(23 Mar 2015, 8:32 am)aureolin wrote Might do. If I can be bothered.

I don't really know teesside, so tend not to ride around on anything down there.

Great!

Might be worth riding a couple of ALX300s wherever they are, as they are beasty, especially the T/S reg ones.

(22 Mar 2015, 9:47 pm)MurdnunoC wrote That's the way bus outings should be done. No sense in planning - just turn up and hop on whatever's there!

I tend to just stick a few places in my head, and determine my first journey of the day. I used to plan a whole day out, but id never stick to it!

(22 Mar 2015, 10:40 pm)Jimmi wrote It's more a case of WHEN it's out, saw it from miles away on Friday afternoon but was swapped for an old Solo so I failed to get a photo of it.

Did you find it this morning?

(23 Mar 2015, 4:51 pm)Robert wrote Did you find it this morning?

No.

(23 Mar 2015, 4:57 pm)Jimmi wrote No.

Oh dear - no where to be seen in the yard tonight like. 

(31 Jan 2015, 10:58 pm)RGR756V wrote To let you all know I am once again organising a bus trip to Kirkby Stephen for the excellent rally on Easter Sunday (5 April).

The haulage will be H728DDL, a superb all-Leyland Olympian operated by Stagecarriage.

Fare is £10 per person, no need to book just turn up.

Departure points and times are; Middlesbrough, BBC 0850, Stagecoach Transit depot 0900, Stockton Stagecoach Office 0910, Darlington Rail Station, Park Lane 0930, Shildon Byerley Road 0950, Bishop Auckland Market Place 1000.

Connections will be made at Darlington with the 0855 train from Newcastle.

Returning from Kirkby at 1630. Send me a PM if you need any more info.

Just a little reminder, any queries just shout or p.m. me

I know it's a bit late but here is the write up for yesterday's outing:

0932 7 Newton Aycliffe - Durham (ANE 1516)
As ever not a great deal I can think to say about this journey hundreds of times and it does get really boring after no time so in typical fashion I had my earphones in and just browsed the internet. I'd quite to see this example stays on the 7 as this one has the steel man (In Our Image) as the local landmark behind the drivers cab so I would be sad to see this one disappear.

1050 X12 Durham - Stockton (ANE 7620 - I think)
Not done the X12 route in a while and thankfully it there wasn't many on board this journey which was good as the last time I did this service we stopped at EVERY STOP between Durham and Coxhoe. As ever I thought the Gemini was okay but was not the best on hills. Like that it now has been refurbished to MAX standard as it now has WiFi which will be good if I get bored on the X12/X2. This left Durham late due to an issue with the ticket machine.

1225 21A Stockton - Middlesbrough (ANE 4658)
Feels weird riding Omnicity's that haven't been refurbished to MAX standard. I parked myself down in the seats at the back by the fire door so I could stretch my legs out. This journey was quite quiet.

1320 X93 Middlesbrough - Guisborough (ANE 7401)
Annoyingly I missed catching shots of Stagecarriage services and a better shot of 7485 which I thought the image I took caught the LED but it didn't so I missed out on a shot of a rare working. I am not sure what to make of the seats on these B9TL's can't decide if they are comfortable or not but it felt like there wasn't a great deal of leg room, I guess I didn't notice this before because when I rode them on the first day of service I sat on the seats behind the stairs. Quite enjoyed this journey though and I hope these will continue to perform well on this route.

1358 5 Guisborough - Middlesbrough (ANE 1551)
I decided to be nice and let less able people get on first. Quite a nice ride these now, better than when I rode them on their first day in service.

1532 X66 Middlesbrough - Darlington (ANE 4656)
Again done this route quite a lot so not a great deal to say, although I thought we were never going to leave Middlesbrough Bus Station as people kept turning up at the last second, and nearly all these people had Middlesbrough College passes where they can get on pretty much any service with all these getting off in Stockton. Other than that it was an alright journey.

1710 16A Darlington - Home (Scarlet Band YT51 EAW)
By this point I was tired and didn't fancy walking far to get home but unfortunately service 5 didn't turn up so I was left with a dilemma get the 7 and walk home or go right round the west end of Darlington on the pink bus, I chose the lazy option, god I forgot how long this route is. What was surprising a passenger got on in Heighington and got off in School Aycliffe then another passenger got on by OakLeaf Sports Complex, god knows what was going through the drivers head as I imagine it is normally dead after Mowden apart from maybe the odd passenger heading to School Aycliffe.

