I'm just not convinced they'll pull it off withdrawing all the Belmont ALX400's haha. I know there's some more Liverpool pulsars to come, can't help think it would be better to use them to replace Solo's cause we've got far too many in the region, then get some more ex-London vehicles to Durham for the X46/48

I do wonder if some of the decker output at Belmont could be downsized to single deckers (most likely Pulsar's) although the 48/X46 is a weird one as for much of the day you could manage with single deckers but it gets very busy at peak times especially with schools/college loadings. Think the only scholars now at Belmont (excluding East Durham College services) is the 865 from Croxdale to St John's School in Bishop which is one decker that just does that run on the morning & afternoon, the lunchtime ED2 and afternoon 6 to Barnard Castle.

24 of the ex London VDL DB300's have been advertised for sale through some Bus Sales dealer

I do wonder if some of the decker output at Belmont could be downsized to single deckers (most likely Pulsar's) although the 48/X46 is a weird one as for much of the day you could manage with single deckers but it gets very busy at peak times especially with schools/college loadings. Think the only scholars now at Belmont (excluding East Durham College services) is the 865 from Croxdale to St John's School in Bishop which is one decker that just does that run on the morning & afternoon, the lunchtime ED2 and afternoon 6 to Barnard Castle.

24 of the ex London VDL DB300's have been advertised for sale through some Bus Sales dealer

If they are Euro 6, GNE should pick like 5-10 of them up. 

For Deptford, Consett. And maybe some for Washington

Given the need for spares and summer increases I imagine the X14 is more likely to be worked by classic E400 and presumably some older examples will be retained for the 35 replacing 7411/45/46/84/86. At the very least Jesmond need three deckers to replace 7412/15/91, which leaves 11 left over.  Belmont still has 5 Gemini's which will presumably be replaced. Perhaps the remaining six will be used to replace single decks that can in turn replace excess Solo's. The 12 E200's are rumoured for Jesmond (new Newcastle depot) for the Solo operated services.

Working it out, there'd still be 3x 14/64/15 reg classic E400 spare if 12x were allocated to the 43/44/45. Obviously the quieter X14 boards in the summer could be worked by something else.

If 7514-17 & 7510 (non standard) aren't leaving Northumbria, they'd make good use on the 35.

Ideally, some more investment next year to replace 7401-06 and with a Euro 6 conversion, they could provide a hell of a lot of flexibility between Ashington, Redcar and Whitby for spares & PVR increases.

If Blyth (that's depending on orders) presumably stuck with WrightBus like the DB300s and ended up with OM934 StreetDecks, would make sense to tag 6x OM936 StreetDecks on top of that order for the X93/X94

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If they are Euro 6, GNE should pick like 5-10 of them up. 

For Deptford, Consett. And maybe some for Washington

Why would GNE want or need DB300's?

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Has there been any information regarding the spec of the new E400MMCs? I've said this before but will be very interesting to see if they stick with Voith or revert back to ZF with S/S available.

Will the interior spec be Sapphire?

I'm just not convinced they'll pull it off withdrawing all the Belmont ALX400's haha. I know there's some more Liverpool pulsars to come, can't help think it would be better to use them to replace Solo's cause we've got far too many in the region, then get some more ex-London vehicles to Durham for the X46/48

Is there actually many Solo's which are officially in use now? It's very hard to tell what's going on with Durham lately as there's about 15 vehicles off the road currently. I'm assuming it must be extremely low though especially when the 86 goes (on paper at least). Jesmond's are on borrowed time with the Enviro 200 MMC's. That just leaves Darlington and Whitby which are a bit more difficult as the routes are all running around estates where full size singles would be useless. They do need to go though, wonder what the refurbished Ashington stock is though and maybe more might be coming to see off more down in Darlington.

Working it out, there'd still be 3x 14/64/15 reg classic E400 spare if 12x were allocated to the 43/44/45. Obviously the quieter X14 boards in the summer could be worked by something else.

If 7514-17 & 7510 (non standard) aren't leaving Northumbria, they'd make good use on the 35.

