Noticed a Pulsar 'abandoned' at Bradbury yesterday evening.
No sign of a driver. No passengers onboard.

Didn't get the id unfortunately.

(14 May 2025, 11:18 am)Andreos1 wrote Noticed a Pulsar 'abandoned' at Bradbury yesterday evening.
No sign of a driver. No passengers onboard.

Didn't get the id unfortunately.

If it was in the bus stop near the petrol station the chances are the driver was in the shop getting food / drinks - some drivers have break there rather than drive back to Stockton on X22 back shift

(15 May 2025, 7:14 pm)Teessider2014 wrote If it was in the bus stop near the petrol station the chances are the driver was in the shop getting food / drinks - some drivers have break there rather than drive back to Stockton on X22 back shift

Aye, it was next to the petrol station actually. 

How does that shift work?

1421 is on loan  from Redcar  to Stockton  seems Stockton are yet again struggling

(15 May 2025, 8:02 pm)Andreos1 wrote Aye, it was next to the petrol station actually. 

How does that shift work?

I’m sure it used to be an X22 that used to get ~2 hour break in Sedgefield as provision was made for them to go ‘home’ to Middlesbrough for their break and then go back but now it appears to be a 15 that finishes at Roseworth at 1904 and runs light to Sedgefield for 2055 to Peterlee, back to Sedgefield and last one to Wingate to finish.

1392 has broken down on the X16, hrading to Wooler.

Its on the junction between A697 and B6341.

(17 May 2025, 5:49 am)tyresmoke wrote I’m sure it used to be an X22 that used to get ~2 hour break in Sedgefield as provision was made for them to go ‘home’ to Middlesbrough for their break and then go back but now it appears to be a 15 that finishes at Roseworth at 1904 and runs light to Sedgefield for 2055 to Peterlee, back to Sedgefield and last one to Wingate to finish.

Wonder if it's certain drivers who do it, as I can't remember seeing anything parked there on a regular basis.

(17 May 2025, 12:25 pm)Andreos1 wrote Wonder if it's certain drivers who do it, as I can't remember seeing anything parked there on a regular basis.

Likely will be, I assume the official break point will be Stockton itself, but drivers will probably choose their own point to have their break. Plenty of choice up there to be fair you’ve got Sedgefield itself, Tesco, Wolviston services, Bradbury all possible choices!

Ashington really need to sort themselves with the 57/57A being solos. Currently on 2602 on the 57A and it's busy and it's only in Seghill. I don't understand what gives the logic to still allocation solos to this route. 2602 should be used as a spare in the depot in case 2601/03 breaks down but they will chuck a decker on that.

(27 May 2025, 10:23 am)Aaron21 wrote Ashington really need to sort themselves with the 57/57A being solos. Currently on 2602 on the 57A and it's busy and it's only in Seghill. I don't understand what gives the logic to still allocation solos to this route. 2602 should be used as a spare in the depot in case 2601/03 breaks down but they will chuck a decker on that.

If it's serviceable and nothing else is available, then obviously it is going to be utilised on the 57. 

Equally, it can literally only be used on the 434/57. If they have spare buses it's far better operationally to use that on the 57, and keep the spares available in the depot which can be used on every other route which they operate.

Believe 7546 has had a thermal incident this morning.

According to bustimes 1516 is now a Belmont vehicle.

(27 Jul 2025, 10:30 am)alexanderdennis0312933 wrote According to bustimes 1516 is now a Belmont vehicle.

On loan from Darlington as Belmont depot are covering a 7 board at the moment.

The Ashington "engineering" team seem to have reverted to their old tricks. Constantly sending out vehicles which have failed the previous day(s), only for them to almost immediately need replacing again. 

