(27 Apr 2014, 5:56 am)Dan No depot is perfect with every depot having an 'issue' that can be picked out (whether it is allocations, engineering, etc). To me it suggests that the 'issue' lies with Stanley's engineering department.

Stanley is a good example of how a depot should be run. With the exception of the "Venture" Solo SR allocations, Stanley are pretty good when it comes to allocating branded vehicles to the correct services (just compare Stanley to Riverside).

Despite this, you'll find they have almost every vehicle of their spare vehicle allocation out in action on a daily basis, while the branded vehicles are repaired.

Part of their spare vehicle allocation (on weekends/school holidays) is made up by the "Yellow Bus" branded Olympians, and you'll find that branded vehicles are often substitued for these vehicles - much to the annoyance of higher management. I'd argue that Stanley are applying 'quick fixes' to get the branded vehicles out straight away (thereby keeping GNE management's faces straight!) and not actually fixing the issues properly with the vehicles.

With this in mind, things SHOULD improve by the end of the year - once the Olympians have departed the fleet. For now I think the current allocation works well.

(27 Apr 2014, 9:27 am)Robert [quote'nk55' pid='40603' dateline='1398589318']

Going back a few months, gne had a red versa on the diamond network before it went onto the 58. Thinking back i'm of the opinion that the vehicle was "liked" by drivers & passengers alike. I think part of the 80 bus order will go to optare for diamond upgrade if not for the lime & toon link aswell.

(27 Apr 2014, 10:43 am)Michael All the Lime B10's will be withdrawn.

It will gain 13 new branded buses and 2 spare (1 each at chester/stanley)

Sure this was confirmed ages ago by a few people on here..

(27 Apr 2014, 11:22 am)Robert Yes, we know what is going to happen with the new buses and what will happen to the Renowns, we were just talking about the Renowns and looking at possibly what is making them so unreliable...

(27 Apr 2014, 11:35 am)Marcus When you think about it, they've survived nearly 8 years on probably one of GNE's most demanding routes (and if I'm not mistaken they were already used on it as the 778) I'm honestly surprised they haven't fallen apart yet. I know they'll be withdrawn and sold, but they would make excellent driver training vehicles. I'd love to train in a Renown if I was to become a driver (I think there's that 15 meter law or something like that though). Hats off to whoever at Volvo that built those 13 buses.

(27 Apr 2014, 11:45 am)Andreos Constantopolous 775/778 and 194/294 before then.
Said a few months ago, they're the modern version of the National.

Although some models look tatty, the bodywork looks to have lasted too.

If you think back, the amount of b10 vehicles up and down the country, going back to step entrance Alexander versions from early L/M reg examples, have lasted and performed well. Well beyond anything else.

(27 Apr 2014, 11:35 am)Marcus When you think about it, they've survived nearly 8 years on probably one of GNE's most demanding routes (and if I'm not mistaken they were already used on it as the 778) I'm honestly surprised they haven't fallen apart yet. I know they'll be withdrawn and sold, but they would make excellent driver training vehicles. I'd love to train in a Renown if I was to become a driver (I think there's that 15 meter law or something like that though). Hats off to whoever at Volvo that built those 13 buses.

(27 Apr 2014, 11:58 am)Michael They currently my fav buses in the GNE fleet, Volvo built good buses there.. will miss them when they are withdrawn

(27 Apr 2014, 11:51 am)Marcus I've heard one or two of the older driver's who have started in the 90s that have compared the B10s to the Nationals. If you check out the NNRG Facebook page they are using their 4710 on a rerun of the 724 on 31 August starting at South Burns and going to Bishop.

(27 Apr 2014, 12:32 pm)Andreos Constantopolous Do you have a link?

(27 Apr 2014, 12:54 pm)Marcus Certainly mate;

https://www.facebook.com/NorthernNationalRestorationGroup

p.s. It mentions a lot about the late Ian Hignett and his work with them, and also they are having a minutes silence at the Metrocentre Rally to remember him according to one of their posts.

(27 Apr 2014, 1:45 pm)Andreos Constantopolous Wouldn't mind a ride on it again.
Used it quite a bit when it was in service and it always seemed a good bus.

Have seen it out and about, but never had the chance to ride it since restoration.

Cheers for the link

(27 Apr 2014, 1:49 pm)Marcus No problem . I was about seven when it was withdrawn from service. For some reason I find their Facebook posts quite confusing; did they buy 4681 and now is that masquerading as 4710, or did they get both?, or was 4710 scrapped and 4681 saved? I can't get my head around it.

(27 Apr 2014, 9:27 am)Robert There really isn't any need for a Diamond upgrade just yet as the Citaros cope very well on the Diamond services. Its just the maintenance side of things that isn't as suggested before by Dan. The Lime and Toon Link however, because of the buses they currently use (or most of them in the Toon Link case) are very unreliable and its the buses that are the problem and not the Maintenance.

With the lime I have to say that 4850-4855 are the worst. I don't know whether to include 4896 in that as I don't know which Lime a Chester-le-Street spare is replacing so I just assume its the older 6 buses on the route.

(27 Apr 2014, 2:15 pm)aureolin But how many times do you see a non-Lime branded vehicle on the 8 or 78? I still use the 8 quite often, and it's very rare that a branded B10 doesn't turn up. I'd doubt they'd be seen as very unreliable given that?

(27 Apr 2014, 2:31 pm)Marcus I'd say at least one unbranded vehicle on the Lime every couple of days, and it's normally one of Stanley's. Also worth mentioning, Stanley put more non-Lime branded vehicles on like Diamonds and Red Kites. I occasionally see Whey Aye Five 0 OmniCities on the Chester runs, but I haven't seen any other branded vehicles on it in a long time. Before the Versas arrived on the Worm a load of DAFs would get used in the event of a single decker spare being unavailable. I rarely get Northern spares on it, and after the 21 I use it practically daily.

(27 Apr 2014, 2:52 pm)Robert Its the complete opposite for me. Most of the time it is Chester-Le-Street spares that I see rather than Stanley spares. A Red Kite and a Diamond bus covering for a Lime is far better than a Venture SR like we have seen in the past but these buses have probably been placed on because of lack of spare single decker stock out on the road which will usually be covering for the missing branded bus on the Lime.

It may be rare but it is becoming more common as if you monitor the buses on the service for a good period of time you will notice that with 1 spare been allocated a day (at least) that will soon add up to show the services poor reliability. Bit like the X7 when it had its renowns. They started off great but over time you could tell that the buses were struggling to cope with the amount of spares that appeared on the route over the period of time before the Citaros were brought in.

(27 Apr 2014, 3:00 pm)Tom When I went to Sunderland in the half-term, it appeared to be more Chester-le-Street spares used. I saw 4906, 4908, 4914 and 4929 on the ''Lime'' services, so thats three Chester-le-Street spares, and one Stanley spares. In the past, it has been the same story, with more Chester-le-Street spares being used.