least,'' he said.
"We are probably talking of hundreds of thousands [of dollars to fix it]. High tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.''
The bus had spent decades parked by the seaside in Wellington [Queen Elizabeth Park in Paekakariki] and the society was yet to assess the damage caused by the years of salty sea air.
The society hoped to begin assessing and working on the vehicle in spring and would be raising funds to contribute to the repair, Mr Holliday said.
If returning the bus to operating condition proved too difficult, the society would "at least'' make it a static display, he said.
The group had access to another trolleybus which would be used for spare parts.
Each year, the society's restored vehicles make an appearance on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday as the Suburban Rumbler, Dunedin's public holiday bus service operating along two major Dunedin bus routes. - Otago Daily Times.
Story and video:
www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/388126/trolley-bus-no1-returns...
Dunedin City Transport (DCT) No. 1 [British United Traction RETB1 chassis built by Leyland with NZMB B40D bodywork and Metropolitan-Vickers electrics] was built under the directions and specifications of the Dunedin City Corporation Transport board, (later known as Dunedin City Transport) in 1945. The Government of the time encouraged local government “to Buy British and help our Mother Country”. New Zealand Motor Bodies won the tender to supply Dunedin with initially 73 trolleybuses with British United Traction motors and Leyland chassis.
The fully built buses were delivered between August 1950 and September 1958. An extra 6 were ordered in 1958, which were delivered in 1962 to make 79 in total.
DCT No. 1 was the first trolleybus for Dunedin to roll off the production line at the New Zealand Motor Bodies Petone workshop in Wellington on the 6th August 1950 and was soon shipped South to Dunedin where it awaited its turn to be put to work, two other trolleybuses arrived one month later.
No. 1 was distinquished from its subsequent Christchurch-bodied examples by its square-cornered front windscreen and the small visor above.
After a few trials and driver training along the a new route, Queens Gardens to Opoho via Castle Street. All three trolleybuses were put to work on 23 December 1950 showcasing Dunedin’s new modern comfortable enclosed public transport to the delight of the Christmas shopper. The Dunedin trolleybus system covered 26 miles of overhead wire, 19 routes and a total of 79 vehicles over the duration of its operation.
Dunedin boasts to have had the world’s most southern trolleybus system and DCT No. 1 was the first bus to be operated on it. DCT No. 1 retired in 1966 from the Dunedin City Transport fleet only after 16 years of service. The average age of a trolleybus to retire in Dunedin was 19 years. DCT No. 1 had travelled over 249,147 miles.
After being purchased for private use in 1966, DCT No. 1 was transported North under its own power, using a DC generator towed in a trailer with the destination of Wellington to become part of the Wellington Tramway Museum at Queen Elizabeth Park.
After operating successfully along side the museum’s trams and other trolleybuses with the Wellington Tramway Museum, DCT No.No. 1 moved North to a coastal settlement of Foxton in March 1998 to join Ian Little’s collection of heritage buses. Here DCT No. 1 operated on the small museum trolleybus system of Foxton alongside other retired trolleybuses from all over New Zealand, and continued good service until 2008 when Ian Little passed away.
Mr Little’s passing prompted the return of DCT No. 1 to Wellington Tramway Museum in late 2008. Unfortunately since DCT No. 1 had initially left, the Wellington Tramway Museum had a change of policy, and trolley-buses are not part of that policy allowing the focus to remain on the regions trams and other rail transport. DCTNo. 1 was then de-accessioned later in 2009, but retained and waiting for a new owner that the Wellington Tramway Museum deems appropriate.
In early 2011 the Wellington Tramway Museum approached the Otago Heritage Bus Society to see if they would like to acquire DCT No. 1 for the Society’s heritage fleet. After some careful consideration the Otago Heritage Bus Society has kindly accepted DCT No. 1. In July 2015 No. 1 was at the Ferrymead Historic Park in Christchurch on its trip south from Wellington.
By the time the network was completed, Dunedin trolleybuses more completely dominated city's public transport than was the case in any other city in New Zealand. In 1958 the council had only 25 diesel buses in service compared to 73 trolleys. In all other New Zealand cities the trolleys were outnumbered by diesels even at the very height of their respective systems.
The trolleybus had a particular appeal in Dunedin because some routes were extraordinarily steep, being in excess of 1 in 8, and the diesel alternatives of the day just could not offer anywhere near comparable performance. The need to face these considerable gradients led to some of the most remarkable braking specification ever found in any New Zealand bus. Not only were they fitted with the full-air and rheostatic brakes usually found in trolleybuses, but they were also equipped with special coasting and runback brakes to prevent runaways on the hills and these were so designed as to be operative even under conditions of dewirement. As a further precaution battery manoeuvring capability was intentionally omitted so as to prevent the deliberate operation of the vehicles on gradients in the absence of line power.