Christchurch trolleybus turntable

The Christchurch trolleybus turntable formed part of the Bournemouth trolleybus system, which served the town of Bournemouth and its environs, on the south coast of England. It is still in existence, and is now a Grade II listed building.

History

Opened on, the turntable was used to turn around all Bournemouth trolleybuses terminating at Church Street, Christchurch, a borough and town adjoining Bournemouth in the east.
Manually operated, the turntable remained in use until the closure of the Bournemouth trolleybus system on.
Cables leading from the overhead wires to a pole-mounted switchbox near the entrance to the yard in which the turntable was situated are evidence that at one time power operation of the turntable was contemplated but there is no record that this was ever done.

The Christchurch turntable is said to be one of only five trolleybus turntables ever to have been constructed worldwide. Three other such turntables are the similarly abandoned Longwood trolleybus turntable, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, one at the former Isleworth London Transport Trolleybus depot, also demolished but can be seen on YouTube, and the Unterburg trolleybus turntable in Solingen, Germany. A fifth known trolleybus turntable was one used on the Guadalajara trolleybus system in Mexico in the 1980s, in a since-closed trolleybus-only tunnel in the city centre, on a temporary basis in 1982–1983 and again from 1985 until early 1988.