North East Buses

(20 Jun 2015, 2:07 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Changed my mind going to get a later 685.

Clearly wanted to spend some time with me on the 1607 685..!

Go to the bus station, we'll be there in 5-10 mins after we get out of this traffic

Following the press release promoting the new Optare Solo SR vehicles for Carlisle's town services, I decided I would make the most of my weekend by heading west to Carlisle today. The weather wasn't brilliant, but it was an excuse to sample these new vehicles on their first day in service as well as Stagecoach's ADL Enviro300s on service 685 (irritatingly every time I have tried to use them up to now, an older MANviro has been allocated instead).

One of my friends had a house warming "get together" yesterday, but we had to leave by 23:00 as her parents didn't fancy having a group of 17 - 19 year olds having too much to drink and potentially ruining the new house. I was a little worried that I'd wake up with a stinking hangover in the morning, and this would put me off going out during the day, but thankfully this was not the case and I managed to wake up sharp and get out of the house at 08:00am.

As with previous outings, I'd have preferred to use the bus from my house to Newcastle but unfortunately I did not wake up early enough to opt for this (longer) alternative. Thankfully there wasn't any issues on the Tyne & Wear Metro system and I caught my connection to the 08:45 685 service as planned. On boarding, I was really impressed by the coach-style seating. The last time I saw the seating in the flesh was when the vehicle visited Stockton Depot for the Stagecoach North East Open Day. I personally think that the Stagecoach interior colourscheme is bright and inviting; what's more, the seats are always comfortable (although sometimes lack legroom). The 685 service is a very scenic route and I find it quite relaxing to use, but the service is incredibly long and I think it is a shame Stagecoach did not go against the grain by including the provision of power sockets on board its two 64-reg ADL Enviro300s. The Wi-Fi worked brilliantly, and, as Three's signal is not the best on the A69, I managed to catch up on some of the TV programmes I missed last night. Once we left Hexham, the bus really started to get busy. Things got worse later in the route towards Carlisle, after a large group of walkers boarded the bus. I originally had two seats to myself, but this changed by Brampton and I was left with a woman sat on top of me (well - that is exaggerated just a tad!)

Upon arrival in Carlisle, I let Sean (northern156) know of my whereabouts and asked if he would want to play tour guide for me in Carlisle later in the day. He was happy to meet up, but was otherwise occupied for the first half of the day. To kill time, I dropped Josh (CumbrianJosh) a message, to ask if he was driving on this dark and dreary day. He was, which was brilliant news, and he told me the time he would next be back in the city centre with a new Solo. During the interim period, I took a few photographs and wolfed down a much-needed Greggs.

As someone who is bombarded with Stagecoach ADL-manufactured buses in the North East, I was looking forward to try out something new. I'd never been on a Stagecoach Optare Solo SR in the past, but the native Solos in the Cumbria fleet that I had sampled in the past didn't overly impress me. The pleasant "new bus smell" was evident as soon as I boarded my first new Euro6 Solo SR, but not quite as prevalent as I had initially expected. I made my way to the back of the bus and was impressed by how spacious it was. Sadly this was not the case for other seats on the bus, as legroom did seem to lack elsewhere. Indeed; matters are made worse by the fact that these vehicles have a smaller capacity than the one year old ADL Enviro200s they replace, and customers often seemed to have to stand. I dread to think what it is like on a weekday peak time, if there was standees on a Saturday just after noon.

In all of my visits to Carlisle, I have never decided to use any of the buses there apart from those heading into the Lake District. I decided to use service 76 to compare the new Optare Solo SRs to the old ADL Enviro200s. I must say I prefer the latter, though Sean did seem to disagree. It will be interesting to see how long these new Solos last in Carlisle; after all, I don't think many would have predicted last year's new buses to be replaced after a year. In terms of performance: even on their first day in service, some didn't sound particularly healthy. One had issues with its doors, and they all had incredibly squeaky brakes. Let's hope Stagecoach engineers get the WD40 out so that those a mile down the road cannot hear it arriving when it decelerates!

I had seen my favourite Scania OmniCity earlier in the day, and planned to get it back to Newcastle later in the day on the 685. Bizarrely, 4663 has been the bus allocated the past two times I've been to Carlisle and it was third time lucky today. It has an abundance of power and is so warm - although I realised the latter feature is better during the winter months rather than the summer months, as the sweat was dripping off my face in Carlisle Bus Station! Was no bother as soon as passengers opened up the windows and the driver put his foot down though. A nice pleasurable ride as always (well, when most passengers abandoned ship at Brampton!) Kudos to the driver who left Hexham 12 minutes late and arrived into Newcastle on-time. Jimmi probably got sick of my Michael-style control room updates every other minute, but never mind...

My journey log for the day is given below:
0806 Metro: Stadium of Light to Haymarket - Tyne & Wear Metro 4074
0845 685: Newcastle to Carlisle - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 27142
1140 76: City Centre to St Anns Hill - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 47956
1155 76: St Anns Hill to Durranhill - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 47956
1250 76: Durranhill to City Centre - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 47957
1310 60: City Centre to Sainsburys - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 47941
1400 67: Sainsburys to Cumberland Infirmary - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 37097
1415 60: Infirmary to West Tower Street (via Sandsfield Park) - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 47959
1450 61: West Tower St to London Road - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 47945
1513 104: London Road to Carlisle - Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 37125
1610 685: Carlisle to Newcastle - Arriva North East 4663
1832 Metro: Haymarket to Stadium of Light - Tyne & Wear Metro 4026

Very appreciative of Sean's help today in guiding me around Carlisle - we must do it again in the future. Anyone who can handle the two-hour journey on the 685 is more than welcome to join! If Jimmi can do it from Aycliffe, anyone can... He is getting back at 21:00 tonight - rather him than me!