1574 came back into service today, again failing to make start of service. In the past 2 weeks, it failed on Monday 21st after just a few hours. It was sent back out on the 22nd and failed to complete the day on the 57. It was sent back out on the 23rd and didn't even make it to the first stop after Ashington Bus Station. Didn't get used on the 24th, appeared in the afternoon of the 25th where it ran NIS to Whitley Bay, then lost 30 minutes on the return journey to Ashington. Saturday 26th it managed just over 2 hours before failing on an X21. Monday 28th, it completed its first full day for over a week, before failing on the first trip on the 1 on Tuesday 29th. 

1391 was the same at the start of this month. After a fortnight off, from the middle of June, it was sent out on the 1st July for 2 trips on the 777. Two more days off, where they decided to send it on an X20 and in a shock move it didn't make it to Alnwick on its first trip. It did a couple of trips on the 1 the next day before again being pulled off, another 2 days off and then after a failed round trip on the X22 it was once again pulled off service for another 3 weeks where they seem to have actually fixed it.

7564, 7548, and 3051 are further examples. 

It seems to be a pattern of them sending things out which evidently aren't fit for service, and hoping for the best. Obviously you have to question the competency of the engineering management which allow this to happen. Given the amount of times this seems to happen on one of the last buses to leave the depot in the morning, I assume there is some measured statistic for meeting PVR each day - which evidently they will do anything to hit (though I wonder how this works when that bus then breaks almost immediately?). 

You hope that the installation of new management at the very top will improve standards across the board.

(31 Jul 2025, 7:39 pm)PH - BQA wrote The Ashington "engineering" team seem to have reverted to their old tricks. Constantly sending out vehicles which have failed the previous day(s), only for them to almost immediately need replacing again. 

1574 came back into service today, again failing to make start of service. In the past 2 weeks, it failed on Monday 21st after just a few hours. It was sent back out on the 22nd and failed to complete the day on the 57. It was sent back out on the 23rd and didn't even make it to the first stop after Ashington Bus Station. Didn't get used on the 24th, appeared in the afternoon of the 25th where it ran NIS to Whitley Bay, then lost 30 minutes on the return journey to Ashington. Saturday 26th it managed just over 2 hours before failing on an X21. Monday 28th, it completed its first full day for over a week, before failing on the first trip on the 1 on Tuesday 29th. 

1391 was the same at the start of this month. After a fortnight off, from the middle of June, it was sent out on the 1st July for 2 trips on the 777. Two more days off, where they decided to send it on an X20 and in a shock move it didn't make it to Alnwick on its first trip. It did a couple of trips on the 1 the next day before again being pulled off, another 2 days off and then after a failed round trip on the X22 it was once again pulled off service for another 3 weeks where they seem to have actually fixed it.

7564, 7548, and 3051 are further examples. 

It seems to be a pattern of them sending things out which evidently aren't fit for service, and hoping for the best. Obviously you have to question the competency of the engineering management which allow this to happen. Given the amount of times this seems to happen on one of the last buses to leave the depot in the morning, I assume there is some measured statistic for meeting PVR each day - which evidently they will do anything to hit (though I wonder how this works when that bus then breaks almost immediately?). 

You hope that the installation of new management at the very top will improve standards across the board.

Must admit I've noticed this, with 3051 in particular, as it's been pulled pretty much daily

But is it better to have no service, at all, or attempt to get something running? I know which camp I'd be in. I've noticed 7625 was at Ashington today, bailing them out though. Not sure it's fair to blame Ashington when they've inherited a fleet of 10+ reject Pulsar's from other depots considering they had none in frontline service until recently. All down to lack of investment really, and is it really surprise it's starting to catch up now?

Arriva comes across as a shambles across the board dealing with Chiltern Trains last night after Wembley which could be best described as chaos. Whichever clown thought it was a good idea to have a queue which was 15 people wide, merging into 2 people wide with no form of control resulting into a scrum since if you didn't get through you were waiting for the next train, you really have to question. Topped up by numerous people struggling to get out the barriers at Marylebone while all 3 staff on were totally ignoring them and having a nice chat at the entry gateline where no-one was anywhere near... 

