North East Buses

(29 Aug 2022, 5:43 am)StevenW456 wrote [ -> ]How many E200 MMCs are Ashington depot getting?

5

(29 Aug 2022, 1:10 am)Kuyoyo wrote [ -> ]BIB: I'm sure I read when the plan was for the E400MMCs that were until today being stored at Faverdale were due to be stored at Belmont, 7510 was mentioned as being destined for Durham.

As for the rest, unlikely to see any move to Blyth. And also, 2610/2 are here as refurbishment covers so will only be withdrawn once the refurbishments are complete.

Tbh the only reason I put 7510 down to stay at Ashington was because I was fairly sure noone else would want it seeing as it's got no 5th gear and tops out at 43 but if Belmont want it I can see Ashington having any objections to that seeing as at Ashington it can only really be used on 1s 2s & 35s

(28 Aug 2022, 9:50 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Also I have a feeling that something will go to Jesmond to see 7501 - 7506 off frontline work. They're absolutely wrecked from Blyth not looking after them when they were on the 308 and then getting flogged on the X93.

Not forgetting the infamous 7430-7435 batch when there was that plus the 602 which killed them. And by the time Jesmond got them, they never used them on evenings & Sundays with B10BLEs or Palatine II's running the 306 instead.

(28 Aug 2022, 8:39 pm)N391OTY wrote [ -> ]2704 also visible just inside the doors at Jesmond this evening, reg YX72 OKD.

Some interesting transfers were shown on QUACK77 last night, with 7511/12 transferring to Jesmond, 7514-17 to Durham and 7524-28/53-56 to Arriva Southern Counties at Maidstone ! All of 7410-13/15/84-86/90/91 were shown as withdrawn.

The transfers to Maidstone were later rescinded this morning, but the other stuff seems to make sense.

I think that was vandalism and the subsequent reversion of it.

I reckon if the 43/44/45 stay as is with a PVR of 9x, they could be exactly filled using 7529-33 and 7553-56.

The official cascade plan was last seen as follows:

7515/6/7/53/4/5/6 all AN to JE (the first three being specifically for Nexus schools as they meet the new EuroV contact minimum and are not planned to have EuroVI conversion).

7510/1/2/4 all AN to DM replacing older DDs (presumably temp arrangements given these are all life expired also)

7508 also JE to DM, same reason as above, as this one also hasn't been EuroVI converted, whereas its sisters have (which is why they are staying put).

All AN Solos withdrawn (or cascaded further to remove older examples if needed). Most JE Solos withdrawn, except 2601/2/3 and 2837 for now.

Some Pulsars from both AN and JE to reserve, which presumably will cascade into Durham County somewhere.

All 74xx in North are withdrawn. Some 74xx withdrawn in Durham as replaced by the small numbers of incoming E400.

No plans for 7424/5/6 at Redcar either, although I was originally told that 7425 was withdrawn due to engine failure, but it appears to have been refitted with a new engine, which tells you all you need to know about their intentions of maintaining their use for a while longer...

I am curious as to what is the official allocation for the 685.

At the moment it seems to be any 2 of the MX61 Pulsars and A N Other Pulsar.

Is it meant to be 3 of the MX61s And rotated to even out mileage?

Presumably also what is allocated each must be considered good for a long day out and to cause no operational problems.

Is the 685 viewed as being onerous on the Pulsars? I ask this as other routes, like those up Alnwick an Berwick seem to cause buses to get worn out early.

(29 Aug 2022, 6:14 pm)Brampton Trev wrote [ -> ]Is the 685 viewed as being onerous on the Pulsars?  I ask this as other routes, like those up Alnwick an Berwick seem to cause buses to get worn out early.

Can't speak for the 685 directly, but I know that Pulsars handle the X15 fantastically well - the only issue is capacity, hence why they aren't often allocated. Same size engine as the E400s, but a lot less vehicle to be pushing along. 

You'd imagine Jesmond are allocating them to the 685 for both performance and reliability?

(29 Aug 2022, 12:01 pm)RobinHood wrote [ -> ]The official cascade plan was last seen as follows:

7515/6/7/53/4/5/6 all AN to JE (the first three being specifically for Nexus schools as they meet the new EuroV contact minimum and are not planned to have EuroVI conversion).

7510/1/2/4 all AN to DM replacing older DDs (presumably temp arrangements given these are all life expired also)

7508 also JE to DM, same reason as above, as this one also hasn't been EuroVI converted, whereas its sisters have (which is why they are staying put).

All AN Solos withdrawn (or cascaded further to remove older examples if needed). Most JE Solos withdrawn, except 2601/2/3 and 2837 for now.

