(09 Feb 2014, 8:47 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote Well put it this way, the only thing Cummins engines are good for is a typical TFL route in London. With the exception of the B7R and B7TL, Volvo's have always been good little workhorses whether a 355 run to Whitley Bay on a Wright B10BLE, a 306 run down the Coast Road to Tynemouth on a Palatine 2 with the D10-245 engine or the same bus on an 80 mile round trip to Middlesborough down the A19 on the X10. When I had a ride on 6103 on the new CC double deck launch day, I had a little chat with the driver and do you know what he said? "You can't beat a Volvo". I can honestly say that I have to agree with him. Everyday, I either end up on a VDL SB200 or Volvo B10BLE to Newcastle from work and whereas I hear a tiny little turbocharher screaming away on the SB200, all I can hear on a Volvo B10BLE is a pure diesel engine powering the bus through.

What spec is the Cummins iSBe engine in the Streetlites that GNE purchased? Is it the 4 or 6 cylinder?

Over 14k posts now in the GNE thread.

(09 Feb 2014, 11:47 am)Michael wrote Ye, still waiting for the South Tyne Versa's etc to their branding haha

And simplicity 39

According to the fleet allocation for this week, all of the B9s have entered service. I don't think they have though.

(10 Feb 2014, 11:39 am)northtynelinks2 wrote According to the fleet allocation for this week, all of the B9s have entered service. I don't think they have though.

Fleet allocation has four not in service yet, unsure whether that's correct though.

I think north tyne liknks needs a upgrade to the buses and the brand

(10 Feb 2014, 12:48 pm)speedwheels22 wrote I think north tyne liknks needs a upgrade to the buses and the brand

So does the East Durham brand and the buses.

Does the lambton worm need versas I'll just put somthing else on there and move the versas up to north tyne links r east duhram

There are atleast 2 Northern Omnicitys on the 9 today. Could this be the end of Centurion service 9?

saw a prince bishop off route probs on either 29 or X36 or 56 saw it while i was in que for tickets to the capital one cup final Manchester City vs Sunderland AFC also noted an east durham on an unknown route was the road outside the stadium of light

(10 Feb 2014, 12:48 pm)speedwheels22 wrote I think north tyne liknks needs a upgrade to the buses and the brand

What vehicles do people think would be a good replacement on NTL? I think Versas for East Durham (These will allow extra capacity on 202/208/265 which can get busier) however this would have to be through cascades. East Durham requires 17 buses and NTL requires 11 like for like replacements. However in order to for Versa cascades they'd need to upgrade Orbit/QuayLink and maybe SimpliCity, which does require a bit of investment. There's also South Tyne 5 which is likely to be needing Versas also.

(10 Feb 2014, 3:56 pm)CatsFast101 wrote What vehicles do people think would be a good replacement on NTL? I think Versas for East Durham (These will allow extra capacity on 202/208/265 which can get busier) however this would have to be through cascades. East Durham requires 17 buses and NTL requires 11 like for like replacements. However in order to for Versa cascades they'd need to upgrade Orbit/QuayLink and maybe SimpliCity, which does require a bit of investment. There's also South Tyne 5 which is likely to be needing Versas also.

North Tyne Links doesn't require anything bigger than a MPD, so a bit hard to decide really. At the moment, the MPD's are doing just fine on there. At peak times, the loadings on the 80 are high though, more so Wallsend to Cobalt. If the North Tyne Links network was to get Solos (through casades, possibly when the NexusBus ones get replaced?) a couple of extra peak time journeys on the 80 would probably be needed.

(10 Feb 2014, 3:56 pm)CatsFast101 wrote What vehicles do people think would be a good replacement on NTL? I think Versas for East Durham (These will allow extra capacity on 202/208/265 which can get busier) however this would have to be through cascades. East Durham requires 17 buses and NTL requires 11 like for like replacements. However in order to for Versa cascades they'd need to upgrade Orbit/QuayLink and maybe SimpliCity, which does require a bit of investment. There's also South Tyne 5 which is likely to be needing Versas also.

Think I hinted at the QuayLink batch going to M2/M3?

(10 Feb 2014, 4:05 pm)Tom wrote North Tyne Links doesn't require anything bigger than a MPD, so a bit hard to decide really. At the moment, the MPD's are doing just fine on there. At peak times, the loadings on the 80 are high though, more so Wallsend to Cobalt. If the North Tyne Links network was to get Solos (through casades, possibly when the NexusBus ones get replaced?) a couple of extra peak time journeys on the 80 would probably be needed.

That's a good point saltmeadows have 10 nexus bus solos, maybe they could go to NTL then, don't know when NexusBus will be upgraded though.

(10 Feb 2014, 4:15 pm)Dan wrote Think I hinted at the QuayLink batch going to M2/M3?

Well I've heard QuayLink won't be upgraded till 2015.

(10 Feb 2014, 4:17 pm)CatsFast101 wrote That's a good point saltmeadows have 10 nexus bus solos, maybe they could go to NTL then, don't know when NexusBus will be upgraded though.

No idea. Probably in a couple of years, but the MPD's should last until then. If Go North East want to get rid of the older MPD's then 548/9/50 could be replaced by 561/618/19 from Peterlee.

(10 Feb 2014, 4:18 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Well I've heard QuayLink won't be upgraded till 2015.