Total contrast to TFL who had 2 people on the Underground gateline who were actually doing their job and from stuff online a very organised system at Wembley Park aswell.

(31 Jul 2025, 9:32 pm)Storx wrote Must admit I've noticed this, with 3051 in particular, as it's been pulled pretty much daily

But is it better to have no service, at all, or attempt to get something running? I know which camp I'd be in. I've noticed 7625 was at Ashington today, bailing them out though. Not sure it's fair to blame Ashington when they've inherited a fleet of 10+ reject Pulsar's from other depots considering they had none in frontline service until recently. All down to lack of investment really, and is it really surprise it's starting to catch up now?

Arriva comes across as a shambles across the board dealing with Chiltern Trains last night after Wembley which could be best described as chaos. Whichever clown thought it was a good idea to have a queue which was 15 people wide, merging into 2 people wide with no form of control resulting into a scrum since if you didn't get through you were waiting for the next train, you really have to question. Topped up by numerous people struggling to get out the barriers at Marylebone while all 3 staff on were totally ignoring them and having a nice chat at the entry gateline where no-one was anywhere near... 

Total contrast to TFL who had 2 people on the Underground gateline who were actually doing their job and from stuff online a very organised system at Wembley Park aswell.

It seems to be the standard for many companies nowadays, just a series of quick fixes to get things back out on the road ASAP. Much of Arriva’s fleet are really starting to show their age now, whilst some have been given a spruce up in appearance, you can't help but feel how tired much of the fleet is now.

I found much of the Chiltern fleet I saw at Marylebone yesterday looking rather shabby, including the Class 165 I got to Wembley Stadium, so pleased I didn't have to attempt to use the transport network there last night, didn't look too bad to me but I only saw from the outside looking in really which was mostly just stopping people from walking over the bridge at Wembley Stadium Station.

(31 Jul 2025, 9:32 pm)Storx wrote Must admit I've noticed this, with 3051 in particular, as it's been pulled pretty much daily

But is it better to have no service, at all, or attempt to get something running? I know which camp I'd be in. I've noticed 7625 was at Ashington today, bailing them out though. Not sure it's fair to blame Ashington when they've inherited a fleet of 10+ reject Pulsar's from other depots considering they had none in frontline service until recently. All down to lack of investment really, and is it really surprise it's starting to catch up now?

I’d absolutely argue that sending a bus out knowing that it’s likely not going to make it is worse than not sending it at all. All you’re doing then is, at best, annoying passengers and other road users - and at worst doing that AND making the problem worse (leading to bigger issues down the line). If something has an issue with overheating due to a coolant leak, for example, then the more you run that engine under those conditions the more likely it is to suffer damage. I imagine in lots of instances they’ll also need to use Alpha, which is obviously a further cost - which ultimately will fall on the passenger to cover. 

They have had Pulsars in service for well over 3 years now, and to be fair the Pulsars generally aren’t the problem. I think 1540 is the only one which is off at the moment (for more than a day or two anyway), and I heard that was accident damage. 1404, which is 16 now, happily does Kelso X16 duties and completed an X18 board the other week without issue. Most of the others are similar in fairness, even the ex-NW ones seem to handle the express work fine. 

I do believe that their engineering is an issue, however I also think they’re hamstrung by the fleet they have and the routes they operate. I believe that out of the full NE operation they operate the most buses on an evening, and every single route they operate has at least some NSL running. During the day over 40 of their buses are allocated to express routes which have varying levels of dual carriageway blasts. They’ve got about 20 buses out there past 10pm every night, and over half of them are on express work. Contrast that with the significant amount of town/city work other depots, such as Durham and Darlington, have - as well as the reduced evening vehicle requirement at those depots. Ashington’s evening workload has increased recently, with the X15s in particular, as has their express daytime work with the X30, which brings us onto the next problem - the removal of deckers. 

