Original (Tattam) Livery
Late (Humpidge) Livery
"1961 Trolleybus Jubilee" Livery
1934 AEC Type 661T NCB Bodied Trolleybus
The first batch of this type of trolley bus was introduced in Bradford in 1934. Numbered 597 to 617, they were followed with a further batch (618 – 632) the following year. Originally they all had metal English Electric bodies, but these proved troublesome in service and all were rebodied from 1944.
599,600,601,605,606,608,609,612,613 received 1944 Brush utility bodies. 607,614,615,616,621,622 received 1946 NCB (so called Mk.1) bodies. The rest all received NCB Mk2 bodies 1947 to 1949, which is the type featured in this model.
The original livery under GM Tattam featured a grey roof with cream bands and yellow lining, some having cream coloured emergency windows on the upper rear, some coloured grey as the roof. When new manager C.T.Humpidge took control in 1954 he “modernized” the livery by eliminating the cream bands and lining, and later, following the purchase of some trolleybuses from the Notts and Derby system which had their roofs painted blue, he chose to follow suit and paint the roofs blue on these trolleybuses also.
In 1961 Bradford’s trolleybuses had been running for 50 years, and to celebrate the “Trolleybus Jubilee” number 603 was one of two trolleybuses painted in special commemorative versions of earlier liveries.