Thanks as ever for reading, and I am keen to read what you all got up to today too.

Great review Dan.

Done nothing today, apart from getting something for tomorrow, but next week I'm hoping to go on a Get Around, something I've not done for a while. Anyone got any suggestions?

I'll have a look through next time, as I keep threatening to do Carlisle one day.

I know what you mean about the coach style seating in those two Enviros. It certainly makes the difference in my opinion, and has to be worth serious consideration for any other operators providing long distance interurban services.

As it's Saturday, yet again, I've been out and about on my travels. Knowing that there would be some terrible congestion around the Emirates Cricket Ground, my local stop, at the time I would be leaving, I decided I would just walk into Chester-le-Street, where I would board the 09:40 X25 to Newcastle, being joined by Adam at Eighton Banks, before making it up as we went along. Speaking to Adam for the majority of the week, and doing a fair amount of planning, as he would be saying goodbye to his friends from University the night before... Stumbling through the front door at first light. We eventually decided to meet on the X25 at that time, here is what we ended up doing;

I left my house at 09:10, aiming to be in Chester-le-Street for 09:30-09:35, in order to safely catch the 09:40. While the walk from where I live to the town centre was, as usual, very quiet, when I did reach Front Street, I had to weave my way through hundreds of cricket fans, all making their way up the street in order to get to the cricket ground. When I did reach the bottom of Front Street, I noticed the 09:34 78 to Sunderland was absolutely packed with cricket fans; it appeared every seat was taken. While I watched it depart, I made my way to the stand at the very bottom, in the direction of Newcastle, where the X25 departs from. After a couple of minutes of waiting, I saw a red Wright Solar come into sight, on the X25 to Newcastle. This was 4927, which I later found out was Adam's most travelled on Solar. I have to say, I enjoyed my ride on this; the engine made a rather melodious noise, and it was very smooth. The driver was a pleasant guy, too, and to further this, the bus never carried above 10 passengers throughout the whole journey. I'm guessing I picked the right time, as the runs after this usually have standees by Wrekenton. Adam boarded at his local, and we conversed throughout the whole ride to the terminus of Eldon Square, by which point, we were the only two passengers. The others alighted on John Dobson Street and Blackett Street. 

As we'd browsed the forum on the bus, we'd noticed Jimmi's comments about his ''MAX'' X12 ruining his plan for the day. Adam joked that he could be on 7627, which was behind us on the descent into Eldon Square. Behind that, was ''Toon Link'' branded Renown 5148, the bus that had avoided me last week. The driver dropped us off at the very bottom ''drop-off'' stand in Eldon Square, as he had ran to time for the whole journey. Walking up, we noticed Jimmi getting off the X12, so I introduced him to Adam. We spoke for no more than a minute, before we parted ways, and Adam and I boarded 5148; departing moments after sitting down at the very back. This was on the 31 service, so we decided to alight at the MetroCentre, and see what came through. As we crossed the Redheugh Bridge, there were some fantastic kickdowns, as no traffic got in our way; so we just soared across the Tyne, reaching the MetroCentre on time. I enjoyed the ride on this, certainly a smooth vehicle; to the average person, I don't think there is anything that leads on the age of this machine. Aside from a Stagecoach 100, there were no other Go North East buses in service when we boarded, I let Adam pick our next journey. The next thing to appear was ''TEN'' branded Volvo B9TL 6072, heading to Newcastle. We decided to board this, then wait for any Olympians or OmniDekkas that happened to pass through. As expected, this B9 was extremely smooth, and the other luxuries that go with them were working fine, providing a pleasant journey. Not many passengers either, while we sat at the rear upstairs. 

When we arrived back into Newcastle, Adam told me he needed to make a quick trip to Boots, as he needed to pick something up. This wasn't a problem, and after hunting it down in the massive store in Eldon Square, we got back to the bus station for 11:30. A trip to Costa ensued, I had a Hot Chocolate and Adam had a Mocha; we sat in. citaro5284 had dropped me some information, that an Olympian was out on the ''Diamond'' services. Rather than stick around for it to show, we decided we'd have a ride on some of the ''Cobalt Clippers''. Then, as we waited for a 309/310, citaro5284 messaged me again, saying it had been taken out of service at Stanley, and was making it's way onto X43. I checked the time, it was 12:10; the X43 was due at the MetroCentre at 12:30, so we scuttled back across to Eldon Square from Haymarket.

We came to the conclusion that we weren't going to make it at the MetroCentre, but then noticed an OmniDekka was coming in on the X30/X31, due out at 12:15. I knew this would get to Stanley for just before 13:00, when the X43 would also get to Stanley. It was a risky connection, but it was worth it in the end. Adam and I boarded 6128, on the X30; this was to be my second OmniDekka. Like I expected, this machine handled the route without any problems; flying up banks and maintaining the smoothness that a customer expects. Not many rattles or squeaks at all, I think these will do very well on the demanding Newcastle-Stanley/Consett express routes. It certainly kept to timetable... Which then allowed us to connect onto the X43. As 3822 was running quite late, 3832 was brought out of the layover, and onto the X43 to ensure the 13:00 got away on-time. We bailed from 6128, and joined the end of the queue to board the X43. Leaving on-schedule, we headed upstairs for the journey. A family occupied the front seats, a young chavvy couple towards the rear and another chav at the back, with the two of us behind the staircase. As always, it's a treat to ride an Olympian, especially now; as with the arrival of the OmniDekkas, fewer and fewer seem to be out and about... However, the internal condition of 3832 wasn't up to much. It rattled pretty violently when going down banks, the only thing I can compare some of the shakes too was 4843 last week. Nevertheless, it sounded smooth, and the speeds that it achieved when going down said banks were decent, too. During this journey, I was informed that ''Drifter'' 5372 was out on the 36, an incredibly rare occurrence. I asked my good friend citaro5284 if he knew where it was, and he got back to me, saying it was working the 14:15 out of Chester-le-Street. When the X43 got to the MetroCentre, at 13:30ish, I thought that we had missed the X22, thus meaning we couldn't catch it up. However, we saw Adam Y when we alighted; he said he knew where I would be, as apparently, ''I am so predictable''. I introduced him to Adam; then, as I looked to the bus bridge, I saw a red President crossing. I immediately thought that it must have been the X22. Luck was on my side, as it was indeed working the X22, albeit about 10 minutes late. Praise the lord!

