Here's my review of yesterday's outing, good and bad points, mostly bad!

0805 7 Newton Aycliffe - Durham Bus Station (ANE 7536)
As ever, this run was the start of my outing but unfortunately unlike most Saturday's when I get this bus I can often be the only person to sit upstairs on an Enviro 400 but sadly when I went upstairs on this journey it was full of teenage girls blasting Niki Minaj out of their phones and shouting on, after having only fours sleep I couldn't be arsed on with this so I went downstairs at the next stop which got some looks from the passengers downstairs with me taking the seat over the rear wheel arch which was not very comfortable, don't like sitting downstairs on the E400's as the low height roof makes me feel a but claustrophobic, especially on the seat I selected where my head was just below the interior lights. When we got to Ferryhill Market Place some woman and sat on the seat in front of me and she kept turning round and staring at me, especially when I decided to get my charger out to charge my phone so I had 100% battery to hopefully ensure my phone didn't have low battery life towards the end of the day.

0850 15 Durham Bus Station - Consett Bus Station (GNE 6009)
This left from stand D in Durham instead of stand C as someone thought it was a great idea to put two services on stand C at the same time, the other service being the 16A which got to the stand first. Took my place at the front of the bus upstairs where the panel covering the area for the destination equipment was loose so I got glances of the Hanover equipment, also as if this wasn't bad enough this bus doesn't appear to have any form of heating upstairs so it was bone chillingly cold on-board, towards the end of the journey I actually started shivering it was that bad, granted I probably should have worn more than a thick hoddie but this was the only point of the day I actually felt cold. When I got off I went into the shopping centre to warm up, but it wasn't very warm here so I went back to the freezing cold bus station. This is not the first time I've complained about how cold this bus was, I had it a few months back and it was the same story, even when wearing a thick Parka.

0945 689 Consett Bus Station - Hexham Bus Station (GNE 644)
MERCIFULLY!!! this was the exact opposite of 6009, I sat at the back to warm up and thankfully the heat was blasting out through the vents, so the warm air was nicely wafting through my hair! Did get a bit worried when we got to Shotley Bridge as it started snowing! But thankfully it seemed to be just a shower but it did look frosty and there was bits of snow on the ground once we got past Ebchester. Once we got towards Slatley Hall the bus started to make a strange noise, unsure what it was but when a passenger boarded at Slatley Village the driver got out and had a look and then it was fine after that. If you haven't done this route yet, I'd strongly recommend it, some great views on this route. As I needed to quickly change to the 685 when I got off I made sure that I would be the first to get off, this resulted in my mug ending up being a target for the bus paparazzi in the form of Daniel Picken and Davie who will have shot me stood towards the front of the bus. Before boarding the 685 I just had time to snap the Solo SR on the 689.

1041 685 Hexham Bus Station - Carlisle Bus Station (Stagecoach Carlise 27141)
Boarded the bus to be greeted by a rather friendly driver, I then took my place just in front of the rear wheel arch. Just as we leaving Hexham Bus Station I spotted loaned Solo SR YJ65ELW (9104) coming towards us, so I chanced a shot of it through the window, unfortunately when I put the camera back in my bag it had slid itself into the wrong setting so it came out a bit blurry but managed to fix that with a bit of editing, here is the result: https://flic.kr/p/EsJV5e  Anyway back to the journey, this bus has high backed fabric seating which I must say was very comfy although I had been sat on buses for 2 and a half hours by the time I had boarded. Annoyingly a large load was waiting at Brampton and some old woman sat next to me who kept wanting to look out of the window, meaning she was invading my personal space. We eventually arrived, late of course being the 685! Annoyingly I just missed a shot of a standard liveried Enviro 400 on Stagecoach Gold service 300, damn! Did get a Lakes liveried ALX400 though. Before departing I let Facebook know where I was by checking into Carlisle.

Carlisle
Took some photos around the city centre, managed to find the thing I wanted which was a demonstrator Wright StreetLite which is on-loan for three months for fuel consumption trials against the Solo SR's used on the city services. Got some more photos and almost managed to get myself run over at some traffic lights. Made my way to the bus station to continue my adventure.