Some Pulsars from both AN and JE to reserve, which presumably will cascade into Durham County somewhere.

All 74xx in North are withdrawn. Some 74xx withdrawn in Durham as replaced by the small numbers of incoming E400.

No plans for 7424/5/6 at Redcar either, although I was originally told that 7425 was withdrawn due to engine failure, but it appears to have been refitted with a new engine, which tells you all you need to know about their intentions of maintaining their use for a while longer...

Presumably 7524-33 will be kept at Ashington for 35s, spares and to replace the pulsars that are going to reserve seeing as they've not been mentioned

(29 Aug 2022, 6:19 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Can't speak for the 685 directly, but I know that Pulsars handle the X15 fantastically well - the only issue is capacity, hence why they aren't often allocated. Same size engine as the E400s, but a lot less vehicle to be pushing along. 

You'd imagine Jesmond are allocating them to the 685 for both performance and reliability?

Are the Cummins ISb units fitted on the DB300 and SB300 not only 205BHP as opposeed to 250BHP like the E400MMC?

Does anyone know if there is a set date for the new buses to enter service (I think they did this in 2017 with the 12 Enviro 400 MMC's) or if it will be a gradual process?

3rd September I've heard mentioned on the Radio.

(29 Aug 2022, 11:23 pm)Rapidsnap wrote [ -> ]3rd September I've heard mentioned on the Radio.

Some will likely be out from the 1st.

(29 Aug 2022, 6:19 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Can't speak for the 685 directly, but I know that Pulsars handle the X15 fantastically well - the only issue is capacity, hence why they aren't often allocated. Same size engine as the E400s, but a lot less vehicle to be pushing along. 

You'd imagine Jesmond are allocating them to the 685 for both performance and reliability?

Pulsars started appearing when the Omnicities starting failing pre Covid.  And during Covid the route went over to Pulsars which are much better than Omnicities.

The Omnicities suffered from smells in the rear half rather like exhaust or heater fumes.
The Omnicities had a bone shaking ride due to hard suspension (also a feature of Stagecoach Scania E400s between Carlisle and Workington) and hard seats.
The Omnicities had flat slippy seats which were not condusive to bends.

The Pulsars have softer suspension and 'bucket' style seats.

The only downside of Pulsars is that they seem to be prone to vibrating themselves to bits - the last one had some horrible virbrations from somewhere in the rear when the engine was running and the bus was stationary (bus stop, traffic lights, etc.) - no vibration when on the move.

(30 Aug 2022, 9:00 am)Brampton Trev wrote [ -> ]Pulsars started appearing when the Omnicities starting failing pre Covid.  And during Covid the route went over to Pulsars which are much better than Omnicities.

The Omnicities suffered from smells in the rear half rather like exhaust or heater fumes.
The Omnicities had a bone shaking ride due to hard suspension (also a feature of Stagecoach Scania E400s between Carlisle and Workington) and hard seats.
The Omnicities had flat slippy seats which were not condusive to bends.

The Pulsars have softer suspension and 'bucket' style seats.

The only downside of Pulsars is that they seem to be prone to vibrating themselves to bits - the last one had some horrible virbrations from somewhere in the rear when the engine was running and the bus was stationary (bus stop, traffic lights, etc.) - no vibration when on the move.

I agree that the Pulsars are much better than Omnicities, especially for a long and demanding route like the 685. 

The problem with vibrations from the rear used to be very common on Pulsars which is annoying. All of the Pulsars I have been on recently though have not done this, and the worst offenders for this problem all seem to have had it fixed (possibly at the same time they were upgraded to euro 6). Disappointing if there is still some that have this issue, maybe the ex merseyside ones as I have not been on all of them. 

It will be interesting to see allocations on the 685 once Jesmond depot closes. I imagine most of their pulsars will transfer away and they will then have a smaller selection to allocate to the 685 so there will be the same ones appearing daily. It will be interesting how they do when that happens.

(30 Aug 2022, 11:34 am)Arriva7446 wrote [ -> ]I agree that the Pulsars are much better than Omnicities, especially for a long and demanding route like the 685. 

The problem with vibrations from the rear used to be very common on Pulsars which is annoying. All of the Pulsars I have been on recently though have not done this, and the worst offenders for this problem all seem to have had it fixed (possibly at the same time they were upgraded to euro 6). Disappointing if there is still some that have this issue, maybe the ex merseyside ones as I have not been on all of them. 

