South Notts Bus Company

The South Notts Bus Company Ltd was a British bus operator based in Gotham, Nottinghamshire. It commenced service in 1926 and became a limited company in 1929. Its major service operations were between Nottingham and Loughborough via East Leake, and, since the 1950s, between Nottingham and the Clifton Estate.

The company was sold to Nottingham City Transport in 1991.

History and fleet

Christopher Thomas Dabell used a 20-seat Guy BB to operate the first South Notts service, between Gotham and Nottingham, in March 1926. Barton already provided a bus service on this route but Mr. Dabell gained enough local customers to make his service successful. In 1929, an agreement was made with Barton which involved Barton acquiring a 50% share of South Notts whilst withdrawing from the South Notts route. The South Notts service was extended to Loughborough, and this continued to be the company's main route until its takeover. (Indeed Nottingham City Transport continue to use the South Notts fleetname on this route.)

Single-deck buses, mainly Guys, joined the fleet until 1932, when Leylands started to arrive, followed by Gilfords, Bedfords and Dennises. The first double-decker did not arrive until 1951, when an ex-Hants and Dorset Leyland was acquired. This proved useful on services to the new Clifton Estate, which were provided jointly with Nottingham City Transport and West Bridgford UDC. More followed, with the fleet size increasing rapidly to meet the new demand, and it was not long before the fleet became predominantly double-deck. However, a small coach fleet was also maintained, for which Bedfords were the preferred vehicles until the mid-1980s when the Bedfords were supplanted by secondhand Leyland Leopards.

The double-deck fleet was always of lowbridge or lowheight types, due to the height of the bridge where the Great Central Railway crossed Wilford Lane. However, even after this bridge was removed, South Notts had to continue to buy lowheight double-deckers because of the height of the depot roof. Lowbridge Leyland Titans were followed by lowheight Albion Lowlanders, Leyland Atlanteans, Daimler Fleetlines, and Leyland Olympians.Amongst these were two "last built" vehicles, the last Albion Lowlander and the last Daimler Fleetline. Both were preserved, but were destroyed by fire in February 2007.

Following the takeover by Nottingham City Transport (which took place exactly 65 years to the day after the first service ran), Leyland and Volvo Olympians with East Lancs bodywork were added to the fleet to oust the remaining Atlanteans and Fleetlines. Newer Olympians still operate the main service, now numbered 1. The route also sees Dennis Trident 2 operate. Newer low floor buses for the 1, are due late 2008 to early 2009. Nottingham City Transport have also transferred the operation of other routes, not traditionally associated with South Notts, to Gotham garage. A number of Scania single-deckers, articulated buses, and double-deckers are allocated to the depot to operate such services.

Liveries

The original livery was dark blue and cream; maroon was later added. For much of the company's existence, the livery for double-deckers was dark blue with a cream relief band and a maroon roof, whilst coaches had a slightly different livery of two-tone blue and cream. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the company in 1986, Leyland Fleetline 117 was repainted with a cream roof, as the original livery, as well as receiving special branding, and later the rest of the fleet also saw the maroon replaced with cream.

Following takeover, the blue and cream livery was retained, with the area of cream expanded, and variants were created for minibuses and single-deckers, the latter involving two shades of blue.

Current livery is NCT's two-tone green "Network" livery, with navy blue around the upper deck windscreen and front and rear sections of the roof. The "South Notts" fleetname is still used. One Olympian has been repainted into traditional blue, cream and maroon livery to celebrate the 80th anniversary of South Notts. This bus is now withdrawn.

Depot

South Notts' depot has been at Leake Road, Gotham since its inception.

External links

* [http://www.nctx.co.uk/News/2006/SouthNotts_80Birthday_March2006.htm NCT's South Notts anniversary and history page]
* [http://www.southnottsbuses.co.uk South Notts Remembered]