Ideally, some more investment next year to replace 7401-06 and with a Euro 6 conversion, they could provide a hell of a lot of flexibility between Ashington, Redcar and Whitby for spares & PVR increases.

If Blyth (that's depending on orders) presumably stuck with WrightBus like the DB300s and ended up with OM934 StreetDecks, would make sense to tag 6x OM936 StreetDecks on top of that order for the X93/X94

Unless there's Pulsars moving out of Jesmond then there's 15 Pulsars for the 306/685. Some of them will be going on the 43/44/45 and it makes sense there's no need for Deckers there. 7501 - 7509 only ended up there to shut up Gosforth and were too knackered to do anything else imo. Not to mention the 4 58 plates and the 1 14 plate aswell. Can't see them getting 12 Deckers like.

One noticeable thing is though if these changes are getting setup for the new depot changes in the future then the Pulsars need to leave Blyth as there isn't space for them if the 52/53/54 and it's Streetlite's are moving to Blyth.

Is there actually many Solo's which are officially in use now? It's very hard to tell what's going on with Durham lately as there's about 15 vehicles off the road currently. I'm assuming it must be extremely low though especially when the 86 goes (on paper at least). Jesmond's are on borrowed time with the Enviro 200 MMC's. That just leaves Darlington and Whitby which are a bit more difficult as the routes are all running around estates where full size singles would be useless. They do need to go though, wonder what the refurbished Ashington stock is though and maybe more might be coming to see off more down in Darlington.



Unless there's Pulsars moving out of Jesmond then there's 15 Pulsars for the 306/685. Some of them will be going on the 43/44/45 and it makes sense there's no need for Deckers there. 7501 - 7509 only ended up there to shut up Gosforth and were too knackered to do anything else imo. Not to mention the 4 58 plates and the 1 14 plate aswell. Can't see them getting 12 Deckers like.

One noticeable thing is though if these changes are getting setup for the new depot changes in the future then the Pulsars need to leave Blyth as there isn't space for them if the 52/53/54 and it's Streetlite's are moving to Blyth.

Loss of the 86 only really saves one bus from the current 56/86 cycle and should be interesting to see what happens as the 6, 7 & 64 are going back up in frequency from the same (although still not pre lockdown levels on the 6 & 64)

Is there actually many Solo's which are officially in use now? It's very hard to tell what's going on with Durham lately as there's about 15 vehicles off the road currently. I'm assuming it must be extremely low though especially when the 86 goes (on paper at least). Jesmond's are on borrowed time with the Enviro 200 MMC's. That just leaves Darlington and Whitby which are a bit more difficult as the routes are all running around estates where full size singles would be useless. They do need to go though, wonder what the refurbished Ashington stock is though and maybe more might be coming to see off more down in Darlington.

Unless there's Pulsars moving out of Jesmond then there's 15 Pulsars for the 306/685. Some of them will be going on the 43/44/45 and it makes sense there's no need for Deckers there. 7501 - 7509 only ended up there to shut up Gosforth and were too knackered to do anything else imo. Not to mention the 4 58 plates and the 1 14 plate aswell. Can't see them getting 12 Deckers like.

One noticeable thing is though if these changes are getting setup for the new depot changes in the future then the Pulsars need to leave Blyth as there isn't space for them if the 52/53/54 and it's Streetlite's are moving to Blyth.

Durham still have 7 Solo's, I'd argue they shouldn't have any tbh, unless passenger numbers are lower on the 49/49A/57/57A these days. The thing with Jesmond is they have more than 12 Solo's, as some are allocated to the 52/53/54, but like you say the depot re-jig should see an end to that. The ones at Whitby are sound just running around on the 95. Darlington have withdrawn all the Omnicities because there were PVR decreases on the town services which are solo operated. So now you have Solo's running around on the X26/27/66/67/75/76, so they could deffo do with more Pulsars.

