I started today at 07:30. Normally, being your average teenager, I would have slept through this, however, today was different. The rally today, to me anyway, is often comparable to Christmas for it's joys and general happiness, all packed into one day. Jumping out of bed, for once in a long time, very happy and ready to seize life....*cough* I got everything ready for the day, camera, etc., before leaving the house at 07:50. My initial intention was to board the 08:36 #21 from the bottom of Chester-le-Street, which would come from Durham. It was almost surreal, walking into Chester-le-Street and it being so quiet at this hour, on a Bank Holiday as well. I managed to walk so fast, that I was at the 21 stand for 08:10. Within minutes, an ''Angel'' B5 rounded the corner from Picktree Lane onto Front Street, before sitting in the layover (bet most of you didn't know Chester-le-Street had a layover......), then after a couple of minutes, turned around at the bottom of the street and started picking up the half a dozen passengers waiting for it. Bus was 6070, and I sat at the front upstairs on the driver's side; my preferred seat on double deck vehicles. We gradually picked up quite a few people on the journey towards Newcastle, and the vehicle was around ¾ full when we pulled into Gateshead Interchange. I, and around half a dozen other passengers alighted here, and I made my way across to the X66 stand.
Checking the times on the board, there was a bus due at 08:55. I checked my phone, and it was about 08:48, so I only had a few minutes to wait. Moments later, an ''X66' branded Streetlite turned into the interchange, parking down from the pick-up stand for a few minutes, before moving up to pick people up. I said ''good morning'' to the driver as I boarded, and I started to think I was suffering from something – I'm never normally this happy at five to nine on a Monday morning! 5393 was the Streetlite operating this run, which I was happy about having only been on 5392 and 5394, so another I can tick off. Half of the bus was full, I was sat at the rear to get the full engine noise, which wasn't up to much if I'm going to honest. Nonetheless, not a bad ride to the MetroCentre; I was there for 09:05 and at the Coach Park by 09:10. When I arrived, there was two double decker preserved vehicles standing at the front of the entrance site, parked up. A Routemaster was the next to show iirc, followed by a preserved Venture Leopard I think? Truth be told, I was only making notes of the Go North East stuff that was entering. First to arrive on their front was ''Coast & Country'' Streetlite 5398, following minutes later was the QEH Mini Dart, then gradually the Poppy Bus (4949) and Vyking 3966 entered too. Before long, there was a massive convoy of all sorts entering the rally site. As I walked along the back pathway of where coaches normally park, Bazza approached me and asked who I was. A brief introduction took place, and within 10 seconds I was looking at pics of his ''meow'' and being educated on why his Flickr name was Diamond One. Very interesting!...
What got me distracted from everything entering was Leyland National 4710, roaring from the bottom of the coach park, could be heard miles away!! I watched with glee as it parked up, it's engine making some spectacular noises that I could have only imagined prior to today. I watched the crew of 4710 spread out a bit, and owner Craig Smith (who I had been talking to before today about a ride on 4710 at some point) appeared to walk across to 563, which then departed with a couple of drivers on. I slowly made my way across to the National, where Craig's dad Alan was watching over the bus. I introduced myself, explaining I had a donation to make to the group; one thing led to another and I was sitting on the bench-facing seats talking about bus preservation for a good half hour! Eventually, the Arriva stuff started to enter in a convoy, which got me distracted. After heading back to 4710 for a short while, I received a PM from Adrian asking where I was, to which I replied I was on the National.
Eventually, I left 4710, after having a good sniff around, and started taking photos of everything that was parked up by this point. While I was taking a photograph of something, a man to my left asked me if I was Marcus. I said I was, and he introduced himself as Adrian. We got talking, and he introduced me to AdamY. Around the same time, the Carlisle Bus Group's monster Olympian arrived at around 10:30ish. I knew Sean was going to be on this, so dropped him a Facebook Message asking where he was. He said he had just headed into Gregg's for something (surprise, surprise...
) and would meet me in the overbridge connecting the main Bus Station with the Coach Park. I told Adrian and Adam I would see them later on, and made my way towards Sean. I spotted him in the middle of the link, with a Gregg's of all things! I introduced myself, and we made our way back to the rally site. Back on the ground, after making our way back towards Adrian and Adam. Walking around in a group, we watched something park up, when Adrian thought he could see Jimmi in the crowd of photographers. True enough, when he went over to ask, it was indeed Jimmi; so the five of us made our way back down from the top of the parked up vehicles. We came across National 4710, I saw Craig was with his bus, having brought ''Red Kite'' 6118 from Riverside. Went over to hand over my £10 donation to the NNRG, where he thanked me and asked me what it was in particular I was interested in regarding 4710. A quick blow of the engines while the others waiting outside listening, before he took all five of us around the rear with the open engine flap to show us how it all worked inside. Very interesting I must say! He also said, that hopefully next year they would have two vehicles with them, as 4681 is in no fit condition, but 4855 will no doubt be in full swing. After moving on from 4710, the five of us walked down the coach park, when Sean saw his favourite Pacer and decided to wait for it to return from Newcastle for a ride to Morpeth and back, saying he would rejoin us later on. Around this time, Dan also appeared.Nice to see him again, and that he had taken some time out of his revision schedule to come for some photos. Around the same time, Adam Malarkey came across, I'm sure he'd come across before this moment in time, but it was such a long day I can barely remember, lol.
