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+--- Thread: R852 PRG's Reviews (/showthread.php?tid=1551)
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 03 Feb 2016
As mentioned above, 4 Lolynes still in service at Chester-le-Street, these are; 3869 (W179 SCU), 3872 (W182 SCU), 3875 (W185 SCU) and 3878 (W188 SCU). 3864 (W864 PNL) recently emigrated to Stanley.
3869 carries the ''Northern'' vinyls from the previous Go North East fleet livery, which was carried by the unbranded vehicles to commemorate 100 years of Northern General Transport in 2013, although it was introduced two years earlier in 2011. It can be seen here in the aforementioned livery, covering for an Optare Versa on ''Lambton Worm'' service 34: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127739730@N02/23439186703/in/photolist-D5VQvv-Ctfu3D-BHeXAF-xNtdb4-BxrbnM
3872 holds an advertising livery that was also sported by 3803 (V803 EBR) and 3804 (V804 EBR), both of which are now scrapped. The livery promotes the usage of Go North East's ''M-ticket'', where customers can buy their tickets on their mobile phones, with the tagline ''Work, Eat, Play''. It is pictured here in Chester-le-Street, operating service X25 to Newcastle: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131962719@N04/23242752983/in/dateposted/
3875 and 3878 both sport the plain red corporate fleet livery, having been previously repainted out of the ''Northern'' fleet livery. 3875 is pictured here in Chester-le-Street, covering for a branded Hybrid on ''Angel'' service 21: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127739730@N02/24564067915/in/photolist-DqDgAk-zYYWyS-BxrbnM-rR1cnb 3878, meanwhile, was photographed recently by myself, operating service X25 to Newcastle: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127739730@N02/24341296259/in/photolist-D5XvkH-BxrbnM-tZqFpZ
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Davie - 03 Feb 2016
@R852 PRG Get well soon.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 4:22 pm)Davie wrote @R852 PRG Get well soon.
Thank you. It's rare that I'm ill or absent from school, so when that happens, I'm left with nothing interesting to do, hence the above posts. Clinging on to the hopes of a good outing on Saturday, just waiting for confirmation of the duty that my companion for the day has.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Dan - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 4:25 pm)R852 PRG wrote Thank you. It's rare that I'm ill or absent from school, so when that happens, I'm left with nothing interesting to do, hence the above posts. Clinging on to the hopes of a good outing on Saturday, just waiting for confirmation of the duty that my companion for the day has.
Who are you trying to kid?!
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Jimmi - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 6:40 pm)Dan wrote Who are you trying to kid?!I thought that as well! [emoji14] [emoji1]
He seems to be off at least once every two months it seems.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Dan - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 6:50 pm)Jimmi wrote I thought that as well! [emoji14] [emoji1]
He seems to be off at least once every two months it seems.
Wait until he gets into the world of work!
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 6:40 pm)Dan wrote Who are you trying to kid?!
(03 Feb 2016, 6:50 pm)Jimmi wrote I thought that as well! [emoji14] [emoji1]
He seems to be off at least once every two months it seems.
Since the start of the 2015-16 academic year, I have been off for 4 days (including today). Better than some people, just yesterday, a girl walked into my English class who we hadn't seen since about Easter.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Dan - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 7:02 pm)R852 PRG wrote Since the start of the 2015-16 academic year, I have been off for 4 days (including today). Better than some people, just yesterday, a girl walked into my English class who we hadn't seen since about Easter.[emoji14]
Disgraceful.
I've pulled no sickies in my first year at work, and only taken 9 days holiday in total...
Man up.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - S813 FVK - 03 Feb 2016
And heres me with my 100% attendance
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Jimmi - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 7:29 pm)S813 FVK wrote And heres me with my 100% attendanceI only managed to get 100% attendance for a few terms at school.
I did however apparently have the greatest attendance record out of all the students in the technology department at college in my last year.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 7:29 pm)S813 FVK wrote And heres me with my 100% attendance
I believe Adam (the Eighteen Banks one) never missed a day of school at all. When I'm ill, I'll just be even more miserable and unreasonable as I usually am, so I think the rest of society benefits just as much as I do when I take a day off due to ill health.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - MurdnunoC - 03 Feb 2016
I don't think I've had a sick day since 2008.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - DanPicken - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:09 pm)MurdnunoC wrote I don't think I've had a sick day since 2008.
I've never managed a full school year with 100%.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - citaro5284 - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:09 pm)MurdnunoC wrote I don't think I've had a sick day since 2008.
likewise, I cannot remember the last time I took a sickie....but it was late nineties
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - DanPicken - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:12 pm)citaro5284 wrote likewise, I cannot remember the last time I took a sickie....but it was late nineties
Showing your age their Citaro.[SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - citaro5284 - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:13 pm)DanPicken wrote Showing your age their Citaro.[SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]
too right I am......and I get another year older the morra!!
