Nottingham heritage Vehicles STO 526H

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Chassis No.7000372 Body No.6999

This vehicle is 14ft 6" high and 30ft 10"long. It entered service on 2nd July 1970. After some eleven years of service it gained the revised livery of two green stripes between decks in April 1981. On 13th February 1984 the bus was withdrawn passing to Wood of Cawthorne (dealer) for 1750 Vat. British Shoe Corporation acquired it the same month along with many from the batch - joining some of the earlier PTO/G registered examples.

526 spent a further 12 years operating for this company prior to the cesation of its bus operation on 2nd February 1996. It was initially purchased as part of their staff transport fleet which in itself became a full psv operation in April 1991 following legislation changes. 526 received a replacement engine in February 1987.

On 3rd March 1996 Dave Henderson acquired the vehicle from British Shoe. Over the following year he returned it to Nottingham livery. In this view it can be on Victoria Embankment, Nottingham alongside STO525H, a sister vehicle prior to delivery of this bus to Grayline of Vancouver. Nottingham City Transport had reacquired 525, ETO170L and ETO172L from British Shoe when the psv operation closed, specifically for the purpose of exporting 525 to Grayline and stripping the two fleetlines and STO530H for usable spares.526 also operated a tour of its former routes whilst in the city - a feature being published in Bus & Coach Preservation.

On 4th February 2007 526 returned to Nottingham after being stored out of use in Northamptonshire for some 9 years. After minor remedial work to the mechanics the bus is now mobile again and awaiting a complete structural rebuild owing to the fact that many of the body bearers are suffering from advanced decay. Nevertheless the work will be done and this vehicle will once again represent Nottingham on the rally circuit later in 2008/ 2009. A complete repanel and replacement of window rubbers is also necessary.