(18 May 2016, 8:34 pm)Michael Ah right, how long will the Cadets remain at Washington then until all of the Streetlites are in service?

(18 May 2016, 8:36 pm)citaro5284 btw, does a relation of yours work at Washington Depot Adam?  There is a guy there that looks a bit like yourself.

(18 May 2016, 8:39 pm)S813 FVK I can't see anything bigger than the Cadets/Merits/MPDs being allocated to the Washington services (being slightly more general here). Solars would be a waste i'd say (and this is having never used the services, to be fair).

(18 May 2016, 8:44 pm)Malarkey Yet we have B7TL Presidents allocated to the Services on a daily basis, think the elderly residents of nearby Birtley would jump for joy if a Solar turned up instead of a Double Decker, fewer complaints for GNE to deal with.

(18 May 2016, 8:53 pm)S813 FVK I'd much rather have a Solar over a President, too but I think it was said that the B7s were allocated over the solars was because of the shorter wheelbase for getting around the estates?  If so, I think that's another reason why Solars wouldn't be suitable for the routes (not suggesting for one second that they can't operate the routes as they have in the past).

(18 May 2016, 8:41 pm)Malarkey None of my Family work for GNE.

(18 May 2016, 9:12 pm)Dan Saw him again today - he is the spit and dabs of you!! Had to do a double take the first time I saw him a few weeks ago...

(18 May 2016, 9:06 pm)NK53 TKT Have 4961, 4962 and 4963 been used on the local services before, as they could be tried out

(18 May 2016, 8:53 pm)S813 FVK I'd much rather have a Solar over a President, too but I think it was said that the B7s were allocated over the solars was because of the shorter wheelbase for getting around the estates?  If so, I think that's another reason why Solars wouldn't be suitable for the routes (not suggesting for one second that they can't operate the routes as they have in the past).

(18 May 2016, 10:28 pm)GMitchelhill Hmm Classic seemed to cope no problem with running them B10BLEs around Barley Mow Estate a few years ago. Going further back I think Go-Ahead Gateshead had Optare Sigmas going around the place too.

(18 May 2016, 8:44 pm)Malarkey Yet we have B7TL Presidents allocated to the Services on a daily basis, think the elderly residents of nearby Birtley would jump for joy if a Solar turned up instead of a Double Decker, fewer complaints for GNE to deal with.

(18 May 2016, 10:42 pm)Andreos1 The tightest parts traditionally were always on Dorset Avenue. Only the 23 serves that road now - whereas the 26, 721 and 777 all served it in the past. The rest of Barley Mow is fine and normally clear of parked cars too.

Parts of Vigo can be tight, particularly at the junctions with Portobello Road and as Vigo meets Barley Mow.

(19 May 2016, 6:16 am)BusLoverMum Another TTX failed
Take a look at @gonortheast's Tweet: https://twitter.com/gonortheast/status/733166105817190400?s=09

(18 May 2016, 11:25 pm)Jimmi There always seems to be at least B7TL President out on one of the Washington services when I've been over that way, usually the 82/82A from my observations. I'm imagining Washington have so many B7's free primarily as back ups for the X1. Is most of the complaints about the double deckers related to the low capacity downstairs? I would think this would be less of an issue on the likes of the 85 considering the downstairs capacity is similar to what you get on the MPD's. I sometimes used to hear grumblings from people on the Arriva Darlington 5/5A route in the past as one board used to be booked for a Enviro 400, so it doesn't seem to be just the people of Washington whinging about it.


Going off topic slightly, but I've been on the 23 twice in recent months and on both occasions I've got the JH Coaches board on a Washington bound journey and there is somewhere on the route (think it's either London Avenue or Oxford Avenue) and on both occasions the Primo used on the service has had great difficulty squeezing through here due to some people who seem to think it's perfectly alright to park a van on one side of the road with a car parked on the opposite side of the road not much further forward than the van, the road.

(19 May 2016, 6:21 am)Michael Oh dear, lets hope they aren't getting like the B7's! (Jokes)


Can you believe the B9's on the TTX will be 4 years old in August... its flew over