Brisbane city electric trolley buses

Reckon Rod Smith may just know about these. First trip ever to Brisbane (for me), recall seeing the electric powered trolley buses, circa 1964 or thereabouts. Amused me at the time, looked just like the old double deck Sydney buses with a panto-graph. Did these cumbersome jiggers replace Brisbane trams? Again, my memory dims a bit, had an idea they run up the old Bruce Highway as far as Clontarf? Who made them? Were they old converted diesel/petrol machines?
Maybe someone has some old photo's they wouldn't mind posting, just for posterity's sake?
Or, they may have been covered before, if so, a reference number to the posting would be great. Cheers,
Dave_64

All but perhaps one in Brisbane were new routes, not replacing trams. Trolleybuses were a technology of the 1930s, and existed in Brisbane, Sydney, Launceston, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth (also Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Christchurch? and Dunedin in NZ). In most cities, they were new builds, not conversions, and were used to serve newly-developing suburbs. They were smooth and quiet, and were nicknamed 'whispering death' in some places. Brisbane's were withdrawn in the late 1960s. Wellington's have survived, but the council has announced withdrawal: lost in the politics of privatisation. There are lots of systems surviving in Europe, some in China, plus Vancouver (Canada), Seattle (USA), San Francisco (California USA), Mexico City, Quito (Ecuador) and Valparaiso (Chile). There may well be others, this is just top of head.
Here is a link to one of mine, in Brisbane. tdu.to/45238.att .
I can get more links for a future post.

Roderick

Trolley Buses used the same overhead power as the trams, so when the trams finished up in 1969 that was the end of the trolley buses.
They were a dedicated electric chassis, not a conversion.
My Grandfather had one for storage for a little while in the mid 70's.
I haven't got any photo's though.

Dave-64.

Maybe this video will help.

Video

LN700.

This map was lifted without credit from the booklet 'Destination Valley', published by Traction Publications or AETA.
members.shaw.ca/activeX/Brisbane.Track.OH.JPG

It is hard to follow for just the trolleybuses separated from trams. Southside: Seven Hills, Carina and Cavendish Rd.
City centre (including Fortitude Valley and the parts mentioned in the video): not shown in detail.
Also northside: Prospect Tce, a loop north-west to south-east in two cbd streets, intersecting the railway and tramlines, and the link to the depot. My memory of the depot is that is was built on a slope, and was unwired: coast in at the top, and out at the bottom. Brisbane had only single-deck trolleybuses. Sydney and Adelaide had double-deck ones.
Here is the city centre, same website, from the same source.
members.shaw.ca/activeX/Brisbane.City.Area.OH.JPG


Roderick

Thanks, Rod and Big Cam, my memory must have had a meltdown, I was confusing the double-decker trolley buses with somewhere else.
But, it's good to see there's still a bit of interest in a bygone era.
Dave_64

There were two different body builders there are one of each at the Brisbane Tramway Mueum www.brisbanetramwaymuseum.org/index.php

I don't think we have seen the end of trolley buses and hopefully Wellington see the value in their system rather than scrapping it. The overhead wiring is a problem but I think they have ones now that can run on batteries for part of the time.

Getting of the subject a bit, Sydney had trolley buses I've seen pictures of them in Williams St I think in the 40's or 50's and I think they were double deckers