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:14 pm)citaro5284 wrote too right I am......and I get another year older the morra!!
Let's see if we can guess your age...
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - citaro5284 - 03 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:20 pm)R852 PRG wrote Let's see if we can guess your age...
Lets not bother....haha
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Dan - 04 Feb 2016
(03 Feb 2016, 9:20 pm)R852 PRG wrote Let's see if we can guess your age...[emoji14]
I needn't guess!
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 04 Feb 2016
(04 Feb 2016, 4:48 am)Dan wrote I needn't guess!
Nor do I.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 06 Feb 2016
Had a good day out today on a Get Around day ticket, details are below.
Saturday 6th February 2016
#50 - Chester-le-Street Corals to South Shields Market Place - Go North East 5259
#50 - South Shields Market Place to Chester-le-Street Red Lion - Go North East 5259
#21 - Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Durham Bus Station - Go North East 6061
#20A - Durham Bus Station to Houghton-le-Spring Church - Go North East 5216
#20A - Houghton-le-Spring Church to Sunderland Park Lane Interchange - Go North East 4972
#78 - Sunderland Park Lane Interchange to Chester-le-Street South Burns - Go North East 5396
#34A - Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Corals via Waldridge Park - Go North East 8303
#X22 - Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace - Go North East 3875
The day commenced with an 07:30 alarm, and I woke up and dressed myself before leaving my house at around 07:55. Had a leisurely walk into Chester-le-Street, arriving at the foot of the Front Street for 08:15. I've made a habit of spending a while in Chester-le-Street on a Saturday morning, getting photos for my archives, but I didn't do this today, as I'd agreed to have a jolly to South Shields and back with Chester-le-Street driver Ben Stoves on service 50. He ran light from the depot, and turned the bus around in a u-turn, before pulling into the stand and sitting for a while. Scania OmniCity 5259 was the haulage for this little trip. Ben, who has been a driver for Go North East since June 2015, is also an enthusiast, and has amassed a small collection of photographs taken by other enthusiasts of him driving, so I offered to come and take some photos of him driving to add to that. We left on-time, and the run to South Shields was quite quiet, with the passenger numbers never rising beyond a dozen. I've grown to like the OmniCities over time, while I wasn't overly keen on them at one point. Ben and other drivers that I associate with seemingly view them as the nicest vehicles at Chester-le-Street depot to drive. He allowed me to get a photograph of tri-axle Scania K340EB/Caetano Levante 7095 on the 426 at South Shields, and the return journey to Chester-le-Street was punctual.
Ben's first shift was only to South Shields and back, from 08:17 until 10:22, and he had a short break before then going onto the 10:45 21 service to Durham, followed by a run all the way through to Newcastle, then returning to Chester-le-Street for another break. Ben went off to the staff canteen while I floated around and conversed with Chester-le-Street Supervisor Gary Wheatley. During this time, I was overjoyed to see Stanley-based Wright Renown 4896 coming along with the 10:25 78 for Consett. I took countless photos of it, as I was so happy to see this blast from the past. I regret not taking many photos of the B10s when they were allocated to the 8/78, so this was a good opportunity to get one. When I returned to Gary's company, he told me that he used to enjoy driving Optare Deltas on those routes, presumably when he was a PCV Driver at Stanley. Ben soon returned, and ''Angel'' branded Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 2 6061 was my next ride. We left on-time, and the journey through to Durham was enjoyable, if not somewhat mundane, having done the route countless times before. Upon arrival in Durham, Ben had several minutes to layover, so I got some photos of 6061 displaying various ''special'' blinds. We parted company at this point.
My next decided move was to go to Houghton-le-Spring for some photos. Deptford-based ''Prince Bishops'' branded Solar 5216 entered the bus station with a 20A for South Shields, so I decided to catch that across. It had a nice ZF gearbox, although we encountered a brief issue with the alarms at Millburngate. Driver started to rev the engines repeatedly until the alarm ceased to sound, and we carried on from there. The journey to Houghton-le-Spring took just over half an hour, and the scenery on this section of the route is quite nice in some places, so it was an enjoyable journey. I sat at the nearside quadrant as the one on the offside was taken (grr). Alighted in Houghton-le-Spring and noticed a Red Arrows B9TL was parked up out of service, so I headed across and conversed with the driver for a short while, who informed me it was a problem with the oil pressure that had caused the breakdown. I got some photos for about half an hour, and the replacement vehicle turned out to be 5366, which I got a photo of. 4972 was my ride through to Sunderland; I couldn't tell if this had a ZF or Voith gearbox as it was indistinguisable, and sounded flat as a fart. Was glad to get off in Park Lane, and I then headed out to get some photos, and Sean soon joined me. Biglugs@yahoo.com was floating around the same area; as were two other enthusiasts.