I reckon, Blyth will do the X7/X8/X9/X10/X11/308 with the 31 DB300's, then 12 E400's operating either the 43 or 306 not sure if that would leave enough spare for that PVR. Then ofc the Streetlites for the 52/53/54. I reckon the new Walkergate depot could be just single decks, doing the E200 operated services, the 43 (could go Ashington alternatively) or 306, 44/45 and 685.

Loss of the 86 only really saves one bus from the current 56/86 cycle and should be interesting to see what happens as the 6, 7 & 64 are going back up in frequency from the same (although still not pre lockdown levels on the 6 & 64)

Thanks for that, thought it was 2 but didn't realise it interworked with 56. Makes sense though. Definitely though especially with all the vehicles off the road.

Durham still have 7 Solo's, I'd argue they shouldn't have any tbh, unless passenger numbers are lower on the 49/49A/57/57A these days. The thing with Jesmond is they have more than 12 Solo's, as some are allocated to the 52/53/54, but like you say the depot re-jig should see an end to that. The ones at Whitby are sound just running around on the 95. Darlington have withdrawn all the Omnicities because there were PVR decreases on the town services which are solo operated. So now you have Solo's running around on the X26/27/66/67/75/76, so they could deffo do with more Pulsars.

I reckon, Blyth will do the X7/X8/X9/X10/X11/308 with the 31 DB300's, then 12 E400's operating either the 43 or 306 not sure if that would leave enough spare for that PVR. Then ofc the Streetlites for the 52/53/54. I reckon the new Walkergate depot could be just single decks, doing the E200 operated services, the 43 (could go Ashington alternatively) or 306, 44/45 and 685.

Isn't there 14 Enviro 200 MMC's which I'm assuming are going to be MPD length (8.5m I think) to replace the Solo's there coming. I do agree with the rest of it though mind pretty much, but the X7-X11 will need more buses than that as there is currently Pulsars on daily, believe roughly 3 boards on the X7/X8/X9.

Personally though my random guess is:

Ashington:
1/2 - 8x Pulsar
35 - 2x Pulsar (1493 / 1501) / 2x Enviro 400 MMC
X20 - 2x Enviro 400 MMC / 2x Pulsar (1408 / 1411)
X21/X22 - Enviro 400 MMC
X14 - Pulsar (1502 - 1505) - Interworking with something??
X15 - Enviro 400 MMC
X18 - 6x Enviro 400 MMC
57/57A - Unknown

Blyth:
X7/X8/X9 - 14x Gemini
X10/X11 - ??? (7529 - 7533, 7553 - 7556 maybe?)
306/308 - 17x Gemini
52/53/54 - Streetlites

Jesmond:
43/44/45 - 6x Enviro 400 (7522 / 7524 - 7528) / 8x Pulsar (1500 / 1537 - 1543)
47 - Pulsar
685 - Pulsar (Sapphires)
Minibuses - Enviro 200 MMC

Other Depots:
X93/X94 Spares - 7557 / 7558 - 7560 / 7562
X46 - 7514 - 7517 / 7519 - 7521
B7TL Spare replacement - 7501 - 7509 / 7511 - 7512 (Spread between Blyth, Jesmond and Durham - maybe some at Ashington aswell).

I'm expecting to be very wrong

Durham still have 7 Solo's, I'd argue they shouldn't have any tbh, unless passenger numbers are lower on the 49/49A/57/57A these days. The thing with Jesmond is they have more than 12 Solo's, as some are allocated to the 52/53/54, but like you say the depot re-jig should see an end to that. The ones at Whitby are sound just running around on the 95. Darlington have withdrawn all the Omnicities because there were PVR decreases on the town services which are solo operated. So now you have Solo's running around on the X26/27/66/67/75/76, so they could deffo do with more Pulsars. 

I reckon, Blyth will do the X7/X8/X9/X10/X11/308 with the 31 DB300's, then 12 E400's operating either the 43 or 306 not sure if that would leave enough spare for that PVR. Then ofc the Streetlites for the 52/53/54. I reckon the new Walkergate depot could be just single decks, doing the E200 operated services, the 43 (could go Ashington alternatively) or 306, 44/45 and 685.

