North East Buses

Well, I've never posted a review before, and there seems to have been a rash of people out over the weekend. Here's mine:

I’ve been to most places you can get to by bus from Tyneside, but there are one or two that are just too difficult. Despite the remarkable efforts of Spirit, I’ve never got to Alwinton; I’ve been as far as Whitby, but never managed Blanchland by bus.

(17 Oct 2016, 1:29 pm)eezypeazy wrote [ -> ][font=Arial]Coast & Country Streetlite. Warm, most comfortable seats, no rattles.

If the driver hits 2k rpm on a hill, you may as well throw your spine into the bin, it won't be of any use to you after!
Nice review, as a daily user of Stanley's omnicities, I believe they're decently maintained and are fine to travel in - they do their job, even though the dashboard always seems to be yelling about a headlight or engine malfunction!


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@eezypeazy Regarding your point about 6049 sounding "Rather noisy" I have noticed most of the Red Arrow Volvos have been sounding more like the roaring Volvo B7TLs (Not that I'm complaining, I rather like the sound of them), which I find stange as I have always though of B9TLs to be quite vehicles.

(17 Oct 2016, 1:29 pm)eezypeazy wrote [ -> ]Well, I've never posted a review before, and there seems to have been a rash of people out over the weekend. Here's mine:

I’ve been to most places you can get to by bus from Tyneside, but there are one or two that are just too difficult. Despite the remarkable efforts of Spirit, I’ve never got to Alwinton; I’ve been as far as Whitby, but never managed Blanchland by bus.

One that’s always escaped me is Otterburn. All the talk on here of PCL Travel made me go looking for their timetables, so I discovered that Otterburn was within my grasp! The method was the Saturdays only 808 to Newcastle that starts at Bellingham, preceded by the 680 from Hexham up the north Tyne. With Mrs. Eezypeazy committed to a shopping trip in Newcastle and a commitment to meet up for dinner and with tickets to see comedian and writer Andy Hamilton, the basic outline of A Grand Day Out began to form....

 

0910 680 Hexham – Bellingham: GNE 5210

There was a little light rain on an otherwise mild morning as we left Hexham’s bus station. Dating from 1932, it was encouraging to see contractors busy on the new bus station, due to open at the end of November, apparently. The light rain changed to a fine mist, rather masking what I had hoped would have been fine views of the North Tyne through autumnal trees...

 

1010 808 Bellingham – Newcastle

First thing to note – if you’re planning to do this, don’t rely on the timetable for the 808 on the Nexus website, which has the service as departing from “Bellingham, Memorial.” It actually goes from the Heritage Centre, conveniently the terminus of the 680.

PCL Travel provided MH06 WCU, a 16-seat step-entrance LDV mini coach. There were already three regular passengers sitting on the bus when I boarded and another lady turned up before departure, which was on time. No tickets were being issued, but the driver noted my fare and pensioners passes in a notebook. Apparently, the service uses a “facial recognition protocol” for return fares – ie., if the driver knows your face, you’re on!

The driver was on first-name terms with his regulars, and before long the lady in front of me shared her packet of mint imperials!

The bus departed on time. If like me you’re into local history, there’s lots to see from the bus on this route, most notably some of the ‘bastle’ houses – strong houses for people and livestock that are scattered throughout the border lands.

We collected another passenger at West Woodburn before continuing to Otterburn, where the bus performs a reverse outside the premises of that villages’ local coach operator. This is as far north as I was to get today, being less than twelve miles from the Scottish border as the crow flies.

At Otterburn, we collected another four adults, two of them being a couple with a toddler and a baby in a pushchair, which had to be completely disassembled and the chassis folded and stowed in the aisle.

After Otterburn, the bus climbs to the hamlet of Elsdon (no passengers) and then seems to climb even higher on rejoining the A686, as the bus soon disappeared into the low clouds. The bus didn’t pick up anyone else on the run and reached St Thomas Street on time.

 

1155 X1 Eldon Square – Washington: GNE 6049

Having briefly met up with my wife in Northumberland Street, it was onwards towards Washington. I like the B9s – they’re comfortable. But this one did seem rather noisy. Perhaps I haven’t sat above the offside wheel arch on enough of them...

 

1259 Connections 4 Galleries – Glebe: GNE 5367

It has been some years since I’d been in The Galleries, so i was pleasantly surprised to find so many eateries. Opted for a Greggs sarnie and orange juice.

This was my first ride on one of the ‘newer’ Citaros. From a passenger perspective, it seemed almost identical to the ‘older’ ones in the GNE fleet.

I was off to Glebe to listen to a lecture given by the Rt Hon Lord Alan Beith on an aspect of regional history. Afterwards, with a little time in hand, I added an impromptu trip further afield....

 

1527 Coast & Country 8 Glebe – Stanley: 5402

I got chatting to a pair of grandparents with two grandchildren, aged about seven, who were studying the bus stop timetable liner. I thought I’d see if they could help me to find the time of my bus, so we pored over the display until I helped them find it. But 1527? What time is that? Neither generation could read the 24-hour clock. A lesson for us all there?

5402 appeared to be the busiest bus of my day. Not knowing this neck of the woods particularly well, it was an interesting mystery tour of this part of Tyne and Wear/Co Durham. At Chester-le-Street, that flying crow would have found me 35 miles south east of Otterburn. Beamish was reasonably well patronised, but no takers for the bus.
For the Streetlite dissenters amongst the forum, I can report that I heard no rattles, the bus was clean and warm, the seats comfortable and the customers happy!

 

1615 Toonlink X30 Stanley – Newcastle: 5242

I’ve never been a fan of the Omnicity. To me, it’s wouldn’t win a bus beauty contest, and the interior layout seems very strange. Nevertheless, the bus was warm, comfortable, and smoothly driven. Got into Newcastle before the match turned out, but bailed out in Clayton Street to meet Mrs Eezypeazy for a pizza.

Andy Hamilton’s one-man show was at Northern Stage off Barras Bridge, finishing at about 2200hrs. It’s some years since we’ve sampled the delights of the Percy Street pubs on a Saturday, so for old time’s sake we sampled the local hostelries before heading for our last bus...

 

2320 74 Eldon Square – Hexham: GNE 667

This Saturdays Only bus is the last bus westbound towards Cowgate and Westerhope, and I’m surprised that more locals haven’t discovered this yet. Again, our driver was on first-name terms with her regulars, with people travelling towards Ponteland and Stamfordham and locals from Ponteland to Darras Hall.

In my opinion, these Solos are ideally suited to this type of work. It was powerful enough to make good progress on the dual carriageway out of Newcastle and nippy enough to cope well with the country lanes. Again, nice and warm, comfy seats and no rattles!

As you can imagine, eyelids were drooping as we gently passed through the hamlets, until the brakes were applied beyond Fenwick – there were half a dozen sheep on the road. As it transpired, our driver has some experience with sheep and knew what to do. She gently edged the bus forward, carefully encouraging them ahead until they disappeared back through the hole in the fence they had emerged from – except for one! A gentle beep on the horn, and it smartly popped back through the hole into the field!

 

And the award goes to...

Every bus was on time and clean inside. In experiencing about 125 miles by bus, I never had the same type twice! So I’ve decided that I should offer some “awards”:

Best bus: Coast & Country Streetlite. Warm, most comfortable seats, no rattles. A close second was Hexham’s Solo.

Noisiest bus: 6049

Customer Service award: PCL Travel for their driver knowing every passenger by name! But the people of the Coquet Valley are in for a surprise – the vehicle quality is rather less than they might be used to! Runner up was the 74 driver for her knowledge of how sheep behave!

Most disappointed you didn't go to Fencehouses. Mrs Constantopolous would have rolled out a welcome party for you.

Quite often I manage to hit lucky when out and about, ticking off a number of demos by chance, rather than planning or waiting around. Managed to get a go of 9099 in pretty much the same manner and I quite liked it.

The vehicle seemed lighter than a B9 Gemini, and its engine smaller - but there were no issues when pulling away or climbing hills. Newbottle Bank was taken with ease and overtaking cars on the Washington Highway was carried out without pushing the engine too much at all.
The lack of interior rattling was noticeable too. It's obviously been kicking around on the roads for a while now, but the rattles have held off well.

I rode upstairs and the uplighting was a nice touch, over the standard lighting we see. It would be nice to see how effective this is once the sun has set.
I quite liked the comfort offered by the seating. Both the pitch and angle of the back rest was nnice. 

One wag was chatting with the driver about the vehicle and when the passengers was told it was a loan, he quickly replied 'thought so. It's clean'.

Although it seemed to cope well on the trip I had on the X1, I don't know if the vehicle would be suited longer term.
Wouldn't mind another go of it in the opposite direction.

Done some quite interesting things today including a stagecoach Enviro 200 MMC and Go North East Enviro 400 City Demonstrator 9098. Thought it was a good day for my first review...

Arriva North East 7612- VDL Gemini (09:27 X11 Cramlington- Gosforth High Street)

Arriving on time for my first journey of the day was VDL Gemini 7612. I use these buses on a regular basis as they form the main allocation of the Blyth express services which are my local routes. Personally I dont mind these buses although as I have become more interested in the hobby and have tried out more vehicle types, I have begun to recognize some of their flaws in comparison to other buses I have tried. These are all limited to 50mph but some struggle to achieve that. Having said that I found this to be one of the better examples and my journey to Gosforth passed fairly quickly. Although, as you can probably tell from my username, I do prefer it when a Pulsar shows up rather than a Gemini on one of these express routes.

Stagecoach Newcastle 26066- Enviro 200 MMC (31 Gosforth High Street- Newcastle Central Station)

I only had a few minutes to wait in Gosforth before a new Enviro 200 MMC came. Not being familiar with the route, I decided to take it to the Central Station although I may try a longer route in future. This was my first experience of one of these buses and my first impressions were good. I like the modern, smart style particularly at the front and rear of the bus and thought it was much improved on the original Enviro 200. Inside I think the new Stagecoach corporate spec is a big improvement on the previous seating. On the outside these buses look small but this turns out not to be true as they can seat 41. I enjoyed the fairly short journey on 26066 and I couldn't help but think these buses would be Ideal for another route I use in Blyth which is the 2 from Blyth to Morpeth. The current solos on there are slightly small for the route and can often have standees. In my opinion the 5 solos could be moved onto the 1 replacing ageing darts and 5 new E200 MMC's bought for the 2. However I doubt Arriva will ever purchase new buses for the 2 sadly. Anyway after I left the bus at the Central station, I waited around for a while in the hope of a good photo opportunity but in the time I was there I only saw ALX 300's on the routes. Will try again when more MMC's enter service.

Go North East 9098- Enviro 400 City (12:20 21 Newcastle Eldon Square- Birtley)

After around 2 hours in Newcastle I decided I would head across to Eldon Square and as luck would have it 9099 and 9098 arrived not long after. 9099 left first on a short 21 to Chester- Le-Street and straight after was 9098 on a full journey to Durham. I had used both these buses previously, 9099 on the X1 between Newcastle and the Galleries last month and 9098 last week between Newcastle and Peterlee on the Tyne Tees Express. Due to its shorter stay in the fleet, I chose to have a journey on 9098 once again. Ofcourse the main noticeable thing about this bus is the interior specification which received many positive comments from passengers including many who were disappointed when the driver informed them that the bus was just on trial and had not been bought by Go North East. Although it may be over spec for the 21, I think this interior specification would attract customers to routes such as the X9/ X10. I sat upstairs on one of the single seats and was pleased to note that the USB charger was working fine, which cannot be said for many of the buses I have tried this feature on. The seats were much more comfortable than the Civic C3's that I am used to probably because they are taller giving a head rest. During both my trips on 9098 I have been impressed by the speed and power of the bus and I think it is more suited to the 21 than the hybrids although it may not be a long term option for the Tyne Tees Express. During my journey to Birtley I moved to the rear seats to see the domed glass which, along with the glazing on the stairs and in the roof gives the upstairs a bright feel. We overtook 9099 and it followed directly behind for most of the journey. A great photo opportunity had I not been sat on 9098! Although I did get this shot, from the rear window where you can just make out 9099 passing the angel.

   https://www.flickr.com/photos/pulsartran...590738353/
 
Go North East 6020- Volvo B7/ Plaxton President (21 Birtley- Newcastle)

I was thinking of catching 9099 on its return journey however due to time pressure I had to get the 1st 21 back from Birtley which was President 6020. I was fairly happy with this as I have been on many Volvo B5LH both on the 21 and Arriva examples on the 308 in Blyth. Of the few Plaxton President's I have used previously, I have noted a large difference in quality with some such as Washington's 6011 being slow and struggling on hills and others such as Chester-Le-Street's 6036 being slightly better. This one seemed alright, if a little slow, but it was not a bad journey and did rattle less than some of the hybrids do now. I have always been a fan of the President bodywork and hope some of these have a few more years in the fleet before they leave.

Arriva North East 7611- VDL Gemini (13:50 X11 Newcastle- Cramlington)

Another VDL Gemini on the way back to Cramlington, again this one seemed not too bad compared to some but as I use these regularly it was a pretty unremarkable journey. Disappointingly I just missed 7466 leave on the X10 from Haymarket. I believe this will be withdrawn soon (although I may be wrong about that) so it would have been nice to have a ride on that.

Overall

Overall I had an enjoyable day and was pleased I got another ride on 9098. I Hope Go North East do buy some of these (or MMC) for routes such as the 21 or the TEN when the time comes as I think they are a better option than the Wright Streetdeck. Next time I just hope to get some photos of the Enviro 200 MMC but other than that a good day!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my first review.

Just booked train tickets for the 28th January 2017 to head down to London for the day, departing Newcastle at 04:45, arriving in London at 08:04 and returning on the 17:00 getting back into Newcastle for 19:50.

Any suggestions for where to go to take photos.

(04 Dec 2016, 5:00 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]Just booked train tickets for the 28th January 2017 to head down to London for the day, departing Newcastle at 04:45, arriving in London at 08:04 and returning on the 17:00 getting back into Newcastle for 19:50.

Any suggestions for where to go to take photos.

Kings Cross is your obvious bet.

If you are after buses...
If you turn left out of the main exit at KX and left again, you will end up alongside Regent's Canal. If you can get your angles and sun right... I've seen some laying over there too.

Other options that jump out are around Vauxhall and Canning Town. Lots of buses around there at interchange points and interesting background scenery too. 
There's the bridges across the Thames - should provide some decent opportunities.

BTW. Glad you clarified the 'and back' part of your trip

(04 Dec 2016, 9:06 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Kings Cross is your obvious bet.

If you are after buses...
If you turn left out of the main exit at KX and left again, you will end up alongside Regent's Canal. If you can get your angles and sun right... I've seen some laying over there too.

Other options that jump out are around Vauxhall and Canning Town. Lots of buses around there at interchange points and interesting background scenery too. 
There's the bridges across the Thames - should provide some decent opportunities.

BTW. Glad you clarified the 'and back' part of your trip

Kings Cross will be first and last on the list of places to go with my train arriving and departing from here, from the I was thinking of going around Victoria, Covent Garden, Westminister/Buckingham Palace/The Mall, and may have trip down to Waterloo Bus Garage and Pimlico Bus Terminus as the are quite a few Borismasters to catch there. Other places which sprung to mind were Park Lane and Marble Arch, but I don't think I will have enough time to do them all despite being quite close to each other.

Basically after photos of the Borismasters, BYD E200's on the 507/521, Metrolines BYD1474 on the 98, Also looking for Go-Ahead's Scania Irizar EL1/EL2 and BYD's EB1/EB2 which have all been used on the 507/521. Looks as though EL1/EL2 are now on the 108, While I can't find any recent photos of EB1/EB2.

(06 Dec 2016, 10:55 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]Kings Cross will be first and last on the list of places to go with my train arriving and departing from here, from the I was thinking of going around Victoria, Covent Garden, Westminister/Buckingham Palace/The Mall, and may have trip down to Waterloo Bus Garage and Pimlico Bus Terminus as the are quite a few Borismasters to catch there. Other places which sprung to mind were Park Lane and Marble Arch, but I don't think I will have enough time to do them all despite being quite close to each other.

Basically after photos of the Borismasters, BYD E200's on the 507/521, Metrolines BYD1474 on the 98, Also looking for Go-Ahead's Scania Irizar EL1/EL2 and BYD's EB1/EB2 which have all been used on the 507/521. Looks as though EL1/EL2 are now on the 108, While I can't find any recent photos of EB1/EB2.

I believe them two left London for testing for BYD after the BYD E200MMC's started entering service, The two Irizar's are definitely on the 108.

Thought I'd do one of these, seem as it's been two months since I last did one.

Last week I went to the launch for the new Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner buses in York and beforehand decided I'd take a crack at getting some photos of them in service, unfortunately I decided to book my tickets for the train home about a fortnight ago and then I found out that only two would be in service to begin with, so basically I had a challenge on my hand of finding one but was I successful in my efforts? Read on to find out...

0727 Newton Aycliffe Rail Station - Middlesbrough Rail Station (Northern 142067)
My days starts with me, as ever! Arriving at Aycliffe Rail Station just in the nick of time to catch the train through to Middlesbrough (one of these days I will miss it!) my haulage this morning was in the form of bench seated Pacer 142067. I actually don't mind Pacer's and it's going to be weird when they are exiled from the Bishop Line in the not too distant future (it's weird enough getting a 156 in the summer on the Bishop - Whitby Sunday run). Normally when I get Pacer's the heaters are on full pelt and when it's -1 outside, that's what you want but instead the heating was on the roof instead of being down by your feet and seemed to be just for show really, was freezing! Arrived into Middlesbrough at around 08:15.

0830 X10 Middlesbrough Bus Station - Stockton High Street (GNE 6043)
Arrived into Middlesbrough Bus Station and concluded that it was still a bit dark, a bit cold and a bit boring to be standing around in Middlesbrough Bus Station for 55 minutes until my next bus was due, so decided to kill some time with a trip to Stockton. Decided to catch 6043 for the first half of this journey, this bus was lovely and warm, unlike 142067!!! Also enabled me to charge my phone up a little bit. These examples have a bad rep at the moment for breakdowns and sounding rough, on this journey we made it to Stockton without breaking down but it was sounding pretty wounded (rough) possibly the worst sounding example I've been on.

0841 X12 Stockton High Street - Middlesbrough Bus Station (ANE 7620)
This was the first bus I saw after alighting from 6043, so rather than wait for something more exciting, I just went with it, pretty boring journey really with little to say of interest. After alighting I ventured into Poundland for some provisions for the day, pleased most Poundland's seem to have self service tills now as I now usually get in and out the shop quicker now, unless you go to the Eldon Square one where you always seem to get stuck behind the people who are crapping themselves as they have no clue what they are doing, also self service tills don't moan at you when you show up with a £20 note

0920 X93 Middlesbrough Bus Station - Whitby Bus Station (ANE 7405)
Managed to stay out of trouble with the security in Middlesbrough Bus Station today as I got a telling off for taking that photo of a repainted E300 27506 the other day (was inside taking the photo through the window) shame on me, I know. Anyway, 7405 sounding in a much better state than GNE 6043 was earlier. Pretty standard journey really. As we were arriving into Guisborough, I spotted a unidentified Sapphire X3/X4 StreetLite on the X93 which would be an hour behind 7405 if it wasn't removed in Middlesbrough, I am intrigued to see how one would perform on the X93 but it would mean having to ride one to find that answer out.

1100 840 Whitby Bus Station - Thornton-le-Dale (Transdev 426)
No B5 on this run, irritatingly it was my stalker on the Coastliner's, 426 which I've have had on the two previous trips on the 840 over this stretch of the route. Another B9 that sounds in much better nick than 6043 and personally has a much smarter interior than both 6043 and 7405. Was hoping for a B5 for this run as I wanted to see how it faired on the hills on this stretch of the route. Still a pretty decent performer and nice and comfortable to travel on as well.

1205 128 Thornton-le-Dale - Pickering (Scarborough & District 741)
Yet another B9, this one wasn't the nicest sounding example either and although the seats at the back are well padded, they are a bit hard. After this short run, I grabbed some sausage rolls from Cooplands and returned for a few more photos of yet more B9's before catching the next Coastliner.

1304 840 Pickering - Malton Bus Station (Transdev 424)
Another B9 but thankfully one I hadn't had haulage on previously. This was also new territory for me as the furthest I've gone on the 840 is Thornton-le-Dale, so it was nice to see more of the route. A smooth performer although it didn't seem like we were going particularly fast tbh. Alighted in Malton for some photos of more Coastliner's plus a few Stephensons of Easingwold Enviro 200's.

1415 840 Malton Bus Station - Thornton-le-Dale (Transdev 3631)
1458 840 Thornton-le-Dale - York Rail Station (Transdev 3631)
Found one! Fortunately one of the Transdev staff lurking around Malton Bus Station informed me one would be on the 14:15 departure to Thornton-le-Dale whilst I was around taking photos, otherwise I'd be on another B9 and no doubt would have let out audible swears when it went past shortly after leaving Malton Bus Station. Amusingly the timetable states that this is not a journey that should use a B5. As I wanted to see what one of these would be like on the route, I decided to double back on myself to Thornton-le-Dale then head through to York where I had a booked train to catch. Some of you may be sick of comments like these towards Transdev but the interior specifications on most of the newer (plus some older) Transdev buses are in my opinion superior in terms of comfort and appearance to what is on offer from the big boys here in the North East, I was on this bus for 2 hours and at no stage in this journey, the seats made me feel uncomfortable, think I may dare say that they are the best seats I've ever come across in a bus, like the wood effect and black panels which I feel work together well, most of our buses seem to be blue and drab. Performance and ride quality, well it is limited to 50mph which is a bit of a shame but it sat reasonably happy at 50mph, there was a few minor squeaks and rattles but that's standard really. I personally feel that offers a pretty smooth ride unlike the StreetDeck's which I personally feel has a rougher sound and ride to them. Pretty impressed on the whole, although I'd still rather have a B9. Photographed the bus in Malton, Thornton-le-Dale and York.

1654 York Rail Station - Darlington Rail Station (Virgin Trains East Coast 91125)
My parents were saying that this train will be busy, it's be packed, full of Christmas shoppers... WRONG! It was actually pretty dead really (or at least it was in the quiet carriage). This is another one I'm going to miss one the railways, over the last year I've been travelling much further afield using the train which is something I'd not done previously and have quite enjoyed it, think the Class 91's have to be a favourite of mine, other nods go to the HST's, TransPennine's 185's even if they are bit small and I also enjoyed a ride on a East Midlands Trains 158 to Skegness in the summer, meanwhile I ain't a fan of Voyager's and I wasn't keen on either a Class 150 or Class 155 belonging to Northern. Back to today, a nice ride back through to Darlington on this, was nice and quiet and better still, this one doesn't stop at Northallerton, so roughly a 25 minute journey between York and Darlington.

1728 Darlington Rail Station - Newton Aycliffe Rail Station (Northern 142067)
Whilst it would have been nice to have a different Pacer to this one again, I was thankful that this was what turned up as the 2+3 bench seating layout was a godsend as it was quite busy on here. Wonder how many of the people on this train use the train even on a occasional basis as when we got to Aycliffe I had about 8 people stood in front of me staring at the doors expecting them to open themselves, some of whom could see the buttons, in the end it's left to someone in the know to press the button to free us all, that would be me!

Pretty successful trip out and pretty enjoyable and it was very stress free as well. Will be out a few more times over the Christmas break.

Hope you enjoyed the review, it took ages to type it all up.

Here's my photo of 3631 at Thornton-le-Dale.
Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner: 3631 / BT66MVO by Matthew Jimmison, on Flickr

A great review sounds like you had a cracking day. I haven't had any major trips since my experience with PCL Travel the other day week.

Charles

I moved an amazing 8.5 miles out of Derwentside to Newcastle the other night because of west bound lost milage last weekend.
I found myself very disorientated within this foreign land... I was back up Stanley within 50 minutes on an X30!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Been a long day and I'm full of cold so not talking much about each journey

#SNE South Shields 4 Biddick Hall-South Shields
Toke longer then usual but always a nice journey use it quite regularly.
#GNE 27 South Shields-Jarrow 
Rather a quick journey wasn't really taking notice of my surroundings.
#GNE 9 Jarrow-Sunderland
Finally got on a Mercedes Citaro yah much more leg room than the solars which is really good for me because I'm about 6 foot tall.
#GNE X5 Sunderland-Houghton-Le-Spring
Nice route and I think Mercedes Citaro would work well on this route because I was on one.
#GNE 20A Houghton-Le-Street-Durham
Nice journey with amazing sunset views though the windows.
#GNE 16 Durham-Stanley
The engine sounding a little rough it was one of red Mercedes Citaro.
#GNE V7 Stanley-MetroCentre
Quite a fast journey can't say much spent most the journey on my phone.
#SNE 100 MetroCentre-Newcastle
#SNE X34 Newcastle-Whiteleas Bridge
Driver took werid division via A194,Calf Close,Hedworth Lane and all of Abingdon Way I think it's weird because there was no traffic.

Had a family outing to Whitby today, But that didn't stop me from getting a few jobs done for the flickr while my Mam and Nana were looking round the shops in Whitby.

Me and my dad took a trip up to Cow Wath Bank ( Just outside Goathland ) to photograph a Brand New Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner B5 on Service 840, Here's how it turned out -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/

As it was a trip with my family, I didn't get much shots to be used for my flickr, I however got a comparable shot with a Arriva Max B9TL, That will be uploaded at a later date.


I've also tried to make my photostream more professional by the addition of one or two things.


I hope to get a full review for another trip planned after the new year, Thanks for reading.

(29 Dec 2016, 6:13 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote [ -> ]Had a family outing to Whitby today, But that didn't stop me from getting a few jobs done for the flickr while my Mam and Nana were looking round the shops in Whitby.

Me and my dad took a trip up to Cow Wath Bank ( Just outside Goathland ) to photograph a Brand New Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner B5 on Service 840, Here's how it turned out -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/

As it was a trip with my family, I didn't get much shots to be used for my flickr, I however got a comparable shot with a Arriva Max B9TL, That will be uploaded at a later date.


I've also tried to make my photostream more professional by the addition of one or two things.


I hope to get a full review for another trip planned after the new year,  Thanks for reading.

What a shot! Better to have a shot like that than loads of crap ones.

(29 Dec 2016, 6:18 pm)Tom wrote [ -> ]What a shot! Better to have a shot like that than loads of crap ones.

Cheers Tom, I google mapped the whole route from Whitby and came across it on there, It didn't fail to impress haha  

Stunning views of the coastline from one side and the National Park from the other side, Would be nice to head back there in the summer time.

(19 Dec 2016, 8:43 pm)Ds1197 wrote [ -> ]Been a long day and I'm full of cold so not talking much about each journey

#SNE South Shields 4 Biddick Hall-South Shields
Toke longer then usual but always a nice journey use it quite regularly.
#GNE 27 South Shields-Jarrow 
Rather a quick journey wasn't really taking notice of my surroundings.
#GNE 9 Jarrow-Sunderland
Finally got on a Mercedes Citaro yah much more leg room than the solars which is really good for me because I'm about 6 foot tall.
#GNE X5 Sunderland-Houghton-Le-Spring
Nice route and I think Mercedes Citaro would work well on this route because I was on one.
#GNE 20A Houghton-Le-Street-Durham
Nice journey with amazing sunset views though the windows.
#GNE 16 Durham-Stanley
The engine sounding a little rough it was one of red Mercedes Citaro.
#GNE V7 Stanley-MetroCentre
Quite a fast journey can't say much spent most the journey on my phone.
#SNE 100 MetroCentre-Newcastle
#SNE X34 Newcastle-Whiteleas Bridge
Driver took werid division via A194,Calf Close,Hedworth Lane and all of Abingdon Way I think it's weird because there was no traffic.

I had this happen to me, it delayed me significantly

(29 Dec 2016, 6:22 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote [ -> ]Cheers Tom, I google mapped the whole route from Whitby and came across it on there, It didn't fail to impress haha  

Stunning views of the coastline from one side and the National Park from the other side, Would be nice to head back there in the summer time.

No bother, will definitley be a route I will have to try out sometime

(29 Dec 2016, 6:13 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote [ -> ]Had a family outing to Whitby today, But that didn't stop me from getting a few jobs done for the flickr while my Mam and Nana were looking round the shops in Whitby.

Me and my dad took a trip up to Cow Wath Bank ( Just outside Goathland ) to photograph a Brand New Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner B5 on Service 840, Here's how it turned out -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/

As it was a trip with my family, I didn't get much shots to be used for my flickr, I however got a comparable shot with a Arriva Max B9TL, That will be uploaded at a later date.


I've also tried to make my photostream more professional by the addition of one or two things.


I hope to get a full review for another trip planned after the new year, Thanks for reading.

Nice shot.

At least you actually managed to get a B5 on one of the Whitby runs, seems like most of the time atm they don't go further than Thornton-le-Dale on the 840, which I found out the hard way.

I did think of getting a photo of one in that area but it's pretty impossible when you don't drive or have someone to drive you, unless you want a hike from Goathland and spend somewhere between 2-4 hours round that area, because the nearest bus stop is miles away.

(29 Dec 2016, 10:47 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Nice shot.

At least you actually managed to get a B5 on one of the Whitby runs, seems like most of the time atm they don't go further than Thornton-le-Dale on the 840, which I found out the hard way.

I did think of getting a photo of one in that area but it's pretty impossible when you don't drive or have someone to drive you, unless you want a hike from Goathland and spend somewhere between 2-4 hours round that area, because the nearest bus stop is miles away.

Cheers Jimmi

I was pretty lucky, As I was planning on photographing the run 2 hours later instead of this one, Which turned out to be a 11 reg B9.


I had originally planned to get a photo of it around Sleight's on my own ( as its easily accessible by Arriva's 95 ), But seem as though everyone else was going up in the car, I looked at a more rural location.
It's a shame the 95 didn't run to Goathland or Thornton-Le-Dale, As the gap in service isn't really appealing.

As for walking up that moor to photograph it myself, I might aswell carry on walking to Whitby instead of waiting for it haha.

Today (December 31st 2016) I visited Preston for the Preston Bus Olympian Farewell which saw Leyland Olympian's operating on public service work for the last time following DDA regulations coming into force tomorrow, the four buses were allocated to services 8, 23 and 35, I managed to ride J112KCW, H101BFR and J976PRW (in that order), sadly H102BFR didn't come out to play until it was time for me to leave, so didn't get haulage on that one.

Was a very enjoyable day out, just a shame that it will be now virtually impossible to ride buses like these in passenger service now. I will really miss them

As well as haulage I managed to get photos of all four buses used today, managed to get three of them in locations along the routes, sadly had to settle for a bus station shot for H102BFR as it didn't move until it was home time for me. Photos can be found here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskPzcWNA


I would also like to wish you all a Happy New Year

(31 Dec 2016, 9:37 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Today (December 31st 2016) I visited Preston for the Preston Bus Olympian Farewell which saw Leyland Olympian's operating on public service work for the last time following DDA regulations coming into force tomorrow, the four buses were allocated to services 8, 23 and 35, I managed to ride J112KCW, H101BFR and J976PRW (in that order), sadly H102BFR didn't come out to play until it was time for me to leave, so didn't get haulage on that one.

Was a very enjoyable day out, just a shame that it will be now virtually impossible to ride buses like these in passenger service now. I will really miss them

As well as haulage I managed to get photos of all four buses used today, managed to get three of them in locations along the routes, sadly had to settle for a bus station shot for H102BFR as it didn't move until it was home time for me. Photos can be found here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskPzcWNA


I would also like to wish you all a Happy New Year

Very nice!

I have taken a trip to Oxford today for no clear reason. I took some pictures whilst I was about. This is my 3rd ever excursion for buses outside of the NEB area (France and Spain were the prior, which was part break).

(Oxford Bus Company) SL15ZGG / 655 - Wright Streetdeck (Integral) by Jamie MP, on Flickr

(Oxford Bus Company) SF10OXF / 227 - Scania N230UD / Enviro 400 by Jamie MP, on Flickr

The last I'm showcasing confused me, I have no idea what it was as there is literally no information online, so guessing. Must be brand new.

(Oxford Bus Company) SK66HUP / 671 - Wright Gemini III by Jamie MP, on Flickr

I enjoyed the day out. I saw some Thames Travel buses (as pictured on flickr) and all sorts. I'm a cheapskate, so I didn't actually take a ride. My album will be updated with the relevant names once I have confirmed 100% what each bus is (hint hint, nudge nudge [WINKING FACE]).

https://flic.kr/s/aHskNTqPtG

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

(31 Dec 2016, 10:43 pm)Jamie M wrote [ -> ]Very nice!

I have taken a trip to Oxford today for no clear reason. I took some pictures whilst I was about. This is my 3rd ever excursion for buses outside of the NEB area (France and Spain were the prior, which was part break).

(Oxford Bus Company) SL15ZGG / 655 - Wright Streetdeck (Integral) by Jamie MP, on Flickr

(Oxford Bus Company) SF10OXF / 227 - Scania N230UD / Enviro 400 by Jamie MP, on Flickr

The last I'm showcasing confused me, I have no idea what it was as there is literally no information online, so guessing. Must be brand new.

(Oxford Bus Company) SK66HUP / 671 - Wright Gemini III by Jamie MP, on Flickr

I enjoyed the day out. I saw some Thames Travel buses (as pictured on flickr) and all sorts. I'm a cheapskate, so I didn't actually take a ride. My album will be updated with the relevant names once I have confirmed 100% what each bus is (hint hint, nudge nudge [WINKING FACE]).

https://flic.kr/s/aHskNTqPtG

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

The purple Park & Ride bus is brand new - it's a Wright StreetDeck, like Go North East's examples on The Castles Express.

Some info on my photo's caption below:
https://flic.kr/p/Qm7BEn

The existing Park & Ride buses will be repainted to allow the withdrawal of older vehicles.

(31 Dec 2016, 11:05 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]The purple Park & Ride bus is brand new - it's a Wright StreetDeck, like Go North East's examples on The Castles Express.

Some info on my photo's caption below:
https://flic.kr/p/Qm7BEn

The existing Park & Ride buses will be repainted to allow the withdrawal of older vehicles.

Thanks a lot, Dan. I thought it looked similar inside but so do the Gem3's. I never pick up the differences, 😛

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Currently lacking the motivation to do a review, so here is a summary of my North East Explorer on Saturday with Adrian and citaro5284.

08:23 GNE #X21 6301 Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace to Newcastle Eldon Square 09:00
09:13 T&WM 4087+4088 Haymarket to Northumberland Park 09:28
10:31 T&WM 4025+4010 Northumberland Park to Whitley Bay 10:40
10:54 GNE #309 6105 Whitley Bay to Blyth Bus Station 11:15
11:33 ANE #1 1760 Blyth Bus Station to Ashington Bus Station 12:03
12:22 ANE #35A 7486 Ashington Woodhorn Road to Morpeth Bus Station 12:44
12:58 ANE #X15 7511 Morpeth Bus Station to Newcastle Haymarket 13:38
13:43 SC&NL #685 27142 Newcastle Eldon Square to Hexham Bus Station 14:36
15:13 GNE #689 651 Hexham Bus Station to Consett Bus Station 16:10
16:26 GNE #X71 6125 Consett Bus Station to Newcastle Eldon Square 17:27
17:31 GNE #21 6018 Newcastle Eldon Square to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace 18:20

(23 Jan 2017, 6:22 pm)R852 PRG wrote [ -> ]Currently lacking the motivation to do a review, so here is a summary of my North East Explorer on Saturday with Adrian and citaro5284.

08:23 GNE #X21 6301 Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace to Newcastle Eldon Square 09:00
09:13 T&WM 4087+4088 Haymarket to Northumberland Park 09:28
10:31 T&WM 4025+4010 Northumberland Park to Whitley Bay 10:40
10:54 GNE #309 6105 Whitley Bay to Blyth Bus Station 11:15
11:33 ANE #1 1760 Blyth Bus Station to Ashington Bus Station 12:03
12:22 ANE #35A 7486 Ashington Woodhorn Road to Morpeth Bus Station 12:44
12:58 ANE #X15 7511 Morpeth Bus Station to Newcastle Haymarket 13:38
13:43 SC&NL #685 27142 Newcastle Eldon Square to Hexham Bus Station 14:36
15:13 GNE #689 651 Hexham Bus Station to Consett Bus Station 16:10
16:26 GNE #X71 6125 Consett Bus Station to Newcastle Eldon Square 17:27
17:31 GNE #21 6018 Newcastle Eldon Square to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace 18:20

just seen your photo from Blyth. I was stood just in front of the 308 stand when 7809 came in. Took a few zoomed in shots of the branding as its soon to disappear because of MAX upgrade.

Had a bit of a incident with some old woman at Heworth Interchange today and I am wondering if this makes me a bad person:

I got off the 4 at Heworth Interchange and within seconds of arriving there was two service 27's come in bound for Newcastle, I noticed that there was a X36 to Newcastle due in about 10 minutes, so as I thought it would be a MPD, I decided to have a bash on that, just about everyone boarded the first 27 that came in but there was a old woman still in the bus shelter when the 27 left about 5 minutes later, I was convinced that she was waiting for the 'taxi bus service' which was due a few minutes after the X36, so the X36 came in and as it was pulling up to the stand, I moved forward to where the bus would stop, the woman was still sat there at this point, so I got on the X36 and sat in the sideways seat behind the drivers cab and as I sat down there she was putting her pass on the machine, I sensed that someone was behind me at the point I boarded but I did not think it would be her as I thought "who on earth would let two 27's go and wait 10 minutes to get on the X36... Who isn't a enthusiast?!" anyway, she was really not happy with me, when she walked past she was loudly tutting and she said summit to me as she walked past, I was not happy with this so I asked "is there a problem?" and she gave me such demonic stares the whole way to Newcastle, I swear she did not take her eyes off me for even a millisecond, thought about jumping off the sideways seat in front of her when we got to Newcastle but thought better of it and got off a few passengers before her and got myself out of the way to prevent escalating the situation even further.

Whilst I do admit I should have been slightly more observant in Heworth Interchange for if she was wanting to board the bus but do you feel she may have overreacted with me slightly? If she thinks just me doing it bad, I would love to show her the likes of Darlington Town Centre, she go on a rampage there no doubt. I dare bet she is saying to people about how ignorant I am and the youth of today, yada, yada, yada... But on a regular basis I am subjected to the same treatment from OAPs who are trying to sneak their way past me when I'm queuing to board a bus, had one old guy argue with me in Sunderland Park Lane Interchange when I was getting on the Pronto X20 to Bishop Auckland (this has got to be about 5 years ago now) and he claimed that I had pushed in, when in actual fact it was he who had pushed in, got the ignorance of youth of today speech as ever as well.

What do you's think about this situation I was in today, was I and/or her out of order?

(23 Jan 2017, 11:16 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Had a bit of a incident with some old woman at Heworth Interchange today and I am wondering if this makes me a bad person:

I got off the 4 at Heworth Interchange and within seconds of arriving there was two service 27's come in bound for Newcastle, I noticed that there was a X36 to Newcastle due in about 10 minutes, so as I thought it would be a MPD, I decided to have a bash on that, just about everyone boarded the first 27 that came in but there was a old woman still in the bus shelter when the 27 left about 5 minutes later, I was convinced that she was waiting for the 'taxi bus service' which was due a few minutes after the X36, so the X36 came in and as it was pulling up to the stand, I moved forward to where the bus would stop, the woman was still sat there at this point, so I got on the X36 and sat in the sideways seat behind the drivers cab and as I sat down there she was putting her pass on the machine, I sensed that someone was behind me at the point I boarded but I did not think it would be her as I thought "who on earth would let two 27's go and wait 10 minutes to get on the X36... Who isn't a enthusiast?!" anyway, she was really not happy with me, when she walked past she was loudly tutting and she said summit to me as she walked past, I was not happy with this so I asked "is there a problem?" and she gave me such demonic stares the whole way to Newcastle, I swear she did not take her eyes off me for even a millisecond, thought about jumping off the sideways seat in front of her when we got to Newcastle but thought better of it and got off a few passengers before her and got myself out of the way to prevent escalating the situation even further.

Whilst I do admit I should have been slightly more observant in Heworth Interchange for if she was wanting to board the bus but do you feel she may have overreacted with me slightly? If she thinks just me doing it bad, I would love to show her the likes of Darlington Town Centre, she go on a rampage there no doubt. I dare bet she is saying to people about how ignorant I am and the youth of today, yada, yada, yada... But on a regular basis I am subjected to the same treatment from OAPs who are trying to sneak their way past me when I'm queuing to board a bus, had one old guy argue with me in Sunderland Park Lane Interchange when I was getting on the Pronto X20 to Bishop Auckland (this has got to be about 5 years ago now) and he claimed that I had pushed in, when in actual fact it was he who had pushed in, got the ignorance of youth of today speech as ever as well.

What do you's think about this situation I was in today, was I and/or her out of order?

At the end of the day, it's a bus mate. There's always going to be strange people kicking around.

At Stanley, the kids get on the 6 at Flint Hill, get off at Kyo. They then swarm down the street, attacking various structures (I think they once tried to kick a house down ?), and about an hour later wander in Stanley Bus Station. They start kicking the bins and structures, then flood onto the V7 back home.

Elderly people also knock about and start shouting and screaming when buses pull onto the wrong stand because the proper stand already has a bus parked up. One older folk also races his wheel chair up and down the bus station before heading out of the bus station to his kip hill residence.

If you go travelling with the mentality that you will come across stange people, all you do is shrug your shoulders at such oddities and laugh at their strange behaviour while reviewing the mass collection of odd people you see on a day-to-day basis.

Questioning strange behaviour isn't going to get a response that's worth having. If some random guy (or gal) came up to you asking if there was a problem - whilst going about your normal routine, you'd be like 'no..?' then spend the time wondering why somebody went out of their way to ask you that.

Don't let it bother you mate 😛

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Jimmi wrote:

"who on earth would let two 27's go and wait 10 minutes to get on the X36... Who isn't a enthusiast?!"

How do we know she wasn't an enthusiast! Catching that Dart might have been the highlight of her day

Charles