North East Buses

(25 May 2017, 9:07 am)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/news/2017/04...ork-moors/

Not sure this has been mentioned, but TPX are funding a MoorsbusPlus ticket, which will be valid on their services, Northern along the Esk Valley line and Moorsbus services.

Link ain't working for me but the MoorsPlus service is supported by TransPennine Express which runs between York, Pickering and Danby plus other places along the way running on Mondays (Inc. Bank Holidays) and Saturdays until September 30th. The service is operated by Reliance Motor Services as demonstrated here: https://flic.kr/p/U9VC1j

(25 May 2017, 12:00 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Link ain't working for me but the MoorsPlus service is supported by TransPennine Express which runs between York, Pickering and Danby plus other places along the way running on Mondays (Inc. Bank Holidays) and Saturdays until September 30th. The service is operated by Reliance Motor Services as demonstrated here: https://flic.kr/p/U9VC1j

The link seems fine at this end. But yeah, what you have said, is essentially what is included in the link.

Friday: 
2052 35 Ashington Bus Station > Pegswood Co-op arriving 2102
2157 X18 Pegswood Co-op > Alnwick Bus Station arriving 2305

Yesterday: 
0555 Car Alnwick > Regent Centre Metro arriving 0630
0636 Metro Regent Centre > Central Station arriving 0648
0655 Virgin Trains EC Newcastle > London Kings Cross arriving 1013
1045 Tube Kings Cross > Paddington arriving 1055
1115 GWR London Paddington > Reading arriving 1145
Rode a few buses in Reading with friends, went to Bracknell and back then
1705 GWR Reading > London Paddington arriving 1733
1740 Tube Paddington > Kings Cross arriving 1750
1800 Virgin Trains EC London Kings Cross > Newcastle arriving 2100-ish
2105 Metro Central Station > Haymarket arriving 2109
2113 X18 Newcastle > Alnwick Bus Station arriving 2305

I was over Morecambe today for the Ribble running day today. This involved a timetable shuttle service between Carnforth and Heysham Villages, via Morecambe.

Managed shuttle runs on a Leyland National 2, Volvo Olympian/Palatine 2, Leyland Atlantean/Park Royal and a Leyland Olympian/Alexander. Four out of many fantastic vehicles both doing runs and on static display.

There was a programme available for £3, which included info about the day, the trust, their collection and of course the timetables. The programme looked professionally produced with thick full colour pages. There were ad pages too, which is presumably how it is funded for print.

Fantastic day out.

(28 May 2017, 8:46 pm)Adrian wrote [ -> ]I was over Morecambe today for the Ribble running day today. This involved a timetable shuttle service between Carnforth and Heysham Villages, via Morecambe.

Managed shuttle runs on a Leyland National 2, Volvo Olympian/Palatine 2, Leyland Atlantean/Park Royal and a Leyland Olympian/Alexander. Four out of many fantastic vehicles both doing runs and on static display.

There was a programme available for £3, which included info about the day, the trust, their collection and of course the timetables. The programme looked professionally produced with thick full colour pages. There were ad pages too, which is presumably how it is funded for print.

Fantastic day out.

I haven't been but it certainly looks to be a interesting event looking at info and photos I've found online.

If I go through with learning to drive and if I pass my test next year, it's one event I would maybe consider going to in future.

This is well out of our area but perhaps worth sharing.

I experienced some of the best and absolute worst of customer service when it comes to bus travel today. If anyone finds themselves having a bus day out in the midlands I can only say avoid avoid avoid Select Bus Services.

I planned to travel from Stoke to Wolverhampton using a 'Network Return' from D&G buses. As advertised on their website, the ticket allows travel on any D&G, Select Bus Services, Midland Classic or Central Buses service, effectively being a day ticket rather than a return as no final destination is specified. For £5 it's fantastic value as the theoretical area covered by the combined operators includes Altrincham in Greater Manchester to the north, Wrexham in North Wales, parts of Staffordshire & Derbyshire and parts of the West Midlands such as Wolverhampton, Stourbridge & Birmingham Airport.

The initial journey with D&G was fine, pleasant driver and clean bus, running right on time. The driver reminded me it was school holidays too, so check the timetables for services which differ, which was nice as I didn't even think to check!

