* Tracklesses? Richard Lomas writes: Yes that is what they were called in those days in the Mexborough and Swinton area. In Derby we called them trolleybuses and in Nottingham
young people called them trolleybuses and old folk (over 60 perhaps) called them tracklesses.
The Mexborough & Swinton Traction Company, a BET subsidiary, operated three trolleybus services until 1961. The first to close on 1st
January was from Manvers Main to to Connisborough High. The other two services were jointly operated with Rotherham Corporation from Rotherham
to Connisborough Low and from Rotherham to Connisborough High. All three services were operated by centre entrance single deckers -
Mexborough ones seated 35 and Rotherham’s 38. Most of the mileage was outside Rotherham and M&ST provided the majority of vehicles on the
joint routes. The last public service was on 26th March and a ceremonial closure procession of four trolleybuses took place the day after.
The replacement buses were M&ST's first double deckers in the form of 72 seat low bridge Atlanteans.
One of the features of joint working was how to aportion the revenue between operators and individual agreements were reached which quite
often affected the fares and ticket systems. M&ST used modified Setright Speed machines. The larger pence wheel on top of the machine was
used for 'M&ST' pence and the smaller shillings wheel was used for 'Rotherham' pence. A through ticket costing 8d would be printed as 2d and
6d. Rotherham retained traditional ticket punches and specially printed tickets for these services when they converted other services to five
unit Ultimate machines. A similar situation arose on service 12 from Chesterfield to Sheffield where both operators retained punches.
1. Leyland Tiger Cub YWT 56 on the route to the new Ellershaw Estate in Conisbrough. This Weymann bodied bus was new in 1960 and was one of the
final batch of PSUC1/3 Tiger Cubs ordered by the company. Subsequent new vehicles were Weymann bodied Leyland PDR1/1 Atlanteans, no further
new single deck vehicles being purchased. YWT 56 was one of the Mexbrough & Swinton vehicles transferred to the Yorkshire Traction fleet
following takeover in October 1969.
2. Sheffield Corporation PD2/20 YWA 847 climbs under the trolleybus wires around Conisbrough Castle on route 77 to Sheffield. This route was
jointly operated by Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster Corporations and ran every 20 minutes.
3. Sunbeam F4 FWX 912 Climbs towards Conisbrough Castle on the 'Conisbrough High' route. After this system closed in 1961 this vehicle was
re-bodied for further use on the Bradford trolleybus network.
4 & 5. The 'Conisbrough High' route traversed a narrow one-way section of road that bordered Conisbrough Castle.
5.
6. Sunbeam F4 FWX 920 pauses at the New Hill turning point in Conisborough. Registered in 1948 this centre entrance Brush bodied vehicle was
originally to layout B32C and in 1956 it was re-seated to B35C. The buildings on the left have since disappeared but the ones ahead of the
bus still stand today This section of the road is no longer the A6023 having been by passed many years ago.
7. This stretch of road at Warren Vale, between Rawmarsh and Swinton was one of the few straight sections of road in this area and gave the
trolley buses the chance to show what they could do. Here a Rotherham bound Sunbeam approaches the outskirts of Rawmarsh.
8. A Mexborough & Swinton Sunbeam Trolley bus takes to the straight at Warren Vale having left the built up area of Rawmarsh and now heading
towards the Woodman Inn Swinton. The driver of the A30 van seizes the opportunity to overtake, but might have found this a challenge as the
trolley vehicles could hit speeds of up to 45mph on this downhill stretch and the van would take a while to build up enough speed to be able
to overtake.
9. Number 37, JWW 375 in Conisborough en route for Rotherham.
10 – 12. Three photographs taken in Rotherham of the formal closure procession on the day after the public services finished. The ‘Magnet
and Wheel’ emblem on FWX 913 serves as a reminder that this closure marked the last electric traction for the BET (British Electric Traction)
group of companies.
11.
12.