(15 Aug 2015, 5:16 pm)tyresmoke wrote Upgrade in reliability - those Scania's never have agreed with life at Stockton! Shame because the ones we had from new were spot on apart from the odd hissy fit now and again. 1924 replaced 4658 on the 21A earlier as an example. At least we had 3 out from start of play, for a while at least...

(17 Aug 2015, 6:35 pm)buss14 wrote hi
does anyone think that arriva ashington should send NK05 GXO and NK05 GXG to jesmond in exchange for NK05 GWX and NK05 GWY
because then jesmond can use the two scanias on 685 and x85 and asington can use the two double decks on the x14

(17 Aug 2015, 6:26 pm)MrPottski wrote Any idea what their roles will be at Darlington Scott?

(17 Aug 2015, 7:33 pm)northern156 wrote I'd rather not have more Scanias on the 685 route than present, really...

(17 Aug 2015, 7:35 pm)tyresmoke wrote As far as I understand it, they will be going for MAX refurbishment and used on the X75/X76 to Barnard Castle.
Supposed to be 1404, 1405 and 1407 coming the other way to Stockton.

(18 Aug 2015, 1:20 pm)Cock Robin wrote Will they still be getting Max refurbishment then?

(18 Aug 2015, 1:20 pm)Cock Robin wrote Will they still be getting Max refurbishment then?

(18 Aug 2015, 7:58 pm)MrPottski wrote 1405 is a cracker, I've had it 4 times in the last week. I'd have love to have driven a new OmniCity, instead of a 10 year old, 1 million km, rattlebox, that turns your spine to dust.

(18 Aug 2015, 9:37 pm)tyresmoke wrote I drove 4660/1/2 and they were so much nicer (well looked after!) than the 05 plates (4652/4/8/9) that have done the rounds. Having said that, 4659 was spot on just before it got transferred to Ashington!
They strike me as a very high maintenance bus to look after but if looked after properly they will work beautifully, like our 07 plates did.

(18 Aug 2015, 6:08 pm)tyresmoke wrote Don't know for sure but I would be very surprised if all of them do!

(19 Aug 2015, 10:29 am)Cock Robin wrote 4659?! Thought that was the worst one, that's why they got rid of it! Was always off the road wasn't it?

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Wasn't the 21A going to be Max with Omnicities, or were them three not going to get a repaint?!

(18 Aug 2015, 6:36 pm)passenger_10 wrote The X15 and X18 both appear to suffering quite badly at the moment due to a contraflow on the A1 at Stannington whilst the road is resurfaced. On Saturday, yesterday and today the 16:57 X15 into Berwick has been at least 25 minutes late each day, and the X18 and other X15 buses I've seen are running similarly late.

(19 Aug 2015, 1:54 pm)GX03 SVC wrote If there was a route that ran right next to the A1, the Morpeth X's would use it. The only route they can take is via Hartford Bridge and Northumberlandia which adds 20+ minutes to the journey.

There's nothing Arriva can do unfortunately, there's been roadworks in the A1 ever since they invented the car!

(19 Aug 2015, 5:16 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote If the roadworks got out of hand, could Arriva not terminate the X14 / X15 / X18 in Morpeth and have a 10 minute express service from Morpeth to Newcastle?

(19 Aug 2015, 4:55 pm)Jimmi wrote As reported in the odd workings thread earlier, 1527 is now in service, operating service X18 this afternoon.
Arriva North East: 1527 / MX12 KXF by Jimmi's Transport Photos, on Flickr

(19 Aug 2015, 4:55 pm)Jimmi wrote As reported in the odd workings thread earlier, 1527 is now in service, operating service X18 this afternoon.
Arriva North East: 1527 / MX12 KXF by Jimmi's Transport Photos, on Flickr

(19 Aug 2015, 10:20 pm)tyresmoke wrote Think I'll just do some rounding up for those who aren't too sure.
Blyth currently have 1524, 1525 and 1526 in use, with 1529/33 also there but not seen use yet.
Ashington currently have 1527
Durham currently have 1528, 1530, 1531, 1532

At Thorntons at present are
1502, 4700, 4721, 4722, 4723, 4724, 4725, 4726, 7519, 7520, 7521, 7604

7605 is under repair at Blyth and is expected to be the next one to go to Thorntons for refurbishment
1771 I understand is likely to be written off after an RTC last night.

(19 Aug 2015, 10:39 pm)mb134 wrote That's a lot of vehicles at Thorntons!!

Have Ashington only received the one DAF/ALX400 and 1527 to replace 7519/20/21, and what will replace 1527 when that goes to Durham? 