The problems started when the Select Services 878 rolled onto stand in Stafford toward Wolverhampton. Within 2 seconds of boarding the driver clocked the D&G logo on the ticket and said it wasn't valid. I'd planned for this and brought a flyer advertising the shared ticket with me to show anyone who questioned the validity of my ticket. Driver refused to believe me, or the flyer, and was getting quite aggressive, telling me to get off the bus so he could go. I asked if he could ring someone to find out about the ticket. He responded with a load of abuse about not telling him what to do, but alas he did get on the phone. On speaker phone his colleague clearly said it was valid so I took a seat. The driver, now off the phone, gets out the cab and starts yelling I can't sit down until he says so and he has no obligation to carry me if he doesn't want to and I could be getting dragged off the bus by him. I chip in I've got a valid ticket and this is a council subsidised route so yes, I do have a right to be on the bus.

Driver mutters on a bit more, gets in the cab and drives. We get as far as the town of Penkridge, home of Select's depot, where two men get on the bus. Driver tells them I'm the 'prick with the D&G ticket' and the whole debacle kicks off again! I’m summoned up to the front, in front of half a dozen passengers and now I’ve got three men barely letting me get a word in edgeways about this ticket and the man who appears to be the boss pointing his van key right in my face as he talks.

I see there’s no reasoning with these men as they’re just after an argument so I get off and start walking into Penkridge to catch another bus, knowing there’s a service by Arriva back to Stafford.

From Stafford I got a D&G back north and the driver was the polar opposite of that from Select. It was a once-a-day variation of route 14 which serves additional villages so had many regulars on board. The driver kept a conversation between him and the passengers going for most of the journey, discussing the benefits of various fruit and veg most of the way! He also asked where along the road exactly people wanted dropping off if the stop wasn’t very close to home and gave his passengers a friendly wave as he drove off.

I wouldn’t say I’m easily intimidated, but after today I don’t think I’ll ever travel with Select again. I intend on letting Staffordshire council know what’s gone on and putting in a compliment to D&G for heir driver but also letting them know about Select as it’s a shame for them to have their good name alongside such aggressive cowboys.

Done a trip on Moorsbus yesterday, Which involved a 12 hour round trip involving

2 Northern 142's,
One Arriva Pulsar,
2x EYMS Volvo B9TL's ,
Reliance B8RLE twice,
2 round trips on a Stephenson's of Easingwold Enviro200, Doing return's on Service M6 and M7
Yorkshire Coastliner Volvo B9TL
and Arriva Volvo B9TL

Been a successful day out in what I wanted was remote shots which helped when I had Enthusiast Driver Neil Wise as my driver up to Kirkbymoorside early in the morning, One of the photo's posted is of his bus.

Photo links :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/140662069@...ed-public/

I'm hoping to do Dalesbus soon, More likely in the Summer Holidays but could fall earlier if the week where I have the Monday off school goes ahead which means it's possible to it the Sunday.

Had a outing on the DalesBus network yesterday, here's what I claimed haulage on:

0824 Newton Aycliffe Rail Station - Darlington Rail Station (Northern 142463)
0915 7 Darlington Town Centre - Harrowgate Hill, Ashleigh House (ANE 1427)
0944 830 Ingleton Community Centre (ANE 2865) https://flic.kr/p/VwTXnD
1300 833 Gisburn Forest (Traveller's Choice 7 HXP) https://flic.kr/p/V9bgjq
1420 833 Clapham, The Green (Traveller's Choice 7 HXP)
1513 881 Malham, National Park Centre (Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire YD63 VKL) https://flic.kr/p/VEPWRJ
1630 884 Skipton Bus Station (Arriva Yorkshire 1459) https://flic.kr/p/UuU3yn
1725 873 Ilkley Bus Station (Transdev Keighley 713) https://flic.kr/p/VwViR2
1835 875 Leeds (Arriva Yorkshire 1456?)
1942 Leeds Rail Station - Darlington Rail Station (TransPennine Express 185146)
2115 7 Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1427)

The reason for the random trip to Harrowgate Hill on the 7 was purely just to kill time. 1427 was certainly a nice surprise, pleased it stayed on that board all day as I got some thrash on it back to Aycliffe in the evening.

