London Trolleybuses and Red Buses 1959-62- Personal Memories of an Age of Change

Geoff Bannister came to London from Burnley in 1949 as a nine-year-old, having developed an interest in transport at a very early age; he remained here, mainly in Wandsworth, until 1994. In his first two books, he described his trainspotting travels around Britain. In this volume, he considers London Transport’s road fleet with an emphasis on the Central Area during the conversion of trolleybus routes during 1959 to 1962. He writes about his local trolleybus routes and recollects on seeing trams as a schoolboy in Tooting. Not possessing a camera until 1959, he has drawn on later photographs and preserved vehicles to fill earlier gaps, taking the reader on a tour of the Central Area with an emphasis on trolleybuses. Bannister also covers other vehicles such as the early days of the iconic Routemasters along with everyday shots of life at that time. Green Country buses do make some appearances, and he makes a brief nod to the off-the-peg vehicles acquired after Routemaster production.