Don't know if its being posted yet but info the Sunderland Airshow has being posted on the GNE site..

https://www.simplygo.com/news/sunderland-airshow2013

I can't remember there being a shuttle from Durham last year, anyone wish to enlighten me?
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Edit - all the timetables for changes have being upgraded to the new style timetable.. expect the 53/54 which is in the rubbish style (On a white background)... Wonder what it will have on the timetable when the new style is uploaded.

(14 Jul 2013, 9:49 am)Michael wrote Don't know if its being posted yet but info the Sunderland Airshow has being posted on the GNE site..

https://www.simplygo.com/news/sunderland-airshow2013

I can't remember there being a shuttle from Durham last year, anyone wish to enlighten me?

No, there wasn't a service from Durham. The A3 operated from Peterlee and Houghton to the Airshow.

(14 Jul 2013, 10:59 am)W179SCU wrote

(14 Jul 2013, 9:49 am)Michael wrote Don't know if its being posted yet but info the Sunderland Airshow has being posted on the GNE site..

https://www.simplygo.com/news/sunderland-airshow2013

I can't remember there being a shuttle from Durham last year, anyone wish to enlighten me?

No, there wasn't a service from Durham. The A3 operated from Peterlee and Houghton to the Airshow.

Thanks, i wasn't sure =)

Surprised the Highways Agency aren't wasting money on another A1 bus during the roadworks.

A car exploded on the Bypass at the Angel junction. Road was closed. Traffic on Durham Rd a nightmare. Will affect X88 going Southbound

(14 Jul 2013, 11:00 am)Michael wrote

(14 Jul 2013, 10:59 am)W179SCU wrote

(14 Jul 2013, 9:49 am)Michael wrote Don't know if its being posted yet but info the Sunderland Airshow has being posted on the GNE site..

https://www.simplygo.com/news/sunderland-airshow2013

I can't remember there being a shuttle from Durham last year, anyone wish to enlighten me?

No, there wasn't a service from Durham. The A3 operated from Peterlee and Houghton to the Airshow.

Thanks, i wasn't sure =)

Why are they running it the same route as the 20?
Would it not make more sense to offer a slight different alternative like they are doing in Washington and the 56?

Does anyone know if it's possible to retrieve a list of scholars GNE operate? Would like to photograph some, but ideally need to know where to be and at which time (1515 onwards being a good time to think about)!

Of course it's possible, but it would take a while to do. I might have a go but Nexus' way of tendering means its not always the same operator on a morning as on an afternoon!

(15 Jul 2013, 3:46 am)Daniel wrote Does anyone know if it's possible to retrieve a list of scholars GNE operate? Would like to photograph some, but ideally need to know where to be and at which time (1515 onwards being a good time to think about)!

In Burnside School, Wallsend, you have got the 664 and 665 which depart there at around 15:40. If you stand opposite the school you'll get good pictures (On the burn bridge)

Usually operated by a Olympian and a Lolyne.

Thanks both. The recent VOSA registrations for scholar services has spurred me on to try and get some photos of the scholar services before they finish for the summer (pros of having an extra week off school at the end of term!)

On a relevant note, there was a "Lime" branded B10BLE on a scholars service this morning - not sure whether it's the norm or not though!

Also a "Cobalt Connect" Omni out on 9s today - worked the 0602 #9A from Sunderland.
A "Drifter" Versa on 36s too. Left Park Lane bound for Witherwack at approximately the same time.

Few potential odd balls on the Team Valley workers services operated by Gateshead too - South Tynes, Loops etc... May be the norm if they run off something else (likely to be the case with the Loop) but not sure.

(15 Jul 2013, 7:11 am)W179SCU wrote

(15 Jul 2013, 3:46 am)Daniel wrote Does anyone know if it's possible to retrieve a list of scholars GNE operate? Would like to photograph some, but ideally need to know where to be and at which time (1515 onwards being a good time to think about)!

In Burnside School, Wallsend, you have got the 664 and 665 which depart there at around 15:40. If you stand opposite the school you'll get good pictures (On the burn bridge)

Usually operated by a Olympian and a Lolyne.

I would strongly advise against doing this.

In today's panic-stricken, theatre of fear in which we live I'm afraid that if you were to stand opposite a school, camera in hand, then you'd probably be whisked away by the local constabulary at a moments notice and asked to explain yourself. Since all incidents of this nature have to be logged, regardless of reason, you may end being stigmatised in the future.

Find out the routes and stand in a neutral place. For example, with exception of the scholar services going to Rowlands Gill, all services from St Thomas More school in Blaydon have to travel down Blaydon Bank. Maybe stand at the foot of it, position yourself on the church wall and take pictures as the buses come down the bank....That sort of thing!

Just something to bear in mind and think about.

