HUGH Dougherty has been fascinated by trolleybuses since he was a wee boy, growing up in Battlefield on the Southside of the city.

“I kept a record of every journey, as well as recording breakdowns and emergencies,” says Hugh, who is now 73.

“I learned all there was to know about the silent service, dubbed ‘Silent Death’ by sceptical Glaswegians who held that you couldn’t hear them coming, unlike noisy trams and diesel buses.”

(Image: Hugh Dougherty)

The retired press officer, who lives in Cathcart, adds: “I photographed the routes, got to know some of the crews and visited Hampden Garage, where the garage shunter taught me to drive trolleys at the age of 16, when I should have been studying for my Highers….”

Hugh DoughertyHugh Dougherty (Image: Hugh Dougherty)

Now Hugh has written a book about the famous but short-lived service, which only ran in the city from 1949 until 1967, taking their power from overhead wires.

Illustrated by black and white and colour pictures mainly taken by Hugh as a teenager, Trolleybuses Glasgow’s Silent Service is published by Stenlake.

Hugh travelled to school every day on the 107 trolley from 1962, until the last bus ran on May 27, 1967, and the book is full of anecdotes from his days on board.

“There was the time an Orange Order band mace was thrown so high it ended up being melted by the current in the trolleybus wires on Victoria Road, as the band looked up in horror from below,” recalls Hugh.

(Image: Hugh Dougherty)

“Then there was a five-feet-tall clippie, hoisted aloft by the pull of the trolley spring while trying to catch it with the tall, bamboo pole that every trolleybus carried to deal with defilements. 

“Complete with ticket machine and cash bag, and yelling blue murder, she had to be pulled back to earth by other trolleybus crews…”

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He adds: “Glasgow has always loved street theatre, and the trolleybuses were often the star of the show, especially with the banter of the conductors and conductresses, or when a dewirement took place.

“When I was 15, on my way to school one morning, I noticed that the overhead points at the top of West Nile Street were damaged and belled the bus to stop, saving a dewirement and the driver a lot of trouble.”

The driver asked the teenager for his name, address and school, recalls Hugh, and the transport department general manager, the famous ERL Fitzpayne, whose name appeared on the side of every trolleybus, tram and bus in Glasgow, got involved.

“He wrote to the director of education, who contacted the head teacher, who summoned me to his office to praise me for saving the day,” says Hugh.

“I was relieved, as I thought I was being pulled in for doing something wrong.”

Hugh wrote the book from his own records and memories to pay tribute to the trolleybuses, he says.

Hugh's book is out nowHugh's book is out now (Image: Hugh Dougherty)

“They gave the city an excellent service before being scrapped when some of the buses were hardly ten years old,” said Hugh.

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“Glasgow had nailed its colours firmly to the mast - or the motor car - and councillors felt that the trolleys, with their fixed, overhead wires, were getting in the way of redevelopment and motorways.

“Totally ignoring the fact that they were pollution-free, they replaced them with diesel buses.”

Existing trolleybus systems are being further developed in cities such as Vancouver and Salzburg, because the buses are silent and environmentally-friendly, explain Hugh.

“We could do with bringing them back to Glasgow, instead of favouring battery-electric buses, which are heavy on the roads because of the weight of their batteries, and subject to range problems, while batteries, which lose their edge over time are expensive to replace,” he adds.

“Modern trolleybuses are far more efficient. We should bring them back to Glasgow.”