1334 104 Carlisle Bus Station - Penrith Bus Station (Stagecoach Carlisle 37125)
Yes, I decided to venture to Penrith for a few photos. To get there I boarded this Enviro 200 to reach Penrith, again a pretty friendly driver. This route was quite nice, some good scenery although one thing that kept distracting me from the views was a young lad sat on the sideways seat at the front of the bus behind the drivers cab who had just had a rather sad looking face, honestly I was playing a violin in my mind, honestly thought it was going to get me sheading a tear. The sad lad got off just before Penrith Bus Station which is where I departed where I could see a Stagecoach Gold X4/X5 branded Scania/Enviro 400 on the stand which I knew was about to depart any second, fortunately I managed to get a photo in-time although one of the passengers on the 104 wasn't so lucky and missed boarding it. I'll be honest, I thought Penrith Bus Station looked a bit grim and depressing. Fortunately I also got photos of Grand Prix Coaches service 563 which runs between Penrith and Kirkby Stephen, also got the Penrith Town Service 646 operated by NBM using a old Dennis Dart and I got really excited when one of the Stagecoach School Runner Vovlo B10M/Alexander PS' turned up!

1415 104 Penrith Bus Station - Carlisle (Stagecoach Carlisle 37125)
As Penrith doesn't have that much to offer - timed it so I had actually had stuff to photograph, I headed back to Carlisle on the same bus with the driver, disappointingly the run 30 minutes behind was an ALX400 which would have been better for views. On this journey there was an elderly lady talking about sausage rolls I think, or maybe I was just imaging this, I don't know. Pretty steady ride back to Carlisle with me departing near the railway station where I went for some photos. Also got some chips from a nearby chippy, chips were nowt flash but the battered sausage was nice but unfortunately a muscle spasm spelled the end of that as I dropped it on the pavement, so had to chuck it in the bin.

1607 685 Carlisle Bus Station - Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station (ANE 4662)
Saw two Pulsar's on here earlier in the day and I would have quite liked one just to see how they compare to the Omicity's, also because I prefer the seating layout but sadly 4662 turned up. Annoyingly as I was the last to board, I had limited choice of seats with me taking a seat in the buggy bay, the leather seats especially in the buggy bay are lethal, when we turned left at some traffic lights I nearly ended up on the floor as the bus had to brake sharply as some moron in a van was stopped in a keep clear box meaning the bus nearly drove straight into the moron. Eventually managed to move into the seats behind the drivers cab and then at Brampton I moved to my usual Omnicity seat which is the one towards the back by the emergency exit door and remained there until I departed at Newcastle. Quite enjoyed my journey on this, it provided some good thrash, far better than the examples we've got at Darlington depot.

Newcastle
Towards the end of my journey on the 85 I became sleepy, so I made the decision to get the train to Durham to get home an hour earlier, so I went to Central Station and tried to select my ticket from the machine but as I don't understand trains very well I panicked as I thought I may be doing something wrong, so I tried going to the ticket office but couldn't seem to get in so tried again but still clueless as to what to do, so I ended up heading back to Eldon Square for the bus, feeling disappointed in myself with what happened, still peed off with myself now that it happened, guess for me the train will always be a big and scary concept for me (if anyone has any more advice, send me a message on here or Facebook). Back at Eldon Square I had two options to get to Durham, the 21 and the X12, I opted for the X12 as I thought it would be quieter which I needed after the Central Station mess, unfortunately this turned out to be a mistake...

1922 X12 Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station - Durham Bus Station (ANE 7609)
...It arrived long before the departure time of 19:10 but for some reason the bus stayed sat just outside the bus station until 19:20 meaning we left Newcastle 12 minutes late, no reason given for this! To make matters worse it ended up running via Blackett Street where of course there was some moron taxi driver stopped practically in the middle of the road where the monument is so this ended up with the X12 mounting the pavement to get past as the taxi with traffic behind him refused to move. Of course it took ages to get onto the A167 to head over the Tyne Bridge. By the time we got to Low Fell we were running 15 minutes late meaning I was at great risk of missing my connecting service 7 home, thankfully it made up a few minutes and managed to arrive just before the 7 was due out. Oh and of course as 7609 was allocated I couldn't get the advertised free WiFi as it doesn't work!

