North East Buses

I'd suggest leaving it for a while yet if you're only going for the Cobalt B9s though... You're probably more likely go have all of the Fab56s out in service by then.

(11 Jan 2014, 8:38 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I'd suggest leaving it for a while yet if you're only going for the Cobalt B9s though... You're probably more likely go have all of the Fab56s out in service by then.

The cobalt are getting there Rear Destination Blinds changed aren't they, so I guess it would make sense to perhaps leave it for a while as thinking about I doubt they'll be out in Service Tomorrow or Early Next Week for that matter, are any of them even Branded yet Dan.

(11 Jan 2014, 9:01 pm)Adam Malarkey wrote [ -> ]The cobalt are getting there Rear Destination Blinds changed aren't they, so I guess it would make sense to perhaps leave it for a while as thinking about I doubt they'll be out in Service Tomorrow or Early Next Week for that matter, are any of them even Branded yet Dan.

Not to my knowledge, but I haven't had any updates for the past few days.

As per photos of Riverside, it certainly looks like they're all still there rather than at SMR.

Imagine they'll want rid of Deptford's B9s before they even start the Percy Main ones.

(11 Jan 2014, 9:03 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Not to my knowledge, but I haven't had any updates for the past few days.

As per photos of Riverside, it certainly looks like they're all still there rather than at SMR.

Imagine they'll want rid of Deptford's B9s before they even start the Percy Main ones.

Yeah that does seem a more Logical Option, Hopefully all the Fabs including the Red Spares will be out come Tuesday...Fingers Crossed, Just thinking a little bit ahead of myself here, but perhaps the Cobalts could be out on the 26th January when all the Service Changes occur.

Right, so for my big trip for the start of the year, I'll be going to Edinburgh, a city I have no idea about. I'll be booking train tickets as soon as I can, but want some advice on where to go, best train company etc.

Any help would be much appreciated

(12 Jan 2014, 11:54 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Right, so for my big trip for the start of the year, I'll be going to Edinburgh, a city I have no idea about. I'll be booking train tickets as soon as I can, but want some advice on where to go, best train company etc.

Any help would be much appreciated

I usually go with East Coast but have gone with Cross Country in the past because it's been a few quid cheaper.
Book early enough in advance and you can get there and back for less than a tenner as a child.

I've always been to Edinburgh with friends who live there, but I find Edinburgh is pretty easy to navigate around.
Princes Street is your main place for buses, and about 5-10 minutes away is the bus station. No Lothian there though.

Some of the depots are literally a one to two minute walk away from bus stops too which is great.

(12 Jan 2014, 11:54 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Right, so for my big trip for the start of the year, I'll be going to Edinburgh, a city I have no idea about. I'll be booking train tickets as soon as I can, but want some advice on where to go, best train company etc.

Any help would be much appreciated

As Dan said CrossCountry can sometimes be cheaper, but if you sign up with EastCoast you can get points for each booking you make.
If you do it regularly, they quickly add up for free tickets.

Family Railcards are valid too and are an excellent way of bumping up your points!

1 pt for every pound spent in normal and 1.5 for 1st class.

The East Coast trains don't stink of crap either.

Waverley is a bit of a maze mind.

(12 Jan 2014, 11:54 am)Tom wrote [ -> ]Right, so for my big trip for the start of the year, I'll be going to Edinburgh, a city I have no idea about. I'll be booking train tickets as soon as I can, but want some advice on where to go, best train company etc.

Any help would be much appreciated

If it was me, I'd rather wait for the East Coast rather than Cross Country, but they both take the same amount of time.

I've never really spent a lot of time in Edinburgh but you might be best off just looking at the Lothian route map, and travelling around based on where you'll see multiple services passing at a high frequency.

If you set off early enough, it's probably worth getting train tickets to/from Glasgow Queen Street, and have a few hours over there too. There's a train between the two every 15 minutes and it only takes 50 minutes. There's had been a lot of First repaints happening last time I was over Glasgow, and of course McGills and the Stagecoach express (coach) services are there too.

Thanks all! - Edinburgh seems a very interesting places for buses!