The day was pretty relaxing until I got to Skipton when I boarded Transdev TransBus MPD 713 where the driver told me that I could not film or photograph whilst I was on the bus or have the camera visible in any way! We got into Leeds City Centre on the 875 and it was gridlocked with buses, in about 10 minutes we moved about 100 yards at best, eventually we were allowed to depart the bus and had to walk some of the remaining distance to the rail station, I then had issues buying train tickets back to Darlington on the crap Virgin Trains East Coast touch screen machines which you can only get anywhere by slamming the screen with brute force. Got on the train and we started moving in the opposite direction to York as we had to be diverted via Castleford due to a trespass incident between Leeds and York.

It was a pretty enjoyable day although slightly ruined by the issues later in the day and I was a rather long day it has to be said.

If you want to hear my ride Arriva Yorkshire Pulsar 1459 which has a rather high pitched whine when accelerating, watch this video: https://youtu.be/t_cyKaJfI5w

Can't see some of these DalesBus services lasting, the 833 in both directions had just me and a woman who connected from the 830 and I was the only passenger on the 881 to Malham for the whole of my journey and I think it only picked up one passenger in Malham heading back towards Ingleton, 873 had me and two other passengers for the whole journey to Ilkely although the quicker 884 route to Ilkely departs Skipton Bus Station about 10 minutes in front of the 873 and the numbers are reportedly down on the Arriva operated 830 this year as well, not helped by the fact you can no longer connect between the 830 and 881 to head to/from Settle anymore, honestly feel DalesBus have shot themselves in the foot with some of these timetables this year although cuts have had to be made.

When I was cycling around Yorkshire last year I wasn't happy with a way a bus driver overtook me. It was a idiotic way. Anyway when I went to complain unfortunately I was that shook up I never got a reg plate etc and which I then found out that quite a lot of the drivers are volunteers.

Had a few things I needed to do today so I decided to turn it into a bit of an outing and, as I've not done one of these for a while, I thought I may as well note it down:

10:49 X21 Bedlington to Ashington Bus Station (7508)

Over the past 3 years since the X21/22 went Sapphire, 7501-9 have been subject to quite a bit of stick. However, over the past few months pretty much every journey I've had on them has been very enjoyable. As a result, part of me will be sad to see them go from the X21/22 over the next couple of months, especially the ones that were bought for the X31 and X32 originally. 

11:24 35 Ashington to Morpeth Bus Station (7484)
Seeing 7484 arrive was a pleasant surprise, I'd completely forgot this was at Ashington, and was the first ex-London B7TL I experienced when they transferred up here 3 years ago. For a 15 year old bus, in particular one from London, this flew along the A197 to Pegswood. 

12:29 35 Morpeth Bus Station to North Seaton South Side (7486) 
As the other two vehicles I saw allocated to the 35 today were 7416 and a Streetlite, I think I got pretty lucky with what I was handed. Much like 7484, this seemed to get up to speed without too much of an issue, although Whorral Bank did challenge it somewhat. Internally, the refurbishment that this batch received when they came up from London is still fresh, and I'd assume to the 'average' passenger they'd still seem like quite new vehicles. 

~13:00 X20 North Seaton South Side to Gosforth Regent Centre (7518)
I had plans to meet a friend in Newcastle around half 1, and so my original hope was that my 35 from Morpeth was early, and this was a few minutes late, so I could catch it at Ashington. As it turned out, this was running around 10 minutes late on its way down from Alnwick, so I stayed on 7486 a bit longer and made the connection here instead. A fairly boring run along the A189 followed, and as my friend missed their bus south of the Tyne, I bailed at the Regent Centre knowing I had around 20 minutes to wait for something vaguely interesting to come along. 

13:37 X22 Gosforth Regent Centre to Newcastle Haymarket (7514) 
I saw this in Ashington about an hour previously, and knew it would be arriving soon enough. A favourite of mine from the many Sunday afternoons I've spent on it on an X18 from Berwick, this seems like one of only a few in the batch that want to 'go'. Unlike 7518, which took an age to get up to speed on the way through, this was very eager to get going on it's way into Newcastle once we'd left Gosforth. 

