New To: South Notts

Chassis: Leyland Titan PD3/4 620171

Body: Northern Counties 5766 L33/32F

Status: Undergoing Restoration

History

Delivered in 1962 to Gotham based operator South Notts, 80 was the last bus ordered by this operator with an exposed front radiator. It has a body seating 33 passengers upstairs and 32 downstairs. It was built to a low bridge layout which meant that the upper deck seats are arranged in rows of four, with a sunken gangway down the offside. The reason for South Notts buying buses with this layout, which had a lower overall height as a result, was the 13’ 6” Great Central Railway bridge on Wilford Lane.

80 operated on South Notts routes until it was withdrawn from service in march 1984, this made it the longest serving front engine bus in the fleet. As was the way with South Notts, the bus was not sold, but parked up at the back of the depot along with many other withdrawn buses. 

Subsequently, 80 was privately licensed in 1985 and attended a number of rallies. Just prior to South Notts being acquired by Nottingham City Transport, 80 was purchased from the company by Arthur Dabell (the owner of South Notts) and was placed under the care of the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, Ruddington.

In March 2007, the Dabell family decided to donate the bus to Nottingham Heritage Vehicles (the predecessor to NHVC) following the arson attack that happened at Ruddington. Since then, the bus has been undergoing an extensive restoration.

Relevance To The Collection

80 was the last exposed radiator bus supplied to South Notts