Saw a Solo on the X66 yesterday PM approaching Boro and it was rammed.

Thanks for that, thought it was 2 but didn't realise it interworked with 56. Makes sense though. Definitely though especially with all the vehicles off the road.


Isn't there 14 Enviro 200 MMC's which I'm assuming are going to be MPD length (8.5m I think) to replace the Solo's there coming. I do agree with the rest of it though mind pretty much, but the X7-X11 will need more buses than that as there is currently Pulsars on daily, believe roughly 3 boards on the X7/X8/X9.

Personally though my random guess is:

Ashington:
1/2 - 8x Pulsar
35 - 2x Pulsar (1493 / 1501) / 2x Enviro 400 MMC
X20 - 2x Enviro 400 MMC / 2x Pulsar (1408 / 1411)
X21/X22 - Enviro 400 MMC
X14 - Pulsar (1502 - 1505) - Interworking with something??
X15 - Enviro 400 MMC
X18 - 6x Enviro 400 MMC
57/57A - Unknown

Blyth:
X7/X8/X9 - 14x Gemini
X10/X11 - ??? (7529 - 7533, 7553 - 7556 maybe?)
306/308 - 17x Gemini
52/53/54 - Streetlites

Jesmond:
43/44/45 - 6x Enviro 400 (7522 / 7524 - 7528) / 8x Pulsar (1500 / 1537 - 1543)
47 - Pulsar
685 - Pulsar (Sapphires)
Minibuses - Enviro 200 MMC

Other Depots:
X93/X94 Spares - 7557 / 7558 - 7560 / 7562
X46 - 7514 - 7517 / 7519 - 7521
B7TL Spare replacement - 7501 - 7509 / 7511 - 7512 (Spread between Blyth, Jesmond and Durham - maybe some at Ashington aswell).

I'm expecting to be very wrong

I'm just not convinced they'll pull it off withdrawing all the Belmont ALX400's haha. I know there's some more Liverpool pulsars to come, can't help think it would be better to use them to replace Solo's cause we've got far too many in the region, then get some more ex-London vehicles to Durham for the X46/48

Redcar could do with some extra veachles  as there seem to be struggling at the moment and using optare solos on the X4 isn't the most suitable size for that' run

Saw a Solo on the X66 yesterday PM approaching Boro and it was rammed.

All too frequent of an occurrence these days sadly, really wish we could get some more suitably sized buses to run some of these out of town services at Darlington.

All too frequent of an occurrence these days sadly, really wish we could get some more suitably sized buses to run some of these out of town services at Darlington.

Short term, I can't see it doing the services any good at all. Particularly when there's the rail alternative for a proportion of the passengers.

Thanks for that, thought it was 2 but didn't realise it interworked with 56. Makes sense though. Definitely though especially with all the vehicles off the road.


Isn't there 14 Enviro 200 MMC's which I'm assuming are going to be MPD length (8.5m I think) to replace the Solo's there coming. I do agree with the rest of it though mind pretty much, but the X7-X11 will need more buses than that as there is currently Pulsars on daily, believe roughly 3 boards on the X7/X8/X9.

Personally though my random guess is:

Ashington:
1/2 - 8x Pulsar
35 - 2x Pulsar (1493 / 1501) / 2x Enviro 400 MMC
X20 - 2x Enviro 400 MMC / 2x Pulsar (1408 / 1411)
X21/X22 - Enviro 400 MMC
X14 - Pulsar (1502 - 1505) - Interworking with something??
X15 - Enviro 400 MMC
X18 - 6x Enviro 400 MMC
57/57A - Unknown

Blyth:
X7/X8/X9 - 14x Gemini
X10/X11 - ??? (7529 - 7533, 7553 - 7556 maybe?)
306/308 - 17x Gemini
52/53/54 - Streetlites

Jesmond:
43/44/45 - 6x Enviro 400 (7522 / 7524 - 7528) / 8x Pulsar (1500 / 1537 - 1543)
47 - Pulsar
685 - Pulsar (Sapphires)
Minibuses - Enviro 200 MMC

Other Depots:
X93/X94 Spares - 7557 / 7558 - 7560 / 7562
X46 - 7514 - 7517 / 7519 - 7521
B7TL Spare replacement - 7501 - 7509 / 7511 - 7512 (Spread between Blyth, Jesmond and Durham - maybe some at Ashington aswell).