Anything serious with 1771, hope the driver and any passengers are okay.

(19 Aug 2015, 10:48 pm)tyresmoke wrote Yeah the Temsas should be more or less ready by now I would think.

Yes Ashington have only received 7478 replaced at Durham by their new E400s. Hence they've now been given 1527 to help out while the other 2 deckers are away.

Once the Sapphire 6s launch in Durham there should be vehicles to replace them but I'm not sure what's been agreed on to go to Ashington. I know they're due 6 DDs from London also but these will be a while yet.

As for 1771, from what I've heard off a mate at Blyth depot it was hit by a car last night and is badly damaged. As far as I know though nobody on the bus (inc driver) were injured.

(19 Aug 2015, 10:45 am)tyresmoke wrote I had 4659 a few times and it was one of the better ones in my opinion! I had it on the afternoon that the whole Teesside area flooded and it performed faultlessly despite going through many floodwaters!
It spent a period of about a week off the road but I had it just before it transferred and all of the little niggles had been ironed out and was perfect.

As far as I know there are no plans to Max the 21/21A, although this contract with East Durham College may provide them both with the extra passenger numbers that would be required to justify more investment. It's likely that the 21A will become Pulsar operated when the Scanias go to Darlington. The 21 would keep its high spec Ecocities.

(20 Aug 2015, 3:22 pm)BusLoverMum wrote We were on one of those 21A Omnicities, this morning. Didn't catch which one. Do they all rock from side to side? This one and another I caught last month, had a tendency to rock from side to side when standing - like the tilt mechanism was constantly firing off. I also noticed that, on the stretch between Station Town and the Trimdons, I had to look up and out of the window, or else I felt a bit woozy with being swayed about - big'un was sat at the front but said after we got off that he felt a bit queasy there, too. It was impressive on the A66 stretch approaching Middlesbrough, though. We were overtaking everything, uphill (In stark contrast to the X12 Gemini we got home again).

(20 Aug 2015, 3:30 pm)Dan wrote Yeah, pretty common of the Scanias to rock back and forth when stationary. Some of Go North East's L94s do it too.

I think Go North East's OmniCitys are geared towards being a bit more fuel-efficient and as such don't appear to be as powerful, but some of Arriva's are great once they get going. The late 4663 seemed to be one with an abundance of power on the 685, and 4659 (think that was the one at Jesmond before it moved to Ashington for the X15) was very much the same.

Still think that the OmniCitys are the best performers on the X93 to date - shame they don't have enough seats during the summer months! Volvo B9 is probably the next best thing, though.

(20 Aug 2015, 8:25 am)buss14 wrote god bad luck does happen in steps because jesmond could be losing 4663 blyth could be losing 1771. just ashington now

(20 Aug 2015, 3:47 pm)Jimmi wrote I'd say the Volvo B9s are better performers than the Omnicitys were on the X93 and the Tesma's were pretty similar in terms of performance, maybe even better. The ex Redcar/Whitby have been heavily battered from their days there and now sound rather tired at Darlington, I recently rode 4649 when it made a rare appearance on service 8 from Spennymoor - Newton Aycliffe and it wasn't the best on hills and sounded awful.

I have noticed some Scania's moving about when stationary.

Think 4653 was the one at Jesmond before being MAX'ed.

(20 Aug 2015, 5:32 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote They're decent motors. Arriva's are actually decent because they're Euro 3 (I think even the 07 reg ones are). However, GNE's Euro 4 examples feel very sluggish and both operators are very rattly. The cooling fans on them can be troublesome beats too.

When GNE ran a mixed fleet of Mercs and Omnicitys on the Cobalt Clipper, the Merc felt alot quicker off the mark and a bit more oompph. Nout can beat a B9TL though. Very smooth motors, wonder what they would have been like with with a ZF Ecomat gearbox instead though if they were still in production rather than the ecolife.

(20 Aug 2015, 3:51 pm)buss14 wrote if 1771 is being written off what will take its place?

(20 Aug 2015, 6:16 pm)brianr wrote 1799 might be a candidate, it seems to flit in and out of the reserve fleet at Darlington.  I remember this being allocated to Blyth a few years back.  04 reg so good enough for a year or two.

(20 Aug 2015, 6:24 pm)Jimmi wrote That wouldn't surprise me, think it's totally possible that 2503 could maybe transfer back to Darlington replacing  1799 as service U1 will be withdrawn next month which will see Belmont's PVR drop by one and service U1 has been a Solo everytime I've seen it in the last few months.

Speaking of 2503, I saw it on the 49A in Durham yesterday and the front LED screen was only showing the via points where it would normally show its terminus destination and also displayed no service number.