17:40 X21 Newcastle Haymarket to Bedlington (7526)
7526 provided a rather normal journey back from Newcastle, although none of the plugs seemed to be working which was a bit annoying, given that I was running at around 3% battery and I'd let the Streetlite that was on the X22 in front go because of this. 

All in all, a pretty enjoyable day out, with some good journeys thrown in. Over the next few weeks, hitting some of Jesmonds remaining B10BLEs is something I want to do, as well as hopefully hunting down 7439 and 7456, neither of which were allocated to runs that went along nicely with my plans today.

Had a bash down Cambridge fairly recently. Although I saw the usual players kicking around, my focus was on Whippet. 
Quite a varied fleet and one that has a lot of ex-London stock.

I'd noticed on their website that some of their fleet was off being refurbished/modernised and apart from the standard dual door Gemini's, managed to blag rides on an E200 (that seems to have seen service in all four corners of the UK according to Flickr!) and a dual door Nimbus (still in London red).
Each of the vehicles I used, were clean, tidy and well kept.

Whippet tend to use Drummer Street Bus Station as a hub for their network of services, with their ticketing options being very attractive.

Obviously part of a much bigger group, it is nice to see the Whippet name being used and the smaller local services, getting a brand name that plays on this.

(20 Jun 2017, 7:44 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Had a bash down Cambridge fairly recently. Although I saw the usual players kicking around, my focus was on Whippet. 
Quite a varied fleet and one that has a lot of ex-London stock.

I'd noticed on their website that some of their fleet was off being refurbished/modernised and apart from the standard dual door Gemini's, managed to blag rides on an E200 (that seems to have seen service in all four corners of the UK according to Flickr!) and a dual door Nimbus (still in London red).
Each of the vehicles I used, were clean, tidy and well kept.

Whippet tend to use Drummer Street Bus Station as a hub for their network of services, with their ticketing options being very attractive.

Obviously part of a much bigger group, it is nice to see the Whippet name being used and the smaller local services, getting a brand name that plays on this.

I had a ride on a ex First London Volvo B7TL on service X3 between Cambridge and Huntingdon when I was down that way earlier in the year, was a nice ride although the interior could have been a bit fresher IMO, although I always tend to find that the First fabric seats look rather faded and manky looking.

Don't think this was the one I rode, but it does give an idea.
Whippet: LK04HXP / WD445 by Matthew Jimmison, on Flickr

Also, one of the 'Whippet Puppy' E200's (didn't ride these).
Whippet: WS318 / MX12CFD by Matthew Jimmison, on Flickr

I also sampled bits of the Busway network down there, I only managed to get haulage on the Stagecoach E400's along there though.

That day out was a bit of a mess though as I was originally heading to Cambridge for a enthusiast tour but was cancelled a few days before it was due to take place but I had already bought the train tickets, so had to try and make up something at the last minute.

(20 Jun 2017, 8:03 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]I had a ride on a ex First London Volvo B7TL on service X3 between Cambridge and Huntingdon when I was down that way earlier in the year, was a nice ride although the interior could have been a bit fresher IMO, although I always tend to find that the First fabric seats look rather faded and manky looking.

Don't think this was the one I rode, but it does give an idea.
Whippet: LK04HXP / WD445 by Matthew Jimmison, on Flickr

Also, one of the 'Whippet Puppy' E200's (didn't ride these).
Whippet: WS318 / MX12CFD by Matthew Jimmison, on Flickr

I also sampled bits of the Busway network down there, I only managed to get haulage on the Stagecoach E400's along there though.

That day out was a bit of a mess though as I was originally heading to Cambridge for a enthusiast tour but was cancelled a few days before it was due to take place but I had already bought the train tickets, so had to try and make up something at the last minute.

Having checked my notes, it was the E300 I rode and not an E200.

The Whippet network is pretty decent, with a mix of regular and infrequent services. Enough of a network to make a day of it.

My next trip further afield is all booked up, I will stopping in Leeds for 2 Nights from Tuesday 8th August to Thursday 10th August 2017, the trip has been named "The Grand Yorkshire Tour" which will include Scarborough, York, Leeds, Harrogate, Bradford, Keighley and possibly Wakefield.

