Since the new minibuses have come into service at Ashington, it means 1800, the last MPD clinging on has been finally withdrawn.

No doubt we've all been on one at some point either with Arriva or GNE and have had different views on them with them being pretty much everywhere in the North East from local routes in Whitby, Peterlee and North Tyneside, urban routes in Stockton, Sunderland and Newcastle and across the hills in Tynedale.

Thought I'd make a thread to give them a bit of credit since they won't get the big song and dance like other buses that have gone ie. the Solar's. I'm struggling to think of any other type of bus which have got about more in the NE other than maybe their bigger brother.

Paid my last respects on Tuesday, 1800 was on the 57/57A, captured at Annitsford

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I remember the days of driving them through Manor Walks car park in Cramlington on the C1/C2, something that would be almost impossible nowadays. Far superior to the Solos that replaced them.

Quite a few of them still left in the SNE fleet (Sunderland, Shields, Hartlepool) so not quite the end!

(01 Sep 2022, 12:51 pm)Driver9*** wrote I remember the days of driving them through Manor Walks car park in Cramlington on the C1/C2, something that would be almost impossible nowadays. Far superior to the Solos that replaced them.

Totally forgot about that, used to catch the 810/811 - believe it was those and not the 442 (one didn't go in there) when I was a kid about 15 year ago. Always wanted to get one, the 810/811 still having the Metroriders on at the time. Remember all the pensioners moaning as they couldn't get on the bus outside the Co-op (now ASDA).

(01 Sep 2022, 2:28 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Quite a few of them still left in the SNE fleet (Sunderland, Shields, Hartlepool) so not quite the end!

They're not MPD's, only the short ones (8.9m) are a MPD. They're either a Dart SLF / SPD, not sure on the length though.

(01 Sep 2022, 2:28 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Quite a few of them still left in the SNE fleet (Sunderland, Shields, Hartlepool) so not quite the end!

Those are Dennis Dart SLF4/SPD's. See pic of GNE MPD 8186 (Later to become 486)

(01 Sep 2022, 7:35 am)Storx wrote Since the new minibuses have come into service at Ashington, it means 1800, the last MPD clinging on has been finally withdrawn.

No doubt we've all been on one at some point either with Arriva or GNE and have had different views on them with them being pretty much everywhere in the North East from local routes in Whitby, Peterlee and North Tyneside, urban routes in Stockton, Sunderland and Newcastle and across the hills in Tynedale.

Thought I'd make a thread to give them a bit of credit since they won't get the big song and dance like other buses that have gone ie. the Solar's. I'm struggling to think of any other type of bus which have got about more in the NE other than maybe their bigger brother.

The Renowns?

(01 Sep 2022, 6:42 pm)V514DFT wrote The Renowns?

Nah wouldn't say Renowns, as far as I'm aware there wasn't ever any in the Darlington or Sunderland areas much.

The only other two I'd say are Olympians and Streetlites aswell. The second are all over the place now pretty much; Percy Main, Jesmond, Deptford, Stockton, Redcar, Darlington, Riverside, Durham, Consett, and also been based at Hexham and Ashington for a bit. No doubt Jesmond's will be moving to Blyth aswell next month to tick off all the Arriva / GNE depots.

(01 Sep 2022, 6:46 pm)Storx wrote Nah wouldn't say Renowns, as far as I'm aware there wasn't ever any in the Darlington or Sunderland areas much.

The only other two I'd say are Olympians and Streetlites aswell. The second are all over the place now pretty much; Percy Main, Jesmond, Deptford, Stockton, Redcar, Darlington, Riverside, Durham, Consett, and also been based at Hexham and Ashington for a bit. No doubt Jesmond's will be moving to Blyth aswell next month to tick off all the Arriva / GNE depots.

Are there any routes that StreetLites haven't operated at Arriva?

Only routes I can think of is the 1, 2, 58, X7, X8, X9, X10 and X11 but still regular visitors to Blyth on the X30, 100 and 308.

(01 Sep 2022, 11:57 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Are there any routes that StreetLites haven't operated at Arriva?

Only routes I can think of is the 1, 2, 58, X7, X8, X9, X10 and X11 but still regular visitors to Blyth on the X30, 100 and 308.

Honestly can't think of any, it's the same with GNE, other than the Peterlee locals I can't really think of any routes they haven't been on; Percy Main using them on the Washington locals and Hexham having one for a bit ticking most those off (not sure it done them all).

My thoughts are that there were too many of them down in East Cleveland, are they always ended up on routes totally unsuitable for them.

Disgruntled customers crammed in like sardines on the X4 for example, having to swap seats, wait for buggies to be folded down, leaving people behind. Never seemed to be a pleasant journey on them. Which is a shame, because the buses themselves were probably OK if used on the type of local routes they were designed for.