You’re putting all of this stress, through high mileage and high speed running, onto an increasingly old and decreasing pool of deckers. Though several (7528/29/30/31/32) older E400s have performed well over the past week or so on various X14/8/20 boards, they’re not really cut out for that any more. Meaning the 17-plates and reduced pool of 72-plates are getting slammed daily, with expected results. Yes, the Pulsars sent to replace the 4 X93 72-plates perform well, but they aren’t going to be allocated to the same work which the 72-plates could be - which just increases the stress on those which remain. Its why the decision to remove 7578-81, despite the need for them on the X93, was a huge negative for Ashington - it massively reduced operational resilience and flexibility, while increasing the workload for already stressed assets.

Blyth's Pulsar Gemini's (especially the original batches in the MAX livery) are looking increasingly battered and run down - especially the rust bubbling around the windows and IMHO feel increasingly run down inside to boot. Blyth's older Enviros, well they are what they are (at least after their Sapphire refurb by Thorntons seemed to minimise the rattles) but it is obvious they have had a hard life as well. On the plus side they all aged far better than the Scania/ELC Cityzen nightmares before them, but the current state is not good enough either. For Ashington, to add more to the fire, the baby Solos are still ending up on the 57/57a runs. I know a bus is better than no bus, but with the current Summer Holidays and the traffic to Whitley Bay it attracts, Arriva are doing themselves no favours.

(31 Jul 2025, 11:03 pm)Jimmi wrote It seems to be the standard for many companies nowadays, just a series of quick fixes to get things back out on the road ASAP. Much of Arriva’s fleet are really starting to show their age now, whilst some have been given a spruce up in appearance, you can't help but feel how tired much of the fleet is now.

I found much of the Chiltern fleet I saw at Marylebone yesterday looking rather shabby, including the Class 165 I got to Wembley Stadium, so pleased I didn't have to attempt to use the transport network there last night, didn't look too bad to me but I only saw from the outside looking in really which was mostly just stopping people from walking over the bridge at Wembley Stadium Station.

Aye it was the bridge which was the problem, I'm sure they had the majority of the staff stopping people on the bridge and no-one managing the queue line which didn't really exist (just had half the bridge merging into a half a stairwell, with obvious results). Not sure what happened as last time we used it, they used to have a long cattlepen queue line and it worked well to be fair.

Small world, assuming both were at Oasis on Wednesday mind, seems like half the North East was there.

(31 Jul 2025, 11:06 pm)PH - BQA wrote I’d absolutely argue that sending a bus out knowing that it’s likely not going to make it is worse than not sending it at all. All you’re doing then is, at best, annoying passengers and other road users - and at worst doing that AND making the problem worse (leading to bigger issues down the line). If something has an issue with overheating due to a coolant leak, for example, then the more you run that engine under those conditions the more likely it is to suffer damage. I imagine in lots of instances they’ll also need to use Alpha, which is obviously a further cost - which ultimately will fall on the passenger to cover. 

They have had Pulsars in service for well over 3 years now, and to be fair the Pulsars generally aren’t the problem. I think 1540 is the only one which is off at the moment (for more than a day or two anyway), and I heard that was accident damage. 1404, which is 16 now, happily does Kelso X16 duties and completed an X18 board the other week without issue. Most of the others are similar in fairness, even the ex-NW ones seem to handle the express work fine. 

I do believe that their engineering is an issue, however I also think they’re hamstrung by the fleet they have and the routes they operate. I believe that out of the full NE operation they operate the most buses on an evening, and every single route they operate has at least some NSL running. During the day over 40 of their buses are allocated to express routes which have varying levels of dual carriageway blasts. They’ve got about 20 buses out there past 10pm every night, and over half of them are on express work. Contrast that with the significant amount of town/city work other depots, such as Durham and Darlington, have - as well as the reduced evening vehicle requirement at those depots. Ashington’s evening workload has increased recently, with the X15s in particular, as has their express daytime work with the X30, which brings us onto the next problem - the removal of deckers. 