(23 Jun 2017, 9:50 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]My next trip further afield is all booked up, I will stopping in Leeds for 2 Nights from Tuesday 8th August to Thursday 10th August 2017, the trip has been named "The Grand Yorkshire Tour" which will include Scarborough, York, Leeds, Harrogate, Bradford, Keighley and possibly Wakefield.

I recently had a trip down to West Yorkshire with Scott, and we met up (by coincidence) with Jimmi on arrival at Leeds. I had little to no knowledge of the West Yorkshire network, so was happy to have Scott as my tour-guide. He's definitely more familiar with the area than me!

I drove down to Wetherby in my car and then we purchased a £6 West Yorkshire Metro dayticket, allowing me to travel on all operators in the West Yorkshire area. It represents excellent value for money - so much so, I decided to have another trip down to West Yorkshire yesterday, doing the same thing.

There is an interesting and varied fleet down in West Yorkshire, and I sampled a good amount of different buses from different operators yesterday. I managed to put together a log of my journeys yesterday, which I've forgotten to do on the majority of my recent outings.

0813 X99: Wetherby to Leeds - First West Yorkshire 37673 (Volvo B9TL)
0924 446: Leeds to Wakefield - Arriva Yorkshire 700 (Spectra)
1050 231: Wakefield to Huddersfield - Yorkshire Tiger 666 (VDL SB180)
1256 X63: Huddersfield to Bradford - First West Yorkshire 32506 (Volvo B7TL)
1400 697: Bradford to Keighley - Transdev 1077 (Volvo B10BLE)
1540 662: Keighley to Bradford - Transdev 1805 (Volvo B7RLE)
1640 X6: Bradford to Leeds - First West Yorkshire 35238 (StreetDeck)
1730 X62: Leeds to Junction 32 Retail Park - Stagecoach 53208 (Volvo B7R)
1820 411: Junction 32 Retail Park to Castleford Bus Station - Arriva Yorkshire 1478 (VDL Pulsar)
1838 189: Castleford to Leeds - Arriva Yorkshire 1957 (ADL E400MMC)
1920 771: Leeds to Wetherby - Transdev 1701 (Volvo B7RLE)

The Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 on my first journey left a lot to be desired. The (proper) leather seats were incredibly worn, many of the seat backs were either discoloured or had been vandalised, and almost every window had been etched. It's been a good few years since I've seen etched windows - something which doesn't seem to be an issue on our buses up here in the North East, now. The bus was quite sluggish, although I'm not sure if the slack Saturday morning timetable was partly responsible for the driver dawdling. I much preferred my journey on Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 32684 (WX56 HJZ), which was my steed two weeks prior.

On arrival at Leeds, I took a few photos and then quickly opted to travel on the first Optare Spectra I saw. The driver greeted me and was very cheerful. Although the 15-year old bus didn't have Next Stop Announcements, the driver provided a commentary along the route. He joked with passengers - suggesting that a concessionary pass holder's fare would be £50. Many of the passengers seemed to like him, although one eventually came upstairs, suggesting that he's "always like this", and "sometimes needs to give it a rest". It reminded me of an old driver who worked for Stagecoach North East, at Sunderland Depot. The driver, David Hands, provided a commentary on every route, informing passengers of historical facts about the City of Sunderland, and also provided  news about current events about what was going on in the city at the moment, to get involved in.

It's a pity that the Optare Spectras are being replaced - they're great buses, really sturdy, and look very smart inside. Although all of the workings on services 444/446 that I observed, excluding the one that I was on, were allocated Volvo B5 Hybrids and VDL Geminis, the Optare Spectras were still plentiful in Wakefield itself. I managed to get a few more photographs of them at Wakefield, followed by a large hot chocolate from a nearby Caffè Nero. I'll be working my way through the photographs today and over next week - uploading any photos of those I have not previously photographed, and keeping back those which I already have, for my archives, to share at a later date.

