Bus Related Outings and Reviews
Bus Related Outings and Reviews
Should've been quicker off the mark replying to this - glad to see you got some brilliant shots at York, Dan!
Over the weekend, on both days I had a trip out; Saturday was buses and Sunday was trains. Here's what I did:
Saturday 15th November
SNW 27142 685 Greenhead to Hexham, 0745 (originally planned to get the 0643 however I misplaced my mobile which meant I had to return home to find it)
GNE 5231 X85 Hexham to St James' Park
Metro 4023 4075 St James' to Chillingham Road (spotted a Grand Central HST being pushed around by a Class 08 so went to photo some stuff on Heaton)
SNE 34614 15 Walker (Shields Road) to Walker, right outside the park - we caught the first bus to come, expecting it to take us to a busy street in Walker where we could get a connecting bus - instead we got a bit lost and walked through Walker Park, eventually relying on Google Maps to find a bus for us)
SNE 12081 40 Walker (Welbeck Road) to Wallsend Interchange (bus driver stopped on the double yellows outside Nisa, knocked engine off and went to buy something - still in service!!)
Metro 4013 40009 Wallsend to North Shields
GNE 5274 9 North Shields to Sunderland (Wheatsheaf? One alongside the depot) - Tyne Tunnel was pretty good, never been on it before. Once we got to Sunderland we had a nosy at the Stagecoach depot, having a little walk round the footpaths outside. Pity we got there on an Omnicity on an otherwise Omnicity-free day!
SNE 28019 3 Sunderland (Wheatsheaf?) to City Centre (Near Park Lane Interchange) - My first ride on a Gas Bus and wasn't too impressed, the driver was a miserable sod and I don't prefer them to original E200s!
GNE 5336 X7 Park Lane Interchange to Peterlee Bus Station - Absolutely brilliant bus, screaming all the way down the coast to Peterlee!
ANE 1421 24 Peterlee Bus Station to Hartlepool - Best Pulsar I've ever been on, another absolute screamer with a superb driver to boot!
SNE 27157 36 Hartlepool to Stockton
ANE 76xx X1 Stockton to Durham
GNE Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President Vxxx LGC - X22 Durham to Metrocentre (whole bus to ourselves until Chester)
SNE 27509 100 Metrocentre to Newcastle (Blackett Street)
GNE 6081 10 Newcastle Eldon Square to Hexham, 1755
SNW 27141 Hexham to Greenhead, 1941.
Not a great feeling when it's 1500 or so and you notice you're getting pushed for time so have to start making your way back! Great day overall. Now, Sunday: (This was done all by myself!)
Sunday 16th November
NT 156451 2N00 Haltwhistle to Metrocentre
NT 142064 2K07 Metrocentre to Darlington via Hartlepool - ex-First Great Western with 3+2 bench seats! One of two services per week to call at Teesside Airport
TP 185113 1E69 Darlington to Durham - spent around 90 minutes in Durham photoing the DRS-operated RHTT with Top & Tail Class 37s amongst other things in thick fog
EC 91105 822xx 1S14 Durham to Newcastle - full & standing and 8 minutes down approximately!
NT 142092 2W23 Newcastle to Sunderland
NT 142092 2W26 Sunderland to Newcastle
NT 156490 2N15 Newcastle to Haltwhistle.
Overall cost was twice as much as Saturday (used a Tyne & Tees Day Ranger, it's pretty restrictive in the sense of routes you can go on with it compared to others) but still worth it. Loved going down the Durham Coast and seeing some semaphore signalling with a signalbox every couple of miles or so around Stockton - something which won't happen for much longer!
I'm uploading my pics bit by bit - my album for Saturday is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/northern15...276611726/
Sean
P.S. If anyone fancies doing a Rail Ranger in the future, please give me a PM - some, like the Lancashire Day Ranger, cover oodles of miles for a relatively low cost!
![[Image: 0a85ed5b4e97324e338555472f222830.png]](https://public.railmiles.me/signatures/0a85ed5b4e97324e338555472f222830.png)