(26 Jun 2015, 11:21 am)Charles41 wrote Yesterday I visited Carlisle to do a bit spotting and get some photos. I took the 8.45 from Newcastle Eldon Square. The service was operated by Stagecoach using 27142. It was a good ride and weather was fine. The service only had a few people on it when it left town. However it filled up by the time it reached Hexham.Interesting day out Charles, good reading!
I disembarked at Crossbank, Haltwhistle at 10.21, the bus was supposed to arrive at there at 10.13. I visited the Primrose Coaches garage which had two vehicles present. I then walked into the town centre via Central Avenue to check on the minibus fleet of Sproul Taxis. Unfortunately no vehicles were present. I then walked down to Townfoot to look at the Tyne Valley Coaches garage. There were no Tyne Valley Coaches vehicles present. The depot is now the home of Derek Armstrong Coaches. They are a new operator with a small fleet of 3 Setras. Mr Armstrong was washing his vehicles and was happy for me to look round and get some photos.
Next door to Armstrong’s garage is the NCC depot. This is used by ADAPT to stable minibuses working on the 681 Haltwhistle-Slaggyford route between services. I wanted to get some photos but there was no-one in the council depot when I went to ask for permission. The recycling depot next to the council garage contained an old decker which appeared to formerly belong to a religious group. However it was too far away from the road to get any further details.
Time was now getting on as I wanted to get the 11.13 bus to Carlisle; I just had time to look at the Tynedale Group Travel garage. I was rewarded with 4 very smart Neoplan Coaches, 2 Mercedes minibuses and also 3 midibuses operating on private hire plates. Unfortunately I did not have time to go round the depot so could not record full details of the vehicles. If anyone is in the Haltwhistle area please could they take a look and get the details. The PSV circle only records 3 coaches and 1 minibus in its latest fleet list.
I ran up to the main road along a track and up to the nearest bus stop, passing the former Spotted Cow public house in the process. I was halfway to the bus stop when it came around the corner. Luckily there was a guy waiting and I just made it to the bus, which was Stagecoach 27141. The bus was rather busy and got even fuller at Brampton. The journey was smooth and we arrived on time at Carlisle.
Carlisle has some excellent locations for photography and thoroughly enjoyed myself over the next 3 hours. The Enviros on the Stagecoach Gold service look really spectacular. The new minibuses also look really smart in their route branded liveries. My only gripe is the small size of the fleet numbers on the Stagecoach vehicles. There was an old guy spotting near the bus station and he had to use binoculars!
I also had a good look round the shops at Carlisle especially Bookends which have a really good range of railway books in their basement. I got the 15.07 bus from Carlisle to Hexham. This was Arriva 1496. The bus was busy but left on time in deteriorating weather conditions. By the time the bus reached Brampton, the skies had well and truly opened. Lots of people alighted at Brampton but a large contingent of school kids got on. They amused themselves by taking photos of each other and selfies. Despite the weather, the journey was very good and the driver arrived on time at Hexham.
I got off near the Police Station at Hexham and walked down to Burn Lane. There I had a look at the GNE garage. I was rewarded at the sight of former GNE training vehicles which are now used as school buses. There was also a Stanley Travel minibus stabled at the garage. This would appear to have been used on a schools contract. There was also a new coach YN55PNB in all over white. I was unable to find out who this belongs to.
After leaving the GNE garage I had a look at the ADAPT, Bateys and Ecocabs garages which are all close to each other on the Haugh Lane Industrial Estate. I also checked out the main car park in Hexham where Baynes Travel park their vehicles between contracts. I was able to catch the 16.53 X85 which was operated by GNE 5231. This is an excellent service; we arrived promptly in Newcastle Eldon Square despite it being rush hour.
All in all it was an excellent day, I only wish the 10.13 had arrived at Haltwhistle on time so I could have looked around the TGT garage and got some photos of their impressive Neoplans. I would recommend Carlisle to anyone for a day’s spotting. Reay’s also had some interesting vehicles on their Carlisle services.
Charles
Specific points - the Stanley Travel minibus and the white Scania coach (YN55PZB by the way), are both on temporary loan to Go North East for the former Snaith's school contracts.
Hope that helps