2025 7 Durham Bus Station - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1516)
After jumping off the X12 I had to join the queue for the 7 which was practically out the door. Was concerned that by 20:20 it hadn't shown and my mobile data signal was weak so I couldn't track it on the Live Map so I had to resort to asking for someone on here to track it for me, fortunately not long after posting that it eventually arrived, because of the size of the queue I was hoping for an Enviro 400 but sadly Pulsar 1516 turned up. Managed to get the seat behind the drivers cab which I don't like so much as I can't see much, especially hate it when heading along the back road into Woodham as I can't see where the hills are. Driver had his foot hard down but despite his efforts by the time we reached my stop he was about 20 minutes down, not helped by someone boarding at Chilton to ask a question to the driver and then got off the bus, pees me off that! My back was in a bit pain once I got to the end of my journey and I was totally shattered.

So I thought this outing was a bit of a disaster and it left me with some mental scars, which is bad. Anyway thanks for reading this train wreck! A few photos have been uploaded to Flickr with more to come at some point.

Here’s an overview of my little outing on Saturday afternoon. I’d been busy all morning so decided to have a trip out.

1st bus - Stagecoach Trident 19675, service 63 12:04 Newcastle Gallowgate – Fenham. A good short journey of less than 10 minutes. Visited Dame Allen’s school at Fenham. Brand new Transit and a Peugeot Boxer in the yard. Visited Sacred Heart school, Ford Transit and an LDV parked by the nursery.

Met partner for lunch, she bought me chips and a sticky bun also made me a steaming hot cup of coffee. Whoever said the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach is spot on! Walked to Slatyford Garage afterwards. Preserved Atlantean and 5 open toppers parked along the side of the depot building. Volvo training vehicle 20553 and some old MANs at the rear of the yard.

2nd bus – Stagecoach Trident 19193, service 62 13:36 Slatyford – Chapel House, seat above the driver, running 5 minutes late, good thrash through the suburbs of Newcastle. Visited Carter (Get Carter) at Chapel House. Smart Mercedes 516 at the owner’s house along with a non-psv Ford Transit. Operator has recently upgraded to Standard National Licence.

3rd bus – Stagecoach Trident 19142, service 62 14:15 Chapel House – West Denton. Bus bang on time, seat above the driver again. Visited Denton Travel at the shopping centre, 8 vehicles present, only of one which is listed in the most recent PSV Circle G-List. Result!

Visit Studio West Academy, Peugot Boxer and VW LT parked up in the yard. Visit Thomas Bewick Academy, two Transits and an Iveco in the yard. The Iveco and one of the Transits wear Variety Club Livery. Next door is Linhope School, Newcastle’s pupil referral unit, old style 16 seat transit present. Walk across the grass recreation land to Crosslaw to premises of Coulson (JC Travel). This operator has a restricted taxi licence and is in the process of upgrading to a restricted o-licence. Here I spot an 8 seater Vauxhall Vivaro running on taxi plates and a Mercedes Sprinter with personalised registration, good find!

At the flats near the shopping centre I see an all white care bus, looks like it could be one of Newcastle Council’s. Closer inspection reveals it’s owned by Five Star Services and a recent purchase. Another good find!

4th bus – another Trident 19151 on the 14:48 62 West Denton – Gallowgate. Bus is on time again and I’m sat above the driver. Pretty uneventful journey, pass Peter Hogg’s Optare CN07KZR working the 131 to Jedburgh. Wonder if the driver had sweets again! Walk to the RVI in town, couple of Peugeot Boxers belonging to ERS Medical parked up between patient transport duties. Walk to the Haymarket, no enthusiasts at clingon corner. Come on chaps its good weather for spotting!

5th bus – GNE Scania 5234 Toon Link working the 15:35 12 Haymarket – Blaydon. Friendly driver, leaves on time. Good thrash along Scotswood Road and over the Scotswood Bridge. Annoying family sat behind me who laugh loudly the entire journey. Arrive at Blaydon and there’s a girl about 14 slouched against a wall by the church. She’s the double of Vicky Pollard from Little Brittan...yeah…but no…but yeah OMG. Cut through the shopping centre and visit Gateshead Council’s resource centre. There’s 3 Mercedes Sprinters and a Ford Transit in the parking area next to the main entrance. All 4 vehicles are in all over white livery.

