Go North East - The Queen's Platinum Jubilee 6337/YY64 GWX So much for this been on all routes. Like I predicted always riverside.  I knew it wouldn’t enter Sunderland or South Shields 

(20 Apr 2022, 10:25 pm)Acky81 wrote Go North East - The Queen's Platinum Jubilee 6337/YY64 GWX So much for this been on all routes. Like I predicted always riverside.  I knew it wouldn’t enter Sunderland or South Shields 

Same with all the new buses.

Typical

(20 Apr 2022, 11:02 pm)Unber43 wrote I have seen 20's, X20's Busier than the Xlines X72/31/30/70/71 reguarly, I think they only got new buses due to the Euro 6. 

At the time before covid, the intention (and it did pretty much happen) was to upgrade the Derwentside 'X' routes and for the upgrade to coincide with the new depot as well as developments in Consett Town Centre.

I do have a question about the initial order though and it is probably just a speculative one. Given that the Cobalt & Coast B9TLs received a substantial refurbishment almost like last minute, was the original decker order of 34x vehicles (I know 3x were ADL) not originally earmarked for the 309/310 & 56 with B9TLs then being cascaded as they were still fairly 'new' then?

If you look at 34x vehicles and the PVRs back at the start of the 2018/19 financial year:
- 309/310 - 16x + 2x spares
- 56 - 14x + 2x spares

That would've used up all 34x vehicles exactly with spares thrown in. And I know they would've been targets for losing B9TLs due to the 'stop-start' nature of the routes and previous unsuccessful GKN modification attempts to reduce fuel costs.

(20 Apr 2022, 11:34 pm)L469 YVK wrote At the time before covid, the intention (and it did pretty much happen) was to upgrade the Derwentside 'X' routes and for the upgrade to coincide with the new depot as well as developments in Consett Town Centre.

I do have a question about the initial order though and it is probably just a speculative one. Given that the Cobalt & Coast B9TLs received a substantial refurbishment almost like last minute, was the original decker order of 34x vehicles (I know 3x were ADL) not originally earmarked for the 309/310 & 56 with B9TLs then being cascaded as they were still fairly 'new' then?

If you look at 34x vehicles and the PVRs back at the start of the 2018/19 financial year:
- 309/310 - 16x + 2x spares
- 56 - 14x + 2x spares

That would've used up all 34x vehicles exactly with spares thrown in. And I know they would've been targets for losing B9TLs due to the 'stop-start' nature of the routes and previous unsuccessful GKN modification attempts to reduce fuel costs.

You're obsessed with cascading those B9's. Martijn confirmed way back in May 2019 that they were for Consett and Stanley, see here, and having 3 non-standard ADL as spares, that were obviously low-height for the X30, doesn't make sense

Also, there's already a thread for 6337's Jubilee Repaint (could a mod maybe merge the two?)

The X1s were the first B9s GNE had off the top of my head and were beginning to struggle due to the nature of the route so they were always going to be the first to be replaced.

Off the top of my head, the Consett services were up until the point the new buses arrived, made up of a mismatched allocation of singles and doubles - again, in my view it made sense to replace those first.

Every depot goes through phases of getting the newer buses if you look at it really. Deptford got a string of new buses between 7-10 years ago (B9s for the 56, StreetLites for the 20 and 60). Had it not been for COVID I reckon they'd have been next on the list for some new stock. The CAZ had given cause for a rethink but that's a factor largely outside of GNE's control.

The Jubilee Bus has still only been back out for about a month so I'd say give it a chance to stretch its legs yet. It will probably end up doing a stint at Consett and Chester since they both have (or had - can't remember if CLS still have any ADLs). It doesn't really make sense to send it to a depot which doesn't have ADLs for standardisation.

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