Celebrating 50 Years of Trolleybus Preservation

2011 marked the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Reading Transport Society, forerunner of the British Trolleybus Society. The British Trolleybus Society emerged in 1971 from the Reading Transport Society, which had collected trolleybuses from all over Britain through the 1960’s. Many of our trolleybuses now operate regularly at The Trolleybus Museum At Sandtoft.

On Line Membership Facilities Now Available

The Society's new on line membership system is now available. Members can log in and obtain the latest copies of Trolleybus (and Bus Fare and Wheels if you subscribe to them). All our membership management will now be done through an on-line database, and all members have been pre-registered to use the membership facilities. Full information is being sent to all members with the May issue of Trolleybus, and includes registration details.

Non-members can register on the site and download a free copy of Trolleybus. Members and non-members alike can join or renew membership subscriptions once logged in, as well as being able to manage Gift Aid status and make donations to the Society.

What The British Trolleybus Society Does

The British Trolleybus Society maintains & restores a historic & unique fleet of trolleybuses, details of which are in the Fleet List pages. Our latest restoration project, Walsall 872 has now returned to Sandtoft fully restored internally and externally and will hopefully be recommissioned into service later this year once a mechanical overhaul has been carried out. Work has now started on Huddersfield 631s restoration (see photo to left of this text) with completion expected later this year. The BTS also contributes to the management & operation of the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, which houses the largest collection of preserved trolleybuses in the world. The Society produces a monthly magazine, ‘Trolleybus’, as well as local bus newsletters for Reading (Bus Fare) & West Yorkshire (Wheels). A free copy of 'Trolleybus' is available to prospective members on application to the secretary.

There are monthly meetings in London, Reading & Bradford, to which all are invited.

We are partners in the publication of ‘Trolleybooks’, which cover historic and current systems in the UK and abroad. The organisation is run entirely by volunteers and is a registered charity No. 1033666.