Speaking of scholars services the 885 which runs from some point in Fencehouses (oops, mentioned it again - sorry eeazypeazy) was running late this morning.

Normally a decker of some type or another, we passed it this morning near the Riverside at Chester heading up to its start point operated by an Xxxx FBB dart.
Could be an interesting photo opportunity when (if) it runs onto a commercial route later on - which would normally be operated by a decker.
The only other time I have seen it worked by anything other than a decker, was when a National Express coach was running it in the snow a few years ago.

Oh god Adam... Putting me off scholars for life there :LL

Tyne Tees Xpress B9 out on 27s today. At Heworth about 5 mins ago bound for NCL. Typical Gateshead allocation - prioritise the 27 over the X9/10!

Adam has a very valid point.

The amount of safeguarding is unreal. Yo may take a photo and may have a childs face in it - then you upload it to Flickr. That child may be in foster care and the parents are now allowed to know where the said child is. Extreme but possible.

As for standing out the way taking photos this could be worse.

I say this as I work in a school, and if I saw someone taking a photo of a school bus I would be duty bound to report it.

(15 Jul 2013, 8:17 am)idiot wrote Adam has a very valid point.

The amount of safeguarding is unreal. Yo may take a photo and may have a childs face in it - then you upload it to Flickr. That child may be in foster care and the parents are now allowed to know where the said child is. Extreme but possible.

As for standing out the way taking photos this could be worse.

I say this as I work in a school, and if I saw someone taking a photo of a school bus I would be duty bound to report it.

I agree with idiot as i also work with kids, i think its wrong to take pictures of school buses, due to idiot's points. People should never take pic's around school's (unless its your kid of course) or the school buses, it can cause panic , u could get accused of all sorts and we don't want that!

Shame but theirs to many people like that in the country.

(15 Jul 2013, 8:07 am)Daniel wrote Oh god Adam... Putting me off scholars for life there :LL

Not trying to put you off, just trying to make you aware of the (silly) risks involved.

People have become quite hysterical about photography and schools these days. This is just one example of one Facebook site, dedicated to pointing out the inability of some motorists to park correctly in County Durham (it has a more profane name), which has faced problems when people have posted pictures of the type of ridiculous parking witnessed outside schools: https://www.facebook.com/durhamplat/post...5414913815

I know there's the 877 which opertates in Seaham, couple of odd allocations on that in the past including Whey Aye 5-0 Solars & Lime B10BLE's. Don't often see it these days on a moning these allocations are from earlier this year though. On an evening it's usually operated by Peterlee using an East Durham MPD. Obviously some valid points about taking pictures outside schools, try and get the routes and avoid schools, however when it is chucking out time at the schools at the times you want to capture you have got risks of getting some children in photographs. I hope you understand that everyone here is just looking out for you and not trying to scare you or anything like that.
Edit: there's also an 865 which is like a cross over scholars/college bus service. It's a bit of an express service of the now 265, I can't remember anyone getting a photo before so you could be the first to photograph it.
There's a Peterlee school bus aswell the 207, operates from Shotton Hall-Lowhills road, I think..

It's likely I'll try and get them before they actually have anyone on board, rather than with. Managed to do that with a few this morning after they came off Team Valley services.
I do feel it's slightly better someone of my age (U16) taking a photo of a school bus rather than someone who is older, but not ruling out any of the points that have been raised because they're all true.

If you're still up for the idea, there's a list on the NEXUS website. http://www.nexus.org.uk/schoolbus

You can choose from Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland school bus services. I think if you try to get the first (morning) or last (evening) stop, you could probably avoid getting any people in the shot.

(15 Jul 2013, 7:11 am)W179SCU wrote

(15 Jul 2013, 3:46 am)Daniel wrote Does anyone know if it's possible to retrieve a list of scholars GNE operate? Would like to photograph some, but ideally need to know where to be and at which time (1515 onwards being a good time to think about)!

In Burnside School, Wallsend, you have got the 664 and 665 which depart there at around 15:40. If you stand opposite the school you'll get good pictures (On the burn bridge)

Usually operated by a Olympian and a Lolyne.

Hate to state the obvious, but really the last place you want to be standing with a camera is outside school gates.

Edit: bit late, but hadn't read the replies after.

NK56KHE (can't remember fleet no. at the moment) failed while working the 45 today and 6008 replaced her.
6031 has just failed at Consett but was only on scholars later today so 3824 replaced her.

15/07/2013

Northern branded Renown 4919 working the 58. Seen at Deckham heading towards Hadrian Park at approx 13.15.

Lime branded Renown 4896 working the 50. Seen at Concord heading towards Durham(?) at approx 14.25.

