Abstract: The contact pole of a trolley bus carries at its normally upper end a trolley shoe and an upwardly projecting guide which may jointly pivot on the pole about an approximately vertical axis. When the pole is partly raised by a heavy spring and swung horizontally, the trolley shoe is vertically aligned with an overhead wire when the guide abuts against the wire. When the pole is further raised by the spring, the trolley shoe engages the wire, and the guide is automatically dropped below the trolley shoe so as not to collide with hangers for the overhead wire. When the pole is lowered by an operating mechanism against the biasing force of the spring, a motor-driven element of the mechanism connected to the guide by a motion transmitting train automatically returns the guide to its position above the trolley shoe.