You’re putting all of this stress, through high mileage and high speed running, onto an increasingly old and decreasing pool of deckers. Though several (7528/29/30/31/32) older E400s have performed well over the past week or so on various X14/8/20 boards, they’re not really cut out for that any more. Meaning the 17-plates and reduced pool of 72-plates are getting slammed daily, with expected results. Yes, the Pulsars sent to replace the 4 X93 72-plates perform well, but they aren’t going to be allocated to the same work which the 72-plates could be - which just increases the stress on those which remain. Its why the decision to remove 7578-81, despite the need for them on the X93, was a huge negative for Ashington - it massively reduced operational resilience and flexibility, while increasing the workload for already stressed assets.

Aye don't agree at all about the fleet issues, you're right - it's why badly they need better investment really as like you said the Whitby move just caused issues - and the Pulsar's were inappropiate vehicles anyway since it's deckers Ashington needs not more singles. I've noticed that the cancellations are creeping in on the X22 again in recent weeks aswell.

Mind only thing I can say is, if you didn't want to have buses out with problems, would there be anything left? If there's a 50/50 chance they'll die there's always some who aren't dying. Can't remember the fleet number, but one of the Pulsar's I got the other day sounded absolutely terrible and it wasn't one of those on the list as it was one of the 1537-43 which probably shouldn't be running and it was packed as it was doing 2 buses since the one in front wasn't running, no doubt a breakdown aswell.

Not sure what the answer is as all 3 operators in the area seem to having similar issues at Riverside, Slatyford and Ashington - in particular. The Slatyford ones are just going more unnoticed as they appear to have a ridiculous number of spares in recent weeks which I'm not sure is the answer either.

(01 Aug 2025, 7:31 am)Storx wrote Aye it was the bridge which was the problem, I'm sure they had the majority of the staff stopping people on the bridge and no-one managing the queue line which didn't really exist (just had half the bridge merging into a half a stairwell, with obvious results). Not sure what happened as last time we used it, they used to have a long cattlepen queue line and it worked well to be fair.

Small world, assuming both were at Oasis on Wednesday mind, seems like half the North East was there.


Aye don't agree at all about the fleet issues, you're right - it's why badly they need better investment really as like you said the Whitby move just caused issues - and the Pulsar's were inappropiate vehicles anyway since it's deckers Ashington needs not more singles. I've noticed that the cancellations are creeping in on the X22 again in recent weeks aswell.

Mind only thing I can say is, if you didn't want to have buses out with problems, would there be anything left? If there's a 50/50 chance they'll die there's always some who aren't dying. Can't remember the fleet number, but one of the Pulsar's I got the other day sounded absolutely terrible and it wasn't one of those on the list as it was one of the 1537-43 which probably shouldn't be running and it was packed as it was doing 2 buses since the one in front wasn't running, no doubt a breakdown aswell.

Not sure what the answer is as all 3 operators in the area seem to having similar issues at Riverside, Slatyford and Ashington - in particular. The Slatyford ones are just going more unnoticed as they appear to have a ridiculous number of spares in recent weeks which I'm not sure is the answer either.

Is it not time for Volvo to build a two axile Volvo B8TL given the shift in operators moving away from integral ADL & WrightBus single deckers back to heavy duty single deck Volvo B8L Evoras?

To be fair, Arriva have done a decent job keeping E400 & E400MMC working on some of the work - but a B8TL would be more durable longer term on the likes of the X14/X15/X18/X20, X93/X94 and also GNE's X10.

(01 Aug 2025, 12:35 am)solsburian wrote Blyth's Pulsar Gemini's (especially the original batches in the MAX livery) are looking increasingly battered and run down - especially the rust bubbling around the windows and IMHO feel increasingly run down inside to boot. Blyth's older Enviros, well they are what they are (at least after their Sapphire refurb by Thorntons seemed to minimise the rattles) but it is obvious they have had a hard life as well.

