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 Post subject: Duck your trolley. What does that mean?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2025 4:15 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:10 pm
Posts: 37
Location: Detroit, MI
I was looking at a video shot at the Crich Tramway Village. There was a sign that said "Remember to duck your trolley." I couldn't find anything online so, what does it mean?


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 Post subject: Re: Duck your trolley. What does that mean?
PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 4:10 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 8:31 am
Posts: 1341
Location: South Carolina
Grok couldn’t find a direct reference to the phrase. It suggests it probably means “watch out for the trolley”.

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 Post subject: Re: Duck your trolley. What does that mean?
PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 8:43 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 12150
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
A note that "trolley" in the UK vernacular is the equivalent of what Americans (and Canadians?) would call a "shopping cart" or "pushcart" (think the big flat carts at feed or hardware stores).

"Trolley" is also the word for the wheel atop the overhead electrical contact pole on many, but not all, trams/streetcars/whatever terminology applies where you are.

Having said that, even as an Anglophile rail enthusiast I have no clue what that sign is supposed to indicate. Perhaps "lower your electrical pole to change ends" or something?


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 Post subject: Re: Duck your trolley. What does that mean?
PostPosted: Thu Sep 11, 2025 6:33 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:01 pm
Posts: 199
Per the description in a Youtube video on the Crich, "The curious sign 'duck your Trolley' is a reminder to tram crew to pause and move the pole and wheel to the adjacent contact wire.".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-EGfQpRdJY


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 Post subject: Re: Duck your trolley. What does that mean?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 8:35 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:25 pm
Posts: 2559
Location: The Atlantic Coast Line
Here is a lengthy explanation from Kate Watts at Chrich.

Quote:
"We refer to the current collector on the top of the tram as the trolley pole. On our site we have two wires above the trams, one for cars running north and the second for cars coming south, but owing to some temporary track issues, at Wakebridge, we have to stop and move the current collector from the north to the southbound wire, before proceeding north to Glory Mine. In doing this the trolley pole is drawn down from one wire, under it, and moved over to over to the next wire. This act is called "ducking the trolley". The signs around site were put up earlier this year to remind crews to duck the trollies and ensure the current collector is on the correct wire. Should a car proceed with the trolley on the wrong wire, there is the risk of a de-wirement at places where the wires diverge, or worse, if approaching another tram, the two-trolley poles would collide."

Video of “ducking.”


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