A view courtesy of tranzpress nz and captured in the months following the official opening of the Foxton Trolleybus Museum system in December 1988 of preserved Wellington City Transport British United Traction RETB1 trolleybus No. 107 of 1964 operating on the system along Main St.
It wasn’t to be until August 1989 that I got to check out the Foxton Trolleybus Museum undertaking for the first time.
No. 107 ended its days in preservation as a smokers room at the Post Office Hotel next door to the trolleybus museum (it had been leased to the hotel by the museum), and just prior to the passing of Ian Little in 2008, was moved to a property in Bergin Rd. near the Foxton racecourse for storage after new management at the hotel no longer wanted it on the property.
During the time that the Foxton museum was under the stewardship of the late Wayne Little, No. 107 was finally towed away for scrapping on 30/5/2010 in a rundown condition after some years languishing in open storage.
PARKED TROLLEYBUS USED TO DEFY PUB SMOKING BAN
NZ Herald, 1 February 2005
Graham Wrigley has parked an old trolleybus leased from the Foxton trolleybus museum next door alongside his pub in an attempt to get round the smoking ban.
Mr Wrigley, who runs the Post Office Hotel in Foxton, says he will not give up on the ploy even if it means going to jail.
"I know they will try to prosecute me eventually," he said. "They can send me to jail if they like. I won’t mind. I need the holiday."
But MidCentral Health smoke-free officer Robert Holdaway the bus ploy would not work as a means of getting around anti-smoking legislation which came into force on December 10, 2004.
Dr Holdaway said the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act requires licensees to "take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that no person smokes at any time in a part of the premises that is not an open area".
He added: "I would certainly not be encouraging other publicans to scour local wreckers’ yards for old buses."
However, Mr Wrigley argued that the bus, which he set up alongside an outdoor smoking area, was not "part of the premises".
"In America they set up limos outside the bars and smoke there," he said. "This is the same thing. The bus is mobile and you could probably drive it down the street if you want.
"There are 13 windows and two doors that are wide open. The wind goes howling through there sometimes, so you couldn’t get more of an open area than that."
Mr Wrigley said he’d heard of a publican in Wairarapa who had responded to the suggestion that people could smoke in their hotel rooms by setting up a special "Room 12".
Wellington 107 businfo details…
www.businfo.nz/index.php?R=15407&OP=2
Wellington No. 107 running to Foxton Beach…
www.flickr.com/photos/51227209@N03/6108039797
THE FOXTON TROLLEYBUS SYSTEM
17 December 1988 was a red-letter day for the small borough of Foxton, in the Manawatu, where the world’s smallest trolleybus system was inaugurated – the first museum trolleybus line running in public streets.
8y 11 am on Saturday 17th, three trolleybuses were lined up outside the Borough Council Chambers at Foxton – No. 77 (ex Dunedin) 107 (ex Wellington) and 48 (ex Wellington), with plenty of British flags hanging from the overhead wires adding to a festive occasion, a very large crowd of several thousand gathered for the opening of a new trolleybus system.
During the opening ceremony there were several speakers, the first a captain from the Salvation Army blessed the new system, followed by speeches by the Chairman of the Local Town Council, the Central Development Agency, Mr. Ian Little J.P. Q.J.M., Mr. Fraser, Mayor of Foxton, and finally Mrs. Annette King, M.P. who cut the ribbon declaring the system open. Dunedin trolleybus No 77 was the first official trolleybus to commence service, conveying invited guests, followed by Wellington trolleybuses Nos. 107 and 48. After the official run the invited guests participated in a luncheon at the Borough Council Chambers.
For the rest of the day the 3 trolleybuses were later joined by Dunedin No.10 giving free rides to all around the new circuit. There was a carnival atmosphere as the whole town came out for the occasion with the shops remaining open for the who l e day in this normally sleepy Manawatu township . A further parade during the day of local floats included the rubber-tyred horse tram, that formerly operated in Dunedin, but is now known as the "Pride of Foxton".
The opening wa s vlell represented by many members of the Wellington Tramway Museum and one THS member.
This trolleybus line was the dream come true for one man particularly Mr. Ian Little, a dedicated trolleybus enthusiast, and a former president of the Wellington Tramway Museum, who over the last few years has acquired a vast stockpile of overhead fittings and equipment and also collected a fleet of former New Zealand trolleybuses. He has virtually single handedly built and financed this Foxton system.
Ian Little had originally planned to build a trolleybus line at Featherston in the Wairarapa, but after experiencing local problems, sought another town finding the people of Foxton welcoming his scheme.
The present system, as built, consists of a trolleybus depot which is a new steel framed, corrugated iron shed which can house up to six trolleybuses. This is built on a rear section along an alleyway off the Main Street. The overhead then runs across the main road almost diagonally to Wharf Street and by use of a trailing point joins the trolleybus circuit. Wharf Street is a sealed road-way and down at the bottom it reaches the Manawatu River where the line turns and snakes its way along Harbour Street, which is rather picturesque. At present this road is not sealed.
This is the first time trolleybuses have operated on unsealed roads since the last section of Travis Road on the North Beach line in Christchurch was sealed in 1933/34. However this will not be for long as Harbour Street is to be sealed during 1989. At the end of Harbour Street the line turns up a nice steep rise as it briefly turns into Union Street and then into Main Street where it runs along the left hand side of this wide road past the Borough Council Chambers back to Wharf Street mixing with traffic in the main street. The whole line is most scenic.
