Went out on an adventure today, mainly to ride a few Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renowns; having not been on one since my outing on 16 May, with Sean (northern156), which was 5148. I purchased a Get Around day ticket for £3.75, and got exactly what I wanted out of it.
I woke up at 08:00, and got ready for the day ahead. My camera was fully charged, I had my wallet and phone, and I left my house at 08:25. As time is always a factor, and I knew Renowns were now allocated to the 95/96 services, I decided I would head through to Newcastle to start the day off. As I don't live in the centre of Chester-le-Street, it was roughly a 20 minute walk until I boarded Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 2 6061 at the Newcastle-bound ''Angel'' stand at the bottom of Front Street. The passenger boarding in front of me took a while, as the ticket machine seemed to jam, and multiple tickets had to be printed by the driver, including a cancellation, and then cutting away any messed up tickets; before finally, I handed over my money, pulled my Get Around from the ETM, and took my seat at the front upstairs. I think this run came from Durham, as there was already about ten passengers on board, and there is no way that many people were waiting at the Black Horse when I walked past. There were a couple of others upstairs, one towards the middle and another towards the back; and the journey went by rather fast. Normally, at this hour, I'm quite tired and tend to shut my eyes (but not go to sleep) and just rest them for a while; but for some bizarre reason I was very much awake. Aside from a young child who boarded at the Coach & Horses in Birtley, who sat at the nearside front seats upstairs, making a bit of a racket, nothing else annoyed me during this journey. Quite a number of people left in Gateshead, where Daniel Picken boarded; sitting at the door-side front seats where the young child had been sitting. I was listening to my music, so didn't turn around to see him at first, before I felt like someone was watching me. I looked and saw him sitting, smiling at me, so I took my earphones out and made conversation. We discussed Tridents, Presidents and Vykings, I think. As we were on Percy Street, I saw a ''Toon Link'' B10BLE in it's stand, I later determined it was 5148. When I disembarked 6061, and walked up the bus station, the driver closed the doors just five seconds before I would have boarded... Bit of shame.
Standing just above it in Eldon Square, was a 10A service, operated by a Volvo B9TL. Having just come off a B5, I decided to ride a B9 to try and make a comparison. It was 6072 working this run, which I travelled on as far as the MetroCentre. Only a handful of passengers were using this service, so there wasn't any noise being made by anyone to irritate me. I sat a couple of rows behind the stairs, as my favoured spot was taken. The only noticeable difference was the noise of the engine, as you'll all know, the engine of a Hybrid B5 is very light and smooth while the B9 makes much more noise, but still retains the smoothness. When I did reach the MetroCentre, I noticed Renown 4920 was sitting in the layover, with the blind set for the 96 back to Gateshead. I walked over to that stand after leaving 6072, to find that the next 96 was due in only five minutes. A couple of minutes passed before the driver brought it out of the layover, and came to a stop where I was standing. I took my seat at the quadrant, one of my favourite spots to sit on a Renown, before the driver pulled it out at the departure time, with the only passenger being myself. It must be said that when you have a bus to yourself, it is a lovely feeling of peace that is hard to copy in other parts of the hobby, if you ask me. Even better, when it is a vehicle that you like very much. 4920 was one of the B10s that I required for haulage today anyway, there are only a handful of the native Renowns that I need to ride anyway, for the sake of it, so this is one I can tick off. This was an absolute beast, I don't normally offer buses that status, but I think 4920 was worthy of it. I don't know if it was because of the amount of people on board (just me and the driver) or the fact there was no traffic, but it just flew past bus stops and along roads until a couple of men boarded about 10 minutes away from the MetroCentre. Then, when we hit Lobley Hill, around a dozen boarded, and we entered Gateshead with a decent load. If you've never been on 4920, I would recommend it. Now one of my favourite Renowns.
The next ride was ''Angel'' Volvo B5 6058, which was the first thing to pull into Gateshead heading to Newcastle. Not many comments to make, as it was just over 10 minutes until Eldon Square, but after I hopped off, I made my way up to Costa. Got the usual, a Hot Chocolate to sit in with, and watched the activity go by. I made notes of any unusual workings that passed through, and during this time, Adrian contacted me saying that he was on 6028 heading through on the X1. I continued to drink while I conversed with him, having to watch a couple of B10BLEs and OmniDekkas go in and out, but as the time crept up to 11:30, I had finished my Costa, left, and was standing on Percy Street waiting for 6028 to appear. When it did, Adrian was standing at the front of the bus, so I gave him a wave and he responded by doing the same; then I headed back into the bus station as the X1 then proceeded to move forwards and down into Eldon Square. Adrian came towards me, and we initially headed down to see of anything good, but then he spotted a couple of ''Toon Link'' OmniCities on Percy Street, so we headed back up for a couple of photographs. He did, but I didn't bother... Something else caught my attention; Stanley's only remaining Wright Renown, 4897, was coming into view on the ''Diamond'' 43 to Durham. I told Adrian, and we headed down to it's stand, as it pulled in. There wasn't really a queue that had formed, just a few people standing around waiting for it, so Adrian and I took full advantage of this and sat at the driver's side quadrant; Adrian facing the rear and myself facing the road ahead. Not many passenger numbers on this, and we just had a general discussion to pass the time. As you can imagine, it was nice to ride an ex-''Lime'' B10BLE, albeit not on it's former route, but the kickdowns I could hear on this Volvo machine were great. Not as good as 4920 earlier on, but still very good. I'll be sad to see this one go.
