Winlaton was originally served by Hurst's buses, who were taken over by Northern in the mid 50' I think, their depot was where Winlaton library now stands

(02 Feb 2014, 6:29 pm)speedwheels22 wrote Half of the bus drivers look sick anyways never smile Attitude is disgraceful want to be greatfull they got a job when it says on there buses respect our staff should say respect our passergers in the drivers cab

One thing I can't fault GNE for is the standard of their drivers. Almost all I've come across are cheerful, helpful and smart, much more so than the average Arriva driver (and much more than I ever was, I admit.)

Has 564 been out yet on Peterlee services yet? I haven't seen it, but I may have missed it.
Also when will the remaining MPD's be branded? All ex-Venture ones remain in part-venture taglines with some in plain yellow.

(02 Feb 2014, 8:28 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Has 564 been out yet on Peterlee services yet? I haven't seen it, but I may have missed it.

Yes it has.

(02 Feb 2014, 6:40 pm)andreos1 wrote Having never been on a Blaydon Racers bus, do you know if the lyrics were written out on there?
....gannin along the Scotswoooooood Road....

I don't think they are... besides, wouldn't the 49 be going the wrong way if it ended up on Scotswood Road?

(02 Feb 2014, 9:08 pm)BJ10VUS wrote I don't think they are... besides, wouldn't the 49 be going the wrong way if it ended up on Scotswood Road?

Same with the 71 (or 34) going anywhere near Worm Hill :p

Seriously though, didn't one or two of the Blaydon Racers brand go along Scotswood Road at one point?

(02 Feb 2014, 9:58 pm)andreos1 wrote Same with the 71 (or 34) going anywhere near Worm Hill :p

Seriously though, didn't one or two of the Blaydon Racers brand go along Scotswood Road at one point?

Back in the day when the 31/32 were part of the brand.

(02 Feb 2014, 10:00 pm)Kuyoyo wrote Back in the day when the 31/32 were part of the brand.

Yep, they spoilt the brand when they decided to put the 48/49/49A into the brand. The only real connection with the 'Blaydon Racers' now is the fact that they go via Blaydon.

(02 Feb 2014, 9:58 pm)andreos1 wrote Same with the 71 (or 34) going anywhere near Worm Hill :p

Seriously though, didn't one or two of the Blaydon Racers brand go along Scotswood Road at one point?

Yes the Toonlink Services 31/32

(02 Feb 2014, 7:05 pm)Dan wrote I do.
I'm just terribly slow at uploading photos, hence delay in news and fleet list updates.

I should have them up by 8.

Or half 10.....................

See photographs here... A selection of photographs are shown below too:







Far too late to do the news now, so will have to settle for tomorrow night instead - only 8 days late!

Nice pic's Dan
Your better off doing the news tomorrow, hopefully the fleet allocation is updated tomorrow..

Someone should put the last fleet allocation in the bygone area because its the last 1 with gateshead and winlaton on.

Also put the first fleet allocation with Riverside on.

Do the buses carry 'chips' to operate the lift-barriers? - or is there a human in a box?

Nice photographs BTW - give a good impression of the new site!

Thanks above! Nice to have positive comments on the photographs I upload - makes the '14 hour shifts' worth it!

Indeed they have a 'chip' or card of some sort, so the barrier opens automatically. All vehicles (including ancillary) have them. Did look like the gate found the vans harder to detect though - had to go forwards and backwards a bit.

eezypeazy (I think - forgive me if it was someone else) mentioned it a few pages ago in regards to the Toon Link B7RLEs being VOR.

(02 Feb 2014, 11:11 pm)Dan wrote Thanks above! Nice to have positive comments on the photographs I upload - makes the '14 hour shifts' worth it!

Indeed they have a 'chip' or card of some sort, so the barrier opens automatically. All vehicles (including ancillary) have them. Did look like the gate found the vans harder to detect though - had to go forwards and backwards a bit.

eezypeazy (I think - forgive me if it was someone else) mentioned it a few pages ago in regards to the Toon Link B7RLEs being VOR.

i could help ya with the news if ya want but then you could reword it just to save the stress and then you could post it on your site news section of NEB

(02 Feb 2014, 11:23 pm)Bazza Houston wrote i could help ya with the news if ya want but then you could reword it just to save the stress and then you could post it on your site news section of NEB

We have a private section on the forum where the site's mods do that.
Of course you could use the 'Submit News' feature on the news page itself if you'd like to help too! 'Tis the green tab on the news page.