Sean and I boarded 5396 on the 13:37 (albeit running quite late) 78 to Consett, and like Adrian frequently experiences, the plug sockets were not working. It's disgraceful that they are fully aware of the issue, following Adrian's many complaints, but nothing seems to have been done to the plug sockets on 5396. I think the Streetlites aren't so bad, now that they've been worn in, with 9 months in service as of this month. The whine of the Voith gearbox and retarder sounds annoying, but aside from that and the cab door and emergency exit door rattles, they're pretty smooth buses. Don't know if I will be saying that in a few years' time, but it's my opinion on them at present. When we got back to my hometown of Chester-le-Street, I offered to take Sean on one of the Lambton Worm routes, so that he could get one of the Versas cleared for haulage and so that he could experience the route. The 34/34A were on diversion today, so I was hoping to do the Waldridge Park part anyway. 8303 was our ride, and we observed the diversion route as we went along. Sean commented on how nice the heating was at the back of this Versa. I understand the Versas are horrible to drive, but I quite like them as a passenger. When we came back to the Front Street, I told Sean how to get up to Chester-le-Street station for some photos of trains at speed. I headed over to talk to two veteran drivers, one of which commented that he now had to look up to talk to me because I was so tall. Lolyne 3875, reportedly the most unreliable bus at Chester-le-Street depot, came in with a late-running X22 to Durham, so I decided to end the day at this point, and caught this home. I waved at the two drivers as the service departed, and I was shortly home after alighting at my local bus stop.
It was a great day out, and I intend to have one similar in the future at some point. My thanks to Ben for allowing me to tag along in the morning.
R852 PRG
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - BusLoverMum - 06 Feb 2016
"I woke up and dressed myself before leaving my house at around 07:55."
Thank goodness for that! You can get arrested for public sleepwalking in the nude, you know!
And yes, I was annoyed by non-working C&C plug sockets, last week. All the more annoyed as the red kite ones do usually work.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 7:41 pm)BusLoverMum wrote "I woke up and dressed myself before leaving my house at around 07:55."
Thank goodness for that! You can get arrested for public sleepwalking in the nude, you know!
You're quite the comedian, aren't you?
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - BusLoverMum - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 7:42 pm)R852 PRG wrote You're quite the comedian, aren't you?
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - DanPicken - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 7:41 pm)BusLoverMum wrote "I woke up and dressed myself before leaving my house at around 07:55."
Thank goodness for that! You can get arrested for public sleepwalking in the nude, you know!
And yes, I was annoyed by non-working C&C plug sockets, last week. All the more annoyed as the red kite ones do usually work.
I was on 2 C&C today both had no working plugs, 5398 didn't last week either.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Adrian - 06 Feb 2016
Mod note: Original post modified by author, and unnecessary posts removed. Please refer to the forum rules.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Adrian - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 7:41 pm)BusLoverMum wrote "I woke up and dressed myself before leaving my house at around 07:55."
Thank goodness for that! You can get arrested for public sleepwalking in the nude, you know!
And yes, I was annoyed by non-working C&C plug sockets, last week. All the more annoyed as the red kite ones do usually work.
I'm sick and tired of emailing Go North East about it. I've contacted them 5 times for 5396 alone, and it's yet to be resolved. Some two months later. It's a bit unfortunate, because whenever I've used the 56 or X9/X10, I've never had a problem.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - R852 PRG - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 8:11 pm)Adrian wrote I'm sick and tired of emailing Go North East about it. I've contacted them 5 times for 5396 alone, and it's yet to be resolved. Some two months later. It's a bit unfortunate, because whenever I've used the 56 or X9/X10, I've never had a problem.
They're advertising a feature that isn't being provided by 5396, so it should be sorted out. False advertising.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Davie - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 8:11 pm)Adrian wrote I'm sick and tired of emailing Go North East about it. I've contacted them 5 times for 5396 alone, and it's yet to be resolved. Some two months later. It's a bit unfortunate, because whenever I've used the 56 or X9/X10, I've never had a problem.Me and Dan were on 5398 & 5408 and they weren't working on either of them.
RE: R852 PRG's Reviews - Adrian - 06 Feb 2016
(06 Feb 2016, 8:25 pm)Davie wrote Me and Dan were on 5398 & 5408 and they weren't working on either of them.
Have you emailed them? If not, drop an email to customerservices@gonortheast.co.uk