1207 Newton Aycliffe - Bishop Auckland (Northern 142021)
1313 X1 Bishop Auckland - Shildon (ANE 1511)
1544 5A Shildon King William - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1428)
First I headed to Bishop Auckland as I wanted a photo of SB Travel's recently acquired Solo VU52UEF. I opted for the Northern service to Bishop Auckland as who knows when the 5/5A would turn up with it being battered by all the roadworks in Darlington but also the train takes about 10 minutes whilst the 5/5A takes about 40! Pacer 142021 turned up for this journey which was good as I've not had this one, now... this has to be one of the better Pacer's I've been on, now comes the dirty secret... I actually don't mind the 142's, so long as the seats are okay, I actually don't think they are that bad! Most the passengers on-board departed at Shildon for the Shildon Shed Bash Event as I expected, especially as this was one of a number of extra journeys that have been put on for this event, effectively creating an hourly frequency between Darlington and Bishop Auckland rather than the usual two hour frequency... Can Flying Scotsman come to Shildon more often so I can have more train journeys?
After departing the train I walked into the town centre with me heading to Poundland for some Pepsi, annoyingly I got stuck in a bit of a queue and then another till was opened, sadly the woman in front of me seemingly had nowhere better to be than Poundland and as there was a rack of stuff to the side of me I was stuck behind her with the people behind me getting served before me! If you think that was annoying enough, the cashier then said that one of her purchase's was 3 for a £1 so of course she took advantage of the offer disappearing off to add to complete the offer, leaving me to stand in the shop like a melon whilst she went off, you should have heard how loud I sighed when she went off. Eventually I got served and after spending 5 MINUTES!!! in there. Seriously!
Not much happened after that other than two lads shouting BOGIES! seriously, how many years ago is it since Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow was last on TV? Think you need a more up to date TV references lads!
Photographed the thing I came for, pleased as I've had a few failed attempts at catching it, was fearful that it wasn't going to appear today after seeing the usual Solo on the 9 as my friend saw the Solo that normally does the 108 on the 9 on Monday, so I feared it would be back on 108's today, even though it's destination screens are kaput at the moment. Was going to jump on the 5A but just missed it but fortunately was able to get the X1 and mercifully got Pulsar 1511 instead of a StreetLite. Was surprised to see/hear it having next stop announcements especially as at the time they were done the StreetLite's didn't have NSA's, they are in the same style as they are on the 1/5/5A as it's the same set up. think the 1B is as well.
Then snapped the Park and Ride services for the Shildon Shed Bash Event, annoyingly missed the one The Eden was doing which was even worse as it was a bus I didn't have. Then made my way to Shildon King William which is where most of the buses stop in Shildon and was hoping another target would appear which was Weardale's recently acquired ex WebberBus Solo YJ59GGA which I'm pleased to say is what turned up on the 7 this afternoon.
Then 1428 was my chariot home on the 5A.
Thanks for reading, photos in the usual place.