Adrian and I walked across to the area that allows photographs of buses entering and exiting, as well as the layover bays, to take a few photos. I managed a shot of 4898 on the 67, then a ''Highwayman'' branded Solar, before putting my camera away, but not before Adrian snapped 6120, the only ''Red Kite'' B9 he needed, before we walked down towards it's stand, and had a ride on that back to Newcastle. It was actually quite busy, with most pair of seats upstairs having at least one occupant, and most seats downstairs being taken. We just discussed Leyland Nationals, the Howlands Rally next Sunday, and preserved 4708 passing it's MOT. On the mechanical side of things, as smooth and powerful as any other B9 in the fleet! Not really comparable to anything, and nothing appeared to be out of character. At least it's another ''Red Kite'' B9 I can cross off, the only one I need now is 6119. When we left in Eldon Square, we walked out on Percy Street for some more photos. In the corner of my eye – I saw my main aim of today's outing; 4843!! I told Adrian, and we walked down to the X25 stand (which, by the time we'd arrived, was when 4843 was pulling into the stand, as it is located right at the bottom). There was only one other passenger in the queue, so we joined. The first thing I noticed was the ''graffiti'' seat behind the driver's cab, facing the doors. Didn't look very good when compared to the other blue ''Go'' seats displayed inside... Speaking of the inside, this was a pretty scruffy bus. Anyway, we departed and hit Newgate Street. We went over a pothole – and the whole bus shook. It was almost scary how violently the bus was shaking on anything as minor as a downhill slope... I couldn't help but mutter ''Jesus'' when I was practically shown out of my seat... Very disappointed with this, so Adrian and I alighted in Gateshead. To think that last night I was anticipating a round trip on the 34/34A or a whole ride from Chester-le-Street to Newcastle on the 28/28A on this vehicle...
We took a few shots around the Interchange, before Dual-Door Wright Renown 5164 appeared with the ''Loop'' 93 service. Adrian had suggested earlier on that we see if anything of value is visible at Saltmeadows; prior to today, I had never been before, so I thought it would be a good experience to see the location with my own eyes. 5164, like most dual-door examples, was nothing particularly special. Sounded a bit rough, nothing like a real B10BLE. Of note, there was OmniDekka 6123 and another red example parked in the bus wash, with ''Metro Radio'' base-liveried 6133 in full view, as well as the now common sight of 8293 and 4846 parked nose down towards the rear fence. After taking as many photos as we needed, I had a look along the main road – a ''Loop'' branded Scania was just turning onto the road, and the bus stop was directly in front of us. I told Adrian, and we walked across with ample time for the Solar to reach the stop. Signalling for it to stop, we boarded and hit the back seats. There is something about these examples on the ''Loop''... I can't pinpoint it, but the engine noise just reminds me so much of a DAF Plaxton Prestige. Although we were on this (5220) no more then 10 minutes, I enjoyed it very much, and sitting at the back made the beastly engine even better. As we entered Gateshead again, we walked around for a short while, before Adrian suggested we ride ''Coaster'' branded OmniCity 5268 to Market Street in Newcastle, then catch an X70/X71 up to Consett. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so we boarded 5268, and set off moments after taking our seats. It was only a brief hop to Newcastle, about half of the bus was occupied with decent passenger numbers. I've brought it up several times in the past, but I am not a massive fan of OmniCities to begin with, so I just made the best I could of it.
