Volunteers restore Walsall trolleybus

But now, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Black Country Living Museum's Transport Group, the vehicle, built in 1946, is back to its best.

The volunteers have spent the past three years restoring the bus and painting it from blue and cream to the two shades of blue it would have sported back in its heyday.

The bus, the same model as used in the Black Country in the 1930s and 40s, is on loan from Colin Saxton from the Bradford Trolleybus Association who bought it at a bus rally back back in the 1980s.

Chairman of the transport group Lynton Copper said: "We come to the museum twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when we work on painting the bus for around seven to eight hours a day.

"We have only used paint brushes to do the work which is why it has taken us so long but we are really pleased with how it is looking."

The trolleybus will start running next year on the museum's trolley line, which is the world's longest route for double decker trolleys. It will run on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

This particular bus is also very important as its transfers are the last pieces created by Stan Letts, who was a member of the volunteer group since 1980s and principal organiser of the bus and tramway societies across the West Midlands until his death in April.

Mr Letts was nationally recognised for his beautifully intricate transfers, which can be seen on the 735.

Mr Cooper added: "Stan would have been so been so proud to see the bus finished. It is a shame that he will not be here to see the trolley running next year."

Trolleybuses were first introduced to Britain in the early 1900s, in the Walsall, for example, they ran from the 1930s up until the 1970s.

Transport group member Donald Phipps said:"The trolleys were really popular in the 1930s as it was cheaper to install them than it was to install trams lines in growing towns. Trolleys stopped being used when buses were introduced but some trolleys ran for over 40 years and they are incredibly eco-friendly."

The group recently won an Arts and Heritage award for "outstanding commitment to voluntary service in the Dudley Borough" after they were nominated by the museum' s volunteer coordinator Dianne Rivers. The award recognises and applauds the valuable contribution that volunteers make to their organisations, the community and society as a whole.