To be fair, the Pulsar Gemini's are aging far better than their Daimler powered successors at GNE's Riverside & Washington - some of them considerably younger than the Geminis too! And no doubt they'll probably have to carry more passengers soon, bailing out knackered ones pulled up on the Coast Road or along the seafront with their hazards on!

(01 Aug 2025, 7:31 am)Storx wrote Mind only thing I can say is, if you didn't want to have buses out with problems, would there be anything left? If there's a 50/50 chance they'll die there's always some who aren't dying. Can't remember the fleet number, but one of the Pulsar's I got the other day sounded absolutely terrible and it wasn't one of those on the list as it was one of the 1537-43 which probably shouldn't be running and it was packed as it was doing 2 buses since the one in front wasn't running, no doubt a breakdown aswell.

There's a huge difference between sending things out with serviceable defects, and sending things out which are continually breaking down with the same issue though - the latter is negligence and is clearly what is happening here. If something breaks down 3 days in a row, why would day 4 be any different if you've not addressed the underlying issue?

(01 Aug 2025, 10:50 am)L469 YVK wrote To be fair, the Pulsar Gemini's are aging far better than their Daimler powered successors at GNE's Riverside & Washington - some of them considerably younger than the Geminis too! And no doubt they'll probably have to carry more passengers soon, bailing out knackered ones pulled up on the Coast Road or along the seafront with their hazards on!

The DB300s, along with the SB200s, have put in a ridiculously good shift for Arriva really.

I caught 7632 yesterday and it performed very well with a full load on the 306, indeed it's been some time since I've been on a DB300 which performed poorly. I know they look a tad shabby externally, but the interior on most of them has held up well imo. 

The SB200 Pulsar has to be right up there as one of the best low-floor single decks produced to be honest, they rarely put a foot wrong and have consistently performed well on demanding work since new. It's a shame it went to Yorkshire and blew its engine, but 1407 was a genuine missile for years and constantly bailed Ashington out on express boards.

(01 Aug 2025, 7:31 am)Storx wrote Aye it was the bridge which was the problem, I'm sure they had the majority of the staff stopping people on the bridge and no-one managing the queue line which didn't really exist (just had half the bridge merging into a half a stairwell, with obvious results). Not sure what happened as last time we used it, they used to have a long cattlepen queue line and it worked well to be fair.

Small world, assuming both were at Oasis on Wednesday mind, seems like half the North East was there.

Yes, I was there for Oasis on Wednesday night.

(01 Aug 2025, 10:17 am)L469 YVK wrote To be fair, Arriva have done a decent job keeping E400 & E400MMC working on some of the work - but a B8TL would be more durable longer term on the likes of the X14/X15/X18/X20, X93/X94 and also GNE's X10.

Think Ashington has had a few breakdowns with the E400MMCs recently when on the likes of the express services to Alnwick, Redcar/Whitby are having issues with certain examples too, 7580 being one which isn't wanting to work properly, when I went to Scarborough a few weeks back, 7580 was having issues, it had to really struggle up the hills heading out of Fylingthorpe before giving up at the top of the last one and we had to wait for the next X94 - this was after being sat just outside Guisborough for an hour with 7403 which I think had an AdBlue fault or something.

(01 Aug 2025, 4:08 pm)PH - BQA wrote The DB300s, along with the SB200s, have put in a ridiculously good shift for Arriva really.

I caught 7632 yesterday and it performed very well with a full load on the 306, indeed it's been some time since I've been on a DB300 which performed poorly. I know they look a tad shabby externally, but the interior on most of them has held up well imo. 

The SB200 Pulsar has to be right up there as one of the best low-floor single decks produced to be honest, they rarely put a foot wrong and have consistently performed well on demanding work since new. It's a shame it went to Yorkshire and blew its engine, but 1407 was a genuine missile for years and constantly bailed Ashington out on express boards.