After finishing my hot chocolate, I noticed an MCV Evolution on the stand in the bus station. Thinking it was going to be one of the Dart variety, I quickly scurried to the stand and boarded. Much to my disappointment on departure, I soon realised it was not a Dart, but one of the VDL variety (and not a lively one, at that!) The journey to Huddersfield is a long one, and one which would benefit from a buses which have had a bit of TLC internally. On my last trip to West Yorkshire, I managed to have a ride on a 'baby Solo' - this had really comfortable seats with plenty of padding, in an orange tiger-like moquette, and the bus was like a little rocket. It's a pity more of Yorkshire Tiger's fleet isn't presented to this high standard.

On my previous trip to West Yorkshire with Scott, we stayed in the more southern towns and cities in the region. On this trip, I wanted to visit some different places, so I opted for a trip to Bradford, then Keighley. I found myself disappointed with the quality on the First Volvo B7TL on the X63 journey - the seats weren't in the best condition again, and it was just generally quite messy inside, but it was my first experience on a guided busway, which I quite liked! The Volvo B10BLE which followed on the leg of the journey between Bradford and Keighley was completely different - quite smart inside, but the one thing I did notice was that the performance seemed quite 'limited' in comparison to Go North East's similar Volvo B10BLEs.

I was impressed by the high standard of presentation on the buses in Keighley. There seems to be a fleet replacement scheme in place at the moment - there is still a large presence of older single and double-deckers, though Transdev have introduced newer Optare Solos and Versas in recent years. I opted for a Volvo B7RLE on the service back to Bradford, and my, what a bus! I travelled on a Volvo B7RLE in Go North East's fleet from Ashington to Cramlington last weekend, and this sounded quite rough and would bang into gear every time, jerking passengers in the process. I'm a real fan of Volvo B7RLEs - some are even more lively than B10BLEs - but it's a shame that the B8RLE I recently sampled on East Coast Buses between Dunbar and the Scottish capital wasn't quite as fun.

Sticking with the Volvo theme - so I thought - I wanted to catch the X6 service back to Leeds. I thought I had read that the double-deck buses on this service were Wright-bodied Volvo B5TLs, but I soon realised that they were in fact StreetDecks, similar to the ones used on Go North East's Castles Express X21 service. I doubted that I would make my 10-minute connection in Leeds to the Stagecoach X62 service, with the X6 service running slightly behind schedule having been caught in traffic, but I did manage to make it. Another B7 was in store: this time a B7R, with Plaxton Prima bodywork, in Stagecoach East Midlands' fleet. This was a lively coach - it was an excellent journey. Stagecoach seem to have quite an unrealistic timetable for the X62 service - the coach couldn't have gone any faster (it overtook many cars!) but we still arrived into the Junction 32 Retail Park around 5 minutes late, meaning that I missed my (very small) connection to Castleford Bus Station, and I had to wait for around 20 minutes for my next bus.

From Castleford back to Leeds, I was able to sample one of Arriva Yorkshire's new ADL Enviro400 MMCs. I was quite impressed with the demonstrator ADL E400MMC in Go North East's fleet last year, but sadly I found this bus was completely different. The bus had 'start stop' technology - presumably required so that Arriva can claim an enhanced rate of BSOG payment, by operating these buses. I remain unconvinced by the technology on a bus: although I'm all for making buses more environmentally-friendly from a passenger perspective (obviously not as an enthusiast!), I find myself being irritated by the bus pulling into a bus stop, and going absolutely silent. Everyone on the bus can hear everyone else - whether you're letting off, talking to your friend, or eating a snack. The slight flicker of the lights and passenger CCTV monitor just added to how irritating the technology was. I'm not much of a fan of the technology in my car either, but it's so much worse on a bus, which is naturally quite a noisy environment.

I was pleased to see a Volvo B7RLE on the stand once I arrived back into Leeds City Bus Station. This was my final steed of the day, for the journey back to Wetherby. Normally confined to operation on service 1, this Volvo B7RLE was being given the chance to stretch its legs on the run out to Leeds and back to Harrogate. Although we would have benefited from a double-decker being allocated from a capacity perspective, the B7RLE was a lot of fun and a great way to end the day.

Top marks - and would definitely recommend anyone having a day out in West Yorkshire with the £6 WY Metro dayticket.

Further to Yorkshire outing posts, I have been finding myself over that way more often recently, in fact I'm currently on my way to the rally at Saltaire right now.

