Italian Trolleybuses Abroad - Filobus italiani all'estero, by Alessandro Albe and Marco Montanarini
Book published by Trolleybooks in 2018, 258 pages. Large Hardback - c.21cm by 30cm (N7303)
Brand New Book - All text in both English and Italian
Brand New Book - All text in both English and Italian
This book provides a fascinating history of Italian Trolleybuses in service abroad, and is packed with colour and black and white photographs, as well as several maps and diagrams.
This encyclopedic volume covers the fascinating story of the many Italian trolleybuses exported to the world between 1939 and 2008. Detailing the technological innovation, the systems involved and the competitive, even political pressures, this book mirrors the later history of many trolleybus nations, but tells a very special, inventive and stylish tale, specific to Italy. 360 images show just how unique that contribution was to trolleybus history; and over 20 maps show where the trolleybuses operated.
From the foreword: At the end of the 1980s I witnessed the trials of the dual-mode Breda prototype intended for Seattle. More recently I happened to look at the photographic dossier made by AMT Genova featuring the articulated trolleybus also destined for that undertaking whose body had been very badly corroded from salt used in the streets of St. Petersburg where it had been engaged on a long series of trials on behalf of the manufacturer. I realised in both cases that I had witnessed the end of an era.
This book does justice and homage to a technology which was not extraordinarily outstanding but one which was satisfyingly important for those who knew it and especially for those whose lives involved its daily application. The book is in fact not just a mere catalogue but thanks to the unquestioned expertise and experience of the authors, a full record including the daily life that took place in the places where the vehicles ran.
The story unfolds of this era in which the electromechanical technology and skills of a group of manufacturers led to the development of a range of vehicles that came to characterise the urban streets of half the world and with them the daily life that took place there...