6th bus - GNE 4901, Wright Bodied Volvo B10 working the 16:08 69 Blaydon – Gateshead QE Hospital. My longest single journey of the day. A canny driver for this cross-Gateshead marathon. Its up hill to Whickham, down all the way to Bensham and then back up again through Saltwell and Low Fell. The bus is quite busy and I amuse myself by attempting to read the tattoos on the woman sitting opposite. She’s got granddad written on her right foot and some kind of Gaelic horse motif on the left.

At Whickham we pass Front Street Primary with their two Renault Masters stationed down the bottom of the yard. On a sad note Whickham Community Minibus Trust is now defunct; the charity was wound up in January. I’ve no idea what has became of their sole yellow Mercedes Sprinter.

Gateshead hospital trust has built a small non-psv fleet, they’ve got a Peugot Boxer, two new-style Transits and a VW Transporter which they use to carry staff and patients. They’ve also got an old-style Transit at their Dunston Hill facility. Near to the QE is the ambulance station with a good representation of Renault Masters resting between duties in the easy to visit yard to the rear. I don’t stay long though.

7th bus - GNE Wright bodied Volvo 6085 working the 16:55 Fab 56 QE Hospital – Wrekenton. The driver certainly is Fab, he sees me pelting down the road and waits. Pass the newish massive academy, they used to have a Ford Transit, but I haven’t seen it on the premises for well over a year now.

At Wrekenton, I pay a quick visit to Gateshead Council’s resource centre, there is a single Mercedes Sprinter in the rear yard. I check the timetables at the stop on the main street. I’m aiming for Gateshead Central’s Taxibus service, dam too late missed the last one!

8th and final bus - Optare Versa 8332 on the 17:09 Q1 Wrekenton – Low Fell. This bus arrives early, and it’s a quick downhill journey to Low Fell to see my dad. Should I call in at the Black Horse for a relaxing pint? I decide against it and go to make his tea instead.

It had been a good half-day, visited a few independent operators, Stagecoaches' garage and some interesting non-psv operators. Looking forward to a good day trip out though, just have not had the time recently. Maybe not so many Tridents the next time out!

Thanks for reading…Charles

Today im too tired to include every thing so main parts only
4942 x36
5212 20
Spirit ferry
5244 19
Mx57cbf 333
Spirit ferry
27732 e1
39707 18
27727 e1
08 reg taxi [344] tb1
1601 22
27734 e1
27726 e1
28008= 13
36974 11
8309 2
8258 39
36965 10
142025 northern
156463 northern
28030 16
28023 16
4992 20
Today well i had a bit of a jolly the main points are
Possible last ride on 5212 doing the 20
First ride in a station taxi the driver said theyre getting a new taxi to run the route mind the route goes every where
A possible last ride on pacer 142025
And a possible last ride on 4992 on service 20
A great day i did plan to go to chester to see the prontos but my friend didnt want to.
Tommorow i might review my coach trip to whitby depending on how good the day was.

(25 Feb 2016, 1:13 am)James101 wrote On a similar theme I've been thinking about 'How far could you get from the North East using only one operator?'

The first thought is Arriva with the obvious Berwick to Scarbrough run. The winner on a miles basis I think would be Stagecoach. By my reckoning it's possible to travel from Kirkley in Northumberland to the great city of Chester.

Service X79 would take you into Newcastle, followed by a familiar 685 to Carlise. From here a 104 to Penrith and a comfortable Gold X4/X5 to Keswick. Possibly the longest journey is on the mammoth 555 all the way to Lancaster. It's easy to get to Preston on a 40 or 41 and another Scania E400 on the express X2 to Liverpool via Southport. Almost there! And a similar vehicle to what has already been traveled on, a Gold E300 to Chester. Seening as you've come all the way it makes sense to to a loop of Chester's southern suburbia on route 16 just for the mileage.

At 200 miles exactly it would be quite the journey! Now, that's the theory....I wonder if anybody would be brave enough to take it on?

Is it do-able in a day?

In theory National Express or Megabus are the ones to use if using one operator . I get what you mean though.

I would like to find out

(06 Mar 2016, 11:44 am)Andreos1 wrote Is it do-able in a day?

In theory National Express or Megabus are the ones to use if using one operator . I get what you mean though.

Okay, clearly I have too much time on my hands.