When we alighted, Adrian asked for the time. It was 13:21; we had 9 minutes until the next X70 to Consett departed Eldon Square, which we could easily walk. We casually made our way into Eldon Square Bus Station; arriving a couple of minutes before it was due out. This was operated by Dennis Trident/East Lancs Lolyne 3873 – a vehicle I have not travelled on since it left Chester-le-Street a long time ago! I noticed it's seats were re-trimmed, as it held the ''graffiti'' seating when I last rode it. The two of us took the front seats, Adrian on the side of the doors and myself on the side of the cab. John, the young boy mentioned in my review from the 30 May (with Jimmi) also boarded in Newcastle (albeit Newgate Street), and spoke to both of us until he alighted in Gateshead. As we exited Gateshead, we gave Dan a wave as I saw him in the corner of my eye take a photo of our bus. Everything about this particular example seemed fine, until we hit one of the steepest banks on the Newcastle-Consett express route; the definition of the term ''crawl'' could have been used to describe the way it climbed this bank, just after we'd passed through the Bensham area. We continued our general discussion, about the forum, other aspects of the hobby and QCS as well, if I remember correctly. Finally, after a pretty good journey, we arrived in Consett. I have rode nearly every Lolyne (or Trident for that matter!) in the Go North East fleet, and I can safely say I think Stanley's 3873 is one of the healthiest in the fleet.
There was a couple of charvers outside of the bus station (who I later determined to be Robert and his buddies...
), so rather than take photos in full view of them, we went out of the way somewhat, where we could still take photos. I got a few decent shots, as did Adrian. He was after a few ''Venture'' Solos, and I think he managed to tick one or two off of his list. We saw ''Coast & Country'' 5399 leave for Sunderland, then a ''Venture'' Solo on the V8, so we had a wait of about 20 minutes for the next bus to Stanley. A trip to Gregg's (I knew where it was, but led us around the long way, not knowing there was a way of quickly cutting onto the Front Street!) took place, where Adrian stocked up on food, as did I. As we ate at the benches just outside of the bus station, Chester-le-Street based ''Coast & Country'' Streetlite 5407 came in with a 78 to Sunderland. Finishing up, we joined the line to board, eventually sitting in the middle of the vehicle; with Adrian at the seat with the massive amount of legroom, and then myself behind him, just above the step. Not a bad journey to Stanley on this Streetlite; while it was nothing on a Volvo B10BLE, I don't recall it struggling at all; and there are some nasty climbs on the Stanley-Consett stretch of the route!
After jumping off 5407 in Stanley, we headed to the spot outside of the bus station for some photos. Got some great shots, which I'll upload to Flickr shortly, but when we walked around the side where the Stanley Travel office is, some charvers standing at the entrance saw us. One said ''are you going to take pictures of me like'', to which Adrian turned around and said ''not unless you're going to pay me for it''; the charver then made a fart noise in response, before we walked around the side for some shots of the deckers lined up in the layover bays. Have to say I'm really pleased I had Adrian with me there, I would have been quite scared if that happened to me by myself... I feel a lot safer taking photographs if I'm with somebody.
The next 8 back to Chester-le-Street was due at 15:45, and the moment we re-entered the bus station from the main entrance (the charvers had dispersed), I spotted it coming around the roundabout. It was Chester-le-Street based 5404; one that I have not yet made a journey on, so that made me quite happy. I don't think there are many more that I need now. We sat in the same positions as we did on 5407, talking again. Adrian stayed on until Washington, while I thanked him for the company today, and disembarked at South Burns, in Chester-le-Street. I headed into Tesco for a couple of things, before walking back to the Front Street. I missed, by seconds, 6056 on the 21 to Durham, so decided to get the next bus heading up to the Black Horse, and walk from there. This was 5258, operating the 16:22 50 to Durham. The driver overran the stop, but when I pressed the bell again, he apologised and dropped me off at the nearest location. A log is below;
08:47 #21 – Chester-le-Street Corals to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 6061
09:31 #10A – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 6072
09:56 #96 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Gateshead Transport Interchange – GNE 4920
10:30 #21 – Gateshead Transport Interchange to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 6058
11:36 #43 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 4897
12:01 #47 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 6120
12:25 #X25 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Gateshead Transport Interchange – GNE 4843
12:46 #93 – Gateshead Transport Interchange to Saltmeadows Road Bus Depot – GNE 5164
13:03 #94 – Saltmeadows Road Bus Depot to Gateshead Transport Interchange – GNE 5220
13:13 #1 – Gateshead Transport Interchange to Newcastle Market Street – GNE 5268
13:29 #X70 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Consett Bus Station – GNE 3873
14:54 #78 – Consett Bus Station to Stanley Bus Station – GNE 5407
15:42 #8 – Stanley Bus Station to Chester-le-Street South Burns – GNE 5404
16:22 #50 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Black Horse – GNE 5258
When I look at the whole journey log, I really didn't get that far today. However, I rode plenty of Wright Renowns, and took many photos. Also thanks to Adrian for the company. I hope you enjoyed reading, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Marcus
