Nottingham Heritage Vehicles Charity

01/10/2026

🚍 THROWBACK THURSDAY 🚍

We know it’s a little late, and we’ve missed a few Throwback Thursdays recently, but here’s this week’s photo!

This picture dates back to September 2010, when both 571 and 55 were originally part of the NHV collection. A year or so after this photograph was taken, both vehicles had left the group and headed into the hands of private preservationists.

Fast forward to today and, after taking very different paths over the intervening years, both vehicles have found their way back into our care.

55 is currently undergoing a full restoration and mechanical overhaul, with plenty of progress having been made over the past few years. We are, however, still on the lookout for a pair of windscreens for her, so if you happen to know of any tucked away somewhere, please do get in touch!

Meanwhile, work is progressing on getting 571 mechanically sorted before attention eventually turns to the bodywork.

571’s cylinder heads are currently away for overhaul. Unfortunately, both of the heads removed from the vehicle have been deemed beyond repair by the overhaul company due to internal cracking, most likely caused by the engine having previously run very hot with insufficient coolant.

Thankfully, we have spare heads on the shelf at the depot, and these will be sent away to the specialists at some point next week for inspection and overhaul.

It’s great to see these two back together again after all these years, and hopefully there will be plenty more progress to report on both in the months ahead! 🚌🔧

28/09/2026

23/09/2026

On the way home from Statbus on Sunday, we decided to take 736 through Gotham. After pulling up for a quick photograph outside the former South Notts garage, the conversation soon turned to “what if?”

What if South Notts had opted for ECW-bodied Olympians instead of the two Northern Counties examples they actually ordered?

Anyway, here’s a quick mock-up from our friend ChatGPT showing what 736 might have looked like in South Notts blue and cream. It’s not 100% accurate, but it gives a pretty good representation of what could have been!

22/09/2026

🔧 ATLANTEAN 571 UPDATE 🔧

On Friday evening and throughout our Open Day on Saturday, work progressed well on Atlantean 571.

After getting her running for the first time in over seven years on Friday evening, we quickly diagnosed the issue as a blown head gasket on the right-hand cylinder head. We set to work stripping the engine down ready to remove both heads, before deciding at around 10pm that it was probably best to call it a night ahead of an early start the following morning!

Work resumed on Saturday and, despite the small matter of an Open Day going on around us, good progress continued. By the end of the day, both cylinder heads had been removed.

The heads have now gone away for pressure testing, skimming and rebuilding before being refitted. We’ve also already got a set of overhauled injectors and an overhauled fuel pump ready to be fitted while everything is apart.

A brilliant amount of progress in a relatively short space of time. Well done to Cameron, Jim and Adam for all their hard work — hopefully it won’t be too long before 571 is back up and running again!

21/09/2026

🚨PLAXTON PARAMOUNT 3200 WINDSCREENS WANTED 🚨

After weeks of searching through PSV glass suppliers, scrapyards and fellow preservationists, we’re still drawing a blank.

For one of our members’ vehicles, we urgently need a pair of 45-inch deep Plaxton Paramount 3200 windscreens. This particular EL2000 Atlantean was originally fitted with these screens and we’re determined, if at all possible, to keep the vehicle looking right.

Yes, we could modify the front end to accept something completely different, but that would significantly alter the appearance and character of the vehicle — something we’d really rather avoid.

Surely somewhere out there someone is sitting on a pair of these screens?

Perhaps there’s a Paramount languishing in a yard somewhere with good glass still fitted, or somebody has old stock tucked away that they’ve forgotten about. Any leads would be very gratefully received.

We want to see this old girl back on the road within the next few weeks, so we’re exploring every possible avenue.

🇨🇳 Alternatively, we may look at having a batch manufactured in China.

That would involve sending the existing screens away to be used as templates, but the minimum production quantity is likely to be around 10 pairs.

So we’d also like to hear from other preservationists who either:

• currently need Plaxton Paramount 3200 screens, or
• would be interested in purchasing a spare pair for the future.

If there’s enough genuine interest, a production run could become a realistic option and potentially solve the problem for several preserved vehicles rather than just ours.

Please share this far and wide amongst the bus, coach and preservation community.

If you have screens, know where some may be hiding, or would be interested in joining a batch order, please get in touch.

21/09/2026

Still available

20/09/2026

What a fantastic weekend for Nottingham Heritage Vehicles Charity! 🚌💙

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported us over the last couple of days.

Yesterday we had a brilliant Open Day at our museum in Hucknall, with plenty of visitors through the doors supporting the charity, enjoying the vehicles and helping us keep Nottingham’s transport heritage alive.

Then today it was another successful Great Days Out fundraising trip, with Caroline and Simon hosting a completely FULLY BOOKED coach to Holkham Hall and Wells-next-the-Sea. A lovely day out, a great atmosphere onboard and, most importantly, another fundraising event helping to support the museum and our preserved vehicle collection. Thanks to Scott for a smooth return drive to Norfolk.

Elsewhere, Adam, Tom and Gary represented us at the Statfold Barns Statbus event, taking along one of Adam’s vehicles for display — and for once without the thankless task of spending the entire day running an accompanying sales stall! 😄

It has been a very busy weekend, but a really positive one.

Every museum visitor, coach passenger, donation, purchase and bit of volunteer help makes a difference. Running the museum, maintaining the collection and keeping these vehicles preserved certainly isn’t cheap, so weekends like this are incredibly important to us.

Thank you again to everyone who came along, travelled with us, volunteered, shared our posts or supported us in any way.

Onwards to the next one! 🚌💙

20/09/2026

Today Adam, Tom & Gary have been out with Olympian 736 at Statfold Barn Railways Statbus event. We’re pleased to report 736 performed faultlessly all day - she’s now tucked up in bed having a well earned rest .

19/09/2026

We are having a fantastic day. Lots of support, plenty of smiles ….and Atlanteans 😊

18/09/2026

Today saw unique Trent Atlantean 571 move from our storage compound to the main depot site, courtesy of Crouch Recovery.

Once dropped off, we set about getting it running for the first time in over seven years. When we acquired the vehicle back in 2019, we were told that the engine was knocking. However, today we discovered that the head gasket has actually blown, causing a chuffing/blowing sound coupled with some blowback through the rockers.

Our initial intention was simply to get 571 outside for a much-needed wash ahead of tomorrow, but instead we set about making a start on stripping the engine down ready to remove the heads.

So tomorrow, a rather dirty 571 will be on display! Hopefully it won’t be too long before she’s back up and running again too.

Aside from 571, preparations for tomorrow have been in full swing, with both 433 and 540 receiving a wash amongst various other activities around the depot.

We’re all looking forward to a great day tomorrow — hopefully we’ll see plenty of you there!