Restored classic trolleybus to go on display

The trolleybus has been restored after being saved from a scrapyard 50 years ago

A restored trolleybus is to run again nearly 70 years after being sent to a scrapyard.

Cleethorpes 54, which was introduced in 1937 and ran from Grimsby to Cleethorpes before being sent for scrap 21 years later, is the only survivor from a fleet of 10.

Andrew Fieldsend saved it from a scrapyard in 1975 for a restoration project, which ended up taking decades to complete.

On Saturday, it will be on display at The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, on the Isle of Axholme, as part of an event running from 11:30 to 18:30 GMT.

Trolleybuses were the original electric buses that lost out to car ownership and fossil fuels.

They were known as "trackless trolleys" when they first appeared on UK streets in 1911, taking their power from overhead cables.

Cleethorpes 54, which ran from Grimsby to Cleethorpes, entered service in 1937

Stan Collins, one of the museum's directors, said the bus was first sent to a Grimsby scrapyard in 1958.

While there, its stairs and platform were damaged by a boat on a crane.

On the restoration, Mr Collins said: "A little bit like Corporation Bridge in Grimsby, it's overrun a little bit, by 50 years.

"It started in 1975 and we put the final touches to it on Wednesday. It looks pretty spectacular, I've got to say."

The Twilight Open Day will be the last event of the season for the museum, which will close until next Easter.

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