This was when they started to line the five Wright Streetlites up at the top, so as we walked back up so Dan could take his photos, we got there as they were reversing ''MAX'' 1594 into position. Some mass photo-taking ensued, before I rejoined Adrian amongst the crowd, and along with Adam Y and Jimmi, we headed across to see the Arriva haulage. The driver seemed extremely friendly, and allowed the four of us to have a sit down on the ''Sapphire'' E400 that had been brought along. Being naughty by sitting in the OAP seats, a few enthusiasts came and went, either poking around in the cab or having a look around inside, before I went across to the 23-branded Streetlite, which had just been reparked after the photoshoot, to ask the driver for permission to have a look inside the cab. He happily obliged, and I sat in the cab and changed the destination around a few times, before hopping out so a girl of a similar age could have a look inside. Not before Adrian took a photo of me at the wheel......hehe.
It was coming up to 13:20, and Sean messaged me saying he was off his Pacer back from Morpeth, and was about to get on the Tanfield shuttle. The other three agreed it would be a nice run out on whatever was operating this run, which I delighted to be told by Sean was Olympian 3818! Not only is it an Olympian, but it's based at Riverside, which in all fairness, rarely see public use! Bus was scheduled to leave at 13:30, and we got there just in the nick of time at 13:28. I was honestly about to head upstairs, thinking Sean would be up there, but then I spotted him sitting towards the middle downstairs. Adrian sat behind the stairwell, Adam sat roughly opposite Sean on the left hand side, and Jimmi and I sat in front of Adam, to give you all an idea. Expecting a lovely ride to the Tanfield Railway and back (hopefully offering some nice photos up at the main entrance!) we were disappointed when we hit major traffic coming out of the MetroCentre. Unfortunately, it seemed there just wasn't enough time for us to go all the way to Tanfield, and the driver doubled back to the MetroCentre. Nonetheless, a nice 20 minutes on this Olympian, even though the traffic didn't allow us to get up to any impressive speeds, it was a great little ride out!
Once back at the Coach Park, Sean, who works for DRS (Direct Rail Services), said there were two light-engine Class 37s due through at 14:45. The time by this point was 14:00, so Jimmi, Adrian and I headed into the MetroCentre for something to eat, while Sean and Adam made their way back into the rally site. A quick trip to Gregg's ensued, before the three of us walked down into the Interchange to eat. After finishing, I told the other two I was heading back to find Sean, as it was 14:25 and the 37s were due at 14:45. I bumped into Adam as I walked in, who stopped and asked where Adrian and Jimmi were. Likewise I asked him where Sean was, and after explaining we headed in different directions. Finally found Sean near the Go North East vehicles, and we headed to the railway station.
After getting photos of the DRS Class 37s, we saw Jimmi and Adrian on the other platform, and met them up at the top, as they used the elevator. Sean said he was heading in for some water, and I told him I'd join him. Had a nice chat as we aimlessly wandered, trying to find B&Ms, but having to settle for Poundland after finding out B&Ms was over in the retail park! Coincidentally, we saw Adam also queueing, so waited for him to come out. Our little group headed back, the time by this point was 15:00, and Sean's F805FAO left at 16:00, so I asked if he fancied another ride on the shuttles. He liked the idea, as did Adam, so we decided to board the first things we saw going out on shuttle services. This happened to be The Eden's ''Leopard 14'', with a Bristol LH behind it. We were torn between the two, Adam said the LH would be an experience, but at first it seemed it wasn't quite ready to go out. So, we boarded the Leopard, and took our seats behind each other, with Adam in front just a couple of seats behind the cab, then Sean and myself sharing. As we pulled away, I could immediately tell we were on a real bus. This Leyland Leopard was an absolute workhorse, no doubt one of the best rides of the day. Headed to the Scotswood area and back, where we stopped for a photo opportunity, which we and a few others took full advantage of. Once back, it was 15:30, so we bade farewell. Sean hovered around the shuttle area, and Adam decided to have a ride on the Bristol VR that the 500 Group had brought along, while I headed up.
Bumping into Sean later on, I said goodbye to him and thanked him for the company, while he made his way up to F805FAO. Not an eventful trip back - 4964 on the X66 back to Gateshead, then 6061 on the 21 home. I must thank all of the people I met today, it was great to meet with others from the forum, and also everyone who brought vehicles along to the event. Certainly a day to remember!
Marcus