I'm expecting to be very wrong

Yeah you're right it is 14, not sure where I got 12 from lol, that would be enough to replace 14 of the current 16 Solo's, presumably the last two will also get the boot. 

Personally I think it'll be:

Ashington:
1/2: 8 x Pulsar (1407/9/29/32/61/62/63/75)
35: 5 x ADL E400 (7509-12/14)
57/57A/58: 5 x Optare Solo (2845-49)
X14: 2 x ADL E400 + 1 x Pulsar (7515/16/1408)
X15: 4 x New MMC's
X18: 5 x New MMC's
X20: 4 x New MMC's 
X21/X22: 7544-7552 + 6 x New MMC's
Spare: 1411, 1497, 2842-44, 7517, 7541-7543 (allocated to X14 if no MMC's VOR)

Blyth:
X7/X8/X9: 14 x Gemini (7601-8/11-15 + 1 E400) 
X10/11: 8 x Gemini (7616-17/20-25)
308: 10 x Gemini (7628-7637)
43: 7 x E400 (7501-7507)
52/53/54: 13 x Streetlite (1575-78/81-89)
Spare: 1574, 7508, 7557/8/60/62 

Newcastle:
46/46A/51/51A: 5 x New E200
47: 1 x Pulsar (1499)
55: 3 x New E200
553: 2 x New E200
555: 1 x New E200
685: 3 x Pulsar (1479/1512/1513)
306: 8 x Pulsar (1495/96/1500-1505)
44/45: 5 x Pulsar (1537-41)
Spare: 1480, 1493, 1542/43, 3 x New E200

Not sure if I've left enough spares but potentially: 7522-7528, 7529-7533, 7553-7556 could all go to the North East depots

Yeah you're right it is 14, not sure where I got 12 from lol, that would be enough to replace 14 of the current 16 Solo's, presumably the last two will also get the boot. 

Personally I think it'll be:

Ashington:
1/2: 8 x Pulsar (1407/9/29/32/61/62/63/75)
35: 5 x ADL E400 (7509-12/14)
57/57A/58: 5 x Optare Solo (2845-49)
X14: 2 x ADL E400 + 1 x Pulsar (7515/16/1408)
X15: 4 x New MMC's
X18: 5 x New MMC's
X20: 4 x New MMC's 
X21/X22: 7544-7552 + 6 x New MMC's
Spare: 1411, 1497, 2842-44, 7517, 7541-7543 (allocated to X14 if no MMC's VOR)

Blyth:
X7/X8/X9: 14 x Gemini (7601-8/11-15 + 1 E400) 
X10/11: 8 x Gemini (7616-17/20-25)
308: 10 x Gemini (7628-7637)
43: 7 x E400 (7501-7507)
52/53/54: 13 x Streetlite (1575-78/81-89)
Spare: 1574, 7508, 7557/8/60/62 

Newcastle:
46/46A/51/51A: 5 x New E200
47: 1 x Pulsar (1499)
55: 3 x New E200
553: 2 x New E200
555: 1 x New E200
685: 3 x Pulsar (1479/1512/1513)
306: 8 x Pulsar (1495/96/1500-1505)
44/45: 5 x Pulsar (1537-41)
Spare: 1480, 1493, 1542/43, 3 x New E200

Not sure if I've left enough spares but potentially: 7522-7528, 7529-7533, 7553-7556 could all go to the North East depots

We'll have to see, not too dissimilar though. I do think the 306/308 will interwork though as they do on a Sunday over the 43 at Blyth though.