I think I'll book tickets with East Coast, trains seem a bit nicer to be honest, a few quid doesn't bother me

And Dan, is there normally anything exciting in the depots?

(12 Jan 2014, 12:10 pm)Tom wrote [ -> ]Thanks all! - Edinburgh seems a very interesting places for buses!

I think I'll book tickets with East Coast, trains seem a bit nicer to be honest, a few quid doesn't bother me

And Dan, is there normally anything exciting in the depots?

If you are going with the family, can't recommended the family railcard high enough, particularly if you travel a few times over the year.

Glasgow is worth a visit as aureolin suggested - inc the operators he mentioned,there are independents and the transport museum.
Cracking Mexican (Pinto) across George Sq from Queen Street too.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:16 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]If you are going with the family, can't recommended the family railcard high enough, particularly if you travel a few times over the year.

Glasgow is worth a visit as aureolin suggested - inc the operators he mentioned,there are independents and the transport museum.
Cracking Mexican takeaway across George Sq from Queen Street too.

I'll see, it's a possibility

Mmm! I love Mexican food, if I do I will grab some of that for my return journey.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:10 pm)Tom wrote [ -> ]And Dan, is there normally anything exciting in the depots?

I quite like Marine as there's usually a few buses outside. With a good enough zoom camera, you can get some great shots. I'm yet to upload the photos from my previous two Edinburgh adventures, but Stuart Montgomery has some fantastic photos taken from outside the gates similar to my own which I'm yet to upload.



On my next trip (looking to be later in the year - March at the latest - to have the greatest amount of sunlight hours), I was going to get an early train up to Glasgow too and heading back to finish the day in Edinburgh as aureolin suggested above. Just to spice things up a bit.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:22 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I quite like Marine as there's usually a few buses outside. With a good enough zoom camera, you can get some great shots. I'm yet to upload the photos from my previous two Edinburgh adventures, but Stuart Montgomery has some fantastic photos taken from outside the gates similar to my own which I'm yet to upload.



On my next trip (looking to be later in the year - March at the latest - to have the greatest amount of sunlight hours), I was going to get an early train up to Glasgow too and heading back to finish the day in Edinburgh as aureolin suggested above. Just to spice things up a bit.

Think I will too, if not, Glasgow will be left until another time

Summer Holidays probably, but if it's only 50 mins away then.....

(12 Jan 2014, 12:22 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]I quite like Marine as there's usually a few buses outside. With a good enough zoom camera, you can get some great shots. I'm yet to upload the photos from my previous two Edinburgh adventures, but Stuart Montgomery has some fantastic photos taken from outside the gates similar to my own which I'm yet to upload.



On my next trip (looking to be later in the year - March at the latest - to have the greatest amount of sunlight hours), I was going to get an early train up to Glasgow too and heading back to finish the day in Edinburgh as aureolin suggested above. Just to spice things up a bit.

Argyle Street by Central Station is always jam packed with buses.
There is a one way loop around and under the station and as well as the local services,you get the independents and distance stuff.
Buchannan Street is also good.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:24 pm)Tom wrote [ -> ]Think I will too, if not, Glasgow will be left until another time

Summer Holidays probably, but if it's only 50 mins away then.....

How early into this year are you thinking about going up like? Depending on how many times you want to actually visit, it could be better to delay this trip slightly. There is of course the SVBM and the Lothian Open Doors Day to look forward to later in the year, and it seems a great deal of expense if you're wanting to visit more places as opposed to one place multiple times.

With it being my final year of school I break up on Friday 13th June and don't go back until Tuesday 9th September (if memory serves), which is a whopping 12 weeks off.
I'll have plenty of time for trips out then (and I'll be able to space them out a lot more than last year when I was cramming them into 8 weeks), but you'll obviously have a lot less time and it depends on how many places you want to go to.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:28 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Argyle Street by Central Station is always jam packed with buses.
There is a one way loop around and under the station and as well as the local services,you get the independents and distance stuff.
Buchannan Street is also good.