At least these days it's very rare not to get a full sized bus.

They have done a brilliant job in service. I used to ride on them on the 33/3B between Hartlepool and Bishop Auckland nice buses. I hope a few get preserved.

(01 Sep 2022, 6:46 pm)Storx wrote Nah wouldn't say Renowns, as far as I'm aware there wasn't ever any in the Darlington or Sunderland areas much.

The only other two I'd say are Olympians and Streetlites aswell. The second are all over the place now pretty much; Percy Main, Jesmond, Deptford, Stockton, Redcar, Darlington, Riverside, Durham, Consett, and also been based at Hexham and Ashington for a bit. No doubt Jesmond's will be moving to Blyth aswell next month to tick off all the Arriva / GNE depots.

Renown's were very much present in Sunderland including being officially allocated to the 8/78 & 9.

Arriva never really used the Renown's in County Durham having spent most of their life on Tyneside aside from a few that ended their lives at Stockton & Redcar, Renown's did grace the streets of Darlington occasionally when the OK1 ran and Arriva's 4514 spent about a week at Darlington before migrating to Yorkshire: https://flic.kr/p/CrFjfh

Aside from maybe scholars 865 at Belmont and 318S/323S at Whitby I can imagine StreetLite's have done everything South of the Tyne at least once with Arriva.

As a driver, I loved the MPD. Far superior to the Optare Solo (no matter what anyone says).

A MPD of the 56/86 cycle from Belmont was a great drive out. If ever a vehicle type suited a route then it was this.

Haven't driven older MPDs or Darts in general for that matter so cannot comment on those.

(02 Sep 2022, 11:20 am)Jimmi wrote Renown's were very much present in Sunderland including being officially allocated to the 8/78 & 9.

Arriva never really used the Renown's in County Durham having spent most of their life on Tyneside aside from a few that ended their lives at Stockton & Redcar, Renown's did grace the streets of Darlington occasionally when the OK1 ran and Arriva's 4514 spent about a week at Darlington before migrating to Yorkshire: https://flic.kr/p/CrFjfh

Aside from maybe scholars 865 at Belmont and 318S/323S at Whitby I can imagine StreetLite's have done everything South of the Tyne at least once with Arriva.

I would be willing to bet a Streetlite has done 323 at least once. I know for sure a B7 decker has.

The B10s at Stockton got everywhere as we had them for quite a while!


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(01 Sep 2022, 6:46 pm)Storx wrote Nah wouldn't say Renowns, as far as I'm aware there wasn't ever any in the Darlington or Sunderland areas much.

The only other two I'd say are Olympians and Streetlites aswell. The second are all over the place now pretty much; Percy Main, Jesmond, Deptford, Stockton, Redcar, Darlington, Riverside, Durham, Consett, and also been based at Hexham and Ashington for a bit. No doubt Jesmond's will be moving to Blyth aswell next month to tick off all the Arriva / GNE depots.

The Olympian (both Leyland / ECW and Volvo / Northern Counties) were my childhood buses.

These are the routes I grew up with and these vehicles:

Leyland Olympian
- Go Coastline - 301/302/308 and occasional show on 325/326

Volvo Olympian
- Northumbria / Arriva - 44/306/356
* Also the ex 602 M***FTY batch during their short stay at Blyth on the 308
- Go Coastline - 308

The ones I've got the most attachment to were GNE's Volvo Olympians as I used to love sitting on the single seat downstairs opposite the staircase whereas Northumbria's/Arriva's had an extra luggage/buggy compartment instead.

(01 Sep 2022, 6:46 pm)Storx wrote Nah wouldn't say Renowns, as far as I'm aware there wasn't ever any in the Darlington or Sunderland areas much.

The only other two I'd say are Olympians and Streetlites aswell. The second are all over the place now pretty much; Percy Main, Jesmond, Deptford, Stockton, Redcar, Darlington, Riverside, Durham, Consett, and also been based at Hexham and Ashington for a bit. No doubt Jesmond's will be moving to Blyth aswell next month to tick off all the Arriva / GNE depots.

I'll give you Darlington, as besides Arriva's 4514 covering some OmniCity refurbishments in late 2015, they had a very limited presence there. Sunderland, however, I'd dispute. For about fifteen years, they were a permanent fixture on the Consett/Stanley-Sunderland services, 4906-4909 spent a year on the X7, and there was a steady number of fleet-liveried examples based at Deptford in the mid-2010s.

(01 Sep 2022, 11:57 pm)omnicity4659 wrote Are there any routes that StreetLites haven't operated at Arriva?

Only routes I can think of is the 1, 2, 58, X7, X8, X9, X10 and X11 but still regular visitors to Blyth on the X30, 100 and 308.

Ashington StreetLites did occasionally work Blyth's X7 a few years ago. I'm not sure what the reason was behind it though.