I was too tired to put this up last night and this would have been up earlier tonight but blame Jimmi for that!

Nice review Jimmi.

Very nice to see other people are following in fashion by writing up big stories of their adventures.

(24 Mar 2015, 10:29 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote Nice review Jimmi.

Very nice to see other people are following in fashion by writing up big stories of their adventures.

I second that Marcus 

Tomorrow's trip will include Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle and Colbalt.

Will start off by trying to see if the Eden's newly acquired Solo is out on service 17. Will see if any of the Solo SR's are out on the 40/40A in Durham. Will spend around 30 minutes in Gateshead. Then will head over to Newcastle. I will then have a quick walk upto Arriva's Jesmond Depot to see if they have anything new poking out the depot. Then will head upto Cobalt to get a shot of service 919 which will operate for the last time tomorrow evening.

If anyone sees the black Omnicity tomorrow let me know what service you saw it on and the time so I can get a photo.

I have now decided to drop Saturdays trip to Durham as I will likely to be worn out after tomorrow's trip. I imagine many others will get photos of the first day of service 128 on Saturday and I'd personally rather get a shot of the 919 with it being the last day and this service has rarely been photographed in its short existence.

I hope you will enjoy my photos and review from tomorrow's outing

Providing my plans are not corrupted by a cold or cough over Easter, here is what I have planned:

Saturday 28th March 2015
Visit to the Tanfield Railway's Great War Weekend in the morning, then head to Stanley, down to Beamish, before finally making a journey on the 128 to Durham, before heading back to Chester-le-Street.

Tuesday 31st March 2015
Olympian hunting. Head through to Durham, up to Lanchester, then on to Stanley before going up to Consett, back to Durham and then return to Chester-le-Street.

Friday 3rd April 2015
Will be aiming for an MPD ride to Hetton-le-Hole after heading along to Durham. Make my way to Houghton-le-Spring; Sunderland, Seaham and back, then return home on the Lime.

Saturday 4th April 2015
Hoping the X66 Streetlites will be out in service by then, I will either try and ride a few of them in their first days, or maybe do a spot of Olympian and Renown bashing in Consett and Stanley.

Tuesday 7th April 2015
Head across to Houghton-le-Spring first, then a ride on the 4 all the way to Washington Galleries (including those lovely comfy seats on those Citaros!) before making my way across to Concord on an MPD 85/86 for some photos at Washington depot a short walk away. Then maybe head across to Heworth, Gateshead, back to Washington and return to Chester-le-Street.

Friday 10th April 2015
No plan as of yet. Just go where the spirit leads...may do a photo-based plan, or go Renown and Olympian hunting again!

Saturday 11th April 2015
Head across to Sunderland first, then get a Sunderland-Jarrow run 9 service before hopping on one to North Shields. Take photos, then a Cobalt Clipper 310 to Newcastle, then whatever rare I can see from there.

May also squeeze in a rare Sunday trip if you're lucky. Most likely all days will be Get Arounds, can't be bothered to do massive adventures going on 10+ buses a day. Expect a few photos too.

Enjoy, and I hope everyone has a nice Easter!

Marcus

I'll definitely be out on an explorer this Saturday, no plan but I do have a few things that need doing:

1) 28/28A, never been on this yet!
2) Highwayman services, again never been on one,
3) Gateshead Loop, may have been on one for a couple of stops previously,
4) (May not do this) X1 between Washington and Houghton.
5) X2 and X12, not been on these after they were 'Maxed' up.

Also would like to go on some Arriva Jesmond Volvo B10BLEs & ALX400s, Stagecoach Newcastle Enviro 400 Hybrids and some GNE B9s.

Hoping to stay away from Sunderland

Cheek........ Nothing wrong with Sunderland, Sean!! ;-)

You'll be facing the wrath of Michael and I with any more badmouthing of the city!

Hehe, I was half expecting a similar reply to that

I don't like Park Lane at all and I'm not too keen on the city centre itself as a whole, really. Just a small niggle I get when I'm in the place, that's all!

