AEC No1
No 1
1924 - 1932
Chasis AEC 602
DSC and Cousins body work
Electrics Dick Kerr (six notch controller)
Motor 30bhp
In 1924 the Wellington City Council wanted to establish a 1.2 kilometre tram route from the suburb of Thorndon to Kaiwharawhara. However, the Wellington - Hutt Road Railway Improvement Act of 1905, prevented the council from laying tram tracks along this route. The Government of the day did not want any competition with it's railways! The legislation did not prevent the Council from erecting overhead wires - and so New Zealand's first trolley bus (or trackless tram) service was born.

This vehicle was described as 'a lumberer with built in discomfort'. The body was built in Auckland by the same company that made Auckland's trams. It had a top speed of 27 kilometres an hour. In 1932 it was replaced by motor buses.

aecn01Aecno1
Auckland Weekly News / Alexander Turnbull Library

Preservation

The body of this bus still exists, as a bach, at the New Judgeford Gold Club. According to enthusiast Ian Robertson in The Omnibus Bulletin September 1998, enough of the body still exists to make a restoration project possible - the main barrier as always, money.
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