Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Printable Version +- North East Buses (https://northeastbuses.co.uk/forums) +-- Forum: The Canteen (https://northeastbuses.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=4) +--- Forum: Off-topic bus chat (https://northeastbuses.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=50) +--- Thread: Bus Related Outings and Reviews (/showthread.php?tid=307) Pages:
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RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Malarkey - 03 Mar 2019 (03 Mar 2019, 10:53 am)Jamie M Was doubtful I was going to feature this time round, but I found myself driving a Vyking at the bottom. Feels like about 6 months ago since I drove that thing! Thanks Jamie. You haven't seen me as much in the last month photographing your usual X21 board as you've always had the president instead, seen you numerous times heading into town having just done a short 93. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Jimmi - 03 Mar 2019 (03 Mar 2019, 2:22 pm)Malarkey Thanks Jamie. You're seeing him more than I do and that's saying something haha, appears you spotted him yesterday: https://flic.kr/p/2f1U89k RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Malarkey - 03 Mar 2019 (03 Mar 2019, 4:52 pm)Jimmi You're seeing him more than I do and that's saying something haha, appears you spotted him yesterday: https://flic.kr/p/2f1U89k Hadn't actually noticed to be fair. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Jamie M - 05 Mar 2019 (03 Mar 2019, 7:28 pm)Malarkey Hadn't actually noticed to be fair. A 12 year old driver - who isn't familiar with the concept of a hair cut or a shave, and it's probably me. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Andreos1 - 30 Jun 2019 We havent had one of these recently! In two minds whether to report back, but seeing as it's an area that hasn't really featured in the thread, I'd thought it was worth doing. Saved for prosperity and all that jazz. Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Wales featured amongst my most recent galavant. Although Arriva seem to have kept their toes in the water in a number of the areas I travelled in, I was pleased to see some independents floating around. One to note was Lloyd's, who have really upped their game over the last 10/15 years. They even had an indirect link to back home, with a sister of the local Omnidekka's (YN56 FDL) appearing on the Welsh coastal town of Barmouth - displaying 'Eldon Square' on its blind. A fair few ADL products featured in the area, looking smart in the Traws Cyrmu livery. Two MMC 200s on trade plates passed us in mid-Wales at one point. No idea where there were going. A glut of Solo's appeared and surprisingly, I lost count of the number of Versa's I saw. Either in a Traws Cymru or Arriva livery. http://www.trawscymru.info/routes/ quite an extensive network, well worth an explore. Blue Diamond had quite a few Mini Darts kicking around (didn't see if any were ex-NE based) Kidderminster that looked like they had seen better days. Minsterley seemed to like their Optare products too. I also sampled the network in and around Shrewsbury. The odd Centro or ADL product appeared, but most of the work seemed to be carried out by 09/60 plated Optare products. Including the Shropshire Council P&R services. It seemed odd to see Thurmaston legals so far from Leicester. Didnt get to ride any of the refurbished Versa's unfortunately. One other point of note, was the 'decker come diner' parked just off the A49. A quick bit of digging identified it as this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132545487@N06/23291133552 An area well worth an explore. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - streetdeckfan - 11 Oct 2019 As a self-confessed StreetDeck fan, I thought I’d go into ‘reviewing’ GNE’s new ADL Enviro200 MMC for the Green Arrow 97 service with an open mind. Having been on the demonstration vehicle a few weeks back, I was pleasantly surprised with how nice and rattle free it was compared to previous examples I’ve been on. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Andreos1 - 02 Nov 2019 Had a recent one way grice out on the buses. Wasn't in any particular rush, so made a 'game' of it as I have done in the past. As the trip was only in one direction, I needed to vary the rules a bit. This rule meant that I wasn't allowed to use the same type of vehicle or manufacturer. Quite difficult with the lack of choice or variety round here! Whilst on the trip, I started thinking about some of the poor connections around Co Durham - specifically South East Durham. GNE sort of wiggle their fingers around meekly at it. A bit like when you fish out food remnants from the plug ANE get their fingers really dirty, but don't offer many different options, other than South East out of Durham - then North East towards the coast. There's the X21 and X22, but again, it's north east towards Peterlee from Sedgefield.
