Trolleybuses in Ripley

By 1928, Notts and Derby Traction Company were given power to operate a trolleybus system in the area.  The first part of the system opened between Bridge Street, Cotmanhay and Hallam Fields, Ilkeston on the 7th January 1932.  On the 5th October 1933 the last tram ran on the Nottingham to Ripley route.   

The trolleybus system was very efficient and reliable, the journey from Ripley to Nottingham taking 90 minutes with some 230 stops along the way. 

When the electricity industry was mostly nationalized in 1948, Balfour Beatty sold the Midland General Group, which had become the owners of the Notts and Derby Traction Company, to the British Transport Commission.

Trolleybuses continued until the 25th April 1953 when they gave way to the versatility of the bus.   The fleet of trolleybuses was sold to Bradford Corporation.

The first Notts and Derby trolleybuses were a batch of six, smart and streamlined English Electric single deckers with forward entrance and seating for 32 passengers.   They entered service in 1932 and operated in the Ilkeston area.

The Notts and Derby Traction Company logo was very short-lived and was soon replaced by the more familiar ‘NDT’ enclosed in a circular belt.

EE Trolleybus RB 5570 on Nottingham Road, Ilkeston in 1935.   They were repainted in a darker blue livery.

EE Trolleybus RB 6613 in Gregory Boulevard, Sherwood, Nottingham on its way to Ripley in 1933.   In the background is a Nottingham City tram.

Note that the first batch of trolleybuses were single deck vehicles which were soon supplemented by double decked vehicles.

RB 8954 in original fully lined-out livery pictured near Victoria Station Hotel, Nottingham in about 1934. 

DRB 617 on the Ripley to Nottingham service around 1938.  

In 1953, the last trolleybus services ran on the Nottingham to Ripley route on the 25th April.  

Here two trolleybuses wait at 9.50 pm. at the junction of King Street and Queen Street, Nottingham on the last day of service.   The A1 Langley Mill service via Heanor, Eastwood and Basford departed first leaving the A1 Ripley trolleybus with the honour of being the last Notts and Derby trolleybus service from Nottingham.