Adam Y asked if it was okay for him to tag along, to which Adam and I had no problem with, ''the more the merrier''. The three of us boarded 6036, the vehicle operating this run. Sitting in the middle of the upper deck, there was about a decent amount of passengers on this; I would say between 15 and 20. As we were discussing various things for the journey, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Just an average B7. Thankfully, because of this, we arrived in Chester-le-Street with enough time to photograph and catch 5372, on the 36. I got my photo, before we headed up to the 36/78 bus stop, boarding it moments after it had turned around at South Burns. We decided to have a quick trip on this to the Emirates Cricket Ground, to see what was there. I noticed two Tridents, 3868 and 3876, were parked up in the coach park, while a selection of coaches were too. The two Adams waited patiently, while I got my photos, before we headed back to the Chester-le-Street-bound stop for the 36. We missed this, as it was running about 3-4 minutes early. Otherwise, we would have caught it. Standing around for the next 78, at 14:43. Adam Y offered us some reading material, in the form of some old Tyne and Wear PTE handbooks, containing timetables, maps and routes. I have to say, while I only flicked through them, they were very interesting. I also came across a timetable for the Sunderland-Consett services in another book, which was quite interesting to read through. Before long, a ''Coast & Country'' 78 came into sight. Adam and I took the back seats, while Adam Y sat in front of me. I heard the Next Stop Announcements, which were very loud and clear; ideal for the service, although I'm not sure I'd want them at 06:00 on a morning. When we got back into Chester-le-Street, we alighted at South Burns. On Front Street, we had seen ''Lambton Worm'' Versa 8302 come through with a Waldridge Park-bound 34, and as Adam had never been on one of these branded vehicles, we crossed over and boarded.

The passenger numbers were okay, when we left the bottom of Chester-le-Street I counted 15. We had the back seats again, so just discussed the forum and various other things. One thing of note, was when Adam Y stumbled across a thread by Davie, entitled ''Me and Durham''... No comment. Although, I will say, it should be ''Durham and I'', if you wish to be grammatically correct. Anyway, as the ''Lambton Worm'' 34/34A are both clockwise and anti-clockwise; a lot of people get on and off throughout the Waldridge Park section of the route. Whereas the Urpeth Grange section is the same for both the 34/34A, using the Ouston/Urpeth Grange area to turn around in a loop. It's a bit confusing, if you're unfamiliar with the area. The driver did stop the bus at stops once or twice, as he was ahead of schedule; which he kept to for the whole journey. 8302, which was our vehicle for this run, was actually quite good. I love the ''space''-like look of the Optare Versa; it stands out as very futuristic when compared to other rectangle/box shaped vehicles. The reason I think the driver was stopping so much, was because the route really doesn't go anywhere where traffic is a massive problem. There are exceptions of course, although I imagine it won't be the same at peak times. Once we'd pulled back into Chester-le-Street, we alighted at the bottom of Front Street, before I said goodbye to Adam and Adam Y, thanking them for the company. I quickly made a trip to Gregg's, before boarding the first bus I could see up to the Black Horse (then a walk home from there!). This was spare Streetlite 5409 on the 34; the journey was so short I really can't make any comments. Passenger numbers weren't beyond 10. 

I made a start on writing this review, before heading back out again at 18:00ish for photos of the Cricket Shuttles. There were 6 buses in total; 6127, a Plaxton President and 4 Lolynes (3804, 3865, 3876 and 3878), four of which I got photographs. The other two (3865 and the President) were too close to the bus in front to get a shot. A log of the day is below;

09:40 #X25 – Chester-le-Street Corals to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 4927
10:26 #31 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 5148
10:50 #10B – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 6072
12:15 #X30 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Stanley Bus Station – GNE 6128
13:00 #X43 – Stanley Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 3832
13:36 #X22 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Chester-le-Street Red Lion – GNE 6036
14:13 #36 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground – GNE 5372
14:43 #78 – Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground to Chester-le-Street South Burns – GNE 5406
14:51 #34 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Waldridge Park (and return) – GNE 8302
15:21 #34 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Black Horse – GNE 5409

In coming weeks, I am looking to broaden my horizons and step out of my comfort zone. I'm probably going to get into Teesside one weekend, hopefully covering Darlington, Middlesbrough and Stockton; then hopefully a trip up into Northumberland, for Blyth and Ashington. I notice my reviews must seem to be getting a bit repetitive, so I'm aiming to go further afield and explore a bit more. Tomorrow morning, I'll be heading through to the Fathers Day Rally, at Howlands Park and Ride, specifically for photos and a ride on 4710; so expect a much shorter review tomorrow evening, probably in that respective thread. Thanks to Adam Y and Adam for the company today; I enjoyed our little outing. Once more, thanks for reading, and enjoy your weekend.

