(08 Jul 2013, 9:13 am)Michael wrote I didn't know that, thank's

I don't like the orange on it either.. would be better red/blue

Here's a photo of the original livery.


(Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/32313490@N02/3578772065 - User: Forename Surname)

The grey stripe could be replaced with a blue one to make it more colourful I suppose, but even this livery looks better than the orange.

I emailed GNE about the Streetlites and Citaros, they said on the email,

Hi Michael,

I am sorry but that information is not available at the moment. I have been advised that when it is available it will be posted on our website.

Yes I agree that things are going backwards and GNE are becoming negative. Branding seems to being, partly at least, phased out and I always find it amazing that they find it so hard to get correctly branded vehicles on the right routes. It shouldn't be too hard to get this right, with just the occasional red Northern bus as a spare. Apart from this, branding is great and makes GNE stand out among the other companies and passengers definitely identify with it and many refer to their bus by its brand name and not its number. And the Whey-Aye 5-0 is the best and most inventive of the lot. The OK idea was great too, which is why I want to see it transferred to the X21. I think its also negative that the Open Line seems to have gone, but also that the on-line surveys have been replaced by invisible local ones - I had to hunt round and round for a North Sunderland one, as I use X3 quite regularly - at least they took some notice and half-heartedly kept the X3 at least once an hour to Newcastle - perhaps because me and the person I visit there were the only ones to find and return a survey form. As I've also said before, GNE need to look at their routes as a network and stop these far-too-frequent changes, often resulting in "bitty" services which together give a far less useful journey opportunities; I often think they want to kill off routes gradually, hence changes to the X3 and 99, or say they're providing for peoples' requests for new services by just hourly routes like X36 and 27X (why not X27) so they can say they've tried but they've not worked. I'm totally against the Nexus idea for Quality Contracts, but feel that with their far too frequent changes (usually cuts in disguise), GNE are making these more likely.

(08 Jul 2013, 9:46 am)AdamY wrote

(08 Jul 2013, 9:13 am)Michael wrote I didn't know that, thank's

I don't like the orange on it either.. would be better red/blue

Here's a photo of the original livery.


(Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/32313490@N02/3578772065 - User: Forename Surname)

The grey stripe could be replaced with a blue one to make it more colourful I suppose, but even this livery looks better than the orange.

Wasn't the 718 one of the forerunners to the 43/44 as it is now between Stanley and Durham?

Venture were also a company that were bought by Go-ahead to have some sort of recognition now (for how long is another matter).
Wonder what made GNE bring some acquistions back to life, but not others? Obviously Venture and Diamond, more recently OK, have been brought back as brands, but not others such as Shaws, Low Fell 'Cross Tyne', Redby, Calvary etc

The Redby colours was great, sure there was a mixture of different styles, i cant renember, i was only a kid at the time they ran.

I renember when they used to run the 14/14A for stagecoach in Sunderland (Currently part of the 5/5A route runs most of thier routes).

I would love them to have at least 1 bus in each depot to run as...

Wear buses (Deptford)
Go Gateshead (Sunderland Road Depot) and Etc

I miss the old livery's =(

I do believe drifter had more connections than some first thought.. I'm sure there's actually a fishing boat called a drifiter so on obvious connection of the former fishing industry. The logo also has a connection with the coast of Seaham.

(08 Jul 2013, 10:22 am)Andreos1 wrote

(08 Jul 2013, 9:46 am)AdamY wrote

(08 Jul 2013, 9:13 am)Michael wrote I didn't know that, thank's

I don't like the orange on it either.. would be better red/blue

Here's a photo of the original livery.


(Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/32313490@N02/3578772065 - User: Forename Surname)

The grey stripe could be replaced with a blue one to make it more colourful I suppose, but even this livery looks better than the orange.

Wasn't the 718 one of the forerunners to the 43/44 as it is now between Stanley and Durham?

