I worked at this garage from 1957 to 1961. It was my first job at the age of 15 years old in the commercial garage. It was on the right as you go through the gates; this has been demolished and no longer exists.
The memories of my time there are still very clear, working on the petrol pumps and the stores for two years, then in the garage first on diesel engines then as a trainee electrician.
Do you remember the depot or the garage? If you have any memories to share, please leave a comment below.
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Hi John, I take it the trolleybuses were still running when you started at this garage? It would be interesting to hear about these vehicles from someone who was with them first-hand
I thought the building was still there?
The building in the photos is there but the building I worked in isn’t any more, it’s a bus parking area.
I worked in the commercial garage repairing and servicing most of the Corporation vehicles from minivans to dustcarts which was on the right as you entered the gates. I was about when the trolley buses were on the road and travelled on them extensively, the motor buses that were already running and the ones that came along later were more exciting as they were far more manoeuvrable, I never dreamed about being behind the wheel of a trolley bus, but I did get behind the wheel of the Bristol KSW and the Lodekka, I only did it for a year, I got bored with going from Rottingdean to Shoreham Beach, I remember arriving at the Shoreham Footbridge one night after a long slow journey from Castle Square at 9pm with hardly any passengers on board, it was slow as I was trying to keep to time, when we were busy there was never enough time but when we were quiet. I called the conductor forward and said ‘did I stop at all the stops?’, as I couldn’t remember, time to leave that job. You only miss something and long for something when it’s no longer available to you, but at the time this was progress and it was rapid and brilliant over the ensuing fifty years. I would not want the city to return to trolleys or trams, the transport service here is as good as anywhere in the country and better than most.
Yes the administration building is still there; does John mean behind this building? There are new blocks of flats where the old trolley bus workshops may have been housed, that would be on the right as you passed through the gates.
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