Starting to get more familiar with Yorkshire and I am probably going to be spending more and more time over that way in the next few months considering that I am still aiming to learn to drive but need to save money and Yorkshire outings don't cost me too much and it's still somewhere different to the North East with a different variety of buses.

(02 Jul 2017, 7:04 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]I opted for a Volvo B7RLE on the service back to Bradford, and my, what a bus! I travelled on a Volvo B7RLE in Go North East's fleet from Ashington to Cramlington last weekend, and this sounded quite rough and would bang into gear every time, jerking passengers in the process. I'm a real fan of Volvo B7RLEs - some are even more lively than B10BLEs - but it's a shame that the B8RLE I recently sampled on East Coast Buses between Dunbar and the Scottish capital wasn't quite as fun.

I was pleased to see a Volvo B7RLE on the stand once I arrived back into Leeds City Bus Station. This was my final steed of the day, for the journey back to Wetherby. Normally confined to operation on service 1, this Volvo B7RLE was being given the chance to stretch its legs on the run out to Leeds and back to Harrogate. Although we would have benefited from a double-decker being allocated from a capacity perspective, the B7RLE was a lot of fun and a great way to end the day.

First in Aberdeen have quite a few B7RLEs, and while most are now 'Platinum', the remaining 10 often find their way onto my main routes. I can't think of another 'modern' vehicle that I enjoy quite as much as them. It is a shame that First only really operate inner-city routes, with no real opportunity for any of them to stretch their legs, as they always seem to want to do. 

One evening I did manage to catch one to Danestone and back on the 1, which includes a small 50 mph section. It went up the hill with ease, leaving cars well behind it, and it was slightly disappointing when we turned into the 20 zone at the top. 

I also find, and I'm unsure if this just applies to those I've sampled with First, that they seem to have some character, which is quite hard to come across in newer vehicles.

Brief write up about my trip to Keighley Bus Museum's Saltaire Rally yesterday

1005 Darlington Rail Station - Leeds Rail Station (CrossCountry 221141 + 220026)
1109 Saltaire Rail Station (Northern 333???)

Eastern Counties - Bristol VR/ECW - OCK995K
ex Shoreline Suncruisers - MCW Metrobus - B56WUL
ex First Huddersfield - Volvo Olympian/Alexander Royale - R641HYG
ex First Leeds - Volvo Olympian/Alexander Royale - R610JUB
WYPTE Metrocoach - Leyland Olympian/Roe - B144RWY
Road Car (ex Johnson Bros) - Leyland Olympian/ECW - B516UWW
ex Shoreline Suncruisers - MCW Metrobus - B56WUL (again)

1637 Saltaire Rail Station - Leeds Rail Station (Northern 333004)
1705 Leeds Rail Station - Darlington Rail Station (CrossCountry 22032 + 221139)
1815 7 Darlington - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1515)

Must say, an enjoyable day out. Few things I missed that I would have liked to have sample but there will probably be more chances to get some of them.

Time to plug my album of photos which took ages to upload: https://flic.kr/s/aHskYAUbZB

Before going home, I also managed to snap one of the new Flying Tiger Enviro200 MMC's on the 737 in Shipley: https://flic.kr/p/V7ZpG8

Video of ex Shoreline Suncruisers MCW Metrobus B58WUL: https://youtu.be/D-WeOqhEQew
(more videos will be uploaded soon)

(02 Jul 2017, 7:04 am)Dan wrote [ -> ]The driver, David Hands, provided a commentary on every route, informing passengers of historical facts about the City of Sunderland, and also provided  news about current events about what was going on in the city at the moment, to get involved in.

I remember having that driver a few times in Sunderland, he was certainly unforgetable and was always a enjoyable trip on his bus.