This morning Peterlee East Durham bus 522 was working the 260 timed off Peterlee bus station at 09:20, I got on the X35 at 09:30 from Peterlee to Sunderland and 522 was broke down at Easington Village and the driver couldn't get through to control and he asked the X35 driver to radio in. When I was coming back down to Peterlee I got the X7 timed of Sunderland Interchange at 14:38 and 522 came in on the 60 from Seaham, also about 14:15 there was a cobalt clipper in the stand on service 9.

Also I didn't know that the driver can restart the engine from underneath the boot on the East Durham branded buses, thought underneath the boot was to stop the engine if it cant be done from inside of the cab

(15 Jul 2013, 5:07 pm)cbma06 wrote Also I didn't know that the driver can restart the engine from underneath the boot on the East Durham branded buses, thought underneath the boot was to stop the engine if it cant be done from inside of the cab

Yes you can start Darts from the back, as you can with Cadets/Pulsars and various DAFs - we do it all the time at Arriva as part of our walk round check first thing on a morning. The 05 plates Darts are regularly started from the back regardless...!

Someone pointing out a very valid point on Go North East's Facebook page. There is no Peterlee-Airshow bus this year meaning theses from Peterlee & Easington have no bus through to Sunderland on the Sunday due to the X35/X7 not running. It seems a bit careless to not put this link in.

Personally I think these airshow buses are bit daft in my personal opinion, especially as pointed out the bus are simply just running existing routes but then extending on. I would run all services as normal. On Sunday I'd run the 35C as far as Houghton only with X35 running a special service between Peterlee-Sunderland (or even just as far as Houghton). With a special A1 bus running Interchange-Seaburn Park every 7/8 minutes or even every 5 minutes if there's demand.

At least with the Washington bus, there is a slight variation to existing services. The Durham one, will be following the 20 around all day. Must admit to being surprised at the lack of the usual Peterlee special.

An OK MPD was on the 71 again this evening - passed it a few times on my travels.
It is becoming a regular occurrance. Not sure if it was the same vehicle as was out on Saturday or a different one.

(15 Jul 2013, 7:05 pm)Andreos1 wrote An OK MPD was on the 71 again this evening - passed it a few times on my travels.
It is becoming a regular occurrance. Not sure if it was the same vehicle as was out on Saturday or a different one.

571 again. Was working the other board to what it was working on Saturday though.
May be able to get to Bishop tomorrow to see what's on the 18 in 571's absence!

(15 Jul 2013, 5:40 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Someone pointing out a very valid point on Go North East's Facebook page. There is no Peterlee-Airshow bus this year meaning theses from Peterlee & Easington have no bus through to Sunderland on the Sunday due to the X35/X7 not running. It seems a bit careless to not put this link in.

Personally I think these airshow buses are bit daft in my personal opinion, especially as pointed out the bus are simply just running existing routes but then extending on. I would run all services as normal. On Sunday I'd run the 35C as far as Houghton only with X35 running a special service between Peterlee-Sunderland (or even just as far as Houghton). With a special A1 bus running Interchange-Seaburn Park every 7/8 minutes or even every 5 minutes if there's demand.

It's a strange decision to say the least. Who actually pays for the airshow shuttles? I assume they're not ran commercially...

It's difficult to serve everywhere with a shuttle service to the Airshow. Perhaps the Peterlee link was poorly used and therefore not worth running. A Facebook post doesn't fill a bus I'm afraid.

Was on the talking Green Angel again today and quite frankly wanted to throttle Steve and Karen by the time we'd made it to Gateshead, it's completely over the top and doesn't add anything but a bit of PR for Go Ahead to flash around a website 'oooh we've got talking buses...alright they are never on time, run in groups of 3s and 4s and are pretty expensively priced but hey, they talk'

I'd love to know how much money they wasted on Steve and Karen too instead of just a basic voice artist or the inhouse woman who does Quaylink. Money that could have been spent better ellsewhere, give the drivers a new coffee machine or change it into 5ps!

(15 Jul 2013, 7:54 pm)gtomlinson wrote or change it into 5ps!

Few Waggonway drivers didn't have any 5p's today! :p
One driver thought it was perfectly acceptable to drive off to the depot out of service to try and get a new bus without first contacting the depot too, and then he arrived back at Chester-le-Street with the same bus 15 minutes later - ended up being 20 minutes late and then he had to take a phone call before he got to Beamish because someone from the depot radioed him to ask whether they'd left their clipboard on his bus or not...

Thought of you

(15 Jul 2013, 8:00 pm)Daniel wrote Few Waggonway drivers didn't have any 5p's today! :p
One driver thought it was perfectly acceptable to drive off to the depot out of service to try and get a new bus without first contacting the depot too, and then he arrived back at Chester-le-Street with the same bus 15 minutes later - ended up being 20 minutes late and then he had to take a phone call before he got to Beamish because someone from the depot radioed him to ask whether they'd left their clipboard on his bus or not...

Thought of you

He sounds like one of the more competent Waggonway drivers

I wish I was joking