I believe they were quite low today, mainly because there was only one return journey on the 477 today (as opposed to 2 return journies) due to the time of the tides. But my last visit to the causeway did result in one of the Mercs appearing on the 477. It does advise in the timetable for you to ring the company if there is a large group of you travelling.

Yeah I got caught out last year on one of the 2 return days. The Solo was rammed to the point i was practically pressed to the windscreen, no hope if we'd crashed.

Sure it was 047 that ran the return journey and was standing room only. 

A heavy loading at Haggerston was the issue, I guess they can't account for that

All of the following are GNE.
0600 GX03SVJ X71 Sunniside -> E.S
~ambled around town realising the world was not yet awake~
0815 NK05GZP 10A E.S -> Blackhall Mill
0903 649 V9 Chopwell -> Consett
0940 5170 15A Consett -> Durham
1015 6070 21 Durham -> E.S
1120 793 10B E.S -> M.C
1145 NK04ZNE M.C -> ASDA
~shopping~
1200 NK04ZNE ASDA -> M.C
~lost detail~
1300 NK06JXE E.S -> B.H.m
~traffic~
1603 649 Chopwell -> Consett
1645 X71 3996 Consett -> Sunniside
~ate shopping~
1846 X31 NK56KHZ Sunniside -> E.S
1915 45 5337 E.S -> M.C
1933 UID Venture M.C -> Stanley
2015 5397 78A Stanley -> Consett
2040 5397 78A Consett -> Stanley
2112 5286 6 Stanley -> E.S
2230 5286 6 E.S -> Sunniside

I photoed the 1645 X71 from Consett at Byermoor.

I photoed the 1645 X71 from Consett at Byermoor.

You won't have seen me, I was on the middle back row between two larger members of public.

Don't normally rant during outings, but anyways. The long 19 is such a joke of a service. It would make more sense to extend the 309 to Ashington to ease pressure off the service. It's often as much as 40 minutes late on runs where it started on time. On top of the 310, you can see journeys in excess of 3 hours from Ashington to Newcastle - which is frankly stupid. Blyth -> Ashington would be an extra 20-30 minutes at the max - halving the time from Newcastle to Ashington.
The solars are alright, the journey on the 19 is alright - just excessive end to end. Will write up a suggestion later..

Don't normally rant during outings, but anyways. The long 19 is such a joke of a service. It would make more sense to extend the 309 to Ashington to ease pressure off the service. It's often as much as 40 minutes late on runs where it started on time. On top of the 310, you can see journeys in excess of 3 hours from Ashington to Newcastle - which is frankly stupid. Blyth -> Ashington would be an extra 20-30 minutes at the max - halving the time from Newcastle to Ashington.
The solars are alright, the journey on the 19 is alright - just excessive end to end. Will write up a suggestion later..

Remember with these routes, it's never about the journey from end to end. You can drive from Durham to Sunderland or Hartlepool in under half an hour, but the 22, 24 and Scarlet band 58 all take almost 90 minutes. If they didn't, they wouldn't pick up that many passengers because not many people live on the A690, or whatever!

Delays can be problematic with longer routes, mind. That's why GNE split up the 43/44 into the 16/16A and the 6.

Don't normally rant during outings, but anyways. The long 19 is such a joke of a service. It would make more sense to extend the 309 to Ashington to ease pressure off the service. It's often as much as 40 minutes late on runs where it started on time. On top of the 310, you can see journeys in excess of 3 hours from Ashington to Newcastle - which is frankly stupid. Blyth -> Ashington would be an extra 20-30 minutes at the max - halving the time from Newcastle to Ashington.
The solars are alright, the journey on the 19 is alright - just excessive end to end. Will write up a suggestion later..

Or, you could get from Ashington to Newcastle in 42 minutes using the X20.

Or, you could get from Ashington to Newcastle in 42 minutes using the X20.

I use day tickets so that would be more of an expense on top of the hideous GNE all day fare.

I use day tickets so that would be more of an expense on top of the hideous GNE all day fare.

