In an old bus depot a small group of volunteers is working hard to restore Cardiff's long-lost trolleybuses. Seven members of the Cardiff and South Wales Trolleybus Project meet twice a week to repair two trolleybuses – a single-decker and double-decker – which are the only ones left in Wales.
Their workshop is located in an ex-Western Welsh depot in Barry, known as Barry Bus Museum, which is run by the Cardiff Transport Preservation Group charity. The depot is full of buses that ran in South East Wales and the Valleys and their associated memorabilia. Different groups while away the hours restoring various types of vintage buses within the depot.
Cardiff's trolleybus system was launched in 1942 and closed in 1970. The city had 79 trolleybuses running over 19 miles. Project coordinator Keith Walker said the self-funded trolleybus project, which is the only one of its kind in Wales, has been going three decades. "We're all living in the past, trying to preserve the past for the future. People like steam trains and things like that – we just like buses," he said.
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Born and bred in Cardiff, Keith lived near the main trolleybus depot which used to be in Newport Road. "Our trips into town were always by trolleybus. As a youngster I just had a fascination...and when you have a trolleybus in full flight it's beyond belief."
The project is supported by 70 members around the UK but only a handful of them are actively involved in the restoration – all of whom, bar one, are over 70 years old. The single-decker ran the mile-long route from where the Marriott Hotel currently stands in Mill Lane to The Pierhead building.
It is the last three-axle single-decker trolleybus built in the UK. Meanwhile the double-decker, which served the city from 1949 to 1968, is the last surviving one of 25 trolleybuses that were built in Cardiff for Cardiff Corporation Transport.
In 1968 it was rescued from a breaker's yard by a group of friends known as the Cardiff Trolleybus Society. They bought it from Cardiff Corporation Transport for £112 and had done enough restoration work by 1969 to put it back on the road.
As a last hurrah they ran trips around trolleybus routes in city before the system was shut down in January of the following year. The double-decker ended up at a scrapyard at East Dock before it eventually ended up at a preservation site in Sandtoft, Doncaster.
"Piecemeal work was done on it over a long period of time until in the end we went up there and rescued it," said Keith. They paid just £1 to purchase the double-decker. They brought it and the single-decker to the Barry depot in 1995 to restore them.
The project relocated in 2001 to a farm in Peterstone where they continued their work for 19 years. But after a fire broke out and damaged the beloved buses they returned to the depot in September 2020. The aim of the project is to restore the buses in the hope they can eventually be used on a circuit in south Wales so people can "see and experience riding on trolleybuses", Keith said.
He believes the trolleybuses could serve as a tourist attraction for the the local area and the work to restore them could provide training for young people. "They are historically important, they're transport heritage, they're educational, they are engineering possibilities, and you've also got the opportunity for apprenticeships," he said.
Keith has an extensive background in engineering, including working on aircraft at St Athan and submarines in Abbey Wood, but the project embraces trolleybus enthusiasts from all backgrounds. It is currently seeking new volunteers, especially young people, to join its ranks. You can find out more here.
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