Thanks again. Lothian Buses seem a excellent buses, and I want to have a ride on some of their buses, so not entirley sure if I will make it to Glasgow. Sometime in the future I'd like to go to Dumfries and Galloway though!

I'll be making trips to other places further away like London, The Lake District, Carlisle and Barcelona, so plenty of photo opportunities and an improved amount of uploaded to Flickr this year.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:28 pm)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Argyle Street by Central Station is always jam packed with buses.
There is a one way loop around and under the station and as well as the local services,you get the independents and distance stuff.
Buchannan Street is also good.

There's a lot going round St George's square, on towards St Vincent Street. The airport express services run around there too. North Hanover Street is also good for grabbing the to and from Buchanan bus station.

(12 Jan 2014, 12:34 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]There's a lot going round St George's square, on towards St Vincent Street. The airport express services run around there too. North Hanover Street is also good for grabbing the to and from Buchanan bus station.

Yeah, I did want to ride an photograph the ''Airlink'' service(s). Probably just have a round trip!

(12 Jan 2014, 12:34 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]There's a lot going round St George's square, on towards St Vincent Street. The airport express services run around there too. North Hanover Street is also good for grabbing the to and from Buchanan bus station.

There certainly is.
Forgot about the station at St Enoch shopping centre (not really a station, but more along the lines of several bus stops by two giant car parks).
Buses passing by The Clutha seem to use it.

I'm sat on a Citylink gold Elite at present travelling from Dundee to Aberdeen, its definitely a superb service although the wi-fi is a bit patchy, that's to be expected travelling through the rural areas. For £9 single its worth a try! The free cake was very nice too! It's definitely a premium product pitched at business travellers although this also appeals to leisure travellers with decent fares to be found at off peak periods (such as Sundays).

Here we are talking about Scotland and I forgot to mention the trip I took up there once using West Coast Motors and McGills a few years ago.

Glasgow - Dunoon using a coach that travels on a ferry.
Stopped up that way for a day or two using local Enviros and coaches across Argyll and to Bute, before we made the way back to Glasgow using the coach from Inverary via 'Rest and be thankful' to Glasgow.

You can travel upto Oban on West Coast Motors and a number if their services travel on the ferries.
There is some fantastic scenery too.

Here's my travel log for the last 2 days. Was a superb trip away and got to see a load of different stuff, trying out Citylink Gold was one of my highlights I think.

Saturday 11th
0706 Darlington - Edinburgh - East Coast 91126
1003 Edinburgh - Stirling - Scotrail 170419
1109 Stirling - Dundee - Scotrail 170417
1340 Dundee - Glenrothes - Stagecoach X54 53292
1446 Glenrothes - Lammermoor Court - Stagecoach G6 47611
Visit to Moffat & Williamson depot
1609 Fife College - Glenrothes - Stagecoach 39 47870
1647 Glenrothes - Dundee - Stagecoach X54 53293
1805 Dundee - Perth Broxden P&R - Parks of Hamilton M9 KSK954
1845 Perth Broxden P&R - Perth - Stagecoach 301 33434 (Gold spec!)

Sunday 12th
0940 Perth - Dundee - Stagecoach M8 54125
1150 Dundee - Aberdeen - Citylink G92 HSK647 (Citylink Gold)
1635 Aberdeen - Perth Broxden P&R - Parks M9 KSK954
1840 Perth Broxden P&R - Edinburgh - Stagecoach M90 54047
2300 Edinburgh - Scotch Corner - Megabus M20 LSK497 (Parks dupe)

(13 Jan 2014, 2:57 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]Here's my travel log for the last 2 days. Was a superb trip away and got to see a load of different stuff, trying out Citylink Gold was one of my highlights I think.

Saturday 11th
0706 Darlington - Edinburgh - East Coast 91126
1003 Edinburgh - Stirling - Scotrail 170419
1109 Stirling - Dundee - Scotrail 170417
1340 Dundee - Glenrothes - Stagecoach X54 53292
1446 Glenrothes - Lammermoor Court - Stagecoach G6 47611
Visit to Moffat & Williamson depot
1609 Fife College - Glenrothes - Stagecoach 39 47870
1647 Glenrothes - Dundee - Stagecoach X54 53293
1805 Dundee - Perth Broxden P&R - Parks of Hamilton M9 KSK954
1845 Perth Broxden P&R - Perth - Stagecoach 301 33434 (Gold spec!)

