(10 Dec 2018, 10:21 am)Michael wrote Does this indicate they're arriving sooner than we thought?

(10 Dec 2018, 10:22 am)Jamie M wrote Depends on what we thought

(10 Dec 2018, 10:31 am)Dan wrote The order would have been placed when Go North East were awarded the new contract. Delivery should be expected this month, with the buses launched early part of next month.

(12 Dec 2018, 8:11 am)enviro7501 wrote How long will 9087 be with GNE?

(12 Dec 2018, 12:44 pm)RBZ 5459 wrote Would assume until they have a healthy number of Streetlites on the road again, so dependant on the work needing carried out on them.
It's out today 49-ing.

Also 4976 is on loan to Chester, X25s.

(10 Dec 2018, 12:26 pm)Michael wrote Hopefully a better style brand and a darker green.

(14 Dec 2018, 9:56 am)enviro7501 wrote What is the best run to get 6924-6941

(14 Dec 2018, 9:56 am)enviro7501 wrote What is the best run to get 6924-6941

(14 Dec 2018, 9:58 am)Jamie M wrote EYMS are very rarely to be used on services so you can disregard those.
There's one of the unbranded dual door ones on the 10X at around 1650 sometimes and on a 93 arriving gateshead at around 1700. These vary from eclipses to plaxtons.

• 08:31 95 (Cragside Gardens - Gateshead) - East Lancs bodied Volvo B7
  
• ASDA Metrocentre Free Bus and 17:08 Q3 (Great Park - Newcastle) and 17:42 97 (Newcastle - Metrocentre) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:45 and 17:25 93 (Team Valley - Gateshead) and 18:08 92 (Team Valley - Wardley) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:20 X21 (Newcastle - Durham) - Wright bodied Volvo B7, usually 3965.
  
• 16:50 X21 (Newcastle - Durham) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:52 10X (Newcastle - Prudhoe) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:05 and 17:05 64 (Gateshead circular), 16:27 95 (Gateshead - Lobley Hill) and 16:41 95 (Lobley Hill - Gateshead) and 17:38 91 (Team Valley - Newcastle) - East Lancs bodied Volvo B7
  

(14 Dec 2018, 10:17 am)Dan wrote On paper; 6920 - 6941 should never be allocated to normal 'mainstream' commercial services, just the scholars contracts based at Riverside and Saltmeadows.

The following journeys are operated by Volvo B7s:

• 08:31 95 (Cragside Gardens - Gateshead) - East Lancs bodied Volvo B7
  
• ASDA Metrocentre Free Bus and 17:08 Q3 (Great Park - Newcastle) and 17:42 97 (Newcastle - Metrocentre) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:45 and 17:25 93 (Team Valley - Gateshead) and 18:08 92 (Team Valley - Wardley) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:20 X21 (Newcastle - Durham) - Wright bodied Volvo B7, usually 3965.
  
• 16:50 X21 (Newcastle - Durham) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:52 10X (Newcastle - Prudhoe) - Wright bodied Volvo B7
  
• 16:05 and 17:05 64 (Gateshead circular), 16:27 95 (Gateshead - Lobley Hill) and 16:41 95 (Lobley Hill - Gateshead) and 17:38 91 (Team Valley - Newcastle) - East Lancs bodied Volvo B7
  

Although the above is what is planned on paper, what happens on the ground is often different, so 6920 - 6941 could well find themselves allocated to any of the above...

(14 Dec 2018, 10:20 am)Jamie M wrote 6935-6941 are routinely never allocated to public service work, I got very lucky!

Plaxtons and wright B7s mix around, they're never the same.

3965 is always on the 1620 board without exception.

(14 Dec 2018, 10:42 am)Dan wrote Should be the same though - the Geminis were repainted for a reason!  

(14 Dec 2018, 12:30 pm)V514DFT wrote Bit of a headsup but roadworks start on 5/1/19 on Whitley Road stretching from where the Wheatsheaf Pub is to the Roundabout outside of The Range(that i can see),anyone know the extent of the works,the 42/42A will be effected along with Arriva services 51/51A and 53 and Stagecoach service 1 and Gateshead Taxis service 335

(14 Dec 2018, 1:19 pm)RBZ 5459 wrote Believe there's some emergency timetables to come out for GNE and GCT at least.

(14 Dec 2018, 9:56 am)enviro7501 wrote What is the best run to get 6924-6941

(14 Dec 2018, 10:04 pm)TEN 6083 wrote GNE don’t have services running in the Tow Law area do they as I was on the A68 yesterday going to visit a friend who lives near Darlington and passed one of the training buses going the other way


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(14 Dec 2018, 10:07 pm)Michael wrote Wonder if any other brands will be removed then?, as we've already lost the Lambton Worm and See It Do it Sunderland.

(14 Dec 2018, 8:08 pm)Boggle wrote A related question, can anyone advise if 6941 is a runner?

It's not listed as out of use, but I've never seen it, I don't recall app sightings either and apart from photos taken over the summer on Tall Ships/Airshow work, there is only one photo of it on Flickr, that being taken in Riverside depot.

Is it long-term broken or does it perhaps always do a particular job?  Just seems strange that it's so rarely seen/photographed compared to the others.

(14 Dec 2018, 10:04 pm)TEN 6083 wrote GNE don’t have services running in the Tow Law area do they as I was on the A68 yesterday going to visit a friend who lives near Darlington and passed one of the training buses going the other way


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(15 Dec 2018, 8:09 am)Jamie M wrote As posted above there is a test centre down there.

The training buses are never used for route learning, and often the training schedules aren't just test routes. I ended up in Seaton Carew in my training. Someone else ended up in Hexham area.

On a saturday they're used as driver transport between places.

(15 Dec 2018, 9:12 am)Andreos1 wrote Fish and chips in the big bus stop just beyond the shops? 
Seems to have been a regular thing for a number of years now.

(15 Dec 2018, 9:15 am)Jamie M wrote Yeah on a friday too. If you see a test bus flying around strange places on a weekday, it's just drivers out getting experience on unfamiliar roads. They rightly say it's pointless getting used to test routes. Mine was somewhere completely different to the test routes I had learned.

(15 Dec 2018, 9:36 am)Andreos1 wrote To be honest, I've no idea what the test routes are these days. I imagine they have changed and evolved slightly, just as the tests themselves have. 
There's limits as to where the tests routes can be I suppose. There's only so far you can get in the limited time the test takes place. 

Issues with Gosforth and Darlington years ago, meant Carlisle was used as an last choice alternative. Quite a trek and unless you know Carlisle - very unfamiliar roads.