Marcus

(20 Jun 2015, 6:30 pm)Adam wrote [ -> ]Instead of quoting the whole of Marcus' review:

Was a pleasure to meet all three of you. It's always good to put names to faces. Thank you for your warm and enjoyable company

"Stumbling through the front door at first light". You cheeky bugger I wasn't that bad...

It's better than bashing your head on the bus

(20 Jun 2015, 6:14 pm)R852 PRG wrote [ -> ]Adam Y stumbled across a thread by Davie, entitled ''Me and Durham''... No comment. Although, I will say, it should be ''Durham and I'', if you wish to be grammatically correct

(20 Jun 2015, 6:14 pm)R852 PRG wrote [ -> ]I'm probably going to get into Teeside one weekend, hopefully covering Darlington, Middlesbrough and Stockton; then hopefully a trip up into Northumberland, for Blyth and Ashington.

Teesside!

Getting you back on Davie's behalf for the top quote - hehe.

(20 Jun 2015, 6:39 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Teesside!

Getting you back on Davie's behalf for the top quote - hehe.

Thanks Dan

I haven't been on one of the 685 Enviros but the seats look really comfortable, to me they look like the seats in Arriva's old single decker Scania's forgot what exactly what you call them but they had the fleet numbers 2## and where based on Tyneside for most of their lives and some ended their lives on the X1/X2 and some were briefly based at Bishop Auckland depot.

Anyway back to today, started my day on the 7 with an E400 being my steed to Durham which turned up about two minutes late but no biggie but got later as the journey went on and then we just stopped when we got to Croxdale thanks to temporary three way lights at The Honest Lawyer this put me behind time. This also affected the X21 so it being late meant I had to drop my plan of catching the X85 to Hexham and ended up boarding the 85 in Newcastle.

Instead of the X21 I got lumbered with the X12 which was on-time, WAS on-time but fell behind time as we picked up some of the custom from the X21 and 7627 is the slowest thing in the world! This meant I didn't arrive in Newcastle until sometime after 1020.

As I got off the X12 I was greeted by Marcus and Adam who said hi then went off somewhere else.

On the 85 the OAPS gave me daggers between Newcastle and Hexham for one thing I didn't do and a design fault.

Went round Carlisle getting photos of the new Solo SR's and other buses. Was originally going to get the 1507 685 back to Carlisle but I wasn't queuing in the right place and people looked hacked off with me about it then I saw Sean had sent a PM asking if I was still about so I decided to stay for another hour and see if Sean and Dan were about. Hung around by the bus station getting a few photos then Dan went for some scran before we jumped on the 685 back to Newcastle.

4663 was our steed back to Newcastle which made us happy as it has fabric seats rather than leather also 4663 probably has to be the best Omnicity in the fleet and despite ending up running late the service picked up time as we got closer to Newcastle and I know this as Dan was giving a running commentary on how close the service was to running to time and talking about his connecting Metro honestly the suspense, it was like watching an episode of The Cube or something, obviously I didn't really care if the 85 was running a little late as I had over 40 minutes to wait for my next bus. But eventually we got to Newcastle and I left Dan for him to catch the Metro.

Had some time to kill so I went into HMV to kill the waiting time and also got a few more photos before catching the 21 to Durham.

I am typing this on the 21 as the 21 isn't an exciting route but it is fairly quiet on here even though there is a fair few passengers on-board. Although illegally parked cars on Chester-le-Street Front Street is giving us problems at the moment.

My log of journeys today:
0805 7 Newton Aycliffe - Durham (ANE 75??, sorry can't remember which E400 this was)
0921 X12 Durham - Newcastle (ANE 7627)
1045 85/685 Newcastle - Carlisle (ANE 4660)
1607 685/85 Carlisle - Newcastle (ANE 4663)
1902 21 Newcastle - Durham (GNE 6065)
2015 7 Durham - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1516).

Thanks Adam, Marcus and Sean for having a bit of chat with me today and thanks Dan for making the 685 back to Newcastle a little more bearable.

Thanks for reading, I'll probably see some of yous tomorrow in Durham. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(20 Jun 2015, 6:39 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]Teesside!

Getting you back on Davie's behalf for the top quote - hehe.

Apply cold water to burned area  

(20 Jun 2015, 6:47 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]4663 was our steed back to Newcastle which made us happy as it has fabric seats rather than leather also 4663 probably has to be the best Omnicity in the fleet and despite ending up running late the service picked up time as we got closer to Newcastle and I know this as Dan was giving a running commentary on how close the service was to running to time and talking about his connecting Metro honestly the suspense, it was like watching an episode of The Cube or something, obviously I didn't really care if the 85 was running a little late as I had over 40 minutes to wait for my next bus. But eventually we got to Newcastle and I left Dan for him to catch the Metro.

Had some time to kill so I went into HMV to kill the waiting time and also got a few more photos before catching the 21 to Durham.

I actually saw you and Dan alighting from the 85 at Eldon Square. Dan nipped up past Marks and Spencers, presumably to catch the Metro at Haymarket while you stood next to the lockers at the bottom of the bus station. I was going to come and say hello but you seemingly disappeared as an X12 was departing. I assumed you had jumped onto that. 

Great reviews Marcus, Jimmi and Dan. Here's mine.

