B/W print; Two men renew trolleybus wires at Shoreditch, by Colin Tait, 1952

In this 1952 photograph, linesman Charles Smith (left) and his assistant, Leonard Willows of Lea Bridge depot, are trying to renew overhead trolleybus wires above a street in Shoreditch. The men work at night, standing on the elevated platform of a tower wagon. In the year this photo was taken, the number of trolleybuses in London peaked at 1,811. Trolleybuses were quiet and fast compared to diesel-fuelled buses. Like trams, they needed an overhead electric power supply, but they were much more manoeuvrable than trams in traffic. The high cost of maintaining the overhead wires and the introduction of London Transport's popular Routemaster bus in 1954 heralded the end of the trolleybus.