Walsall Trolley Bus 862
862
at the top turning circle on the museum site.
Ex Walsall Corporation vehicle number 862 is one of the two fully working
trolley buses maintained and run by the group on the site. The vehicle is a
Sunbeam F4A chassis and was delivered new to Walsall in 1955. It carries a
Willowbrook body of very light weight design, such that unladen, the vehicle
weighs just over 7 Tons. Its design was the idea of the General Manager of
Walsall, the Late Mr. R. Edgley-Cox. Being a 30 foot long vehicle, it did
actually run in the town before the required parliamentary permission was
granted to run 30 foot long two axle trolley buses.
In 1970 when Walsall corporation transport was absorbed into the West
Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, trolley bus operations ceased in the
town and 862 was one of a number of the fleet to be ear marked for
preservation. It joined ex-Wolverhampton vehicle number 433 on a trail of being
moved around in various stores over a number of years before being given a home
at the Black Country Living Museum where it has continued its work to the
present time by offering rides to the public on Sunday afternoons and Bank
Holidays.