By the late 1920s the existing trams operated by both the Metropolitan Electric Tramways and the London United Tramways were increasingly aged. Although the long-term future of the tramways was open to doubt, the two operators co-operated in the development of one of the most important types of tram ever built in Britain - the Feltham’. Conceived following detailed research and the construction of a number of prototype cars - facets covered in the book - the production Felthams’ all entered service by the early 1930s. However, the LPTB’s plans for converting tram routes to trolleybus operation soon saw these modern cars transferred from north of the River Thames to south of the river. Here the production cars mostly survived until the final conversion programme; this was not the end of the story, however, as the majority were sold for further service to Leeds, where the last survivors were to see the final closure of the West Riding system in November 1959. The book explores the story of the Felthams’ in London, Leeds and Sunderland where the unique centre-entrance car - MET No 331 - was to operate following withdrawal in the metropolis. AUTHOR: Brought up in Bradford, Peter Waller grew up as the city’s trolleybus network gradually declined.?In 1986, he commenced in a career in publishing, working for a number of years as Ian Allan Ltd’s Publisher (Books), where he oversaw the commissioning and publication of a wide range of books. The first book that he wrote was British and Irish Tramway Systems since 1945 in 1992. Since then he has written a number of books on transport subjects. Moving to Shropshire in 2007, he is now a full-time author and editor. He is also a director and secretary of the Online Transport Archive, a director of Shrewsbury Dial-a-Ride, chairman of the West Shropshire Talking Newspaper, a committee member of the National Railway Heritage Awards and a past president of the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury.
200 colour illustrations, drawings, diagrams