Obviously... That's when the contract comes up for renewal, and that's when the buses will be freed up.

(10 Feb 2014, 4:18 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Well I've heard QuayLink won't be upgraded till 2015.

Upgraded? Depends who wins the contract next time round!

(10 Feb 2014, 4:43 pm)tyresmoke wrote Upgraded? Depends who wins the contract next time round!

And with fierce competition from Stagecoach once more, Go North East mightn't get it!
The buses will be freed up nevertheless, and I think that's what we're focusing on.

(10 Feb 2014, 3:15 pm)Bazza Houston wrote saw a prince bishop off route probs on either 29 or X36 or 56 saw it while i was in que for tickets to the capital one cup final Manchester City vs Sunderland AFC also noted an east durham on an unknown route was the road outside the stadium of light

It was 5214 and was on the 29s while 536 and 541 are on the 99s

Further vehicles transferred in to the new Riverside depot are Scania artics 4950 - 4953, Pulse branded Volvo B10BLEs 5160, 5161, 5162 and 5163 together with 5164 and Metrocentre Shuttle branded DAF SB120 8266, all from Saltmeadows.

New Volvo B9TL/Wright Geminis entering service at Percy Main have seen the transfer of Omnicities 5257, 5258 and 5260 to Chester le Street and 5250 and 5253 to Stanley. However, Percy Main has received Volvo B10BLEs 4912 and 4913 from Stanley to allow the withdrawal of SPDs 8239 and 8241.

Volvo B10BLE 4922 has been transferred from Deptford to Riverside. Volvo B7TL/East Lancs 3974 and 3978 are on loan to Chester le Street and Driver Training Volvo B10M 7060 has been withdrawn.

Old news really as we were aware of it all, but note the sentence about 8266... Despite it being a VDL rather than a DAF, it is said to be "Metrocentre Shuttle" branded...

(10 Feb 2014, 5:27 pm)Dan wrote Old news really as we were aware of it all, but note the sentence about 8266... Despite it being a VDL rather than a DAF, it is said to be "Metrocentre Shuttle" branded...

It's always been Metrocentre Shuttle branded by fleet allocation.

(10 Feb 2014, 5:41 pm)CatsFast101 wrote It's always been Metrocentre Shuttle branded by fleet allocation.

Just me who has not seen any form of "Metrocentre Shuttle" branding on 8266??

(10 Feb 2014, 5:42 pm)Dan wrote Just me who has not seen any form of "Metrocentre Shuttle" branding on 8266??

It will be branded soon though...

(10 Feb 2014, 5:43 pm)Tom wrote It will be branded soon though...

But if it's 'always' been down as that on Fleet Allocation?
Come on, it's been on the S1 since October 7th, 2012!

On another note, to follow up from last weekend's topic - speedy response from Customer Services (under 24 hours)...

Dear Mr Graham,

Thank You for your email.

I can confirm that an initial investigation shows that unfortunately the services due to depart Concord at 1856,1911,and 1928 were all regulated by our service control team as a result of them operating severely late due to the match day traffic. These delays were anything from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

I can only apologise for the inconvenience this caused and the delay you suffered to your journey times, but this has already been brought to the attention of the manager for this service.

Please accept my sincere apologies regarding this,

If you could send me a copy of your ticket by responding to this email I can log this officially and request a cheque to be raised for a refund, or if you have a keycard I could have a free ticket applied to that instead.

(10 Feb 2014, 5:42 pm)Dan wrote Just me who has not seen any form of "Metrocentre Shuttle" branding on 8266??

It's always just been plain white I do believe since GNE started in 2012. The fleet allocation for some time has always had it down as been branded 'Metrocentre Shuttle' hence the sentence you quoted. I imagine 8266 (should it be branded as has now been rumoured for a while) it'd probably be something similar to 'MetroCentre Shuttle' I'd imagine. It's possible that it was always planned to be branded since it was introduced, but they just never got round to it.

(10 Feb 2014, 5:54 pm)CatsFast101 wrote It's always just been plain white I do believe since GNE started in 2012. The fleet allocation for some time has always had it down as been branded 'Metrocentre Shuttle' hence the sentence you quoted. I imagine 8266 (should it be branded as has now been rumoured for a while) it'd probably be something similar to 'MetroCentre Shuttle' I'd imagine. It's possible that it was always planned to be branded since it was introduced, but they just never got round to it.

Think the point I'm getting at is there is room for improvement on the fleet allocation - we're always spotting errors and things are often updated a good few weeks after they actually happen.

Appreciate it's just an enthusiast document, but if you're gonna do something - do it properly...

(10 Feb 2014, 5:48 pm)Dan wrote On another note, to follow up from last weekend's topic - speedy response from Customer Services (under 24 hours)...

No competent controller would ever regulate three consecutive services to leave a 45 minute plus gap in service if that's what happened. You'd always ensure at least every other bus would run throughout or if a serious delay at one end run at least half a service over as much of the route as you can.

(10 Feb 2014, 6:25 pm)Greg in Weardale wrote No competent controller would ever regulate three consecutive services to leave a 45 minute plus gap in service if that's what happened. You'd always ensure at least every other bus would run throughout or if a serious delay at one end run at least half a service over as much of the route as you can.

As annoyed as I was (still am - have lost my voice completely and I'm packed full of flu), scored me a free day ticket. #superscrimper