Woke up, got ready and drove over to Carlisle's Willowholme Bus Depot (in light drizzle all the sodding way) where I'd meet some members of the Carlisle Bus Group, owners of preserved Leyland Olympian 1005 F805FAO. We went across to Carlisle Airport for some of the members to have a go driving it off-road which was good fun.
After getting a coffee from the Café Stobart (whilst watching the small planes take off and land) we then returned to Carlisle and had a circle of the depot, seeing the stacks of parked up Enviro 200s and some spare Optare Solo SRs. After thanking them for the outing, I got back into my car and drove to Lowther Street Car Park where I kept my car for the afternoon.

I was bursting for the loo at this point so dived into Debenhams' toilets for a quick slash. Then went to Greggs where I got a pasty and a doughnut (free of charge as a birthday present from Greggs as I am on the Greggs app ) before catching my maiden chariot Solo SR, 47963 from the Market (West Tower Street) to The Courts (English Street) where Dan was only 5 minutes away.

I ate my Sausage and Bean Melt as I noticed the Solo come into view. After arriving at the stop, I waved to Dan and stood waiting to board, however there was a driver change (always is on the 1310 76 from The Courts). As they were faffing on for ages, Dan bailed and we ran for the next-but-one Solo in the stand ahead, 47941 on the 60 to Sandsfield Park.
We caught this and I was really impressed with the legroom on the rear seats! Dan was nattering on about the brakes but I wasn't really paying attention really - I was looking out of the window at the pretty women outside (sorry!). We caught this bus to Sainsbury's where Dan was wanting to go to Willowholme Depot for some bus fots. As we walked past, CumbrianJosh stopped his car and we had a bit chat before proceeding to take some pictures then going down this very small footpath (where a car actually came along..!!) taking pics of the buses, some on Willowholme's 'Death Row'.
After this, we both went to Sainsbury's where I wanted to collect some Nectar points, and where I got some cookies and Dan got some of the Sainsbury's own brand sweets (me getting one of them, 3 for £1) and faffing on with change for about 10 minutes.

Finally walked to the bus stop again and caught an Enviro 200 on the 67; 37097. Got this up to the Infirmary for some bus fots there, however we'd just missed the four buses per 15-20 minutes so had to wait! Eventually boarded 47959 on the 60 up to Sandsfield Park and then back down to the City Centre. Very nice ride I thought, was busy when we first boarded but soon quietened down.
Eventually got back to the Market where we were about to catch a 62 to Lowry Hill however it closed its doors and was away. We alighted nonetheless and took a quick couple of pictures of 47959. The footy bus (37103?) then came along on a 400 for Silloth where Dan ran to get a picture of it. We then crossed the road again and caught 47945 on the 61 to Harraby East. I noticed one of my friends, Alan, driving so said a quick hello and we were away, but not for long. The thing sat in traffic on Botchergate for ages (usual bottleneck though). This is where I properly started to notice the brake squealing, not just on this but on every new Solo - thanks Dan!

Alighted at London Road (Eden Park, opposite Aldi) where we waited for the next bus back into town, although Dan fancied a ride on the 15:13 104 into Carlisle Bus Station, after me falsely saying it could've been an Olympian (realised both were in the depot we'd seen just hours ago, do'h!). Eventually, a good 6-7 minutes late, came a bit of a rarity - E200 37125. Enviro 200s don't usually end up on this route, I think it's preferable for Stagecoach to swap out an MAN 18.240 from the 79/179/279 for the 104, with E200s going to Scotland instead.
It was boiling at the back of this bus with no windows open whatsoever. However the driver was spot on, couldn't have been friendlier.

Jimmi then posted on the forum that he was lingering around the Bus Station so we alighted and took some pics of some buses around with the deafening and annoying gay pride parade nearby. Jimmi then walked up to us (I think we stood out) and he joined us in taking some fots. I then spotted a white Solo SR on the 76 going to Durranhill, which got me thinking it could've been a Honister-spec one and, in which case, would've definitely been worth a shot of!
Dan went to get some chips from Home & Away chippy whilst Jimmi and I went to get some more bus pics on Warwick Road. I was about to get a cracking shot of 4663 in the sunlight when three women crossed the road and got into my shot. >
4663 eventually rolled in and I waved goodbye to Dan and Jimmi. Seeing as my car's parking time was almost up, I walked back to it and drove to St Annes (Belah) where I got some shots of the previous service. I then returned to my car with my feet up (albeit with two annoying 6-7 year old girls screaming and shouting on) for 15 minutes before I seen across the green another Solo SR, this time a white one!

I walked over to my fot spot and took some pretty cracking pics of it. It was 48001; a Honister spec one! After teasing Dan with the pics I got I then drove to Richmond Green where I got some pics of a 60-branded vehicle. Teasing Dan with this pic I then set off again up to Lowry Hill (where both 62s do a loop) where I got one of the 62-branded ones. However my luck stopped when I forgot the alternating south/northbound services ran behind each other; I noticed the other one just as I was driving away. Bugger! I tried to remember the 62 route however got it wrong. After going in various cul-de-sacs without joy I noticed the first of the two buses leaving. I then stepped on the gas a bit, trying to find a decent location for the one behind but, alas, the sun was in the wrong position and there it was, flew past me.

I called it a day there; I drove out of the estate and headed back home. Went over to Haltwhistle where I got some fish and chips and that's my day done.
Out of 25 Solo SRs I have got 4. Good start!

Thanks to Dan and Jimmi for making the day even better.  

Log:
Drive Home - Carlisle Depot
1005 Carlisle Depot - Carlisle Airport
1005 Carlisle Airport - Carlisle Depot
Drive Carlisle Depot - Lowther Street
47963 1258 62 Market to The Courts
47941 1310 60 The Courts to Sainsbury's
37097 1325? 67 Sainsbury's to Infirmary
47959 1423 60 Infirmary to Sandsfield Park to Market
47945 1450 61 Market to London Road, Eden Park
37125 1513 104 London Road, Eden Park to Carlisle Bus Station.