Venture were also a company that were bought by Go-ahead to have some sort of recognition now (for how long is another matter).
Wonder what made GNE bring some acquistions back to life, but not others? Obviously Venture and Diamond, more recently OK, have been brought back as brands, but not others such as Shaws, Low Fell 'Cross Tyne', Redby, Calvary etc

Yup. The 718/719/720 were the forerunners to the current 43/44 service between Stanley and Durham. The 718 was also the number of the Chopwell to Durham service. Sometime in the early 80s, the route was cut back to Stanley. The Stanley to Rowlands Gill section was replaced by the 714/715 until the early-mid 2000's, when it was replaced by the 700 (operating a different route) before being withdrawn completely.

Yeah, Redby had a whole load of colours on their vehicles. Wonder if that's where GNE got their ideas from

The drifter fishing boats were used to catch Herring (I believe), but there hasn't been a Herring fleet from the North East for donkeys years.
It would be like calling a bus 'The Collier' or 'Tramp Steamer' lol

Oh I don't know. If one is to believe some of the complaints on GNE's Facebook page then it appears that they have buses in the fleet branded as 'Red Herrings' - you know, the sort that looks like a bus in service with passengers but doesn't stop when you stick your arm out.

...I'll get my coat.

i liked the old redby livery only 2 vehicles have survived today from the purchase 618/619 while the service 99 has survived on as a GNE Route but uses now MPDs which have had there day they really need optare solo sr for that route i also used to like the old northumbria coaches livery used to pass one of them buses on 414/516 route on the way to college used to like them leyland lynx really powered on them i liked them til they sold them i also used to like the optare deltas that was branded as northumbria buses and the alexander strider but still retained its red blue and yellow livery

(08 Jul 2013, 10:56 am)AdamY wrote Oh I don't know. If one is to believe some of the complaints on GNE's Facebook page then it appears that they have buses in the fleet branded as 'Red Herrings' - you know, the sort that looks like a bus in service with passengers but doesn't stop when you stick your arm out.

...I'll get my coat.

That will be 'the one that got away'!

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(08 Jul 2013, 11:05 am)Cosminaut wrote i liked the old redby livery only 2 vehicles have survived today from the purchase 618/619 while the service 99 has survived on as a GNE Route but uses now MPDs which have had there day they really need optare solo sr for that route i also used to like the old northumbria coaches livery used to pass one of them buses on 414/516 route on the way to college used to like them leyland lynx really powered on them i liked them til they sold them i also used to like the optare deltas that was branded as northumbria buses and the alexander strider but still retained its red blue and yellow livery

Where are those two ex-Redby at these days? Yeah, they outlasted anything Northumbria left around for GNE like the Bluebird MPD.

I believe during the 60's there were 2 independant operators (J.H. Hammel & Mowbrays) who shared the service hence the different livery (similar to Economic of Sunderland: Wilson & Anderson)

Here's the Green/Cream livery of Mowbray:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightyc...6370990820

and:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightyc...6370990820

Red/Grey Livery of J.H. Hammel:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/solenteer/8067192631/

Maybe someone can show these rather than the link


Gypsy Queen was also an operator bought by Northern in 1989 (Operated services around Langley Park & Durham):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightyc...6370990820

Fleet news...

Dennis Trident 3870: W174 SCU has been returned to service at Percy Main.

To let everyone know... 547,605... are still down as Doxford Clipper..

8258,8259,8271 is down as Drifter still

4956 - Still Metrolink Branded by the fleet allocation..

To answer a question posed earlier, I think the reason why GNE brand some services with the colours/names of past acquisitions is one of local association.

The Diamond, Venture and OK Motor Services are synonymous with the areas of Stanley, Consett and the Derwent Valley, and Bishop Auckland. The theory of reintroducing such brands is to strike a chord with the local populous in the vain hope that (potential) passengers will identify with the past and use the services.