It will be interesting to see allocations on the 685 once Jesmond depot closes. I imagine most of their pulsars will transfer away and they will then have a smaller selection to allocate to the 685 so there will be the same ones appearing daily. It will be interesting how they do when that happens.

tbf there should always be enough Pulsar's for them. If it goes to Ashington (assuming where it's going) there's always going to be at least 12 Pulsar's to allocate from and that could be more depending on what the 43/44/45 is allocated. I'm still not sure what the ex. Merseyside Pulsar's are actually meant to be allocated to (assuming the ex 3 Sapphires on paper being for the 685).

(30 Aug 2022, 11:34 am)Arriva7446 wrote [ -> ]I agree that the Pulsars are much better than Omnicities, especially for a long and demanding route like the 685. 

The problem with vibrations from the rear used to be very common on Pulsars which is annoying. All of the Pulsars I have been on recently though have not done this, and the worst offenders for this problem all seem to have had it fixed (possibly at the same time they were upgraded to euro 6). Disappointing if there is still some that have this issue, maybe the ex merseyside ones as I have not been on all of them. 

It will be interesting to see allocations on the 685 once Jesmond depot closes. I imagine most of their pulsars will transfer away and they will then have a smaller selection to allocate to the 685 so there will be the same ones appearing daily. It will be interesting how they do when that happens.

It was a MX61 on Monday 15th August operating the 14.15 departure from Carlisle.

Nice acceptable bus apart from the vibrations when stationary.

And the service offering is not Sapphire.  I think it is luck if a Sapphire Pulsar gets allocated for the day.

EDIT - just checked bustimes and today we have 1513 N63VRG (I see this one quite a lot) which is Sapphire and 1537 MX61AVK and 1541 MX61AVO (seems to be a regular on the route). bus times was also showing 1512 NL63VRF on 21 August and 1539 MX61AVM on 24 August

Seen the Facebook post on ANE's page regarding the E400MMC launch!

Good effort by all accounts.

I presume they had it running on trade plates for the photo (I think that's one backwards in the front window)

They're all arriving at Ashington today. A few arrived the other day.

(31 Aug 2022, 5:18 pm)omnicity4659 wrote [ -> ]They're all arriving at Ashington today. A few arrived the other day.

Guessing these are coming into service tomorrow?

Everything that is moving out of Ashington has been pulled off early tonight with Pulsar's on the 57A and a Pulsar swapping out 7553 at Morpeth running upto Alnwick and is currently back.

(31 Aug 2022, 9:51 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Guessing these are coming into service tomorrow?

Everything that is moving out of Ashington has been pulled off early tonight with Pulsar's on the 57A and a Pulsar swapping out 7553 at Morpeth running upto Alnwick and is currently back.

Of the Ashington vehicles, I believe all bar one are now at Ashington. Would very much hope they're all good for service tomorrow, or there may be issues come runout!

7510/11/12/14 have made the trip to Durham tonight, as indicated by posts on the Busesnortheast Facebook page. 2816 also mentioned as for Durham, with the rest of the Ashington Solo's heading to Blyth for storage.

They've been very busy tonight! Noticed a Blyth supervisor taking an E400MMC out of Blyth as I was on the way in.

YX72 OKA 2701 on the 57

https://flic.kr/p/2nHN2kn

(31 Aug 2022, 10:00 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Of the Ashington vehicles, I believe all bar one are now at Ashington. Would very much hope they're all good for service tomorrow, or there may be issues come runout!

7510/11/12/14 have made the trip to Durham tonight, as indicated by posts on the Busesnortheast Facebook page. 2816 also mentioned as for Durham, with the rest of the Ashington Solo's heading to Blyth for storage.

Thank you for that, seems like fair chunk of them are out in service now.

From what I can see on Bustimes, all of the new E400s barring 7570 are out in service.

These new E400MMCs appear to mostly be on the X21/X22/35, with a handful on the X14/X18/X20. I guess that all the E400s are being treated as the same pool now instead of having specific routes?

I've had a couple of rides today. All of the buses look smart and I have no complaints about the seats even though they are low back. Features are the same as Sapphire anyway with USB's and they still look stylish with lights on the stairs etc.

The Enviro 200's are a very pleasent change on the 57. These have USB's too although they are under the seats so I didn't notice them at first. Not sure what happened with 2704 early on but 2701 was taken off because the destination display would only show the date instead of route number etc.

None of the next stop announcements are on yet on the buses I was on.

Are they fitted with full rear displays or just the numbers?
Arriva have a habit of cheaping out with just the small displays

(01 Sep 2022, 3:39 pm)streetdeckfan wrote [ -> ]Are they fitted with full rear displays or just the numbers?
Arriva have a habit of cheaping out with just the small displays

Full rear displays, white all round.