(20 Jun 2015, 7:05 pm)MurdnunoC wrote [ -> ]I actually saw you and Dan alighting from the 85 at Eldon Square. Dan nipped up past Marks and Spencers, presumably to catch the Metro at Haymarket while you stood next to the lockers at the bottom of the bus station. I was going to come and say hello but you seemingly disappeared as an X12 was departing. I assumed you had jumped onto that. 

No I went into the shops (HMV) and got the 1902 21 to Durham.

If I knew you were around I would have had a chat as I had 40 minutes to kill.

No outing today just to a get together with my football club, but im going to do it in true citaro5284 style!!

Drive from Brockley Whins to Paintballing place in the middle of nowhere  ( Red Citroen C4 )
Drive from Paintballing place in the middle of nowhere to Brockley Whins  ( Red Citroen C4 )

Driver was running red lights, very late, but very welcoming ,loads of kickdowns due to driver and passenger having a very late lie in
driver commets on how the bus I mean car was in need of a service

in the end you can always rely on your dad for thrilling journey!

Nice Reviews everyone , im planning a far journey next week ( Manchester ) but with my luck at the minute I woudnt be surprised if its just a another Pop Card Roam about! 

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

Here you go Dan...
Stagecoach in Carlisle 47955 YJ15AEF by Sean Harris, on Flickr

Looks like I'll be out and about tomorrow. Not sure yet where, I'll either get an all zones GNE Buzzfare or a Arriva day ticket. Going to try and cover quite a few miles since this is my last week up here. If anyone is out and about tomorrow, drop me a PM or inbox me on Facebook and we could sort a proper trip out  .

Here is a review of today's journeys

82A Barley Mow Estate - Birtley (570) 10:56

I departed the house only a few moments before the 82A was due, due to the fact that I live just around the corner from the bus stop and partly because I had a slight suspicion it would probably be late. My prediction was correct, the bus was late but only by a couple of minutes so it didn't make the slightest difference what so ever really. As the bus turned the corner, I seen that is was an MPD, 570 to be precise. I was pretty happy by this point because I have always been a fan of this bus and it is in fact my favourite MPD. As I boarded the bus and asked for my £1.10 NEXUS CAT I looked up the bus and it was packed, with roughly 5 standees also. The driver clearly wanted to make up for lost time and was away as soon as mmy ticket was printed, he did make up his lost time by the way as we arrived in Birtley two minutes early. The highlight of the short journey though was when a woman towards the back of the bus rang the bell well in advance so she had time to get her shopping snd make her way to the front of the bus but the driver went straight past her stop, and nearly the one after that. He blamed it on the people talking claiming he couldn't hear the bell even though an icon pops up on the dashboard telling the driver someone has pressed the bell. When we got into Birtley, I was the only one that knew about the temporary bus stop and therefore had to tell everyone on the bus that this was the stop for Birtley. No one listened to me but they soon found out when he went straight past the other stop. That's old people for you. They don't listen to a word you say!

Mayhem in Birtley

When I got off the 82A, there was mayhem in Birtley. With 5 sets of traffic lights no more than 500 yards apart there was massive tailbacks. Then, the 21 came along the road and 4 of us stuck out hands out for the bus but he went straight past us shaking his head as if to say he didn't stop there although every other bus (including 2 previous 21's) had. After this, I said to the lady next to me that the X12 was due. This is where the day got worse.

X12 Birtley - Gateshead Interchange (7620) 11:20

Running slightly late, the X12 came along Durham Road into Birtley and again he was going to go straight past the temporary stop, so I resulted to picking it up so he could see it clearly. When I boarded the bus, I have never had a worse driver in all of my life. When I boarded the bus, I asked politely if my NEXUS CAT was valid and he said something along the lines of "A dunno, just get on" in a rude manor. He done all of this by the way without even looking at me or the ticket. The fact that the seats were really comfortable (compared to the Sapphire seats) and the Free WIFI was working made up for this journey a bit. Then the driver was up to his old tricks again, absolutely rocketing through Birtley, it's a good job the speed camera has been removed from near the fire station because there is no doubt that he would have been caught. In Low Fell, someone had pressed the bell for the bus to stop, but they were with a small child and on the top deck so waited for it to stop before getting downstairs. The driver though, stopped and then just decided to pull away as they were coming down the stairs. If however, this bloke wasn't driving, the journey I feel would have been much better. I have now filed an official complaint towards this driver, because as a customer, I expect to be treat the same way I treat the driver and I didn't even any form of genuine contact from him never mind a thank you.

X66 Gateshead Interchange - MetroCentre Bus Interchange (5394)

This X66 journey was much better than the X12 journey even if my hatred for them horrible e-leather seats continues. I find Go North East's e-leather seats much harder and much less comfortable than Arriva's for some strange reason. Anyway, the driver on this one was lovely, I have had him a few time and he is a rally nice bloke. Siver hair and tinted glasses if you know who I am on about. His driving is very confident, quick but safe. I got to the MetroCentre slightly earlier than expected which is always good.

10 MetroCentre Bus Interchange - Newcastle, Central Station (6078)

I seen the 10 arriving intu MetroCentre (See what I've done, little play on words there) so I made a snap decision to go to Central Station via Burger King to finally get a few photographs of Virgin Trains East Coast's newly repainted HST. When I went to board the bus, a seemingly endless flow of people disembarked from the bus meaning that I had the entire top deck to myself for the short hop. It was a very quite and relaxing journey which finally gave me time to de-stress and calm down. I arrived at Central Station bang on time which left me with just enough time to enjoy a Burger King with one of my £1.99 vouchers!