Sunday 12th
0940 Perth - Dundee - Stagecoach M8 54125
1150 Dundee - Aberdeen - Citylink G92 HSK647 (Citylink Gold)
1635 Aberdeen - Perth Broxden P&R - Parks M9 KSK954
1840 Perth Broxden P&R - Edinburgh - Stagecoach M90 54047
2300 Edinburgh - Scotch Corner - Megabus M20 LSK497 (Parks dupe)

Some distance that mind Scott! What sort of fares are you looking at for that sort of trip, excluding East Coast and Megabus? If you don't mind me asking that is.

(13 Jan 2014, 5:44 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]Some distance that mind Scott! What sort of fares are you looking at for that sort of trip, excluding East Coast and Megabus? If you don't mind me asking that is.

The Edinburgh-Perth by Scotrail was £5.50 advance (with a 16-25 railcard).
£5 single to Dundee as was joined by 2 mates in Perth.

Stagecoach East Fife dayrider plus £10 for the afternoon (valid across a huge area, can get to Edinburgh for example). The Dundee-Perth Citylink was £4 I think, booked through Megabus which includes your Park & Ride fare into the city (on regular service 301).

Sunday we paid about £8 via Megabus for the M8 to Dundee, though there was only 4 of us on a 15m Panther!

The Citylink Gold was £9 to Aberdeen, well worth it though with a huge (and very comfy) leather seat, 53 seats on a 15m Elite. Customer Service assistant came round with a lovely cake and a choice of soft drink during the 80 minute journey, as well as refresh kit with a knife and fork, wet wipe etc.

The return journey to Edinburgh I think was £7 from Aberdeen to Edinburgh with a connection between M9/M90 at Broxden Park & Ride where all the Megabus/Citylink services meet up (4 in the space of 10 mins!), 2 northbound and 2 southbound. The connections work perfectly but in times of disruption I can imagine it could be problematic.

I paid £14 for my return trip to Scotch Corner but the other 2 got it cheaper as they booked further in advance, I had to try and get the time off work for the Saturday. Thankfully I got my lieu day confirmed last week and got everything booked up.
The sleeper was operated by 50307, the service M20 was operated by 54208 which was sent with people for Newcastle etc on it, Parks of Hamilton Volvo B9R LSK497 was operating the duplicate M20 which had all of the passengers for London and they stuck the three of us for Scotch Corner on it, as thats where our driver came off and handed over to the 2 replacement drivers. Non stop Edinburgh to Scotch Corner was completed in under 3 hours, getting us to Scotch Corner around 45 mins earlier than planned!!

EDIT: Photo of the Gold interior and a nice pic of the 2 Gold's together.

(13 Jan 2014, 6:07 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]The Edinburgh-Perth by Scotrail was £5.50 advance (with a 16-25 railcard).
£5 single to Dundee as was joined by 2 mates in Perth.

Stagecoach East Fife dayrider plus £10 for the afternoon (valid across a huge area, can get to Edinburgh for example). The Dundee-Perth Citylink was £4 I think, booked through Megabus which includes your Park & Ride fare into the city (on regular service 301).

Sunday we paid about £8 via Megabus for the M8 to Dundee, though there was only 4 of us on a 15m Panther!

The Citylink Gold was £9 to Aberdeen, well worth it though with a huge (and very comfy) leather seat, 53 seats on a 15m Elite. Customer Service assistant came round with a lovely cake and a choice of soft drink during the 80 minute journey, as well as refresh kit with a knife and fork, wet wipe etc.

The return journey to Edinburgh I think was £7 from Aberdeen to Edinburgh with a connection between M9/M90 at Broxden Park & Ride where all the Megabus/Citylink services meet up (4 in the space of 10 mins!), 2 northbound and 2 southbound. The connections work perfectly but in times of disruption I can imagine it could be problematic.