[X79] 0835 Kirkley Hall - Ponteland 0845 
[X78] 0855 Ponteland - Eldon Square 0917
[685] 0945 Eldon Square - Carlise 1156
[104] 1202 Carlise - Penrith 1242
[X5] 1315 Penrith - Keswick 1402
[555 Shuttle] 1405 Keswick - Grasmere 1447
[555] 1454 Grasmere - Lancaster 1712
[41] 1727 Lancaster - Preston 1847
[X2] 1926 Preston - Liverpool 2121
[1] 2135 Liverpool - Chester 2257

So technically possible in one day, certainly an interesting challenge! Some close changeovers, particularly 685/104 and X5/555 Shuttle though once the 555 is back to its regular timetable it will allow some slack. The X2 is the last run of the day so all has to run to plan until then at least. Only room for well-planned comfort breaks at Eldon Square, Penrith and Preston.

I got circa 120 miles the other week, starting well after that and finishig well before it.

Doing that route you suggested would take a lot of nerve and luck!

Will anyone try it?!

(06 Mar 2016, 8:00 pm)Andreos1 wrote I got circa 120 miles the other week, starting well after that and finishig well before it.

Doing that route you suggested would take a lot of nerve and luck!

Will anyone try it?!

Dread to think how many miles I racked up heading to/from Carlisle and Penrith last Saturday.

I'd fancy it but it wouldn't be realistic doing the X79 and X78 at the start, I could probably start on the X34 Gateshead - Newcastle then as above. Don't like the tight connections though and of course knowing me something would go wrong.

You could maybe get a fair few miles on Arriva on a Sunday during the summer by jumping on a Dalesbus service.

(06 Mar 2016, 8:00 pm)Andreos1 wrote I got circa 120 miles the other week, starting well after that and finishig well before it.

Doing that route you suggested would take a lot of nerve and luck!

Will anyone try it?!

In reality I imagine anyone brave enough to attempt it would skip out the Kirkley - Eldon Square bit which means they could catch the 0845 685 departure which is still a Stagecoach one. I think most places in the North East are able to connect to Eldon Square by that time. The extra hour could pad out the tight changeover. With this in mind I think it's fairly do-able!

(06 Mar 2016, 8:27 pm)James101 wrote In reality I imagine anyone brave enough to attempt it would skip out the Kirkley - Eldon Square bit which means they could catch the 0845 685 departure which is still a Stagecoach one. I think most places in the North East are able to connect to Eldon Square by that time. The extra hour could pad out the tight changeover. With this in mind I think it's fairly do-able!

Not by stagecoach.

And I'm not sure we could get there that early on a Saturday, by any bus. Our first Saturday bus into Durham arrives after 8am.

(06 Mar 2016, 11:04 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Not by stagecoach.

And I'm not sure we could get there that early on a Saturday, by any bus. Our first Saturday bus into Durham arrives after 8am.

Oh I didn't mean to suggest the entire region has links to Newcastle via Stagecoach. In fact I think their inter-city links are pretty poor. I based the entire journey on Mon-Fri timetables, I think it could fall apart on a Saturday!

Speaking of Stagecoach I once travelled on a Megabus form Manchester - Middlesbrough and connected onto the 1 to Hartlepool. The fare for the Manc-Boro part was less then the Boro-Hpool section!

Another challenge I'd like to do. Middlesbrough to Manchester in one day, using only stagecarriage services and on a single bus ticket. Made possible by the Dalesbus network which is to return this year, this journey is based on Sunday 2015 timetables and the full journey is covered on a £12 Dales Freedom Rover ticket.

[830] 0905 Middlesbrough OR 0947 Darlington - Ingleton 1220
[581] 1300 Ingleton - Settle 1325
same vehicle continues as [580] 1330 Settle - Skipton 1410
[872] 1455 Skipton - Manchester 1751

Return on a Megabus/Nat Ex. at additional cost.

It won't be everybody's cup of tea but I find it very interesting that such a long journey is possible on just 3 vehicles, even if it is 3 hours on a solo!

Would involve some epic scenery and interesting routes. If you're able to entertain yourself with music or a good read along the way it could be a fun day out.

(07 Mar 2016, 11:46 pm)James101 wrote Another challenge I'd like to do. Middlesbrough to Manchester in one day, using only stagecarriage services and on a single bus ticket. Made possible by the Dalesbus network which is to return this year, this journey is based on Sunday 2015 timetables and the full journey is covered on a £12 Dales Freedom Rover ticket.

