Just been having a bit of a think about having a running day using some of the remaining fleet of Scania L94UB Wright Solars from Go North East for a final farewell before they are all withdrawn over the summer.

The idea would be to have a Solar from each batch from the year they were bought new with all of them being used during the day on some of the routes they used to operate, this could work two ways it could be set up for the Solar to run additional boards of various services on a Saturday or Sunday similar to what Lothian do, Alternatively it could be completely independent to enthusiasts only similar to the NNRG running days.

So the routes for the day if it went ahead would be:

4932- 57/57A - Newcastle - Gateshead - QE Hospital - Fewster Square - Heworth - Fellgate - South Shields

4966 - 194/294 - Heworth Metro - Concord - Washington - Fatfield - Shiney Row - Success Road - Houghton-Le-Spring

4968 - 35A/39 - Heworth - Boldon - Castletown - Sunderland - Barnes Park - Shiney Row - Houghton - Low Moorsley/Pennywell - Sunderland - Ryhope - Doxford International

4976 - Route 19 - Northumberland Park - Cobalt - Percy Main - North Shields

4989 - 20/20A/777/47 - South Shields - Sunderland/Sunderland - Penshaw - Fatfield - Harraton - Birtley - Low Fell - Gateshead - Newcastle/Newcastle - MetroCentre - Blackhall Mill

5216 - 220/222 - Sunderland - Houghton-Le-Spring - Durham

5221 - The Loop

5229 - OK1/X84/X85 - Middlesbrough - Darlington - Bishop Auckland - Crook/Hexham - Corbridge - Heddon On The Wall - Newcastle

Other vehicles from these batches could be used in order to create extra runs.

(01 Jun 2019, 10:35 pm)Malarkey wrote

Just been having a bit of a think about having a running day using some of the remaining fleet of Scania L94UB Wright Solars from Go North East for a final farewell before they are all withdrawn over the summer.

The idea would be to have a Solar from each batch from the year they were bought new with all of them being used during the day on some of the routes they used to operate, this could work two ways it could be set up for the Solar to run additional boards of various services on a Saturday or Sunday similar to what Lothian do, Alternatively it could be completely independent to enthusiasts only similar to the NNRG running days.

So the routes for the day if it went ahead would be:

4932- 57/57A - Newcastle - Gateshead - QE Hospital - Fewster Square - Heworth - Fellgate - South Shields

4966 - 194/294 - Heworth Metro - Concord - Washington - Fatfield - Shiney Row - Success Road - Houghton-Le-Spring

4968 - 35A/39 - Heworth - Boldon - Castletown - Sunderland - Barnes Park - Shiney Row - Houghton - Low Moorsley/Pennywell - Sunderland - Ryhope - Doxford International

4976 - Route 19 - Northumberland Park - Cobalt - Percy Main - North Shields

4989 - 20/20A/777/47 - South Shields - Sunderland/Sunderland - Penshaw - Fatfield - Harraton - Birtley - Low Fell - Gateshead - Newcastle/Newcastle - MetroCentre - Blackhall Mill

5216 - 220/222 - Sunderland - Houghton-Le-Spring - Durham

5221 - The Loop

5229 - OK1/X84/X85 - Middlesbrough - Darlington - Bishop Auckland - Crook/Hexham - Corbridge - Heddon On The Wall - Newcastle

Other vehicles from these batches could be used in order to create extra runs.

Another addition repaint and refurbish them into their original liveries

Another idea for buses going this summer. Put the remaining presidents into their angel livery and put them on the 21 during the summer alongside the vykings being put in their angel livery and run the 21 alongside the presidents

(02 Jun 2019, 8:51 am)GNE6312 wrote

Another addition repaint and refurbish them into their original liveries

Another idea for buses going this summer. Put the remaining presidents into their angel livery and put them on the 21 during the summer alongside the vykings being put in their angel livery and run the 21 alongside the presidents

Might get a round trip out of them, that's if you're lucky lol. They can barely survive on a couple of scholars trips a day now.

(02 Jun 2019, 8:51 am)GNE6312 wrote

Another addition repaint and refurbish them into their original liveries

Another idea for buses going this summer. Put the remaining presidents into their angel livery and put them on the 21 during the summer alongside the vykings being put in their angel livery and run the 21 alongside the presidents

Let's not lose sight of why a bus company like Go North East exists... to make money!

