This last weekend saw the end of a tradition for thousands past and present, the Football Echo ceased to exist in printed form, in favour of going digital...

Football Fans out there will know what the Footy Ecka meant to us fans, I remember as a boy, being bribed by my granddad to walk from Roker Park(I was lazy and always wanted to get the bus, lol) to the Town with a promise to get me a copy and we would always catch one of the first deliveries and I went on to get it for donkeys year.

It is a shame really, but with the dawn of the Internet, Social Media, Smartphones/Tablets and rolling news on Sky Sports the Echo was always going to decline and eventually pulled.

Hi all

Thought I would add some details of the tenders that have gone out recently, see the attached PDF file for the latest situation that I'm aware of. I will add more and more detail in here as best as I can.

I'll keep this updated and put the latest info in this top post but feel free to discuss below!

Scott

So another another year over, a new one round the corner...Some brief words to sum this year up

*So big year for GNE, they invested heavily for Wright Steetlites and Optare Solos, and the recent purchase of deckers for Fab56 and Cobalt
*The Centenary
*Sunderland North was messed about with yet again
*Some of the oddest allocations I ever seen i.e. A Laser on the 202 and Sunderland Connect on 61 a while back.
*Brands were dropped and Brand Mergers(61 into Simplicity)
*Trespassing happened quite a few times at depots to get a picture, this annoyed us all

In other news

*Martin O'Neill was sacked and Paolo Di Canio was brought in
*Di Canios celebration at St James' Park was hilarious(wonder how expensive the dry cleaning bill is for that suit after a 3-0 win at Newcastle
*A new Prince of the Realm was welcomed by the country, securing the Monarchy for the next 3 generations
*Paolo Di Canio is fired after his face to face with Sunderland fans at The Hawthorns, wonder if he took getting sacked on the chin
*Gus Poyet is appointed and manages the team to only Sunderland's 2nd home Derby win in over 30 years, the only other was in 2008
Chelsea are beaten at Sunderland, with Sunderland landing a semi final spot
*Possibly the most loved leader, civil rights activist and elder statesmen, Nelson Mandela died aged 95...

Feel free to add to this

It appears there has been a bit of an incident on the King Seaways last night off the Yorkshire Coast.

Just reading about it on bbc website.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25539473

Well looks like we going back in time as numbered bus stop flags are back. Spotted a few around Sunderland. Grangetown doxford international and Newcastle road. They look great

Hi all,

I was just wondering. At Gateshead Interchange (and also nearby to it) where are there good vantage points that give good photos of the vehicles, both stationary and moving?
Having only been there for a proper photo session for an hour before, I found a couple of good places but I was wondering if there any other good ones please?

Note I'm not after places that the General Public isn't allowed to go; obviously not in the middle of the tarmac for example...
The quieter the place is, the better it would be too. Just for future reference when I go again at some point.


Thanks
Sean

Hi guys

Just found this really handy website that shows all fares valid in a specific route. Runs off the Avantix traveller system I understand.
www.brfares.com

Scott

I am bored and was just thinking about funny things we say or hear people saying...This can be something you have heard out and about or on tv/radio...

I used to be a steward at Hartlepools Victoria Park, one of my Social workers told me his Missus and Son were going to a game...

Me: I never saw your missus and kid at the match
SW: Do you know what they look like
Me: No
SW: Well how do you know if you seen them

Me and my mates were once talking about our name, if we were named after anyone

Me: Are you named after anyone Peter
Peter: Yes, Michael Jackson

Talking to my mate about his missus

Me: Did you know your missus before you got married
Mate: No, It was a marriage arranged in the heat of the moment

At the Youth Group I used to volunteer for, the admin assistant was worried she was losing her mind, so she was advised to go to the doctors to discuss alzheimers, we later asked her how the appointment was, to which she replied 'I forgot to go'

During an Interview for a new admin assistant, we were telling the candidate the role etc and said part of the job would be having to goto the Bank to get petty cash and pay monies in, after a brief pause she said 'I have a phobia of banks, I was caught up in a bank robbery 25 years ago and never stepped a foot in one since'

I was telling a friend I was going to Butlins for a holiday reunion weekend in 2006, she said 'ooooohhhh, you might see the Monster(er it is Skegness, not Loch Ness)

My mate had something important to tell me once, it went something like this

Mate: Can I be Frank with you
Me: You can be whoever you want...Frank, Tommy, Norman, choice is yours...

The same mate was told somebody had died after an ecstasy overdose, the person said 'That was bad crack wasn't it' My mate said 'No, more like bad pills'

Forget the Queen's speech... This is better!

It's been a great year for North East Buses!
We've had a number of people leave the community, but we've had a greater number of new arrivals this year and it really has contributed toward's NEB's success as a community for transport enthusiasts in the North East and beyond.
Liam, as the site's founder, has created the framework for many of the features you see on NEB today - and I'd like to thank him for doing so, and for all of his hard work and the dedication towards NEB he has shown.

Next year looks even brighter for NEB.
Our fleet lists will be fully complete with a set of details for the history of each vehicle and photographs for each vehicle too. I expect this will be fully complete by February, with regular updates until then.
Following on from a positive result in a recent poll on the forum, the recreation of the Bygone Era has progressed massively. Most of the coding and "behind the scenes" work is now complete, and Liam is making some final touches to perfect the styling of the page. Content will be added soon after, so that it is ready for release.
Expect to see a few more new features announced later in the year too.


On behalf of the site's forum team; I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year too.
I hope you've all had a really good day, and that Santa has been good to you all.
And most importantly... All the best for 2014.

Since Brandon's departure from North East Buses, Liam and I have jointly taken on the main role which he played on NEB - the managing of the Bygone Era.

The main problem we have been faced with since Brandon's departure is determining which content needs to be added, and which content has already been added.

While we admire the amount of time and effort Brandon put into the creation of the Bygone Era which is a valued part of NEB today, we do think it is time to freshen it up.
A great deal of content has been added to multiple 'operator threads' now, within the 'Bus Operators' section of the Bygone Era. Because of this, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the user to easily find a specific document which they may be searching for on the Bygone Era.

Liam and I have been working on a few ideas over the past few weeks, and we have finally come up with an idea that will work - which will also allow a lot of pressure to be taken off Liam and myself. Our proposal is given below:

We remove the Bygone Era from the forum - it is given a page of its own like our fleet lists, news and photo pages. Visually, we expect the Bygone Era to change completely.
Rather than content being listed and separated by bus operator and later categorised, we will introduce a search facility.
Every single file available for download would be added to a database, and each file would be given a title and description documenting the content of the file. A user will search for content they are looking for, and relevant files will be returned to the user.
We could also allow members to contribute too, sourcing files from external sources to add to the Bygone Era. This will increase the volume of material, and allow for the Bygone Era to branch out into other areas besides the North East which has previously been requested on the forum.

This can be achieved relatively easily, but it will take a while to complete. We could still actually offer a list of all files too, which would be grouped into sections similar to how they are at present. First, we would like to ask for your opinions - whether you agree that we should go through with this or not.
While this work is being carried out, the Bygone Era which is on the forum will still be available.

Any feedback is welcome, and I welcome you to answer a quick "Yes" or "No" poll above.