North East Buses

(27 Feb 2026, 11:36 am)OrangeArrow49 wrote [ -> ]6349 transferred or just on loan from Consett to Hexham? On the 680/684/688 again today.

It's on the X10 tonight

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(01 Mar 2026, 9:28 pm)Swiny1 wrote [ -> ]It's on the  X10 tonight

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Interesting. Must just be floating around wherever it's needed. Very rare to see dark green X-lines on Riverside and Hexham routes.

(02 Mar 2026, 12:33 am)oOrangeArrow49 wrote [ -> ]Interesting. Must just be floating around wherever it's needed. Very rare to see dark green X-lines on Riverside and Hexham routes.

out on the 10 again today.

Meanwhile Consett have a Venture solo allocated to the X5 (standing room only this morning and bus full after lanchester) despite having around 7 deckers sitting withdrawn in the depot. Looks like 6184 i the only older B9 left in service.

(02 Mar 2026, 11:06 am)WestDurhamSwift wrote [ -> ]out on the 10 again today.

Meanwhile Consett have a Venture solo allocated to the X5 (standing room only this morning and bus full after lanchester) despite having around 7 deckers sitting withdrawn in the depot. Looks like 6184 i the only older B9 left in service.

So that's its third day at Riverside. Very surprised on Thursday and Friday when it was at Hexham on the 680/684/688. I wonder if Hexham will get anything to replace the Solo SRs and Versas at some point, double deckers appear more common than previously, usually a Tyne Valley 10. No idea what it's now doing at Riverside. X-lines made a short return on the 684! (never been X-lines on the 684, only briefly when it was the X84/X85, December 2020-January 2022?

Thats crazy deckers have been withdrawn before enough buses have come in to replace them.

(02 Mar 2026, 11:29 am)OrangeArrow49 wrote [ -> ]So that's its third day at Riverside. Very surprised on Thursday and Friday when it was at Hexham on the 680/684/688. I wonder if Hexham will get anything to replace the Solo SRs and Versas at some point, double deckers appear more common than previously, usually a Tyne Valley 10. No idea what it's now doing at Riverside. X-lines made a short return on the 684! (never been X-lines on the 684, only briefly when it was the X84/X85, December 2020-January 2022?

Thats crazy deckers have been withdrawn before enough buses have come in to replace them.

The funny thing is, there's 37 new deckers in service today. 16 of which are diesel, there's absolutely no excuse of running solos on a double decker route. The displaced ones just haven't been cascaded to other depots yet, it's really weird.

(02 Mar 2026, 1:37 pm)deanmachine wrote [ -> ]The funny thing is, there's 37 new deckers in service today. 16 of which are diesel, there's absolutely no excuse of running solos on a double decker route. The displaced ones just haven't been cascaded to other depots yet, it's really weird.

Theres around 10-15 deckers been withdrawn with the new arrivals, might be slightly less, majority of which are Consett based who have struggled with Deckers for months. 

Riverside seems to be the issue. 

Theres currently 3 Ex London deckers on the 21

The Supershuttle Enviros, seem to be on anything (2 of them on the 10 today)

Then you have one of Consetts Enviros also currently on the 10 (6194 is also on there)

6397-6400 seem to be allocated to anything (i was under the assumption these would go on the X10)

Nothing seems to have been repainted yet either.

(02 Mar 2026, 2:31 pm)WestDurhamSwift wrote [ -> ]Theres around 10-15 deckers been withdrawn with the new arrivals, might be slightly less, majority of which are Consett based who have struggled with Deckers for months. 

Riverside seems to be the issue. 

Theres currently 3 Ex London deckers on the 21

The Supershuttle Enviros, seem to be on anything (2 of them on the 10 today)

Then you have one of Consetts Enviros also currently on the 10 (6194 is also on there)

6397-6400 seem to be allocated to anything (i was under the assumption these would go on the X10)

Nothing seems to have been repainted yet either.

Noticed aswell there seems to be a good few Streetdecks on the 27 lately for the past few days.

I do also think Consett will have capacity issues when they inevitably get CAZ Compliant Solo SR's to replace the current 13' Plated SR's. So that will be fun for the busy Newcastle Corridor routes.

There has to be vehicles away for repaint at this point as there are multiple deckers that have been off the road for several weeks now including what is listed below, there also seem to be a lot of single deckers off the road also effecting all depots.

6044 - Red Kite Ranger
6005/6052/6055 - Crusader
6088/6090/6100 - Cityrider 56
6324 - Angel Streetdeck
6341/6346/6353/6355 - X-Lines E400MMC's
6357/6375/6376 - X-Lines Streetdecks

I think we're 4 New Diesel Streetdecks short of what was ordered as 22 of 26 have been delivered which will x2 Washington then x2 for Consett I would presume.

Is there anything else currently on order other than the E200EV's that are due imminently from Alexander Dennis.

(02 Mar 2026, 8:24 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]There has to be vehicles away for repaint at this point as there are multiple deckers that have been off the road for several weeks now including what is listed below, there also seem to be a lot of single deckers off the road also effecting all depots.

6044 - Red Kite Ranger
6005/6052/6055 - Crusader
6088/6090/6100 - Cityrider 56
6324 - Angel Streetdeck
6341/6346/6353/6355 - X-Lines E400MMC's
6357/6375/6376 - X-Lines Streetdecks

I think we're 4 New Diesel Streetdecks short of what was ordered as 22 of 26 have been delivered which will x2 Washington then x2 for Consett I would presume.

Is there anything else currently on order other than the E200EV's that are due imminently from Alexander Dennis.

6044 and 6346 have been parked up VOR for a while now at Consett and were still there a couple of days ago when i went past. 6346 has been washed and alloys cleaned and polished by the looks of it.