Mind you I've been to much, much worse - 10 letters, starting with W ending with N - and no it's not Winlaton, although that could well qualify also

(26 Mar 2015, 9:56 pm)northern156 wrote Hehe, I was half expecting a similar reply to that

I don't like Park Lane at all and I'm not too keen on the city centre itself as a whole, really. Just a small niggle I get when I'm in the place, that's all!

Mind you I've been to much, much worse - 10 letters, starting with W ending with N - and no it's not Winlaton, although that could well qualify also

Wrekenton? Edit: Oh wait that's 9 letters! #fail

Workington?

(26 Mar 2015, 9:56 pm)northern156 wrote Hehe, I was half expecting a similar reply to that

I don't like Park Lane at all and I'm not too keen on the city centre itself as a whole, really. Just a small niggle I get when I'm in the place, that's all!

Mind you I've been to much, much worse - 10 letters, starting with W ending with N - and no it's not Winlaton, although that could well qualify also

Workington? You've just started another guessing game now  

Workington and Whitehaven are pretty dismal places also, I meant more in the north east...

Washington!

(26 Mar 2015, 10:00 pm)northern156 wrote Workington and Whitehaven are pretty dismal places also, I meant more in the north east...

Wrekenton?

(26 Mar 2015, 9:56 pm)northern156 wrote Hehe, I was half expecting a similar reply to that

I don't like Park Lane at all and I'm not too keen on the city centre itself as a whole, really. Just a small niggle I get when I'm in the place, that's all!

Mind you I've been to much, much worse - 10 letters, starting with W ending with N - and no it's not Winlaton, although that could well qualify also

Malarkey will be mugging you next time he sees you - making comments like that on a public forum about the heart of the North East!

You're just not used to this city life... 4G connectivity is too much for you...!

(26 Mar 2015, 10:08 pm)Dan wrote Malarkey will be mugging you next time he sees you - making comments like that on a public forum about the heart of the North East!

You're just not used to this city life... 4G connectivity is too much for you...!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T_GQTD7rlwI

Sorry it's the best I could find!

Lol it was indeed Washington... Davie as already mentioned Wrekenton is 9 letters.

4G? Is that some sort of supermarket? (Tongue in cheek)

(26 Mar 2015, 10:08 pm)Dan wrote Malarkey will be mugging you next time he sees you - making comments like that on a public forum about the heart of the North East!

You're just not used to this city life... 4G connectivity is too much for you...!

(26 Mar 2015, 10:33 pm)northern156 wrote Lol it was indeed Washington... Davie as already mentioned Wrekenton is 9 letters.

4G? Is that some sort of supermarket? (Tongue in cheek)

We should send Dan somewhere rural and see how long it would take for him to go crazy without any Internet access

(26 Mar 2015, 10:49 pm)Jimmi wrote We should send Dan somewhere rural and see how long it would take for him to go crazy without any Internet access

I see you've downloaded the Emoji keyboard, Jimmi...nice one!

(26 Mar 2015, 10:51 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote I see you've downloaded the Emoji keyboard, Jimmi...nice one!

Didn't have this on Tapatalk on my old phone but since I upgraded I have a different version of Tapatalk to what I had before where I can now use Emojis and other things.

(26 Mar 2015, 10:53 pm)Jimmi wrote Didn't have this on Tapatalk on my old phone but since I upgraded I have a different version of Tapatalk to what I had before where I can now use Emojis and other things.

You'll be addicted to them before long!

(26 Mar 2015, 10:54 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote You'll be addicted to them before long!

Probably

Zero clue what half of them are - I'm guessing this one means ****faced

(26 Mar 2015, 10:49 pm)Jimmi wrote We should send Dan somewhere rural and see how long it would take for him to go crazy without any Internet access

I'm not giving you all any more ideas as methods of torture!

(27 Mar 2015, 6:20 am)Dan wrote I'm not giving you all any more ideas as methods of torture!

#firstworldtortures
#hashtagsonNEB

(26 Mar 2015, 10:56 pm)Jimmi wrote Probably

Zero clue what half of them are - I'm guessing this one means ****faced

Nah,  means, **** on whichever muppet decided that MAX was better than Sapphire. (My brother!)