Unless I'm mistaken, passenger services were introduced by Shaws, Redby and Calvary in the post-deregulation era. Services were subjected to change and competition and, outside of local bus enthusiasts, people were not as attached to the companies which ran the services. Diamond, OK, and Venture had a presence in the areas they operated in for many years before they were consumed by larger operators. Redby, Shaws and Calvary, sadly, did not (and if they did, they'd still be around today). If you were going to bring back these acquisitions as brands then why not bring back North Eastern Bus Services or The Tyne and Wear Omnibus Company?

I've left out Low Fell Coaches' 'Cross Tyne' service as that was pre-deregulation. It offered something unique to the passengers travelling from the Low Fell/High Fell area (something which was withdrawn shortly after the Metro was constructed) in that it operated directly into Newcastle without terminating at Gateshead, as most local services did back then. Once buses formerly associated with the TWPTE and NBC were allowed back into Newcastle, there was nothing unique about the service anymore.

I get the point your making about services pre-deregulation, but the others (whether they came about post 86 or not) all had a local identity too, whether they were as historic or not.

Low Fell Coaches were running into the 90's on their Cross Tyne Service and for a period, yes it was unique - perfect branding for the 24, which follows a similar route to theirs.
There are certainly arguments that Redby (brand the 99), Calvary Coaches (alternative to Washington Street Shuttle) and Gypsy Queen (13/14), Northumbrian Coaches (instead of Bargain Bus) are synonomous with their home areas too. Any more or less than the Venture, Diamond or OK companies?

I have always wondered why GNE (or Go-ahead) went about buying the local companies they did, even as recently as Stanley Coaches. It certainly didn't give them access to a whole fleet of new vehicles (existing ones were usually disposed of), it didn't give them new routes (routes were usually ended and if GNE wanted to, they could have ran a rival service) - the only reason I can come up with, is that by buying smaller 'competition', it opened up a monopoly in a certain area. Certainly the opposite of what de-regulation was supposed to bring about.

(08 Jul 2013, 4:26 pm)Andreos1 wrote There are certainly arguments that Redby (brand the 99), Calvary Coaches (alternative to Washington Street Shuttle) and Gypsy Queen (13/14), Northumbrian Coaches (instead of Bargain Bus) are synonomous with their home areas too. Any more or less than the Venture, Diamond or OK companies?

I am going to argue that is a difference. People may have used the services offered by Redby or Calvary etc., and may remember them fondly, but, with the obvious exception of the 99, the majority of these services were either experimental; in direct competition with other services; or sufferred from the predatory business practices of larger operators. One only has to look at the Bygone thread to realise that routes and services changed with alarming regularity in the first ten decade after deregulation. So while it is true that some of the smaller operators held their own in a fierce competitive market and established their name or brand to some degree, the instability of the actual routes combined with the availabilty of alternative services, probably means that passengers would not immediately identify with Redby or Calvary in the way that they would OK or Venture.

There probably is a good case for Gypsy Queen to be bought back as a brand since they had been operating the same services to Langley Park for at least two decades before being absorbed into GNE.

'sufferred from the predatory
business practices of larger operators.' A bit like Venture, OK and Diamond did? .

Calvary for example, were (Im sure) around long before de-regulation and yes, they may have had experimental services (just like Northern, OK and Redby did and GNE do currently), but they also had settled services.
Redby were brought about just after the war - because they had some experimental services post de-regulation, does that mean they can't adorn any of GNE liveries in Sunderland?

Saying that, how far back do you go? Why not stick some of the vehicles into the old District colours?

I used to love using the Low Fell Travel service as a kid. I'm sure it used to drop you off at St Thomas Street or Haymarket too.

That brilliant Bedford and didn't they take an OK bus after Go Ahead took over? A B10 but with different bodywork (perhaps Stryder, shall google!)

Drifter versa on 36A just entered park lane

Beamish branded B10BLE 4847 on "Lime" 8/78 today. Will depart Park Lane in about 10 mins on the 8 (0815ish).

