Notts and Derby Traction

Many years ago I took an old driver down to Bournemouth to view an old Notts and Derby trolleybus being restored, it was on the Hurn industrial estate, I took some photos they had restored the body and paintwork but the interior remained to be done. They said that they intended to run it at the Black Country Museum when it was ready, but I never heard any more of it. Below are the shots I took and the driver I took with me was Andy Cutler, he told me a story of when they got caught in a pea souper fog outside the Futurist cinema here in Nottingham, so they parked up and went to the pictures only to find when coming out the fog had cleared. They got suspended for two days.

Bill Nix
12/2015

NNU 234 is/was a BUT 9611T with a Weymann H30/26R body new in May 1949 and was fleet number 234 in the Notts and Derby Traction fleet.

18/12/15 - 11:22

I believe the above vehicle is currently at Sandtoft, awaiting further restoration. It was Notts & Derby 353 (later Bradford 770).

David Call

20/12/15 - 08:30

On a visit to Winkleigh on Oct 7 2012 I wormed my way into all manner of tucked-away sheds---none of them part of the official display and many accessible only by dint of yoga-like contortions---and came across a Notts and Derby trolleybus whose unusual staircase and upper-deck rear seating arrangement answered a question that had been niggling away at me for many years. I didn't get the registration number, but I've a feeling that it wasn't the vehicle in Bill Nix's interesting photos.
Does anyone happen to know how many of these vehicles have survived?

Ian Thompson

20/12/15 - 09:53

Ian, the above would almost certainly be the one you saw, as it did move to Winkleigh from Bournemouth.
What do you mean by 'its unusual staircase and upper deck seating arrangement'? What question had been 'niggling away at you'?
Two of the batch are known to have survived, the other being ex-Notts & Derby 357 (NNU 238), which has in recent years been recorded as being preserved by Bowden, Nottingham. It too, spent time at Sandtoft - no wonder the two get confused!
Does anyone know which one spent time at the Blue Bus depot in Willington, early in its time in preservation?

David Call

21/12/15 - 07:58

David Call: Thanks for confirming the recent movements of NNU 234. What I meant by "unusual staircase etc" is covered in Michael Peacock's posting and my two on page "Cheltenham District AEC Regent I--DG 9819-20". To summarise: both this trolleybus and the Cheltenham District Regents have a 180-degree staircase whose top step faces not forward but to the nearside. That seems to have been a Balfour Beatty preference.
Glad to hear that two of these trolleybuses survive!

Ian Thompson

23/02/20 - 16:07

Notts & Derby 353 (Bradford 770) was at Blue Bus, Willington for a short time in its early preservation days. I was one of a small group who did some cosmetic work on it. Pleased to see pictures of it in much better condition.

Nick Potter

Comments regarding the above are more than welcome please get in touch via the 'Contact Page' or by email at

If you have any bus related photographs that you would like to appear in a gallery on this website please send them to me by email at

Quick links to - Galleries - Comments - Contact - Home