Ah, is there no way to get a cheap single(/return) then Arriva day ticket from there?

Ah, is there no way to get a cheap single(/return) then Arriva day ticket from there?

GNE doesn't come close to cheap, even with returns! It's better value for money to get a day ticket and go West/South rather than one trip north.

5:20 97 UID Solar Sunniside -> Newcastle
~many trips to E.S -> M.C
0915 309 UID B9 Haymarket -> Colbalt
1022 19 UID Solar Colbalt -> Ashington
1203 19 UID Solar Ashington -> Colbalt
1359 309 UID B9 Colbalt -> Haymarket
1405 10A NK05GZO E.S -> Blackhall Mill
1553 47 NK15EOH B.H.M -> Chopwell
1603 V9 NL63XYW Chopwell -> Consett
1635 X71 W20FWL Consett -> Sunniside
1911 X70 NK51UCS Sunniside -> E.S
2007 21 6061 E.S -> C.L.S
2059 21 UID B5 C.LS -> Gateshead Interchange
2200 6 W864PNL E.S -> Whickham

Don't normally rant during outings, but anyways. The long 19 is such a joke of a service. It would make more sense to extend the 309 to Ashington to ease pressure off the service. It's often as much as 40 minutes late on runs where it started on time. On top of the 310, you can see journeys in excess of 3 hours from Ashington to Newcastle - which is frankly stupid. Blyth -> Ashington would be an extra 20-30 minutes at the max - halving the time from Newcastle to Ashington.
The solars are alright, the journey on the 19 is alright - just excessive end to end. Will write up a suggestion later..

The vehicles used on the 19 are normally the Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipses.

The vehicles used on the 19 are normally the Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipses.

Full solar allocation from my perspective.
I thought all of the eclipses were at riverside or cls also.

Full solar allocation from my perspective.
I thought all of the eclipses were at riverside or cls also.

No, 4978-4982 came off the 5 when 5243-5247 came off the 19, 4978-4982 are the only B7RLE's in the GNE fleet and all are at Percy Main for the 19

No, 4978-4982 came off the 5 when 5243-5247 came off the 19, 4978-4982 are the only B7RLE's in the GNE fleet and all are at Percy Main for the 19

Sorry, I was thinking of the Gemini Eclipse deckers - I forgot there was a few single decks with B7s.

Sorry, I was thinking of the Gemini Eclipse deckers - I forgot there was a few single decks with B7s.

They are pretty identical to the Solars though so it is easy to get them mixed up

They are pretty identical to the Solars though so it is easy to get them mixed up

Yeah, they used to be toon link purple right?

Yeah, they used to be toon link purple right?

Yes, they were.

A way to identify the difference is by their seats. If they are all forward facing, its a B7RLE and if they have the backward facing seats, they are Solars.

I didn't know that, is there any other way of identification, or not

I didn't know that, is there any other way of identification, or not

Registration plates and fleet numbers?

They sound differemt too. The Volvos did have bigger vents on the bonnet.

They sound differemt too. The Volvos did have bigger vents on the bonnet.

They sound the same as the 54 reg solars on the 93/94

Don't normally rant during outings, but anyways. The long 19 is such a joke of a service. It would make more sense to extend the 309 to Ashington to ease pressure off the service. It's often as much as 40 minutes late on runs where it started on time. On top of the 310, you can see journeys in excess of 3 hours from Ashington to Newcastle - which is frankly stupid. Blyth -> Ashington would be an extra 20-30 minutes at the max - halving the time from Newcastle to Ashington.
The solars are alright, the journey on the 19 is alright - just excessive end to end. Will write up a suggestion later..

Never seen a 19 run 40 minutes late, and I live on the northern end of the route. The route is only 1hr 30min long and nobody travels Ashington to North Shields, unless it's faster than travelling via Newcastle and Metro, of which it generally is. The 19 is just a route that connects people to places on the route, for example, Cramlington, Seaton Delaval and Silverlink...