Also, 8319 is on 42s today. 0817 departure from Park Lane if anyone would like to time her for later.

(08 Jul 2013, 7:29 pm)Andreos1 wrote 'sufferred from the predatory
business practices of larger operators.' A bit like Venture, OK and Diamond did? .

Calvary for example, were (Im sure) around long before de-regulation and yes, they may have had experimental services (just like Northern, OK and Redby did and GNE do currently), but they also had settled services.
Redby were brought about just after the war - because they had some experimental services post de-regulation, does that mean they can't adorn any of GNE liveries in Sunderland?

I'm not disputing that these bus companies existed over a long period of time. I'm arguing that, because they didn't operate passenger services until the 80s and 90s, most passengers probably wouldn't associate these companies with operating successful passenger services. That, I guess, is the big difference. OK, Venture and Diamond have, for the most part, provided passenger services throughout the entirety of their duration before being purchased. Redby or Calvary, on the other hand, existed primarily as a coach operator before becoming passenger service operators. One could probably argue that, if they had not of entered the post-deregulation market, they would still be around today operating coach trips and providing scholars services. The paradox of deregulation strikes again eh?

gtomlinson wroteI used to love using the Low Fell Travel service as a kid. I'm sure it used to drop you off at St Thomas Street or Haymarket too.

It sure did. It's a shame that more services don't use St Thomas Street as terminating point. It's actually quite good for express/long distance services. North or south, buses can enter the city using the Central Motorway East/Claremont Road Interchange, head along past the RVI then down St Thomas Street. Leaving the city, turn left onto Haymarket, along Barass Bridge then you're back on the motorway. It's almost too simple.

Wright Streelites are going on the Saltwell Park and the Drifter (60 Only). Deckers for the Cobalt Clipper.

A Northern SPD currently parked in Fencehouses with its hazards on and a fitter filling the back end up using a couple of jerry cans.
A Lime Renown has been sent as a relief vehicle

(09 Jul 2013, 1:41 pm)Andreos1 wrote A Northern SPD currently parked in Fencehouses with its hazards on and a fitter filling the back end up using a couple of jerry cans.

I imagine that'll be a lengthy and tedious task, especially if the tank is bone dry. I wonder how many litres of diesel will be needed to get the bus back to the depot or to the nearest garage.

I was unsure whether it was the radiator he was filling with water/coolant rather than fuel.

Chester is the nearest garage, approx 8 miles away.

(09 Jul 2013, 1:41 pm)Andreos1 wrote A Northern SPD currently parked in Fencehouses with its hazards on and a fitter filling the back end up using a couple of jerry cans.
A Lime Renown has been sent as a relief vehicle

The Lime Renown is 4855.

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Odd working today is 5171 fab fifty seven renown on Crusader 27. Seen several times today last seen departing Jarrow for S Shields at 14.50.

'East Durham' MPD 537 is out on the X7, departed Middlesbrough at 1610 and will work the last one from Middlesbrough at 1920.

It's been a while since I have done an update on my Buses By Brand Collections on Flickr. There has been a few changes to the Collections with the Additions of "Odd Workings" + "Completed Brands" + " Former Brands" which have added to the Renamed Buses By Brand, which is now called Current Brands.

Other features including Buses By Vehicle Type may also be added in the future.

Now the last time I did an update I believe only had the Sunderland Connect Brand complete, whereas now I have 17 completed brands with a few brands including Laser/Prince Bishops/Washington Street Shuttle among several brands which have only one or two buses to be photographed so they can be completed.

Finally here is the link to my GNE Collections Page, Hope you like the new features and also the photos I taken over past month or two.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adammalarke...349108380/

Believe there is a Drifter Versa out on the 39s today. Didn't see the number the service was working because light was against the destination screen, but times suggest it was indeed on the 39.

Further developments on the concrete wall at Chester Bus Depot. More of the wall has been painted and a fella is working on it now with a giant roller!