Percy Main Optare Solo SR 726 was involved in an accident on Sunday after its driver took ill at Preston Village. Hopefully the driver makes a speedy recovery.

Painfully followed behind Bum on Board streetdeck on the X10 today as I was coming onto the A19 Southbound from A690 and got stuckbehind it was going about 35-42 mph.

Painfully in a 70 road

Nothing from riverside away for paint as far as im aware

6052 Back fence
6055 Back fence
6100 Workshop
6324 In service
6357 Workshop

6950 on the 340/341 today - was on the 327 the other day too

(03 Mar 2026, 6:28 pm)Arlo400H wrote [ -> ]6950 on the 340/341 today - was on the 327 the other day too

6958 too

(03 Mar 2026, 6:31 pm)Arriva7446 wrote [ -> ]6958 too

Sure there was a Gemini on there too unless it was swapped

I personally find the older Streetlites much better than the newer ones. I've been on a few of the ex Saltwell Park 63 plates the last few days and they are all nice, not too many rattles, no engine vibration on idle. Newer ones Coaster are much worse, obviously those ones are middle aged now too, but think it has always been the case, quality of streetlites seemed to drop year on year.

(06 Mar 2026, 4:13 pm)Arriva7446 wrote [ -> ]I personally find the older Streetlites much better than the newer ones. I've been on a few of the ex Saltwell Park 63 plates the last few days and they are all nice, not too many rattles, no engine vibration on idle. Newer ones Coaster are much worse, obviously those ones are middle aged now too, but think it has always been the case, quality of streetlites seemed to drop year on year.

The big difference is the engines, the older Cummins engined ones aren't so bad, it's when they switched to the Mercedes engines from the 66 plates onwards the vibration problems started. Just like the Mercedes engines in Solos, they shake themselves to death.

(06 Mar 2026, 4:20 pm)deanmachine wrote [ -> ]The big difference is the engines, the older Cummins engined ones aren't so bad, it's when they switched to the Mercedes engines from the 66 plates onwards the vibration problems started. Just like the Mercedes engines in Solos, they shake themselves to death.

Yeah I think that is the main difference definitely. The Arriva Cummins ones I have been on, full size ones, are generally ok, just Arriva use them on express work which is not ideal, but I think the 63 plates that Percy Main have now for the 317 service are ideal for the route.

The older Streetlites (ex Drifter and the shorter Saltwell Park examples) both had a higher limited speed as well (58 rather than the usual 50). I would be interested to know how much more life GNE think they can get out of these (and how long will they actually last)?

The Mercedes engined ones, I found, tended to have more power and coped better on hills. The Mercedes ones also seemed to have smoother gear changes unlike some of the Cummins ones which randomly had whiplash inducing gear changes.

The only other type that I've driven with bad rattling and vibration when idling were the Arriva Durham E200s.

Ive been wanting to ask a question for ages but didn't really know which chanel/category to put it in so its kinda to do with fleet !!!!! Since the last lot of changes yo 20 20A,X20 etc...
Every Saturday there is a decker on the 2339 from Park Lane to West Rainton. Mos6ly always one of the blue X lines. Couple of times a volco. I know decker make up part of the VOR now but does anyone know why this board specifically in a Saturday?

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(28 Mar 2026, 10:47 am)Swiny1 wrote [ -> ]Ive been wanting to ask a question for ages but didn't really know which chanel/category to put it in so its kinda to do with fleet !!!!! Since the last  lot of changes yo 20 20A,X20 etc...
Every Saturday there is a decker on the 2339 from Park Lane to West Rainton. Mos6ly always one of the blue X lines.  Couple of times a volco.  I know  decker make up part of the VOR now but does anyone know why this board specifically in a Saturday?

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Looking at it's board earlier in the day I'd guess it's football related.

It does the 17:07 to Durham which will be easily catchable for fans, the one after seems to be always deckers aswell.

(28 Mar 2026, 11:15 am)Storx wrote [ -> ]Looking at it's board earlier in the day I'd guess it's football related.

It does the 17:07 to Durham which will be easily catchable for fans, the one after seems to be always deckers aswell.

Possibly but even when no football. Always on that one and always the only one that seems to stay out all night most of the time

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Not sure if this has already been mentioned but does anyone know what's up with 5499? Thanks.

(28 Mar 2026, 1:41 pm)Swiny1 wrote [ -> ]Possibly but even when no football.  Always on that one and always the only one that seems to stay out all night most of the time

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Probably easier to just do it every week, I'd guess. Don't think they're needed elsewhere so better to be safe than sorry if someone forgets there's a match on or something.

(29 Mar 2026, 7:53 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Probably easier to just do it every week, I'd guess. Don't think they're needed elsewhere so better to be safe than sorry if someone forgets there's a match on or something.

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(29 Mar 2026, 7:53 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Probably easier to just do it every week, I'd guess. Don't think they're needed elsewhere so better to be safe than sorry if someone forgets there's a match on or something.

It might just be that, having diagrammed the use of particular vehicles on particular services, it's just easier have a single version of those boards rather than keeping on chopping and changing.

5364 is the next bus going into Fleet Livery
https://www.flickr.com/photos/182309254@...ateposted/

(05 Apr 2026, 3:31 pm)X919 WGR wrote [ -> ]5364 is the next bus going into Fleet Livery
https://www.flickr.com/photos/182309254@...ateposted/

Hopefully into the New 2026 livery

5433 (Prince Bishops) still has old seating, this has not had an interior refurbishment

(13 Apr 2026, 1:36 pm)Retro Nero wrote [ -> ]5433 (Prince Bishops) still has old seating, this has not had an interior refurbishment

If they have one spare, they could use one of the Ex Manchester B9TL's seating to replace them.