On the 6th June 1937, Bus No.622 was the first Trolley Buses to run a service in West Ham.

This was not the first `Trolley` to run in West Ham, this had been 25 years before.

In 1912 at the annual conference of the Municipal Tramways Association (which was hosted by West Ham Corporation Tramways) on the 25th to 27th September, an Austrian Cedes-Stoll was the first trolleybus (run by West Ham Corporation) to carry passengers on a London public highway, Greengate Street, E.13.

There is a record that at the 1909 Conference, a Rail less Electric Traction (RET) Vehicle was tested by the Metropolitan Electric Tramways (MET) at the Depot at Hendon, but this never went on to the Public Highway.

The Trolley Bus was known as the `Rail or Trackless Tram`, and it was not until the 1920’s that the more common name, `Trolley` Bus was used.

That first in-service tram in 1936 was driven by the Mayor of West Ham, Mrs. Daisy Parsons, who was issued with a special licence so that she could drive the trolleybus from the Depot as far as the Green Gate Tavern in the Barking Road, using the battery power of the tram, at 6.30 in the morning.  

It followed the old No.1 Tram route from Stratford via Greengate Street to Canning Town.

One of the reason why the Trolley was known as the `Trackless Tram` was because although it used overhead wiring, it was much easier to re-route if required because unlike the Tram it did not need tracks. Another reason why the Trolley was preferred to over the Tram was because of the smother and quieter ride, plus the Higher Passenger carrying capacity. In February 1938 two more routes were added, these were the 699 & 665.   The 699 run from Stratford to North Woolwich (see Photo) and 665 from Canning Town to Old Street. Because of the E-Class Trolley Bus high carrying capacity it was decided to use these and phase out the Trams, but the start of World War Two delayed this. 

By 1939, there were 10 routes running in and through East & West Ham.

These were No.655 Ilford to Aldgate, No.665 Canning town to Old Street, No.669 Stratford to North Woolwich, via Canning Town, No.685 Walthamstow to Woolwich, No.689 Stratford Circular via East Ham with No.690 running the same route but in the opposite direction! No 597 Smithfield to Barking via Canning Town and  No 695 Chadwell Heath to Bow via Manor Park, Forest Gate and Stratford, No.697 Chingford to Victoria Dock via Abbey Arms and No.699 which run from Chingford Mount to Victoria Dock via Greengate.

Trolley Buses serving East & West Ham came from five different depots, Bow, Ilford, Poplar, Walthamstow and West Ham. The Trolley Bus was short lived compared with the Tram.

By the 1950`s the Trolley Buses followed the Trams by becoming out of favour compared with the Motor Bus, and started to be withdrawn. 

The Stratford Circular route closed in February 1960.

The last Trolley Bus running in West Ham was again No.622 which was based at the Walthamstow depot; its last journey was on the 27th April 1960, when in run in to the West Ham Depot at Midnight. 

The Mayor of West Ham drove the first one, and the Mayor of West Ham was a `Clippie` on the last one, when Mrs Violet Ayres (remembered in the street name Ayres Close in E.13), issued tickets on the last run from the Royal Victoria Dock Terminus on route 699.

At the wheel of trolleybus No.622 on its last run was driver John Hall with conductor was Frederick Yates, both of them originally West Ham tram men.

It is said that in between 622’s first and last journey, it had covered 900,000 miles.

These Trolley Buses were replaced by the RouteMaster diesel powered Buses.

On the subject of Tickets, these were colour coded; the cheapest was for a short journey on No.699 which was a 2d (old Pence) Cream ticket, this soon was raised to 3d Pink ticket. Other tickets were a 5d Dark Orange with White stripe, 6d (2.5p) Dark Blue, 7d Pale Blue, 8d bright Yellow, 9d Green and finally a 1/- (one shilling, 5p) which was a standard White paper ticket.

The last Trolley bus to run in London was in 1961, these were sent for scrap and it was the George Cohen 600 company who broke the up.

Ilford Depot closed in 1959 and its Metro-Cammell Trolley Buses disappeared from the streets. These Buses were of an unusual design with smoke grey windows, the reason behind this is that they were designed to be exported to South Africa, but owing to the beginning of World War Two, they remained in the country.

But like the Tram which in a way has returned as a `Light railway System` known as the Dockland Light Railway, there are planes to bring back a version of the Trolley Buses to the area.

In 2007 plans were discussed to bring Trolley Buses back to Barking on a route to Ilford, and if successful to be extended along the Barking road, with Newham becoming a possible destination.

West Ham Depot in Greengate Street, Plaistow, had been the home to Trams, Trolley Buses and Motor buses.

The Depot is now a housing estate, but the old Tramway Offices remains, and out side is a memorial to West Ham Transport Staff killed in World War 1 , plus on 23rd July 1944 a  V-1 hit the Depot,  at 7-45am,  where a number of staff were killed and injured and buses destroyed.

A Trolley bus can be seen at the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden.