North East Buses

(24 Jan 2017, 8:11 am)Jamie M wrote [ -> ]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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Judging by the fact that I go to Darlington Town Centre, Durham Bus Station and Middlesbrough Bus Station on a regular basis, I am not exactly a stranger to this sort of thing but the worst you normally get is "err excuse me, I was before you!" yesterday, I really didn't know how I should be feeling but it was some form of frustration, of course in addition to her giving me the death stares, I also had the passengers staring at me wondering what on earth had gone on to provoke these reactions (typical it would happen the one time there would actually be other people on the X36! [emoji14]) you'd seriously be mistaken for thinking I did something far worse or at least used some more colourful language than "problem?" I think the reason why I feel like I totally did wrong was just the way she went on, normally I just think "meh" then don't give it another thought and nobody else needs to batter an eyelid. Another thing that didn't help me was the fact that someone put a small suitcase in the luggage bay between the two seats and had to keep grabbing the rails to help stay in the seat, typical GNE would go and put a big Metro tray in the middle of a large luggage bay then put no papers in it! [emoji19]

Yesterday's outing, on an Under 18 Day Ticket: 

09:47 GNE #8 5397 Chester-le-Street South Burns to Glebe Bus Link 10:01
10:51 GNE #82 687 Barmston Westerhope Road to Concord Bus Station 10:59
11:01 GNE #4 5366 Concord Bus Station to Fatfield Bridge 11:21
11:52 GNE #2 8321 Fatfield Bridge to Sunderland Vine Place 12:19
12:24 GNE #33 681 Sunderland Holmeside to Silksworth Terminus 12:37
12:52 GNE #33 689 Silksworth Terminus to Sunderland Holmeside 13:06
13:11 GNE #20 5433 Sunderland Park Lane to Houghton-le-Spring 13:32 
13:43 GNE #36 5305 Houghton-le-Spring to Chester-le-Street Lloyds Bank 14:06

After my first bus of the day was the StreetLite that seems to stalk me (I have it almost every time I catch a Coast & Country), 5366 and 5305 were my only duds. Quite happy with five winners for what was a fairly short and cheap outing.

Photographs are available to view here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/142814434@...res/14A03X

(29 Jan 2017, 2:16 pm)R852 PRG wrote [ -> ]Yesterday's outing, on an Under 18 Day Ticket: 

09:47 GNE #8 5397 Chester-le-Street South Burns to Glebe Bus Link 10:01
10:51 GNE #82 687 Barmston Westerhope Road to Concord Bus Station 10:59
11:01 GNE #4 5366 Concord Bus Station to Fatfield Bridge 11:21
11:52 GNE #2 8321 Fatfield Bridge to Sunderland Vine Place 12:19
12:24 GNE #33 681 Sunderland Holmeside to Silksworth Terminus 12:37
12:52 GNE #33 689 Silksworth Terminus to Sunderland Holmeside 13:06
13:11 GNE #20 5433 Sunderland Park Lane to Houghton-le-Spring 13:32 
13:43 GNE #36 5305 Houghton-le-Spring to Chester-le-Street Lloyds Bank 14:06

After my first bus of the day was the StreetLite that seems to stalk me (I have it almost every time I catch a Coast & Country), 5366 and 5305 were my only duds. Quite happy with five winners for what was a fairly short and cheap outing.

Photographs are available to view here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/142814434@...res/14A03X

eeee, going a bit off-course there!
I don't like Concord, nor the services that go around there - get some rather odd kids lurking around, even making me feel sceptical!

I love the X72/689/74 loop, this'll probably be for your School Holidays or whatever, but get a 21 up to Newcastle early, hop on the X72 to Consett. Have breakfast up there, then 689 to Hexham. Walk down to the depot, come back up and take some of those mint 683 or something, get the 74 @ 1305. Lovely day out, especially during the summer days. I have the option of also getting the 97B from Sunniside at 0520am, but you'd not be able to get up to there in time 😛

I travel around at night most of the time. X70 from Sunniside or Lobley Hill to Dipton @ 1928, 16A to Durham arr @ 2017, 265 to New Seaham arr @ 2104. 60 to Sunderland @ 2109, then Option A = 2a to Washy Gals, X1 @ 2229 to Newcastle @ 2305. OR Option B = 20 to South Shields, 27 @ 2230 to Newcastle @ 2300.

Then 6 to Sunniside, arriving 00:01.

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Thought I should review the rest of my outing from Monday.

First off, due to a mix of being busy and having a cold, last week I only managed to ride one bus, so was eager to get out again especially after the cold which I ain't totally over but decided I was well enough to be out of the house.

0906 7 N. Aycliffe - Durham Bus Station (ANE 7534)
Sapphire E400 to kick the day off. Was hoping to get off to a better start but unfortunately bus was late, cold and roof was wet down the middle which especially seems to be a problem on 7534 for some reason and relatively loud talking people and some playing their music loud enough for me to hear made this a painfully long journey up to Durham. Only other note for this journey was owing to a road closure at DurhamGate (although the road appeared to be open?) we went into DurhamGate as normal from Thinford roundabout but then u-turned at the next roundabout then headed along the A167, was weird going along there as it's over three years since the 7 last went down there.

I got to Durham and attempted to find Optare Solo MX08DHK which is currently on loan to Scarlet Band, was hoping it would be on Durham Park and Ride's again, so waited at Millburngate Bridge in the hope it would appear and after about 15-20 minutes it appeared on the PR1 to the Sniperley Park and Ride site but this location wasn't ideal for a photo, so quickly walked up towards County Hall to get it there in the sun and it turned out nice: https://flic.kr/p/RgqjEs as did the other photos I got here.

1049 21 Chester-le-Street, Black Horse (GNE 6057?)
Think 6057 was my steed for this run, this wasn't too bad a run on this, this one was reasonably alright for power and was fine on the A167. Attempts to connect to the WiFi proved to be a waste of time and effort.

1115 50 Concord Bus Station
My idea was originally to get the X25 to Newcastle from Chester-le-Street for a change of scenery but the X25 didn't appear in the time I waited despite me being there before the scheduled departure time, so in the end at the last second I decided to catch the 50 to Concord Bus Station in the hope of catching this 06 reg Citaro that was on the 4, uncertain which OmniCity I got, think it may of been a ex Cobalt Connect, 5245 possibly? Not a big fan of the GNE Omnicitys, just don't like the sound of them. Wasn't going to catch the Citaro at Washington otherwise "the landowners wouldn't be very happy" with me taking photos [emoji19] so stayed on until Concord where it hadn't gone past and made it without a sighting.

Hung around Concord Bus Station for a little while and saw 4954 and 5438 on the 56, unsure why there seems to be a few double deckers missing on the 56 recently but I will imagine there will be some reason for it. After about 20 or so minutes the thing I was waiting for appeared which was Citaro 5337 / HF06FUA: https://flic.kr/p/QdiH7o got a photo of it leaving Concord then waited for the next 4 to Heworth.

1221 4 Heworth Interchange (GNE 5368?)
Short bash up to Heworth Interchange on this, quite enjoyed it, powerful, comfortable and pretty rattle free. Do quite like a Citaro and this example was a good one.

1244 X36 Newcastle, Market Street (GNE 546)
If you read back through the last few posts, you will see this was a bit of a eventful journey for me and some old woman, which frustrated me. Despite the events of the journey, I quite enjoyed the bash of the MPD.

Did a bit of spotting in Newcastle around the Market Street, Pilgrim Street areas in the hope that one of Stagecoach's OmniLink's would appear route learning, type training ahead of the X24 launching but sadly didn't happen, typical as just about everyone has already managed photos of one, guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow. Waited for 5394 / NK15ENE to appear on the Q1 which I saw at Heworth Interchange whilst on the X36 but sadly I screwed up the route in Newcastle, fortunately I spotted it on the Q2 on Market Street: https://flic.kr/p/QVoodG

1434 100 Central Station (SNE 22580)
Decided to head over towards the Metrocentre, so opted for the 100 to sample the recently acquired MAN Enviro 300's which I must have have some power under them, quite enjoyed it although the legroom wasn't fantastic. Spotted the blue DFDS Seaways OmniDekka 6144 / 340GUP on the 327: https://flic.kr/p/RASDEi and realised that I hadn't photographed it yet, so as I had a few minutes until departure to catch a photo, as the 100 pulled onto the stand outside Central Station I spotted Bazza getting photos.

1445ish 6 MetroCentre Bus Station
OmniDekka for this journey, failed to note which. Like the power these things can deliver although this one had a few strange noises. Saw one of the new StreetLite's for the 49's heading along the Centrelink which I would have assumed would have been heading to Riverside depot possibly, so thought I'd chance my luck at a photo, but forgot that the 6 doesn't stop between Central Station and Metrocentre during the daytimes, so made a fool of myself pressing the bell.

1500 S1 MetroCentre Asda
1518 S1 MetroCentre Bus Station (GNE 4899)
As the B10's days are numbered now, I thought I'd give this a bash as it may be the last chance I get to do so, got off at the bus stop outside Asda and got a photo in the sun then had a quick wander round Sports Direct/USC then caught 4899 again 15 minutes later. Driver on this journey was a intresting character, was having a laugh with the passengers and even got a few bits of singing from him which made the journey more intresting, although I would be wanting to do the same if I was driving the S1 round and round the MetroCentre all day, otherwise you would likely go insane.

1630 X22 Durham Bus Station (GNE 3962)
After an hour of walking round the Metrocentre, I returned to the bus station and as I was coming down the escalator, I spotted Angel branded 3962 coming in not in service and knew it would be the 16:30 X22 to Durham, this pleased me as I am used to slow ex London Presidents on this service (although one of the last times I did this run it chucked up a Lambton Worm Versa). Going back to the discussion about the state of the seats on these Volvo B7TL's, I have to say that the headrests and the backseats upstairs (where I sat) look pretty fresh but I thought that the rest of the seats looked worn and a bit minging, I am unsure what it is with the modern seat fabrics round here but it seems like the blue Go Ahead seats plus the Arriva blue seats and Stagecoach seats are losing their colour pretty quickly and look a bit shabby when it seems much older vehicles I have travelled on seem to have held the colour more, even the "Operation Overdrive" spec seats in the 09 reg Pulsar's (excluding the backseats) still seem to look half decent. Back to this journey, it was a nice change to get a bus that could put some power down on the A167 between Chester-le-Street and Pity Me as most of the stuff on the 21, X12, X21 and X22 feel like they are crawling down but this shot off. Photo of 3962 on this run with incorrect destination: https://flic.kr/p/Rj6Z26

1732 X12 Stockton High Street South (ANE 7420)
On the X22, we were following Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400 7420 on the X12 to Durham and I was tempted to see how it fares on the X12, so I decided to jump on it at Durham and take a less direct route home to the 7 and bash this as far as Stockton. I can't make up my mind on whether I like these B7's or not but it was still a refreshing change to the Pulsar's and VDL Gemini's that normally operate this route.

1844 X66 Darlington, North Road Morrisons (ANE 4656)
Continuing the MAX haulage with OmniCity 4656 on the X66. This was one of the evening X66 runs which additionally runs via Hartburn in place of the X67. Must say that this is better than some of the Omnicitys that you get on the X66/X67, didn't seem sluggish at all and didn't sound too rough. In typical fashion I was hoping we would get to Harrowgate Hill in time for me to catch the 5A home but sadly that didn't happen, so I stayed on until North Road Morrisons where I would cross the road to connect to the 7 to get home.

1922 7 Newton Aycliffe (ANE 7535)
Was expecting a Pulsar but got another E400 instead. Not much to say about this run except for the fact that I looked on the Live Map and saw that there was a 5A leaving Aycliffe Town Centre at about the same time as the 7, of course I checked the direction it was heading in... Damn! So I had to walk home in the dark which makes me rather uneasy especially after I got shoved against a bus stop one night in December 2015 whilst waiting for a 7 to Durham, so you can only imagine how thrilled I was at the prospect of walking home in the dark with part of the route having no streetlights and to make matters even worse, it then got even darker when I had to put my hand over my face to shield my eyes from chavs shining them laser pen things in my face, there used to be a way around this problem which was go home via a fully lit route but unfortunately the bridge on this route was in a state of decay and the penny pinching council won't pay to pay to replace the bridge, so because of this, I am now faced with a route where I fear I am going to be badly beaten (possibly even to death!) but not only that when I want to use the train, it has increased the walking time by about 3 minutes and additionally that route does have streetlights however there is one part that could do with one or two more lights because when it's dark you can't see the badly broken up footpath which has huge cracks from the roots of the trees, fear that one night I will trip over and hurt myself, so thank you council for all this!

Thanks for reading, I actually started typing the review on Tuesday but then left the part from the X22 onwards until this afternoon as I thought I should have finished the review off rather than just do half of one and then scrap it, otherwise I felt I would have wasted my time.

Will be out tomorrow getting photos of "The 49's" and new Stagecoach X24 in Newcastle and Sunderland. Feel free to say hi if you see me.

(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?

She has a tongue i her head and could have spoken to you before this point - it;s not like you sat in a seat she would have wanted.

---

(24 Jan 2017, 9:39 am)Charles41 wrote [ -> ]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

Oy!

Wasn't me.

i loathe MPDs!

(30 Jan 2017, 12:15 am)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]She has a tongue i her head and could have spoken to you before this point - it;s not like you sat in a seat she would have wanted.

---

Oy!

Wasn't me.

i loathe MPDs!

Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say...
You know you couldn't resist a ride on one of those tin-shed-spine-breakers!

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Tryed the X24 out today from Newcastle to Sunderland nice ride comfortable leather seats it's laid out a lot like a coach, it was a lot longer then I expected to be the branding  looks nice but they should move some of stickers closer to the front of the bus. 
The Wi-Fi worked fine for me the only down side I have of the bus is that it was absolutely freezing in side of the bus.

(31 Jan 2017, 7:37 pm)Ds1197 wrote [ -> ]Tryed the X24 out today from Newcastle to Sunderland nice ride comfortable leather seats it's laid out a lot like a coach, it was a lot longer then I expected to be the branding  looks nice but they should move some of stickers closer to the front of the bus. 
The Wi-Fi worked fine for me the only down side I have of the bus is that it was absolutely freezing in side of the bus.

did you notice if the plugs worked?
Imagine they dont as its not advertised anywhere.

(31 Jan 2017, 8:05 pm)Pulsar wrote [ -> ]did you notice if the plugs worked?
Imagine they dont as its not advertised anywhere.

didn't have a charger

Went around with Jimmi today.
1305 X21 (6146) Durham Bus Station -> Bishop Auckland 1330
1335 18 (696 ..?) Bishop -> Woodhouse -> Bishop 1403
1431 X21 (630?) Bishop -> Newcastle 1600
1615 X31 (5253) Newcastle -> Gateshead 1625
1715 X71 (61??) Gateshead -> Consett.

I got off at Sunniside, whilst Jimmi went home in his slightly convoluted way, suggested by myself.

Great day, although not the finest places in the north east.

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(02 Feb 2017, 6:34 pm)Jamie M wrote [ -> ]Went around with Jimmi today.
1305 X21 (6146) Durham Bus Station -> Bishop Auckland 1330
1335 18 (696 ..?) Bishop -> Woodhouse -> Bishop 1403
1431 X21 (630?) Bishop -> Newcastle 1600
1615 X31 (5253) Newcastle -> Gateshead 1625
1715 X71 (61??) Gateshead -> Consett.

I got off at Sunniside, whilst Jimmi went home in his slightly convoluted way, suggested by myself.

Great day, although not the finest places in the north east.

Did you not enjoy your tour Woodhouse Close like? [emoji14]

Here's the blanks in your reportings:
18 - 696
X21 - 6304
X71 - 6136

I currently have 6126 on the 15 to Durham, just wished it had left Consett Bus Station on-time rather than 8 minutes late as I was starting to worry slightly about getting home, other than that it's a good day today. [emoji2]

Had another County Durham outing again, The majority of it with Omnicity4659 as usual.

While I already had Durham Diamond Streetlites in the bag off last week, Though not in the places I wanted due to bad weather, I needed a few photos of MAX Spec Volvo B7TL's at Belmont, So following a trip on the 64's with Jonathan Taylor at the wheel, We took a trip a trip to Tow Law with two canny folk.

Following a short chat at the Inkerman with the two said drivers, They rolled 7427 into position on the A68 for a quick photostop, We thanked them before they departed with the wave and thumbs up, We then caught a X1 to Crook.

Here's the said photo : https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/

We got a few photo's in Crook of various stuff, One of the them will be on my flickr in the next few days, Before catching a 1477 to Durham, We just missed the connecting 21 to Chester-Le-Street to meet with Dan Annis and his Solo on the MB2.

We later caught Westy on 5217 on the X25, Before leaving omnicity4649 to head home, I sat in Eldon Square waiting time for the 2010 X24 departure to Sunderland to photograph, That photo will be on tomorrow probably.


Apologies for the short review, But it's too tiring to write a full one!


Happy weekend
STL

X70
From: 1906 Sunniside, Front Street
To: 1920 Dipton, Red Lion

16A
From: 1928 Dipton, Red Lion
To: 2016 Durham, Bus Station

265
From: 2019 Durham, Bus Station
To: 2101 New Seaham, (Former) Mill Inn

60
From: 2109 New Seaham, (Former) Mill Inn
To: Sunderland Interchange

20
From: 2131 Sunderland Interchange
To: 2201 South Shields

27
From: 2209 South Shields
To: 2300 Newcastle, Market Street

6
From: 2315 Newcastle, Eldon Square
To: 0000 Whickham

I'm literally insane

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I recently went to Newcastle on the new X24 so here is my overall review on it.

The X24 arrived at Hastings Hill, it already had about 15 passengers on, it was 28030, the gas bus coped on the route, which was a surprise, not many rattles too, it got to Gateshead and a couple of people got on/off, then it arrived at Newcastle where i seen one bus enthusiast run across the road to get a picture.


On the way back, it was a Omnilink (maybe 24001), it was a decent ride back, the WIFI worked - didn't have my charger to try the plugs though, once again it had around 15 passengers on, 3 got on at Gateshead Interchange (due to the diversion), overall, it coped on the A19, seats were comfortable.

That's all i can say really... would use the X24 again though... was well worth my money.

(06 Feb 2017, 6:03 am)Michael wrote [ -> ]I recently went to Newcastle on the new X24 so here is my overall review on it.

The X24 arrived at Hastings Hill, it already had about 15 passengers on, it was 28030, the gas bus coped on the route, which was a surprise, not many rattles too, it got to Gateshead and a couple of people got on/off, then it arrived at Newcastle where i seen one bus enthusiast run across the road to get a picture.


On the way back, it was a Omnilink (maybe 24001), it was a decent ride back, the WIFI worked - didn't have my charger to try the plugs though, once again it had around 15 passengers on, 3 got on at Gateshead Interchange (due to the diversion), overall, it coped on the A19, seats were comfortable.

That's all i can say really... would use the X24 again though... was well worth my money.

Would this have been the 13:37 from Fawcett Street, 14:20 into Newcastle?

Despite the naff forecast, think I'm going to have a bus bash round the North East tomorrow. Think I'll be having a few in the next few Saturday's as I'm slightly restrictive as to where I can go as it seems there's rail replacement bus services in operation between York and Darlington on Saturday nights.

Not planning anything, so it's a case of see how things play out.

There's Metro replacement Saturday and Sunday to Wallsend operated by Arriva if anyone's after photos

Charles

Had a fairly simple outing today, using an Under 18 Day Ticket, or a 'Get Around' as I still habitually call them. 

09:18 GNE #21 3965 Chester-le-Street Front Street to Newcastle Blackett Street 09:56
10:05 GNE #6 6130 Newcastle Eldon Square to Metrocentre Interchange 10:22
11:01 GNE #67 4922 Metrocentre Interchange to Carr Hill Road, Gateshead 11:24
11:33 GNE #67 4898 Carr Hill Road, Gateshead to Metrocentre Interchange 11:55
12:30 GNE #X22 6018 Metrocentre Interchange to Chester-le-Street Front Street 13:00
13:04 GNE #34A 8305 Chester-le-Street Front Street to Urpeth Grange & return 13:34

The day started with 3965 on the 21 through to Newcastle; having been re-engined since I last rode it prior to it being confined to miscellaneous duties, I was quite impressed with how well it pulled for a bus coming up to twelve years of age. Next was Omnidekka 6130 on the 6 to the Metrocentre - the driver seemed to have a lead foot and was pretty good at accelerating. Only when I got off did I realise that the downstairs interior had blue seating and upstairs was red seating! After spending a while at the Metrocentre getting photos, I boarded 4922 on the 67. The nostalgic original interior sent back a few memories as it dawned on me that it was likely to be my last time on board this vehicle, I alighted just before the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, grabbing a quick photo of 8331 on the Quaylink as I waited for the 67 back to the Metrocentre, to be met with 4898. Again, I was happy to have the opportunity, as this was likely to be my last chance to ride 4898, if not my last chance to ride a Go North East B10 in service. I dread to think how many journeys I will have made over the years on Renowns. After alighting, a convenient driver changeover in the X22 stand enabled me to get a decent photo of 4898, before I waited for the 12:25 X22 back to Chester-le-Street. Running five late, it eventually came in with 6018 being the vehicle. Not a bad runner, as far as V-reg B7s go. Upon arrival in Chester-le-Street, I sighted one of my driver friends on 8305 heading to Urpeth Grange, so I boarded for a quick half-hour bash on it. All in all, a pretty good day for a fairly short outing.

Used the X24 yesterday for the second time.

10:55 Newcastle- Sunderland
13:07 Sunderland- Newcastle 
Both 24003 (SP57 CNJ)

The 10:55 trip arrived in Newcastle on time at around 10:50 and was busy with people alighting at Newcastle. Good to see people are using this route. The trip to Sunderland was less busy with around 9 passengers on board as we left Pilgrim Street on time. Inside the Omnilinks are noticeably longer than a normal single decker and the leather seats make for a comfortable journey. I noticed plugs too but didn't try these to see if they work. The journey passed fairly quickly and the bus handled the route including the A19 well. We picked up a few more people before arriving in to Sunderland at 11:30.

The 13:07 arrived and left about 3 minutes late. This time there was around 7 people leaving the city centre towards Newcastle but we did pick up quite a few before reaching the A19. Again the route passed fairly quickly although we arrived about 5 minutes late in to Newcastle due to traffic in the Gateshead area. There was quite a queue for the bus as we left it in Newcastle.

Overall, the omnilinks I have tried so far, 24003 yesterday and 24002 on my first journey 2 weeks ago handle the route well although they do seem to be off the road a lot which is a shame as I think they make for a more comfortable journey and impression for passengers. The only complaints are the darkened windows make the interior a bit gloomy and on all my trips so far, the temperature has been very high on the buses. 2 weeks ago my return trip was on Gas Bus 28030 which also handled the route well, better than I thought and even though I found this a comfortable journey, I heard passengers saying they preferred the leather seats of the omnilinks.

Hope the route is a success and provides competition for the Metro.

(19 Feb 2017, 9:05 pm)Pulsar wrote [ -> ]Used the X24 yesterday for the second time.

10:55 Newcastle- Sunderland
13:07 Sunderland- Newcastle 
Both 24003 (SP57 CNJ)

The 10:55 trip arrived in Newcastle on time at around 10:50 and was busy with people alighting at Newcastle. Good to see people are using this route. The trip to Sunderland was less busy with around 9 passengers on board as we left Pilgrim Street on time. Inside the Omnilinks are noticeably longer than a normal single decker and the leather seats make for a comfortable journey. I noticed plugs too but didn't try these to see if they work. The journey passed fairly quickly and the bus handled the route including the A19 well. We picked up a few more people before arriving in to Sunderland at 11:30.

The 13:07 arrived and left about 3 minutes late. This time there was around 7 people leaving the city centre towards Newcastle but we did pick up quite a few before reaching the A19. Again the route passed fairly quickly although we arrived about 5 minutes late in to Newcastle due to traffic in the Gateshead area. There was quite a queue for the bus as we left it in Newcastle.

Overall, the omnilinks I have tried so far, 24003 yesterday and 24002 on my first journey 2 weeks ago handle the route well although they do seem to be off the road a lot which is a shame as I think they make for a more comfortable journey and impression for passengers. The only complaints are the darkened windows make the interior a bit gloomy and on all my trips so far, the temperature has been very high on the buses. 2 weeks ago my return trip was on Gas Bus 28030 which also handled the route well, better than I thought and even though I found this a comfortable journey, I heard passengers saying they preferred the leather seats of the omnilinks.

Hope the route is a success and provides competition for the Metro.

We'll have crossed paths, then, as Big'un and I were on 24002, leaving Newcastle at 12:55. There was a good loading on that bus, pretty much half full for most of the journey, which is better than the X34 was when we tried it. Those seats provided a very comfy ride.

I reckon that once word gets out it will prove very popular, particularly if there's through ticketing to the Metrocentre. Ha;f hourly is a decent frequency and, from our perspective, not having to negotiate lifts at Monument or Haymarket is a big bonus (Neither of the boys can manage escalators and, while Littl'un loves catching the metro, it's awkward if we can't get a carriage end seat at busy times because he doesn't cope with strangers sitting facing him)

Also, we're both fairly light sensitive, so the tinted windows were quite soothing - I like sitting in the back of our car with tinted windows because I can still read my phone when the sun's bright!

Edit: I agree about them being warm, though, but the same can be said of GNE's Streetdecks. They're pretty oppressive, even in winter.

(19 Feb 2017, 10:15 pm)BusLoverMum wrote [ -> ]We'll have crossed paths, then, as Big'un and I were on 24002, leaving Newcastle at 12:55.

I actually got 24002 on the 12:07 run from Sunderland, but was pretty much straight off the bus at Newcastle to get a photo then had to quickly walk up Pilgrim Street to catch a photo of one of the silver hospital branded Solo's unusually working Nexus service 6.

Unsure yet if I'll review yesterday's outing or not, depends if I can get chance and if I can be bothered.

Seems I was just at the wrong timings to see people yesterday then!

From what I saw yesterday, more people were aware than 2 weeks ago about this service as there were fuller loads and when I went past Pilgrim Street again later in the day, there were large queues each time. I would definitely choose it over the metro again. I agree that as the word spreads further it will become even more popular.

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(Go North East) NK62FJE / 6080 - Volvo B9TL by Jamie MP, on Flickr
(Go North East) NK51OKX / 4938 - Wright Solar by Jamie MP, on Flickr

(20 Feb 2017, 12:00 am)Pulsar wrote [ -> ]Seems I was just at the wrong timings to see people yesterday then!

From what I saw yesterday, more people were aware than 2 weeks ago about this service as there were fuller loads and when I went past Pilgrim Street again later in the day, there were large queues each time. I would definitely choose it over the metro again. I agree that as the word spreads further it will become even more popular.

I wonder if Stagey took the idea from Transdev's CityZap service? Very good move and hope it pays off in the long run.

(20 Feb 2017, 12:00 am)Pulsar wrote [ -> ]Seems I was just at the wrong timings to see people yesterday then!

From what I saw yesterday, more people were aware than 2 weeks ago about this service as there were fuller loads and when I went past Pilgrim Street again later in the day, there were large queues each time. I would definitely choose it over the metro again. I agree that as the word spreads further it will become even more popular.

Judging by the time you reported to have seen 7466 on the X11 on Saturday, we must have been in the same sort of area as I got off 7466 on the X10 at Barras Bridge at around 17:00 as a newly refurbished MAX Pulsar was following behind on the 44 to Newcastle, so jumped off there for a photo of it then went down to Newgate Street for the Weardale X21.

Glad to see the numbers on the X24 are increasing, hopefully it gets to the point where Stagecoach will introduce a Sunday service (even if every 2 hours)

(20 Feb 2017, 4:25 pm)Michael wrote [ -> ]Glad to see the numbers on the X24 are increasing, hopefully it gets to the point where Stagecoach will introduce a Sunday service (even if every 2 hours)

Yep used it today and was quite busy heading to Newcastle (the 14:50 ish departure) and there was a big queue waiting at Pilgrim Street when I got off. 

I think it was you asking about the 18 too well I saw one today and it only had one passenger on (think it was the 18A actually) when I saw it around Seaburn so not doing very well it seems.

(20 Feb 2017, 4:31 pm)Tom wrote [ -> ]Yep used it today and was quite busy heading to Newcastle (the 14:50 ish departure) and there was a big queue waiting at Pilgrim Street when I got off. 

I think it was you asking about the 18 too well I saw one today and it only had one passenger on (think it was the 18A actually) when I saw it around Seaburn so not doing very well it seems.

More the better, looks like it's been a big hit (from people's reviews on here), not sure how it's doing overall - would be nice for Stagecoach to give us some feedback but don't think they will.

I do wonder if "Go North East" will launch a similar service though... can't see the X36 lasting. 



The 18 will be gone by end of the year, they're slowly withdrawing it, it won't be a miss, it literally goes to most places in Sunderland where Stagecoach serve.

My outing on February 18th 2017.

0846 X21 Newton Aycliffe - Seaham, Byron Place (ANE 4809)
Was hoping not to get 4811 on this service for once and sure enough, I didn't, sadly I got this instead. Sadly I rarely ever manage to get the ex demos and always end up with the slower 13 reg examples, the doors take ages to open and close on this one following a incident in Darlington a few years back. Got off at Seaham, Byron Place to get some photos of the Wear Xpress Solo SR's but sure enough a Solar would be one of the buses that turned up, so that spoilt things slightly.

1041 X6 Seaham Byron Place - Sunderland (GNE 691)
Jumped on this to Sunderland, including myself there was 10 passengers on until I departed which is roughly the same as the previous journey on the X21 carried. Pretty laid back trip on this to Sunderland sat at the back on this.

1213 X24 Sunderland, Holmeside - Newcastle, Pilgrim Street (SNE 24002)
Had trouble locating the stop this service leaves from on Holmeside, it was down on one stop on the paper timetables but the screen at another stop and Google Maps had it from leaving from another stop which is the one I decided to wait at and sure enough I was wrong, just pleased people were waiting for it meaning I caught 24002 through to Newcastle. Wasn't sure what to make of it at first, seemed slow and sounded rough heading along Chester Road but seemed alright once it got on the A19. I sat by the emergency exit door which had an amazing amount of legroom, could stretch my legs right out and was barely touching the seat in front. Quick journey on this, must use it again in future.

1348 X16 Newcastle Haymarket - Morpeth Bus Station (ANE 1408)
Stood around Eldon Square for a little while hoping for something decent (7439 especially) but nowt was peaking my interest, but then saw Jesmond based Great North Road routes branded 7476 randomly working the X21 to Newbiggin but got a dud photo, so decided to catch it again at Ashington on it's way back to Newcastle later, so I decided to go to Ashington via Morpeth, the Morpeth leg was provided by 1408, this provided a fast journey with a nice thrash, just a pity there was an annoying interior rattle from the back at points.

1455 35 Morpeth Bus Station - Ashington Bus Station (ANE 4659)
Decided to reject the first 35 which was StreetLite 1580 and instead gambled on the next one which payed off in the form of MAX Omnicity 4659, unfortunately as it was running late it was rather busy, in fact I stood the whole way to Ashington although I could have got a seat if I wanted to. One downside to Arriva's OmniCity's (excluding 4660-4664) is that they only have a wheelchair bay, so it was a bit of a squeeze getting three pushchairs on and then to make matters worse, five or six kids all wanted to be on, all of them with scooters and of course the driver let them on and just about every one of them smashed them into me as they got past. As we got closer to Ashington, some old guy decided it would be a good idea to stand just behind me, on the opposite side of the aisle and of course this meant no-one getting off could get past and sure enough I'm the one that got the dirty looks for that!  This journey just got later and later which then made me think I'd miss 7476 and sure enough as we were pulling into Ashington Bus Station, 7476 pulled out, jumped off 4659 and ran like mad onto the main road and managed the flukiest shot ever between the traffic with the blind showing clearly, oh and it wouldn't be a trip to Ashington without chavy children taking the mick out of you for taking photos.

1535 1 Ashington Bus Station - Blyth Bus Station (ANE 1772)
Next ride was a good old MPD, this one performed brilliantly, seemed to still have some power and made for a great run. The interior is looking a bit worn now though.

1610ish? X10 Blyth Bus Station - Newcastle, Barras Bridge (ANE 7466)
This was on the other side of Blyth Bus Station when I got off 1772, so went with this as I figured it would be more enjoyable than a VDL Gemini and sure enough it was, this bus sounded fantastic plus it was powerful and pretty quick. Somewhere in the Cramlington area a young lad didn't look amused as the driver made him pay the fare as I'm guessing there was some issue as he was showing his phone but driver was having non of it, think he tried a bit of arguing but that failed. Alighted at Barras Bridge to snap a recently refurbished MAX Pulsar which was following behind us from Regent Centre on the 44. Here's a video I recorded of my trip on 7466: https://youtu.be/dXU6GqbsjSo

1735 X21 Newcastle, Newgate Street - Crook (Weardale YH66VMO)
Decided to sample this Yutong ZK6126HGA demonstrator again, the seats in the bus are terrible, mostly metal and very little padding in the fabric, other than that I think it's actually a rather comfortable ride, for some reason it kind of reminds me of a MAN EcoCity, possibly just the way the interior is.

1849 X46 Crook - Nevilles Cross (ANE 7417)
The fastest way home was to go back towards Durham rather than head via Bishop Auckland, so I got the X46 back towards Durham. We seemed to stop quite a lot on this journey which surprised me, pretty much every time I get it through the daytime it picks up very little, most seemed to be heading into Durham City Centre. This one seemed pretty quick and sounded quite good. I alighted at Nevilles Cross in order to catch my next bus...