Arriva operate the main core services from Ashington to Newcastle in 40-60 minutes. If GNE wanted to run a Newcastle to Ashington service they'd do it direct, and again why would GNE compete with Arriva between Ashington and Blyth? 

I say this time and time again, if people can't handle 90-120min journeys for leisure, they won't be able to handle the 685, X15/X18 etc...

They sound the same as the 54 reg solars on the 93/94

I will not go into detail but its because they both have the same Gearbox Make, ZF.

Never seen a 19 run 40 minutes late

We've seen two very different service 19s then. Point taken about the competition, though.

I will not go into detail but its because they both have the same Gearbox Make, ZF.

Thanks

Yesterday's trip...

156448 1058 2N20 Haltwhistle to Newcastle 1157
6094 1231 56 Newcastle Market Street to Concord 1312
5363 13131 4 Concord to Heworth 1325
142021 1344 2N31 Heworth to Newcastle 1351
19382 1359 38 Neville Street to West Road (The Plaza) 1412
12086 1415 39 West Road (The Plaza) to Blackett Street 1426
10645 1429 62 Blackett Street to Killingworth 1525
4520 1601 53 Killingworth to Haymarket 1637
4069 4051 1641 160 Haymarket to Gateshead 1646
5278 1653 49 Gateshead to Metrocentre 1710
4907 1725 49A Metrocentre to Gateshead 1737
4053 4029 1801 109 Gateshead to Central Station 1803
156438 1824 2N47 Newcastle to Haltwhistle 1925

Considering I had a night shift before and after this trip it's pretty well done!


Cheers to Adrian and R852PRG for their company.

I had a few bits to sort out recently, so decided to use public transport and save some wear and tear on the car.
It was also an excuse to ride a purple Streetlite on a section/sections that I hadn't sampled them on yet. In the end, time restraints meant I only got to travel west out of Park Lane towards Durham, rather than anything north of Sunderland.

As is the norm, I won't share the entire trip out and the entire ins and outs of an area or indeed services that the majority of members have seen, used or experienced on a regular basis and will focus on one particular part of the day in the review.

Anyway - boarded 5437 at Park Lane and was greeted by an almost full bus. Apart from the odd seat towards the rear and the folded section near the front, all seats were taken. The lack of opening windows was as noticeable as the lack of cooling, refreshing air-con, as we chugged off.

I wanted to see what the performance was like heading up past the college from The Barnes (having only managed to use the vehicles between Houghton and Durham), as this was the first real hill test I had seen of them.
It was sluggish pulling on to the incline outside the second-hand car showroom, but once it was halfway up the hill, the vehicle managed fine. Rattles from the cab area were noticeable (as well as the holders for the free papers), but the under vehicle rattles and door vibrations seen on earlier versions were less so (I think I commented on this in a previous review). Hopefully this is something that has been worked on in the Northern Irish facility.

The vehicle spat its passengers out gradually, seeing the majority depart in Houghton.
It kept to time well, waiting time in a few places due to the low levels of traffic and stops along Durham Road.
However, there was something amiss with the announcements - lots of white noise/crackling whenever a stop was announced, which made the announcements inaudible.

I'm desperately trying to like these vehicles and see positives in them, but all I can come back with is a cheaper, flightier version of an early National. Not keen at all, but hopefully there is enough scope to improve in a later, revised model. Can't imagine a later, revised model will have the enduring rugged appeal or durability of a Mk2 National - but we can hope!

However, there was something amiss with the announcements - lots of white noise/crackling whenever a stop was announced, which made the announcements inaudible.

Thanks.

There was an issue with the SD cards on this batch of vehicles which is resulting in the static sound you mention. Hanover are in the process of replacing all the cards, as and when faults are reported.

Early start for me today, Left the house for 5:55AM to get the 6:03 Metro from Brockely Whins, And I'm now on the 6:46 Glasgow Central via Carlisle Service as far as Carlisle.
Then the 8:33 TPX Service as far as Penrith.
I will probably be in the Lake District before most people on here are awake, But it's a change being out this early.