In the last fortnight, I've had two outings on the Borders Buses network, seem as they've been doing their 'Borderless £5 Day Ticket' for the last few weeks, so decided to give it a whirl. Here's a account of the two outings

Outing 1 - 14/11/17

0606 7 Newton Aycliffe - Durham Bus Station (ANE 1514 - Pulsar)
0724 Berwick-upon-Tweed (VTEC - 91116)
0905 60 Kelso (Borders Buses: 11209 / AE12AZC - Merc/MCV)
1015 20 Jedburgh Bus Station (Peter Hogg of Jedburgh: MX60BXD - Wright StreetLite WF)
1105 68 Galashiels Interchange (Borders Buses: 11309 / YA13AEL - Optare Versa)
1250 60 Earlston Square (Borders Buses: 11208 / AE12AZB - Merc/MCV)
1340 52 Edinburgh, North Bridge (Borders Buses: 11302 / YA13AEC - Optare Versa)
1610 253 Berwick-upon-Tweed (Borders Buses: 11618 / YJ66AED - Optare MetroCity)
1852 Durham (CrossCountry - unknown Voyager)
2020 7 Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1515 - Pulsar)

The Peter Hogg journey on the 20 cost about £3.30 I think, StreetLite sounded like it didn't like going down the A68 as fast as it could manage, YouTube vid: https://youtu.be/IvebtFREV5M


The 52 journey was boring, Versa just had no soundtrack whatsover which for a journey that long made me want to fall asleep (not helped being up at 04:50!)

The USB ports on 1515 managed to charge my phone just 8% in 40 minutes, poor but better than nothing!

---

Outing 2 - 23/11/17

0606 7 Durham Bus Station (ANE 1516 - Pulsar)
0724 Berwick-upon-Tweed (VTEC - 91122)
0909 253 Edinburgh Bus Station (Borders Buses: 11502 / SN15LJJ - Enviro 300)
1215 X62 Pebbles (Borders Buses: 11001 / BK10MFP - Volvo B7RLE/Wright)
1403 X62 Galashiels Interchange (Borders Buses: 11229 / BF62UYT - Volvo B7RLE/Wright)
1502 X95 Carlisle, English Street (Borders Buses: 11708 / YJ17FWY - Optare MetroCity)
1825 685 Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station (ANE 4660 - Omnicity)
2035 47 Metrocentre Bus Station (GNE 5417 - Wright StreetLite)
2100 X66 Gateshead Interchange (GNE 5394 - Wright StreetLite)
2117 21 Durham Bus Station (GNE 3965 / Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini)
2220 7 Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1516 - Pulsar)

Was pleased to have a E300 over a MetroCity on the 253, just as I figured I would have one later on in the day, also because I had a MetroCity on this route last week.

On the 12:15 X62 out of Edinburgh, it took us 20 minutes to get from the Bus Station to Princess Street, as a result the journey was delayed by 15 minutes.

The X95 was a bit chaotic, road closures forced us to divert, no clue via where as it was in the dark but it was seemingly via the middle of nowehere, had no mobile signal for over an hour! Got stuck for nearly 10 minutes at one point as on the diversion signposted 'no HGV access' we ended up stuck when two lorries came in the opposite direction, had to pull into a farm junction to let them past. As a result, we arrived into Carlisle a whopping 45 minutes late, meaning I missed the 17:30 685 back to Newcastle.

The 18:25 685 was nice and quiet, took a few passengers to Brampton then it was me and one other lad as far as Haltwhistle then just myself until just outside of Hexham where a old bloke boarded who got off opposite the old bus station with two more passengers boarding at the new Hexham Bus Station. The USBs on this one managed to charge my phone almost 20% just between Carlisle and Brampton (starting from about 48%) and was fully charged by Newcastle. We passed the 17:30 685 from Carlisle which was a Stagecoach Carlisle CrossPennine E300 as it had broken down somewhere near Newcastle.

The two StreetLite's journeys to the Metrocentre and Gateshead were just to kill time as I didn't want to stand around in Eldon Square Bus Station for 30+ minutes bored out of my mind.

Was pleased to get a Volvo B7TL on the 21 as I don't mind the hybrids but I prefer the sound of a B7, at least the seats are fresh now on this, looked manky as owt last time.

Because of the issues encountered resulting in me being delayed by an hour, I was out from 05:55 until 23:05! The longest outing I've ever had.

---

These outings were quite fun, despite a few hiccups on the second one. May have to do some of the network again.

Photos and videos are now starting to appear on my Flickr and YouTube accounts (links in my signature).

Thanks for reading