[830] 0905 Middlesbrough OR 0947 Darlington - Ingleton 1220
[581] 1300 Ingleton - Settle 1325
same vehicle continues as [580] 1330 Settle - Skipton 1410
[872] 1455 Skipton - Manchester 1751

Return on a Megabus/Nat Ex. at additional cost.

It won't be everybody's cup of tea but I find it very interesting that such a long journey is possible on just 3 vehicles, even if it is 3 hours on a solo!

Would involve some epic scenery and interesting routes. If you're able to entertain yourself with music or a good read along the way it could be a fun day out.

I've thought about doing Dalesbus, starting in Darlington on the 830 to Ingleton then heading over to Skipton and then onto York then train back to Darlington. Hopefully this will be possible again in 2016, Arriva North East are definitely running the 830 between Middlesbrough and Ingleton again this year and they also seem to be running service 581 between Ingleton and Settle Market Place, so unsure if Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire will be doing the 580/581 on Sunday's again this year or not, hoping they are! Also Arriva Yorkshire will be running a Dalesbus service between Ripon and Richmond as service 859 this year which will probably continue to/from Dewsbury. This is based on VOSA registrations which are now appearing online. Hopefully timetables will be released soon.

Does anyone know what Hadrian Park is like for bus photos, as I may spend an hour or so there on Monday.

(10 Mar 2016, 7:52 pm)Davie wrote Does anyone know what Hadrian Park is like for bus photos, as I may spend an hour or so there on Monday.

It's ok but not the best.

(10 Mar 2016, 7:52 pm)Davie wrote Does anyone know what Hadrian Park is like for bus photos, as I may spend an hour or so there on Monday.

Its ok, Have you tried Cobalt yet? I might try there.

(10 Mar 2016, 7:52 pm)Davie wrote Does anyone know what Hadrian Park is like for bus photos, as I may spend an hour or so there on Monday.

Hadrian Park is decent not too rough either so shouldn't have any problems. Will give you a chance to get the MPDs too. 

Cobalt is also good as it's normally quiet through the day,  and plenty of buses now the 22 goes there. Often has ALX300s when I get on it too 22011/22014 have been on there a few times this week.

(10 Mar 2016, 8:21 pm)Tom wrote Hadrian Park is decent not too rough either so shouldn't have any problems. Will give you a chance to get the MPDs too. 

Cobalt is also good as it's normally quiet through the day,  and plenty of buses now the 22 goes there. Often has ALX300s when I get on it too 22011/22014 have been on there a few times this week.

I did Cobalt one afternoon about a year ago on the last day of the 919 service, was quite good there, here are some photos:

https://flic.kr/p/rPzNAu
https://flic.kr/p/rvnG5a
https://flic.kr/p/rMphaL
https://flic.kr/p/rx8btA

(10 Mar 2016, 8:07 pm)DanPicken wrote It's ok but not the best.

Cheers for the feedback bud.

(10 Mar 2016, 8:14 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote Its ok, Have you tried Cobalt yet? I might try there.

Good idea, I'll give it a try.

(10 Mar 2016, 8:21 pm)Tom wrote Hadrian Park is decent not too rough either so shouldn't have any problems. Will give you a chance to get the MPDs too. 

Cobalt is also good as it's normally quiet through the day,  and plenty of buses now the 22 goes there. Often has ALX300s when I get on it too 22011/22014 have been on there a few times this week.

Thanks Tom. I have noticed quite a few ALX300's on the 22 lately. The reason why I chose Hadrian Park was for the MPD's.

---

(10 Mar 2016, 8:25 pm)Jimmi wrote I did Cobalt one afternoon about a year ago on the last day of the 919 service, was quite good there, here are some photos:

https://flic.kr/p/rPzNAu
https://flic.kr/p/rvnG5a
https://flic.kr/p/rMphaL
https://flic.kr/p/rx8btA

Nice pics Jimmi.

Think tomorrow I may take a crack at doing a "no repeat bus type outing" think I'll get the 5/5A to Bishop Auckland, then I may sample the SB Travel 108/109 to Willington then catch a 46 to Durham and hope and pray a Pulsar doesn't turn up then see where I go from there.

---

Still can't believe that I did four round trips on the Stagecarriage service 84 between Stockton and Stillington this afternoon!

(11 Mar 2016, 8:46 pm)Jimmi wrote Think tomorrow I may take a crack at doing a "no repeat bus type outing" think I'll get the 5/5A to Bishop Auckland, then I may sample the SB Travel 108/109 to Willington then catch a 46 to Durham and hope and pray a Pulsar doesn't turn up then see where I go from there.

---

Still can't believe that I did four round trips on the Stagecarriage service 84 between Stockton and Stillington this afternoon!

Doubt you'll get a Pulsar on the 46 if that diversion is still in place at Weekends, E200s should be allocated and maybe a DAF. ( That's if the diversion is still in place )

How did you manage that!? Is it that Stagecarrige driver that's on Flickr? My outing was a farce tonight.

(11 Mar 2016, 8:54 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote Doubt you'll get a Pulsar on the 46 if that diversion is still in place at Weekends, E200s should be allocated and maybe a DAF. ( That's if the diversion is still in place )

How did you manage that!? Is it that Stagecarrige driver that's on Flickr? My outing was a farce tonight.

Would love a Lowlander on the 46 although I wouldn't mind a Enviro 200, even though the seats are as plastic as owt!

The 84 was the enthusiast bus this afternoon, there was me and two other passengers who were enthusiasts and Si Smart was driving, so that makes four of us, was a good way of killing some time. It seemed to amuse/confuse the regular passengers on the service!

(11 Mar 2016, 9:06 pm)Jimmi wrote Would love a Lowlander on the 46 although I wouldn't mind a Enviro 200, even though the seats are as plastic as owt!

The 84 was the enthusiast bus this afternoon, there was me and two other passengers who were enthusiasts and Si Smart was driving, so that makes four of us, was a good way of killing some time. It seemed to amuse/confuse the regular passengers on the service!

Get them while you can I suppose.

Haha did the other two stay the four journeys too? Aye Si Smart that's who I meant he seems a nice lad.

(11 Mar 2016, 9:24 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote Get them while you can I suppose.

Haha did the other two stay the four journeys too? Aye Si Smart that's who I meant he seems a nice lad.

Lowlander's seem to be appearing less on the 56/57/57A/86, more often it seems to be Pulsar's and E200's working alongside the Solo's. 46/48 seem to be a good place to find them.

Sort of, me and another did four full round trips whilst the other joined us at University Hospital of North Tees on our way back to Stockton on our first round trip.

Had 7444 all the way to Stanhope and back the other day... Magnificent!

(11 Mar 2016, 10:31 pm)LeeCalder wrote Had 7444 all the way to Stanhope and back the other day... Magnificent!

I'm not keen on that batch for comfort. The seats are cheap and nasty rubbish, and impossible to sit comfortably on for longer than 15 minutes. I had 7454 recently, and I much prefer that for comfort.

I had thought 7444 was looking rather tatty nowadays too mind, but there's obviously not much point in repainting it now.

(11 Mar 2016, 10:47 pm)Adrian wrote I'm not keen on that batch for comfort. The seats are cheap and nasty rubbish, and impossible to sit comfortably on for longer than 15 minutes. I had 7454 recently, and I much prefer that for comfort.

I had thought 7444 was looking rather tatty nowadays too mind, but there's obviously not much point in repainting it now.

I'm not to keen on Urban 90's, but they have done the job I suppose.

It is looking quite tatty, but I've seen some vehicles look worse straight out the paint shop.

(12 Mar 2016, 7:30 am)LeeCalder wrote I'm not to keen on Urban 90's, but they have done the job I suppose.

It is looking quite tatty, but I've seen some vehicles look worse straight out the paint shop.

As have I, considering its not been repainted at all iirc, it's doing well.

Kingsley's V178 MEV might as well still be in it's Stagecoach London livery...

It operated one of the scholars when I was at LLOB last year, and I was speaking to the driver and he said all the paint jobs are done on site, and pretty dire.

Doing well on my 'no repeat bus type' outing, although things may get complicated later, especially as I'm aiming for North Shields next then Sunderland and annoyingly I've already used a Renown and I think there is only two Omnicitys on the 9 today with the remainder of the PVR being B10's. Bad enough I had to get the 58 from Heworth to Newcastle as it was pretty much the only type of bus I could use.