I was told a couple of months ago that with the new housing developments in Hazlerigg and Dinnington that Arriva intend to keep deckers on the 44 and 45. There's always a chance that could have changed, but that was apparently their plan.

We'll have to see, not too dissimilar though. I do think the 306/308 will interwork though as they do on a Sunday over the 43 at Blyth though.

Only drawback I could see potentially would be the dead mileage from the 306. If that stayed at Walkergate, the 43 could go to Blyth with relief at Cramlington also for the 52/53/54 and perhaps a bait room?

The issue I can see for the latter group of services is driving hours as there's no way a driver could do all three in a cycle and remain within driving hours. But saying that, a bullet there and back job on the 54 must already happen now with drivers just doing a there and back before the same bus goes back to work the 52 & 53 cycle?

Or.......the 53 could go standalone during the day (5 hour round trip) with the 52 & 54 interworking?

Only drawback I could see potentially would be the dead mileage from the 306. If that stayed at Walkergate, the 43 could go to Blyth with relief at Cramlington also for the 52/53/54 and perhaps a bait room?

The issue I can see for the latter group of services is driving hours as there's no way a driver could do all three in a cycle and remain within driving hours. But saying that, a bullet there and back job on the 54 must already happen now with drivers just doing a there and back before the same bus goes back to work the 52 & 53 cycle?

Or.......the 53 could go standalone during the day (5 hour round trip) with the 52 & 54 interworking?

We talking about driver dead mileage or dead mileage in the morning/evening. If the latter it's not really much more than it is now. There's not too much difference between Tynemouth and Walkergate/Blyth. You have to remember most (if not all) the boards start on the Coast pretty much. If the 306 doesn't go back to every 30 minutes. You could make the case of extending the runs through to Whitley Bay in the evening aswell, they sit around doing nothing for 30 minutes at Tynemouth anyway so might aswell do something and the distance from Whitley to Blyth is negligible to Newcastle.

If the former they should be able to do 308 -> 306 -> 306 -> 308 with little issue.

The 50's are a bit of a mystery though, guess we'll have to see what happens there though.

In relation to suggestions of vehicle cascades when the new buses arrive, I am sure I read a post on here a while ago saying 7508, 9 and 22 had not had the euro 6 upgrades done. Does anyone know if they have been done now? If not I am just guessing they could be leaving Newcastle routes soon and cascaded to Durham.

Sorry I am not very informed with what's going on but I am interested in any details anyone has.

I was on 7629 yesterday for a change as opposed to the usual Volvo B9TL (was travelling from elsewhere on the Coast Road) and it felt very flat. Was holding gear for longer and taking a while to change up.

I don't remember a VDL DB300 being that flat and the driver definitely wasn't 'Sunday driving'.

Let's hope it's Blyth's turn next year.

I was on 7629 yesterday for a change as opposed to the usual Volvo B9TL (was travelling from elsewhere on the Coast Road) and it felt very flat. Was holding gear for longer and taking a while to change up.

I don't remember a VDL DB300 being that flat and the driver definitely wasn't 'Sunday driving'.

Let's hope it's Blyth's turn next year.

Was it not just in limp mode? It happens from time to time, sounds like what your describing there.

Was it not just in limp mode? It happens from time to time, sounds like what your describing there.

Could well have been that. I know the drivers econospeed was showing amber & red.

Away from 'shysters' and #betterthanever , any news on Northumbria's new arrivals this summer?

Away from 'shysters' and #betterthanever , any news on Northumbria's new arrivals this summer?

The first batch of Ashingtons new buses are due early next month, with the remainder arriving by the end of August.

Is it just a few weeks now until the first batch of new vehicles arrive?

Is it just a few weeks now until the first batch of new vehicles arrive?

That's if there still coming?

That's if there still coming?

Are there rumours they are not now?

Are there rumours they are not now?

Idk nothing has been mentioned since they were mentioned earlier this year or last year (can't remember when)

That's if there still coming?

Still due shortly as far as I know

I believe that they are all slightly delayed but due late July through August.

They’re starting to arrive


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