The London trolleybus system served the city

City status in the United Kingdom

City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...

 of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England, and the rest of the London Passenger Transport Area, for just over thirty years in the mid twentieth century.

Opened on , the system gradually replaced most of the London tramway network

Trams in London

There have been two separate generations of trams in London, from 1860 to 1952 and from 2000. Between 1952 and 2000, no trams ran at all in London.- Horse trams :...

. Its trolleybus

Trolleybus

A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...

es were designed and built accordingly. Like the trams, they were large, high capacity double-deckers, with rapid acceleration. They were also fitted with three axles, and were much quieter in operation than contemporary trams or diesel buses.

For much of its life, the London system was the largest trolleybus system in the world. It had a total of 68 routes, and a maximum fleet of 1,811 trolleybuses. However, it was closed on , with the trolleybuses being replaced mainly by the now much more famous diesel-powered Routemaster

Routemaster

The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was built by Associated Equipment Company in 1954 and produced until 1968. Primarily front-engined, rear open-platform buses, a small number of variants were produced with doors and/or front entrances...

s.

Some of the former London trolleybuses are now preserved, in various locations around the United Kingdom and abroad.

See also

• Buses in London
  Buses in London
  The London Bus is one of London's principal icons, the archetypal red rear-entrance double-deck Routemaster being recognised worldwide. Although the Routemaster has now been largely phased out of service, with only two heritage routes still using the vehicles, the majority of buses in London are...
  
  
• Transport in London
  Transport in London
  London's transport forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the United Kingdom. It has its own dense and extensive internal private and public transport networks, as well as providing a focal point for the national road and railway networks...
  
  
• List of trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom
• East Anglia Transport Museum
  East Anglia Transport Museum
  The East Anglia Transport Museum is an open air transport museum, with numerous historic public transport vehicles . It is located in Carlton Colville a suburb of Lowestoft, Suffolk...
  
  
• London Transport Museum
• The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft
  The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft
  The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is a transport museum which specialises in the preservation of trolleybuses. It is located by the village of Sandtoft, near Belton on the Isle of Axholme in the English county of Lincolnshire.-Description:...