(14 Jan 2014, 2:36 pm)aureolin wrote Currently planning a few days out for the end of Jan. I was thinking of an early start from Durham to Darlington on the 7, photo some of the sapphires and gas buses in Darlington, head across to Boro on the X66 to see what's out, head up to Newcastle and then across to Consett for the venture solos. I'll draw a route up when I'm home.
Any suggestions or tips?
Also was thinking of a trip to Carlisle to see the Stagecoach Gold. Anyone done this and is it worth the day out?
I did a trip to Carlisle on 15th November and in my opinion it was a good day out.
I used the Arriva North East Day Saver at £7.30 (now £7.50) and visited Newcastle for GNE’s promotion of the new Saltwell Park Buses. I then took the Arriva 685 which departed Newcastle around 10.45 and arrived In Carlisle just before 13.00. The journey was on a Pulsar with a loading of around 60% with on time running throughout the route.
The arrival time at Carlisle Bus Station was perfect for my plan to get a photo of Stagecoach Gold as one approached within a few minutes of my arrival. The arrival time also coincided with a lot of activity with long distance coaches arriving and departing.
I walked round to the bus stands outside the Market Hall where most local services stop on either side of the road. There was a good selection of Stagecoach, Reay’s, a couple of small operators and the daily bus to Lockerbie from Houston’s Coaches.
I then went to the area near the Railway Station to get some photos of First Borders X95 and some of Reay’s City Hopper buses. I finished off my day with a walk round the main one way system where I managed to get a few more photos.
My late afternoon return journey was probably the low light of my day. I was at the bus stand before the 685 bus arrived and there were so many people waiting in front of me I was standing on the Arriva Omnicity from Carlisle to Brampton. By the time we had reached Corbridge the bus was running 20 minutes late resulting in the driver leaving the bus to use his mobile phone to report the late running. The late running as far as Corbridge was mainly due to passenger numbers as the traffic had not been too bad. We lost another 10 minutes between Corbridge and Newcastle due to traffic congestion.
Overall a great day out and while the return journey was not ideal it was a Friday and the bus was busy with families travelling to the Children in Need event in Hexham so my next trip to Carlisle will be a mid week one.