(21 Jan 2017, 6:34 pm)thetravelman This may of already been mentioned so my apologies in advance..

Above.. Dan confirmed a total of 21 Streetlites have been purchased, Ten for Durham Diamond and eleven for services 49/49A.

Is there a hint there that the 49/49A are No Longer "Blaydon Racers" since it was detailed as the route number rather than brand. Also the Streetlites that seem to be arriving are in either Durham Diamond colours or in the New GNE corporate livery. Also the fleet lists state that the next ones On Delivery are also Blue & Red colour.

Unless of course the "Blaydon Racers" are going to be given an updated brand look, which seems similar in colours to corporate brand.

(21 Jan 2017, 7:31 pm)S813 FVK Yes - it is something that I noticed myself and brought up on the forum, although in far less detail than yourself.

Could it have done purposefully to refrain from confirming that there will be a change to the brand of the 49/49A, leaving that job down to the Marketing team at Go North East instead or until the first vehicle that will be branded is spotted at Heysham/is delivered to the company? By showing all vehicles as being Red & Blue, it can easily mislead people and stop things from being released onto the public domain before the company wants to.

I only suggest that because it is very rare for them to purchase brand new vehicles for a route that will be unbranded. I don't really see the relevance of the Blaydon Racers brand being attached to the 49/49A anyway, only one of the services actually goes to Blaydon (49), I think they'd be better off dropping the Toon Link brand from the 12/12A and transferring the Blaydon Racers brand over, it would have much more relevance and would give people 1 less reason to moan about the company. No idea what replacement brand I would suggest for the 49/49A though.

(22 Jan 2017, 9:50 am)Dan 5455 at Heysham Docks: https://flic.kr/p/QbSeGt

(22 Jan 2017, 9:50 am)Dan 5455 at Heysham Docks: https://flic.kr/p/QbSeGt

(22 Jan 2017, 5:29 pm)S813 FVK And its in the corporate livery...maybe what thetravelman said was correct about services '49/49A' being said as opposed to 'Blaydon Racers'.

(22 Jan 2017, 5:29 pm)S813 FVK And its in the corporate livery...maybe what thetravelman said was correct about services '49/49A' being said as opposed to 'Blaydon Racers'.

(22 Jan 2017, 5:36 pm)Tom So maybe we will just have sub branding applied then?

(22 Jan 2017, 6:35 pm)Ben C Anyone know whats currently up with Blaydon Racers Citaro 5276? Haven't seen it in service for nearly 2 month.

(22 Jan 2017, 6:45 pm)citaro5284 Its engine is poorly.

(22 Jan 2017, 6:46 pm)BusLoverMum A technical description if ever I saw one

(22 Jan 2017, 9:50 am)Dan 5455 at Heysham Docks: https://flic.kr/p/QbSeGt

(22 Jan 2017, 5:29 pm)S813 FVK And its in the corporate livery...maybe what thetravelman said was correct about services '49/49A' being said as opposed to 'Blaydon Racers'.

(22 Jan 2017, 8:40 pm)thetravelman Mmmm! interesting. Looking at the photo of 5455 sat at Heysham Docks, you would initially think that it is in GNE corporate livery, however after looking further I cant be sure just like Michael has said, you can't really tell with the reflections whether it may be fully Blue. If it is fully Blue does this indicate a fresh New look for 'Blaydon Racers' or even a Fresh New brand.

Think we need another photo from a different angle to see whether this bus is in GNE Corporate livery or whether it is indeed Blue.

(23 Jan 2017, 7:17 pm)Boggle One of the ex Oxford dual door B10s was towed away by Alpha today.  Spotted it heading north from the Central Motorway onto Great North Road this morning.  I was too far away to ID it.