I paid £14 for my return trip to Scotch Corner but the other 2 got it cheaper as they booked further in advance, I had to try and get the time off work for the Saturday. Thankfully I got my lieu day confirmed last week and got everything booked up.
The sleeper was operated by 50307, the service M20 was operated by 54208 which was sent with people for Newcastle etc on it, Parks of Hamilton Volvo B9R LSK497 was operating the duplicate M20 which had all of the passengers for London and they stuck the three of us for Scotch Corner on it, as thats where our driver came off and handed over to the 2 replacement drivers. Non stop Edinburgh to Scotch Corner was completed in under 3 hours, getting us to Scotch Corner around 45 mins earlier than planned!!

Other way round Scott, the Parks on Saturday night was £9, the M8 on Sunday morning was £4 minus booking fee.
Where as my weekend looks a different picture prior to Dundee on Saturday morning:
0330 Scotch Corner-Edinburgh Stagecoach M20 54206
0825 Edinburgh-Perth Broxden P&R Stagecoach M90 54047
1000 Perth Broxden P&R-Perth City Centre Stagecoach 301 27525
1139 Perth Rail Station-Dundee ScotRail 170417

Northbound Megabus was £13, and the return for me was £8. £1.10 single on the Perth Park & Ride which is very good value when you realise 27525 was one of the first full sizes buses to Gold specifications (as was the Dart on the evening, highest spec Dart in the fleet!). In fact, apart from the Solos in Glenrothes, all Stagecoach liveried vehicles travelled on during the week had leather seating.

The golds look extremely impressive. I think a trip from Glasgow to Aberdeen may be in order in the near future.

(13 Jan 2014, 6:30 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]The golds look extremely impressive. I think a trip from Glasgow to Aberdeen may be in order in the near future.

Yes you can't really argue with the service provided. The fare of £9 is no doubt a promotional weekend fare (just looked to book one tomorrow would be £16.80 on the mid-morning service) but the walk up train fare is around £19 so it competes with that on price and journey time, and with an arguably better service provided.
The free snack and drink alongside the free wi-fi is a nice little extra (though the wi-fi was a bit patchy) on top of the luxurious interior with plug sockets for your phone/laptop etc that actually work unlike some of the other coaches we travelled onboard. Seat back tray tables are provided to eat your snack and work on too. The Plaxton Elite was pretty good though I can't help but think the MegabusGold Van Hool's will be a far better ride with them not being Plaxton built...

(13 Jan 2014, 6:30 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]The golds look extremely impressive. I think a trip from Glasgow to Aberdeen may be in order in the near future.

The interior shot is of the Elites, which are part of the Parks of Hamilton fleet. The interior of the Astromegas is completely different. The majority of the Elites are now found on the G92 between Aberdeen and Edinburgh with a mix of both on the G9 (Glasgow-Aberdeen) and G10 (Glasgow-Inverness).

Since Tom was on about Edinburgh the other day, and it got onto Glasgow too, I thought I'd share this post I've just noticed on Facebook. Newcastle to Glasgow for little over £10.

http://www.thetrainline.com/farefinder/B...x?orig=NCL&dest=GLC&out=20140210&utm_source=Display&utm_campaign=CRITEO

(13 Jan 2014, 6:47 pm)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]The interior shot is of the Elites, which are part of the Parks of Hamilton fleet. The interior of the Astromegas is completely different. The majority of the Elites are now found on the G92 between Aberdeen and Edinburgh with a mix of both on the G9 (Glasgow-Aberdeen) and G10 (Glasgow-Inverness).

Ah - the megabus gold doesn't look anywhere near as appealing!

[quote='aureolin' pid='26513' dateline='1389642879']
Since Tom was on about Edinburgh the other day, and it got onto Glasgow too, I thought I'd share this post I've just noticed on Facebook. Newcastle to Glasgow for little over £10.

http://www.thetrainline.com/farefinder/B...x?orig=NCL&dest=GLC&out=20140210&utm_source=Display&utm_campaign=CRITEO

[quote]

Brilliant, thanks.