1919 7 Nevilles Cross - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1416)
Made the connection between the X46 and 7 at Nevilles Cross as the 7 left Durham Bus Station before the X46 was due in. No doubt as a result of 7536 being on Metro Replacements, I instead ended up with MAX Pulsar 1416 which at least made a change to the usual Sapphire buses on the 7, this one seems to be a reasonably quick one.

Thanks for reading.

Here is that fluky shot of 7476 on the X21 again (I did crop it slightly).
Arriva North East: 7476 / W398VGJ by Matthew Jimmison, on Flickr

Not something I do often, but why not.

Woke quite early this morning to the news that the Streetdeck was going to be out today. But first I had the oppotunity to move my car to a more desired parking spot nearer to my house.

With that out of the way, it was off to the bus stop for the 22 to Toon. Get to the bus stop in perfect time for the 22 with my waiting time of being about 5 seconds. During the journey to Toon, I received details of 80028s workings, and lo and behold I would time it perfectly for the trip to Whickham View in Newcastle.

Waited on Pilgrim St, 80028 turned up slightly late and couldn't get onto the stop and resulted in me climbing a roadworks barrier. Was concerned that the bus wouldn't have any layover time at Whickham View with the later running, but with the schools being off 80028 made it to the terminus on time for it's 5 min layover.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

Couple of photos later, then it was back on 80028 to the Freeman Hospital this time, uneventful trip did notice a youngun taking a photo on Westgate Rd near the Carling Academy. Got to Freeman, some more photos, then trip back to Toon on it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

Decided to hang around Pilgrim Street for a short while as I noted a few Kinetics out and about on the 10 / 11 and since I have a soft spot for them for being a rare vehicle type (only 17 of them built), I managed to get 22515 from Pilgrim St to North Kenton. A number of things delayed the journey, so it departed pretty much straight away from Kenton.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

I decided to return to Newcastle on 22081 and alighted in Grainger Street after a pretty fast run.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

After grabbing a quick sandwich and hoping that Weardales Chinese Takeout was on the X21 (It wasn't), I decided to get the 22 to go past the coach park to see if there was anything interesting in (There was just a Solo, so thats a big nope). The 22 turned up and it was driven by Stan, the guy who was behind that Bristol LH trip in January, and he was driving MAN 22022 instead of the usual ADL Enviro 400. So a journey to Lemington was done where I alighted to catch the 6 to the Metrocentre which was one of the MANviro 200s.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

The visit to the Metrocentre was brief as I decided since I had already been on 4 MAN buses, I would seek out the other 2 type of MAN buses that see use in Tyne and Wear, first one was easy as Stagecoach now uses MANviro 300s on the Metrocentre Shuttle 100. A quick run to Newcastle, and a brief worrying moment about high winds as it approached the Redheugh Bridge, but fortuantley the winds didn't cause any issues.

The other type of MAN bus in Tyne and Wear would be more difficult and only ran to Sunderland, so it was onboard the fantastic X24 service with Scania 24001 being my steed to Wearside.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

More excellent timing meant I only had a short wait for the X21 which I caught to Grangetown, and this will annoy Jimmi, it was former Demo 4812. But nonetheless that was my MANathon complete.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

Back to Sunderland in a bit to get one of the freshly branded Solo SRs for the WearXpress, annoyingly the first one I saw was a Scania Solar, so after alighting at the Interchange I had the misfortune of spotting a certain enthusiast who seems to change his name every few months along with two others. I don't know half of you younguns, so I'm usually reluctent to talk to them. I took the decision to go and photo at the junction of Mary St and Stockton Road, and got some pretty good shots...
635 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/
692 (F) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/
692 ® - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/
699 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

Unfortuantley not the best photos, but they do for now, will probably try for better shots in a few weeks after I return from my holidays.

Anyway having done this, I noted my phone battery was low. so decided to take a trip on a Streetlite to South Shields on the 20A (or 28 as the next stop seemed to pronounce), and suprise suprise the plugs / USB ports weren't working. Was rather annoyed when I alighted, so decided to have a trip on the 7 from South Shields to Marsden. Alighted there and after a brief wait, I doubled back on myself with a service 8 to Harton Nook, then another 20A to Sunderland, again the plugs weren't working. I alighted at the Winter Gardens and went into the Weatherspoons to charge my phone and await the next X24 which wasn't for another 45 minutes.

Back out for the X24 with 24003 being my steed, I decided to make use of the plugs this time and made sure I had a seat with them, and guess what, they actually work despite the buses approaching 10 years old their electrical equipment works. Journey into Newcastle was quite quick despite it being the rush hour.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

Looking at the 38 times, I realised I was just in time for the Streetdeck to pass through again, so thought I get some night shots of it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...ateposted/

All in all a good day. Now at work for next 3 days before I break up for my holidays and do my road trip down to York, Manchester, The Potteries, Merseyside and Lancashire.