Dr Ernst Werner Siemens demonstrated his experimental "Elektromote" trolleybus in Berlin on the 29th of April 1882. Later, Lombard Gerin operated an experimental line at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Electric trams were widely established across Europe at this time - the big advantage of the trolleybus offered was no longer needing the fixed rails on the road.

The first trolleybus systems in the UK were in Bradford and Leeds, both opening on the 20th of June 1911. The network in Leeds closed in 1928, but the system in Bradford ran up to the 26th March 1972.

The Teesside Trolleybus System opened on the 8th of November 1919. The system was in fact ready for early 1916, but not the buses, because of wartime shortages. It was unusual in being a completely new system, rather than replacing existing tramways, as was common elsewhere. The system was initiated by Bolckow Vaughan steelmakers who led the formation of the North Ormesby, South Bank, Normanby and Grangetown Railless Traction Co. in 1912. Bolckow Vaughan (later called Dorman Long) needed the system to transport workers from the rapidly growing areas around Middlesbrough to it's steelmaking plants and factories. 

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Electric trolleybuses first began to operate in Hartlepool on the 28th of February 1924. Initially the trolleybuses replaced the West Hartlepool section of the Hartlepool Electric Tramways (which had been purchased by the West Hartlepool Corporation in 1912).

The Newcastle upon Tyne trolleybus system opened on the 2nd of October 1935. These were electric buses, drawing power from overhead cables through spring-loaded trolley poles. Unlike the trams they replaced, trolleybuses didn't require tracks. The trolleybus system gradually replaced the Newcastle tramway network, eventually growing to a fleet of 204 trolleybuses covering 28 routes.

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The trolleybus service in South Shields ended on the 29th of April 1964, after 27 years. The electric trolleybuses were replaced by petrol buses.

The Newcastle Trolleybus System closed in October 1966, after 31 years of operation. The electric trolleybuses were replaced by petrol buses. Some of the trolleybuses were scrapped, others were redeployed to trolleybus networks in other parts of the country.

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A new trolleybus route in Middlesbrough, linking Grangetown (Fabian Road terminus) and Normanby via  Eston, was opened on the 31st of March 1968. This was the very last trolleybus route to be built in Britain. It was part of the Teesside Railless Traction Board, and built to service the growing population, with new housing developments around the east of Middlesbrough. (Source: Alan Murray-Rust, Geograph)

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