Map reveals London’s first ‘electric bus service’ nearly forgotten after 50 years

A forgotten map has revealed what London boroughs used to have a trolleybus and tram service.

E-vehicles might feel like a 21st-century creation – but trolleybuses powered by electricity trundled along London roads almost 100 years ago.

Up until the early 1960s, Londoners were able to jump onto an electric trolleybus or tram to travel across the capital.

Dozens of routes zigzagged in the London boroughs, including daily services and all-night routes.

A map has now resurfaced on social media showing where the routes ran in 1947.

The trolleybus reached as far as Dartford in Kent, Uxbridge in west London and Barkingside in the east and Sutton, Surrey.

Before the dawn of the trams, the capital kept moving thanks to more than 300,000 horses.

But by 1914, horses had been largely replaced by the trams which carried around 800 million passengers each year.

Even Westminster Bridge was covered in tracks before the tram disappeared.

The very last tram ran from Woolwich to New Cross on July 5, 1952, during the emotional ‘last tram week’ which saw crowds bid farewell to trams with banners and souvenir tickets.

Then a newer creation, the trolleybus, arrived in 1935 and began replacing the trams – although the Second World War momentarily slowed down the conversion of tramways with trolleybuses.

At its height, the trolleybus network was the largest in the world, boasting 1,764 trolleybuses and 225 miles of route.

The trolleybuses used most of the previous tram infrastructure such as power stations, substations and high-tension supply cables.

The first trolleybuses were nicknamed ‘Diddlers’ by passengers and staff for ‘reasons now uncertain,’ a TfL research document said.

Later trolleybus fleet was made of double-decker vehicles with 70 seats and they were designed to look more like contemporary motor buses, which were being rolled out.

Electric public transport was taken over by petrol-guzzling motor vehicles in the early 1960s.

All but two were sold to operators in Spain where they lasted in use until 1979.

The trolleybuses and trams looked very different to the capital’s trams today, which still exist in south London after the tram was brought back in 2000.

Electric public transport made another comeback recently when Transport for London (TfL) launched a fleet of 20 new electric buses.

What the new buses, running between Crystal Palace and Orpington in south London, and the old trolleybuses have in common are the pantographs connecting them to the electricity supply overhead.

Otherwise, their look is very different to the old double-decker ‘Diddlers’, including a rounded front, wheels that are designed to stop pedestrians or cyclists from being dragged under in a crash and USB ports on each seat.

This article was first published on February 12, 2025.

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