Sorry, that voucher isn't valid here

I walked around the corner to Central Station, said hello to the staff that I knew and then proceeded to walk into Burger King. As I went to ask for my Chicken Royale with Small Fries, the woman turned around and said "Sorry, that voucher isn't valid here as we are part of the train station". Brilliant! I now had to walk all the way to Northumberland Street to get my food and risk missing the branded HST. Anyway, when I finally got my food, BK was packed so I had to go upstairs and what a horrible, dull and lifeless place it is upstairs in Burger King! I was just about to eat my few remaining chips when I looked at my watch and discovered that the train was due too arrive within 10 minutes. So, I took my chips and proceeded to run all the way to central....

Central Station 12:53 - 14:16

When I got into Central, I went along to the Station Management Office to sign in, fully aware that the HST was due in within 3/4 minuets. As I went in, I seen that Malcolm was talking to two blokes from Network Rail. He said to me "Are you just taking photos Lee" too which I said yes and he quickly signed off my Visitors Pass. I got though the barriers and had to walk quickly over to Platform 4 too watch the HST arrive, luckily 2 minutes late. I got the photos I needed and then went over to talk to Dave Buchanan on the information desk. I was talking to him for a good hour and a half when I then finally decided to get the Metro to Gateshead.

Tyne and Wear Metro - Central Station to Gateshead -

Nothing really to say about this apart from that it was packed and standing room only. Good job it was only a short hop because it was boiling on that thing!

X25 Gateshead Interchange - Barley Mow (Lolyne)

Finally! A Lolyne on the X25, unfortunately I didn't record the fleet number but it was one of the un-refurbished examples which are the ones that I prefer for some strange reason. When I boarded the bus downstairs was packed but upstairs was completely empty. The engine sounded great and I love bouncing along the Eighton Banks to Foxponds stretch of road on a Lolyne. They seem to take all of the pot holes better where as the Solars just break your back with the crunching impact. The bus then almost completely emptied at Wrekenton which left just me and one other passenger on until I got off. This magnificent machine but a good shine on what had been an average day.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it

(23 Jun 2015, 6:58 pm)LeeCalder wrote [ -> ]Here is a review of today's journeys

82A Barley Mow Estate - Birtley (570) 10:56

I departed the house only a few moments before the 82A was due, due to the fact that I live just around the corner from the bus stop and partly because I had a slight suspicion it would probably be late. My prediction was correct, the bus was late but only by a couple of minutes so it didn't make the slightest difference what so ever really. As the bus turned the corner, I seen that is was an MPD, 570 to be precise. I was pretty happy by this point because I have always been a fan of this bus and it is in fact my favourite MPD. As I boarded the bus and asked for my £1.10 NEXUS CAT I looked up the bus and it was packed, with roughly 5 standees also. The driver clearly wanted to make up for lost time and was away as soon as mmy ticket was printed, he did make up his lost time by the way as we arrived in Birtley two minutes early. The highlight of the short journey though was when a woman towards the back of the bus rang the bell well in advance so she had time to get her shopping snd make her way to the front of the bus but the driver went straight past her stop, and nearly the one after that. He blamed it on the people talking claiming he couldn't hear the bell even though an icon pops up on the dashboard telling the driver someone has pressed the bell. When we got into Birtley, I was the only one that knew about the temporary bus stop and therefore had to tell everyone on the bus that this was the stop for Birtley. No one listened to me but they soon found out when he went straight past the other stop. That's old people for you. They don't listen to a word you say!

Mayhem in Birtley

When I got off the 82A, there was mayhem in Birtley. With 5 sets of traffic lights no more than 500 yards apart there was massive tailbacks. Then, the 21 came along the road and 4 of us stuck out hands out for the bus but he went straight past us shaking his head as if to say he didn't stop there although every other bus (including 2 previous 21's) had. After this, I said to the lady next to me that the X12 was due. This is where the day got worse.

X12 Birtley - Gateshead Interchange (7620) 11:20

Running slightly late, the X12 came along Durham Road into Birtley and again he was going to go straight past the temporary stop, so I resulted to picking it up so he could see it clearly. When I boarded the bus, I have never had a worse driver in all of my life. When I boarded the bus, I asked politely if my NEXUS CAT was valid and he said something along the lines of "A dunno, just get on" in a rude manor. He done all of this by the way without even looking at me or the ticket. The fact that the seats were really comfortable (compared to the Sapphire seats) and the Free WIFI was working made up for this journey a bit. Then the driver was up to his old tricks again, absolutely rocketing through Birtley, it's a good job the speed camera has been removed from near the fire station because there is no doubt that he would have been caught. In Low Fell, someone had pressed the bell for the bus to stop, but they were with a small child and on the top deck so waited for it to stop before getting downstairs. The driver though, stopped and then just decided to pull away as they were coming down the stairs. If however, this bloke wasn't driving, the journey I feel would have been much better. I have now filed an official complaint towards this driver, because as a customer, I expect to be treat the same way I treat the driver and I didn't even any form of genuine contact from him never mind a thank you.

X66 Gateshead Interchange - MetroCentre Bus Interchange (5394)

This X66 journey was much better than the X12 journey even if my hatred for them horrible e-leather seats continues. I find Go North East's e-leather seats much harder and much less comfortable than Arriva's for some strange reason. Anyway, the driver on this one was lovely, I have had him a few time and he is a rally nice bloke. Siver hair and tinted glasses if you know who I am on about. His driving is very confident, quick but safe. I got to the MetroCentre slightly earlier than expected which is always good.

