(15 Feb 2015, 6:01 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Service 3 stopped serving Thornholme Road in May 2005, coinciding with simplification of the Sunderland network.  This saw the withdrawal of Service 2, with all journeys operating as Service 3 along a new more direct route via New Durham Road, Plains Farm and Atlantis Road - omitting Thornholme Road (replaced by Services 22/23/24) and Gilley Law (replaced by Service 13).

(16 Feb 2015, 10:34 am)Acky81 wrote Was deffo may 2005 Sunderland changes and yes it was 3 before thorney close services. Now what served thorn hill prior to that in old Sunderland busways days

(21 Feb 2015, 10:15 pm)glen1234 wrote HI are the rest of old man alx 300 buses at Stockton going to get repainted then want left.

(21 Feb 2015, 10:17 pm)Dan wrote Probably not.

They're not DDA-compliant, so they should be getting carted off to a scrap yard when their replacements arrive. It would be a waste of money to repaint a bus which was going straight to the scrap yard, unless there was a reason for repainting it. There must have been a reason for 22471 being repainted then being withdrawn soon after.

(22 Feb 2015, 10:03 am)Cock Robin wrote 22471 was repainted end of last year about same time as 22469.

• All of the latest transfers have been noted, as per all of the fleet news recorded this month, minus the ALX300s for disposal which Kuyoyo noted the other day (I'll do these when the movements from the fleet cards are posted on this thread).
  
• All of the ALX300s new in 2003 onwards have had their bodywork amended to read "Transbus ALX300", opposed to "Alexander ALX300". I've been meaning to do this for quite some time now. If nothing else, it allows users to quickly differentiate between the DDA-compliant examples and the ones which aren't!
  
• Spotted a couple of errors with regards to the ALX300 registrations - these have all now been corrected.

(22 Feb 2015, 1:12 pm)Dan wrote Quick note to say that, following the news update earlier today, the fleet lists have been updated... I hadn't updated them in a while, so had quite a bit to catch up on.

• All of the latest transfers have been noted, as per all of the fleet news recorded this month, minus the ALX300s for disposal which Kuyoyo noted the other day (I'll do these when the movements from the fleet cards are posted on this thread).
  
• All of the ALX300s new in 2003 onwards have had their bodywork amended to read "Transbus ALX300", opposed to "Alexander ALX300". I've been meaning to do this for quite some time now. If nothing else, it allows users to quickly differentiate between the DDA-compliant examples and the ones which aren't!
  
• Spotted a couple of errors with regards to the ALX300 registrations - these have all now been corrected.
  

(22 Feb 2015, 1:27 pm)Kuyoyo wrote BIB: 22341-8 and 22408-13 should be 'Alexander Dennis ALX300' as Transbus collapsed in late 2004 (after 22061-82 had been completed) and Alexander Dennis came into existence in 2005.

(23 Feb 2015, 6:02 pm)AIG20 wrote They should trial an open-top South Shields to Sunderland coastal service.

(23 Feb 2015, 5:56 pm)AIG20 wrote Main article of todays Shields Gazette:

Taxpayers fork out £480 a day for South Shields tour bus – but only THREE people are on board = Shields Gazette

(24 Feb 2015, 12:10 am)Racer_Experience wrote Can anyone confirm this question is a Gas Bus an odd working for X1 to Doxford Park to Sunderland only I saw one today

(24 Feb 2015, 10:05 pm)AIG20 wrote They tend to drive at the 40 mph - the old speed limit. This is because Lizard Lane is a bit messed up to be honest. 30mph from the Marsden Inn roundabout to the southern Grotto Road junction, 40mph on the bank, 20mph from the top of the bank to the southern end of the golf course (where the speed bumps are), 40 mph from the Hillhead Tearoom junction to the first house on Lizard Lane Whitburn, and then back to 30mph.

The speed bumps and those sticky-out signs/bollards have not worked as a horse was knocked over and killed last year by a van - the rider escaped with minor injuries. So those "safety measures" have not made any difference in my opinion.

Apparently many years ago the speed limit on Lizard Lane and the Coast Road used to be 60mph!

(24 Feb 2015, 10:11 pm)AIG20 wrote The buses using Lizard Lane tend to kickdown quite a lot - especially on the banks after the Caravan Park (Southbound) and after the Kitchener Road junction (Northbound). They also tend to thrash quite a lot due to the potholes - which is why the road is regularly resurfaced.

(24 Feb 2015, 7:21 am)Dan wrote Some runs are operated by gas buses, interworking with service 13.

Others interwork with service 4, so if a gas bus appears on one of the runs attached to the 4 service, it would have been an odd working.

(24 Feb 2015, 10:13 pm)Dan wrote I had 22734 on the E6 coming from South Shields the other day. It had to stop half way on the bank as there was another bus coming from the Sunderland direction, and it just didn't have the power there that the Olympians used to have.

Don't tend to use the E services to/from South Shields these days as the 35 is a little quicker, but the ride the other day got me feeling a bit nostalgic! 

(24 Feb 2015, 10:37 pm)Robert wrote A month later...