During construction of the system great co-operation was received from the Horowhenua Power Board who arranged the concrete overhead poles which were new ex NZR poles not suitable for the railway electrification project, and in conjunction with Ian Little, these were all erected by the Board. The majority of the system’s overhead is hung from side bracket arms of a new design built locally placed neatly in a nice row along Main Street. All the corners are of span wire construction using wooden spacer bars and pull offs identical to the style used quite extensively in Dunedin. 99% of the overhead came from the closed Dunedin system – all Ohio Brass. Only three sweeps have been used on the system. The span wires are all of the modern insulated parafil type now used extensively in Wellington. The new overhead fittings acquired for the ill-fated ARA system have not been used as the hangers were found to be much inferior to the old Ohio brass type. During construction Ian was short of 1 mile of overhead running wire to complete the line. Unfortunately he was not able to purchase any from the Wellington City Corporation, and as the firm formerly manufacturing new overhead in New Plymouth is now closed, he had to fly to Melbourne and purchase 1 mile of tramway wire from the M.T.A.
All the overhead and bracket arms were erected at no cost to the council by Ian Little and a few helpers. The high standard of the overhead construction is a credit to all concerned.
To power the system, a power plant has been built utilising an ex Wellington trolleybus motor connected to a 30 h.p. electric generator which is capable of powering two trolleybuses satisfactorily. Another ex Wellington trolleybus motor connected to a diesel generator has been mounted on a trailer which can be towed behind a trolleybus when away from the wires.
On opening day both generators were connected together and provided enough power to operate four trolleybuses simultaneously. Although at present the world’s smallest trolleybus system, it may not. have the smallest fleet, as a considerable number of operable trolleybuses have been acquired, many of the Wellington ones which should never have been withdrawn from service in the capital city.
As only a few trolleys can be housed at the present depot the rest are stored at the NZR depot compound in Main Street. At the present time the fleet consists of 15 trolleybuses:
Trolleybus No. 117 was sold by the WCC and was converted into the ‘Trolley Chef’ cafe in Thorndon, Wellington, where it was used as a dining room together with another trolley. After the cafe closed it was purchased by Ian Little’s son, Wayne, who converted it back into a trolleybus and once again runs under the wires, but although,is still in ‘cafe’ pink livery. Ian’s son also owns another trolley No. 66 at Porirua. Two further trolleybuses ex Wellington Nos. 80 and 85 are stored under cover on a farm at Foxton, eventually to be used on the museum line too.
As well as the trolleybuses the museum has two overhead tower wagons ex Dunedin (one diesel, one petrol) for erecting and maintaining the overhead, as well as a tractor for towing trolleybuses. The trolleybus line is now part of a trust run by the Motor Coach Museum Trolleybus Trust. It will operate regularly on Wednesdays and Sundays and at other times by arrangement. – Tramway Topics, January-February 1989.
IAN LITTLE – A RETROSPECT
By Peter Rendall, published in Trolleybus (UK), Volume 47, No. 565, August 2008
Ian Foster Little was born in Dunedin more than seventy years ago, and from an early age exhibited an interest in public transport. I was once told by Hubie Hobbs, an early Otago area operator, that he used to see this little boy standing at Lookout Point obviously watching the buses grind by. He once offered the boy a ride but it was declined – perhaps even then Ian’s bias for electric traction was showing. He did, however, many years in the future acquire one of Hubie’s buses for his collection. In the mid to late 1960s Ian was working for Wellington City Transport as a trolleybus driver, and became closely involved with the group that was setting up the tramway museum in Queen Elizabeth Park.
In not too many years he was chairman of the Board and pushed the development of the tramway along. This also included helping to organise the demolition of the New Plymouth trolleybus system (a saga about which many tales are related after a few ales), and the erection of a relatively short lived circle of trolleybus overhead at the tramway where he could operate the New Plymouth Crossley 1, Auckland Farmers 2 and DCT No 1.
Along the way there was a major dispute between members of the museum, and Ian left to open the Miramar Motor Coach museum. This occupied various sites in Miramar and over time changed into more of a charter operation using older buses. Ian left the WCCT and began Community Transport Services with a fleet of mainly ex Dunedin Leylands. CTS became the local operator linking the new development of Whity (north of Wellington) with its nearest railway station on the suburban service – Plimmerton. After some years the electric traction bug surfaced again and Ian moved to Featherston where a start was made to develop a trolleybus line on the local streets. This was not greeted with universal acclaim, and was actively opposed by a number of locals and the local council, so Ian moved to Foxton.
The rest, as they say, is history. A circuit of trolley overhead round one town block, with a single pair extension ending in a reversing triangle by the local chicken processor, and another single pair off a trailing frog that you reversed down to access the bus shed.
Visitors were always welcomed, and often offered a drive, which in the early days entailed firing up the trusty Leyland diesel which sat on a trailer coupled to a trolleybus traction motor … which was then used to generate the current to enliven the system. In later days a more conventional rectifier system was used to provide current.
A risk all visitors faced was to be dragged into the local radio station, Radio Foxton, another of Ian’s passions – where he would interview you for the edification and delectation of the listening audience. A character indeed, who leaves a large space to be filled.
Ian Foster Little was born in Dunedin, November 2, 1931. From his first marriage he had three sons and two daughters. In 1975 he married Christina Knowler with whom he had two sons and one daughter. Ian died in Hutt Hospital on July 15, 2008, aged 76, after a fall.