10 MetroCentre Bus Interchange - Newcastle, Central Station (6078)

I seen the 10 arriving intu MetroCentre (See what I've done, little play on words there) so I made a snap decision to go to Central Station via Burger King to finally get a few photographs of Virgin Trains East Coast's newly repainted HST. When I went to board the bus, a seemingly endless flow of people disembarked from the bus meaning that I had the entire top deck to myself for the short hop. It was a very quite and relaxing journey which finally gave me time to de-stress and calm down. I arrived at Central Station bang on time which left me with just enough time to enjoy a Burger King with one of my £1.99 vouchers!

Sorry, that voucher isn't valid here

I walked around the corner to Central Station, said hello to the staff that I knew and then proceeded to walk into Burger King. As I went to ask for my Chicken Royale with Small Fries, the woman turned around and said "Sorry, that voucher isn't valid here as we are part of the train station". Brilliant! I now had to walk all the way to Northumberland Street to get my food and risk missing the branded HST. Anyway, when I finally got my food, BK was packed so I had to go upstairs and what a horrible, dull and lifeless place it is upstairs in Burger King! I was just about to eat my few remaining chips when I looked at my watch and discovered that the train was due too arrive within 10 minutes. So, I took my chips and proceeded to run all the way to central....

Central Station 12:53 - 14:16

When I got into Central, I went along to the Station Management Office to sign in, fully aware that the HST was due in within 3/4 minuets. As I went in, I seen that Malcolm was talking to two blokes from Network Rail. He said to me "Are you just taking photos Lee" too which I said yes and he quickly signed off my Visitors Pass. I got though the barriers and had to walk quickly over to Platform 4 too watch the HST arrive, luckily 2 minutes late. I got the photos I needed and then went over to talk to Dave Buchanan on the information desk. I was talking to him for a good hour and a half when I then finally decided to get the Metro to Gateshead.

Tyne and Wear Metro - Central Station to Gateshead -

Nothing really to say about this apart from that it was packed and standing room only. Good job it was only a short hop because it was boiling on that thing!

X25 Gateshead Interchange - Barley Mow (Lolyne)

Finally! A Lolyne on the X25, unfortunately I didn't record the fleet number but it was one of the un-refurbished examples which are the ones that I prefer for some strange reason. When I boarded the bus downstairs was packed but upstairs was completely empty. The engine sounded great and I love bouncing along the Eighton Banks to Foxponds stretch of road on a Lolyne. They seem to take all of the pot holes better where as the Solars just break your back with the crunching impact. The bus then almost completely emptied at Wrekenton which left just me and one other passenger on until I got off. This magnificent machine but a good shine on what had been an average day.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it

And then im sat in school doing Maths!! atleast I had PE though.

I have been in Blackpool today, here is a collection of the buses I rode today.

21 Blackpool Tower - Blackpool Zoo (Lancastrian Transport Trust - Bristol RESL8 / ECW - OCK336K)
An unusual choice to ride but I thought it would be a good ride and sure enough it was, was not very fast although you can't drive more than 30mph in Blackpool and it was quite loud. Quite enjoyed my journey on this although it was rather warm as all the windows were closed. This service is operated by Catch22Bus normally using one of the Lancastrian Transport Trust's buses.

5 Victoria Hospital - Blackpool Town Centre (Blackpool Transport - Mercedes Citaro - 557?)
After a stroll from Blackpool Zoo and getting a few photos around here I wanted to sample one of Blackpool Transport's new Palladium branded Mercs to see what they are like. This is advertised as a upmarket service like Arriva's MAX and Sapphire buses and I was left feeling rather disappointed as from what I could see the only charging points were where there was some forward and backwards facing seats and it was USB only charging points. It has e-leather seating which has a fair bit padding but the seats where mostly plastic so it was only slightly more comfortable than the seats in say a Tesma Avenue. It was boiling hot and the one thing I cannot stand about all Mercedes Citaros is the massive heaters under the seats which takes up most of the leg room on the inside seats and it's the same on these to. The WiFi worked okay and the bus performed well. So I was a little disappointed as this is meant to be a more upmarket service.

1 Central Pier - Waterloo Road (Blackpool Transport - Dennis Trident - 313)
Only a short ride on this but was rather nice and I do quite like these buses and the seats are rather comfortable. One gripe with this bus was it had all over adverts applied which did restrict the view out of the windows a bit.

12 Waterloo Road - Blackpool Tower (Lancastrian Transport Trust - Leyland Titan PD3 / ECW - LFR 529F)
Time to be getting ready to leave Blackpool and we had just under a hour until we had to leave the car park and we were thinking about getting the tram back up but I saw a bus in the distance and my eyes must have been deceiving me slightly as I thought I saw a Blackpool Transport Dennis Trident on the 1 but this is what actually turned up which made me very happy as it was nice to get another old bus (think it is around 50 year old this bus now) made some cracking noises heading up Blackpool Promenade and passengers and the conductor where discussing that people like these buses as it takes the older passengers back in time when these will have been in regular passenger service many moons ago. I enjoyed my journey on this and was probably the highlight of my day. This service is also operated by Catch22Bus although doesn't normally use the Lancastrian Transport Trust's buses to my knowledge).

Well that's my review, I had planned on riding more including the Catch22Bus MPD's on the 22 to/from Mereside Tesco although some things happened which got me stressed and angry so I had to remove myself for a bit to try and calm myself down.

I took some photos whilst I was there which should be on my Flickr tomorrow evening (Wed 24th June).