The Longwood trolleybus turntable formed part of the
Huddersfield trolleybus system, which served the
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
of
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
, in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
History
Opened on ,
the
turntable
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
was used to turn around all Huddersfield
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es terminating at Dod-Lea, where there was insufficient space for the trolleybuses to reverse their direction under their own power.
Manually operated, the turntable remained in use only until 1940. By that time, wartime conditions had led to the recruitment of female conductors who were not strong enough to help the driver operate the turntable, and
blackout
Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to:
Loss of lighting or communication
* Power outage, a loss of electric power
* Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event
* Blackout (fabric), a t ...
regulations had made it difficult for crew to see what they were doing after dark. The turntable was therefore replaced by alternative arrangements, and was not put back into service after the end of the war. However, it remained ''in situ'' for many years, until finally being removed in the second half of the 1980s.
Significance
The Longwood turntable is said to be one of only four trolleybus turntables ever to have been constructed worldwide. Two other such turntables are the similarly abandoned
Christchurch trolleybus turntable
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
, in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
(in operation 1936–1969; now a Grade II listed building), and the
Unterburg trolleybus turntable
The Unterburg trolleybus turntable () is a disused railway turntable, turntable for trolleybuses of the Trolleybuses in Solingen, Solingen trolleybus system, in the Solingen district Burg an der Wupper, Germany. The facility was regularly used b ...
in
Solingen
Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
(still in use for heritage trolleybus services). A fourth known trolleybus turntable was one used on the
Guadalajara trolleybus system in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
in the 1980s, in a since-closed trolleybus-only tunnel in the city centre, on a temporary basis in 1982–1983 and again from 1985 until early 1988 (when the tunnel closed for the start of work to convert it for use by
Guadalajara's light rail system).
[Morgan, Steve (September–October 1990). "Mexico Review: Part 1". ''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 173, p. 104. .]
See also
*
History of Huddersfield
*
Transport in Huddersfield
Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...
References
Notes
Further reading
*{{cite book , last1=Lockwood , first1=Stephen , title=Huddersfield Trolleybuses , year=2002 , location=Midhurst, West Sussex, UK , publisher=Middleton Press , isbn=978-1-901706-92-5
External links
Flickr photo of bus 493 on turntable
Trolleybus Turntable
Trolleybus transport in the United Kingdom
Transport in Huddersfield