(02 Feb 2014, 11:11 pm)Dan wrote Thanks above! Nice to have positive comments on the photographs I upload - makes the '14 hour shifts' worth it!

Indeed they have a 'chip' or card of some sort, so the barrier opens automatically. All vehicles (including ancillary) have them. Did look like the gate found the vans harder to detect though - had to go forwards and backwards a bit.

eezypeazy (I think - forgive me if it was someone else) mentioned it a few pages ago in regards to the Toon Link B7RLEs being VOR.

Thought it was ANPR cameras? Not as successful as everyone thought at the Airport last summer, lost count of the amount of times I had to buzz them...!

(02 Feb 2014, 11:26 pm)tyresmoke wrote Thought it was ANPR cameras? Not as successful as everyone thought at the Airport last summer, lost count of the amount of times I had to buzz them...!

ANPR would be a strange choice. It wasn't designed to offer single factor authentication, and as such, offers very little (if any) security...

Have all the Ex Citylink Citaros now gone ?

Did they all go to Ensign ?

(02 Feb 2014, 11:58 pm)Arcticrossy92 wrote Have all the Ex Citylink Citaros now gone ?

Did they all go to Ensign ?

Yes and no - they were sold in part exchange for the Versas using Optare Direct.

Have the cobalt deckers entered service yet and the resulting cascades taken place?

(03 Feb 2014, 7:38 am)nk55 wrote Have the cobalt deckers entered service yet and the resulting cascades taken place?

No not yet.

5152 has just conked out whilst going round a roundabout on the 17 this morning, these sort of issues are starting to become a lot more common 3 times last week i had to change buses at Asda so a centurion B10 could go back to the depot (anyone else experienced this issue?) surely it cant be safe that these buses can conk out sometimes? Bus has to stay stationery for a couple of mins before the driver can get the engine going again

(03 Feb 2014, 8:15 am)Wellsey18 wrote 5152 has just conked out whilst going round a roundabout on the 17 this morning, these sort of issues are starting to become a lot more common 3 times last week i had to change buses at Asda so a centurion B10 could go back to the depot (anyone else experienced this issue?) surely it cant be safe that these buses can conk out sometimes? Bus has to stay stationery for a couple of mins before the driver can get the engine going again

I've saw them broken down a few times, hence the huge amount of Lolynes on the service recently.

(03 Feb 2014, 8:16 am)Tom wrote I've saw them broken down a few times, hence the huge amount of Lolynes on the service recently.

well the one im on this morning seems to have a huge lack of power and the engines already conked out once, its a shame this service never got solars, and its bound to get omnicities in the future (think so)

Whats going to happen to 4911 when the new cc deckers enter service, painted red?

(03 Feb 2014, 8:15 am)Wellsey18 wrote 5152 has just conked out whilst going round a roundabout on the 17 this morning, these sort of issues are starting to become a lot more common 3 times last week i had to change buses at Asda so a centurion B10 could go back to the depot (anyone else experienced this issue?) surely it cant be safe that these buses can conk out sometimes? Bus has to stay stationery for a couple of mins before the driver can get the engine going again

I was waiting to get on the 9 at North Shields last Thursday and 5155 was taken out of service due to vehicle defect resulting in a wait for 5153 to be brought from the depot. So looks like the reliability of these buses is affecting the 9 as well as the 17.

(03 Feb 2014, 7:38 am)nk55 wrote Have the cobalt deckers entered service yet and the resulting cascades taken place?

(03 Feb 2014, 7:48 am)Michael wrote No not yet.

Yis they are, at least three B9s in service today I'm told.

(03 Feb 2014, 11:20 am)mattdw92 wrote Yis they are, at least three B9s in service today I'm told.

Ah cool....

Fleet list been updated. Looks like 5204 now part of laser. Doesn't show 5210 being transferred to Hexham though

(03 Feb 2014, 11:59 am)JP6004 wrote Fleet list been updated. Looks like 5204 now part of laser. Doesn't show 5210 being transferred to Hexham though

5204 is now at Saltmeadows for repaint.