The orange indicates (as the crow flies) the current cross county network. The blue indicates the potential for a north/south service of sorts. Anyway, the trip went really well. Only one duplicate manufacturer (gutted to see a Temsa on the following X3/X4 board), otherwise it would have been a clean sweep! X4 (Streetlite), X12 (Pulsar), X21 (MAN), 55 (Citaro), X20 (Solo). Not exciting, but certainly better than the monotony of the A19 and an X9 or X10! Spend enough time on that road in the car. If I'd done this trip a few months back, it would have all been X type services. Although apart from the X4, there's not much express about any of the services. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Tom - 09 Jul 2020 Think this is probably the best place for this: Depending on how the coronavirus situation is, as long as it is safe I am looking at a trip to Yorkshire (South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire,York, The Humber or a variety i don’t mind).It’s an area i’ve never really explored. I am more or less clueless about this area, does anyone have any tips or suggestions - anything unusual or worth trying to get photos of? Any suggestions would be good Cheers RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - tyresmoke - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 2:12 pm)Tom Think this is probably the best place for this:My area of expertise! Would probably depend what you're after but there's a huge mix of independents in Yorkshire - everything from Reliance and Pullman in York to Leeds having CT Plus, Tetleys, Fourways, Squarepeg and wider across West Yorks you've got Southpennine, TLC, Stotts, Globe, Ross Travel and many more. Into South Yorks you've got TM Travel, CT Powells, Hulleys all providing a bit of interest. That's amongst the millions of Arriva (& low cost brand Yorkshire Tiger), First and Stagecoach generally operating major services. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Tom - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 2:56 pm)tyresmoke My area of expertise! Cheers! It seems like it would be an interesting visit, possibly York, Sheffield and Leeds! I often find First always have an older fleet, so hopefully there are still some interesting stuff left. I see Yorkshire Tiger also have a Spectra still in operation, would be good to catch up with that too. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Andreos1 - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 3:18 pm)Tom Cheers! As tyresmoke said, there's loads down there. York - Hull is doable and from there, you have the X62 to Leeds to pick up the other bits and bob's. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - tyresmoke - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 3:18 pm)Tom Cheers!Arriva Yorkshire have a Spectra still in service, 723 is currently working from Wakefield depot (it's on 444 today). Not sure if there's one at Tiger still. You likely wouldn't recognise the First fleet... very little old or interesting vehicles left, bar the odd Scania Solar still doing the rounds in Leeds (primarily on route 5). Still some older ALX400's out in Halifax and Huddersfield but they're limited more and more to the YSB fleet at Halifax. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Tom - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 3:25 pm)Andreos1 As tyresmoke said, there's loads down there. I had no idea about the X62 - looks like it might be suspended due to the coronavirus. its definitely not easy to plan anything in the current climate (09 Jul 2020, 3:34 pm)tyresmoke Arriva Yorkshire have a Spectra still in service, 723 is currently working from Wakefield depot (it's on 444 today). Not sure if there's one at Tiger still. Ahh, cheers - I always expect First to have an older fleet from my past experiences. First buses also don’t seem to track on bustimes, so it’s a bit harder to see what it’s like. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Andreos1 - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 3:59 pm)Tom I had no idea about the X62 - looks like it might be suspended due to the coronavirus. Aye, essentially straight along the M62, with a couple of diversions. Not too different to the X9/10 really, but certainly an experience. I'm sure there were coaches allocated at one point in the not too distant past. http://lunatictravel.com/lbhl.html have a (very 1997 looking) website showing some images of the route. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - tyresmoke - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 3:59 pm)Tom I had no idea about the X62 - looks like it might be suspended due to the coronavirus.Yeah the X62 only runs 3 or 4 trips a day each way. Usually with E400s these days. First Leeds is majority Streetdecks now in the very smart green LeedsCity livery, with the B5 hybrids, and a handful of B9s, Streetlites and B7RLEs staying progressively being repainted too. The E400s have gone to Halifax to replace older stock there, and B7 Geminis can only be found in Halifax and Huddersfield these days if I remember right. Halifax also have a few Solos around but I'm not sure if they're stuck to a specific route. Arriva meanwhile have the smartest fleet in the country in Yorkshire in my opinion, and decent variety of mainly newer stock with the odd few older oddballs still living on, including the Spectra as said earlier. Tiger meanwhile is the complete opposite, less said the better. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Tom - 09 Jul 2020 Cheers guys! The X46 from Hull to York is also another option if the times don’t work out for the X62 Bus Related Outings and Reviews - Jimmi - 09 Jul 2020 I found the X62 mind numbingly boring when I did the full route back in 2018 although I find straight A road / motorway routes boring personally. Don't mind the X46 too much although still a bit long for my liking but I typically split the journey at Beverley to make it more bearable. I did some of the Hulleys network today, they've got some nice routes to do, hopefully get to do a bit more when things start to hopefully improve. I parked my car at Halfway Park & Ride so I could observe Powells on the Supertram replacement service currently running between Halfway and Gledless Townend mainly using ex Lothian B7s and Scania Omnicity double deckers, may go back to Sheffield again to catch some of their other deckers, saw a Vyking on the A1 service to Meadowhall in Sheffield this morning. Yorkshire Tiger's Spectra is still going, was out on the 20 in Halifax today I believe from a photo I saw on Facebook RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - streetdeckfan - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 9:54 pm)Jimmi I found the X62 mind numbingly boring when I did the full route back in 2018 although I find straight A road / motorway routes boring personally. Don't mind the X46 too much although still a bit long for my liking but I typically split the journey at Beverley to make it more bearable. I personally love motorway journeys, gives me a chance to watch people in their cars! (the reason I prefer sitting backwards as well ) Having said that, if there's a 'scenic route' option, I'll pretty much always take that unless I need to get to the destination on time RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - BusLoverMum - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 9:58 pm)streetdeckfan I personally love motorway journeys, gives me a chance to watch people in their cars! (the reason I prefer sitting backwards as well )On the m62, all the cars are doing is passing you above the speed limit! My parents are from the Hull so we do that road often! The scenic route is the X46! We don't go that way often due to the caravan jam on the A64. RE: Bus Related Outings and Reviews - streetdeckfan - 09 Jul 2020 (09 Jul 2020, 10:48 pm)BusLoverMum On the m62, all the cars are doing is passing you above the speed limit! My parents are from the Hull so we do that road often! Trust me, sometimes you want the car next to you to speed past above the limit. I've seen some 'strange' things looking out the window on coach journeys! |