These ideas are nice but would come at significant cost and I'm not too sure there's much in it for GNE.

(02 Jun 2019, 9:13 am)Dan wrote

Let's not lose sight of why a bus company like Go North East exists... to make money!

These ideas are nice but would come at significant cost and I'm not too sure there's much in it for GNE.

They would still be making money if they were still put in normal passenger service alongside the vehicles which usually operate those routes. As mentioned in my previous post Lothian seem to have great success with these sort of running days with enthusiasts coming from all over the country for there open days.

I think it would be a great idea to keep some of them for "Special Events" throughout the year if restored to there old guise.

Go north east should prehaps try doing yearly open days like lothian and Stagecoach C&NL. They could do it sometime during the summer and have a mix of modern and preserved buses. The event will be held at riverside depot.

At the events all modern viechle on display will be open to look around however the preserved ones are only to be opened when the owner wants them to be.

The modern buses will include buses from all 5 gne depots but EYMS and HNW

The activities will include bus wash rides on the Modern viechles and also getting your name put on the display boards of the modern viechles


Would be a great day in my opinion.

A shuttle will operate between The depot and Gateshead interchange every half hour

One shuttle an hour will be operated by a modern viechle and the other a preserved viechle

 Go north east has done this before for Riverside opening but it woukd br great to try this again on a yearly basis.

(03 Jun 2019, 6:43 pm)Charles41 wrote A great idea, I remember going to open days at the old Sunderland Road and Slatyford depots when I was younger. I think a different depot each year. For example Washington one year,then Depford and then Riverside. This would give people from different areas the chance to look round their local depot. The presence of preserved buses is a great Idea too. A small admission charge could be donated to a local charities.

Charles

Great extension to my idea. That can also be added to my idea too.

(02 Jun 2019, 1:50 pm)Malarkey wrote

They would still be making money if they were still put in normal passenger service alongside the vehicles which usually operate those routes. As mentioned in my previous post Lothian seem to have great success with these sort of running days with enthusiasts coming from all over the country for there open days.

I think it would be a great idea to keep some of them for "Special Events" throughout the year if restored to there old guise.

I don't think you could compare this suggestion to what Lothian do. Lothian are running, on the most part, vintage buses on these occasions. The Solar isn't a vintage bus, and as far as most customers would see, its just an 'owld banger' turning up instead of their regular bus.

Lothian duplicate their services that they're running vintage buses on. Now I get some of that is for accessibility reasons, it does come with a cost: fuel + hourly rate for the driver, at the very least. If it wasn't ran as a dupe, then you'd have the problem described above.

I get the sentiment of the suggestion, but really, this is a niche market.

(03 Jun 2019, 6:34 pm)GNE6312 wrote

Go north east should prehaps try doing yearly open days like lothian and Stagecoach C&NL. They could do it sometime during the summer and have a mix of modern and preserved buses. The event will be held at riverside depot.

At the events all modern viechle on display will be open to look around however the preserved ones are only to be opened when the owner wants them to be.

The modern buses will include buses from all 5 gne depots but EYMS and HNW

The activities will include bus wash rides on the Modern viechles and also getting your name put on the display boards of the modern viechles


Would be a great day in my opinion.

A shuttle will operate between The depot and Gateshead interchange every half hour

One shuttle an hour will be operated by a modern viechle and the other a preserved viechle

 Go north east has done this before for Riverside opening but it woukd br great to try this again on a yearly basis.

Not sure why you'd need to run a shuttle between the depot and Gateshead Interchange, when there must be 10 buses an hour going to Gateshead and another 10 going to Newcastle? Not to mention the Metrocentre Interchange being a 5 minute walk.

That being said, it is probably a more realistic idea than the original suggestion.

(01 Jun 2019, 10:35 pm)Malarkey wrote

Just been having a bit of a think about having a running day using some of the remaining fleet of Scania L94UB Wright Solars from Go North East for a final farewell before they are all withdrawn over the summer.

The idea would be to have a Solar from each batch from the year they were bought new with all of them being used during the day on some of the routes they used to operate, this could work two ways it could be set up for the Solar to run additional boards of various services on a Saturday or Sunday similar to what Lothian do, Alternatively it could be completely independent to enthusiasts only similar to the NNRG running days.

Or just ride them on a normal service at your own convenience? lol