I was curious as to what brands old GNE bus services would fall under.
I'm presuming that the sunderland network circa 2002/3 would all fall under Sunderland District.

35/35A: Violet
37/37A: Emerald
126: Mandarin
127: Lime
133: Silver
134/138: Blonde
135/136: Peach
137: Brownie
139/140: Graphite
141/142: Berries
146: Aqua
150: Drifter
151/152/153: Blue
160/163: Sunshine
161: Cherry
164: Slate
190: Mint
220/222: Prince Bishops

Service changes:
* X30/X31 standalone
* 16B/47/X5/X45 all interwork on Sundays
* Sunday 78 extended to Castleside
* X72 thrown into Sunday interworking pattern alongside 6/12/X30
* Long layover re-introduced for X21
* X1 remains at every 15 minutes (30 to Peterlee)

Fleet changes:
StreetDeck
- 6331-33 - Washington - Spares
- 6356-60 - Consett - X45 & X71/X72
- 6361-63 - Consett - X45 & X71/X72
- 6364-74 - Washington - X1
- 6375 - Washington - Spare
- 6376-77 - Consett - X45 & X71/X72

B5TL
- 6308-14 - Riverside - 58
- 6334-35 - Consett - Spares

E400MMC
- 6336-37 - Consett - Spares
- 6338-40 - Consett - X30/X31
- 6341-55 - Riverside - X10 & X21 (includes 2x spares)

Repaints & partial re-brands:
- 6308 - 14 - Full repaint to corporate
- 6332 - Full repaint to corporate
- 6356-63 - Text changed to more generic Consett / Stanley to Newcastle
- 6308-14 - Full repaint to corporate
- 6341-51 - Partial repaint to generic XLines charcoal
- 6352-55 - Text changed to generic XLines removing any specific X10 branding

Misc scheduled allocations:
- Sunday 16B/47/X5/X45 - 9x StreetDeck or E400MMC
- Sunday 10/10A/10B - 7x E400MMC (still leaves 2x spare with the other 6x on X10 & X21)

It will be intriguing to see what happens now Vivarail seem to be going the journey. 

All that investment, all that PR and now this.

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2022/11/viv...ators.html

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2022/12/viv...rvice.html

Did GNW 3201/2 transfer to GNE?

Was it this weekend. Passed a old london bus parked on the drive of one of the house next to dominoes on low fell with happy birthday then marjin Gilbert?

I have only recently noticed the different thicknesses of the coloured lines on the front panels between the 53/54 vehicles and Q3 vehicles (green /yellow)
Never noticed before

Ok a starter for this thread having come across this on Youtube? I'm sure many who live in GNE territory had the pleasure of riding on one of these.........

https://youtu.be/H5XGF941PFI

Can anyone tell me why the 555/556 got withdrawn? And roughly when and who operated it?

Does anyone know if GNE will be operating any of Arriva's services on Boxing Day this year?

So as I mentioned on the disruptions thread, if Arriva pulled the plug on the 47/51/52/53/54/55 and sent them out to tender, it would level the driver numbers at Blyth & Ashington almost immediately and get things back to normal. 

Obviously the margins on these services are probably marginal and likely even more so since the pandemic. Minibuses could be the next step but with that is the cost & logistics of the clean air zone not forgetting other logistics.

Working it out, if all routes out of Blyth & Ashington except the 1/2/57/57A are all decker operated (if there was enough), that would phase out most single deckers and minibuses.

Then for the 1 & 2 and 57 & 57A, the total PVR is 12 meaning that the 14x StreetLites would then cover them services with 2x spare and phasing out all minibuses.