I've driven both DB300 (when Durham had them) and the newer Streetdeck at GNE and the older model is far superior in my view. I'd also agree that the Pulsar is a superb single decker and very versatile.

Having vehicles fail with the same defects, was for me as a driver, quite irritating (you could predict it happening and then the abuse from the passengers you got until the replacement vehicle or next service came along). I had breakdowns (not just Arriva) where me and an engineer limped the bus back to the depot, a laptop was plugged in and the fault gone. 30 mins down the road the fault would reappear and the inevitable happened with the next driver.

My questions always were, is it lack of engineering staff, lack of budget or lack of spares/parts? I was always told lack of being able to get parts was the main issue or the cost of the repair outweighs the cost of the vehicle (GNE 6942 and its broken/faulty dash springs to mind). 

Will Arriva, or any other operator bother to invest on a large scale with the possibility of franchising on the horizon (excluding electric vehicles with government funding) or is it just make do and mend with the odd flurry of second hand stock to tide them over?

DB300's are great! Very smooth and comfy ride, and very reliable. Must have had hundreds of journeys on them and only 2 breakdowns.

Both of the VDL fleets have served Arriva well, especially considering the maintenance regime and the types of services they work on up here. However, I have been on an increasing few that have broken down or had faults – 3 so far this year. One of thein being yesterday (7602) where one of the door leaves would not close, but no warning buzzer went off when the driver drove off, resulting in him having to stop, and kick the door leaf closed with his shoe. The driver then had to kick it shut after every stop, and as we got closer to Blyth the other door leaf started acting up.

I know that is a more of an electronic/door issue, but there is no denying the fleet is aging and perhaps not getting the proper maintenance/TLC they need to keep them running well (and well presented).

(01 Aug 2025, 4:42 pm)morritt89 wrote Will Arriva, or any other operator bother to invest on a large scale with the possibility of franchising on the horizon (excluding electric vehicles with government funding) or is it just make do and mend with the odd flurry of second hand stock to tide them over?

Guess it depends on their long term goals. Arriva and Stagecoach are both in quite a unique position where their stronger areas are all going to be franchised, so it's probably in their interest to actually invest in them.

If they win nothing, then they're going to be pretty weak companies, Arriva in particular.

(01 Aug 2025, 4:08 pm)PH - BQA wrote The SB200 Pulsar has to be right up there as one of the best low-floor single decks produced to be honest, they rarely put a foot wrong and have consistently performed well on demanding work since new. It's a shame it went to Yorkshire and blew its engine, but 1407 was a genuine missile for years and constantly bailed Ashington out on express boards.

Must admit I've never been a big fan of the Pulsar as imo they're a downgrade on the Commander which always felt like they were better built, less rattles etc. 1401-3 were (or are) beasts aswell, even until the end. It's just a shame the North East never got more. 

The Commander -> Pulsar -> Streetlite just pretty much sums up Wright in recent years with 2 downgrades in a row. 

Speaking of them does anyone know if they're still going, as a few got converted to trainers if I remember right?

(01 Aug 2025, 4:42 pm)morritt89 wrote I've driven both DB300 (when Durham had them) and the newer Streetdeck at GNE and the older model is far superior in my view. I'd also agree that the Pulsar is a superb single decker and very versatile.

Having vehicles fail with the same defects, was for me as a driver, quite irritating (you could predict it happening and then the abuse from the passengers you got until the replacement vehicle or next service came along). I had breakdowns (not just Arriva) where me and an engineer limped the bus back to the depot, a laptop was plugged in and the fault gone. 30 mins down the road the fault would reappear and the inevitable happened with the next driver.

My questions always were, is it lack of engineering staff, lack of budget or lack of spares/parts? I was always told lack of being able to get parts was the main issue or the cost of the repair outweighs the cost of the vehicle (GNE 6942 and its broken/faulty dash springs to mind). 

Will Arriva, or any other operator bother to invest on a large scale with the possibility of franchising on the horizon (excluding electric vehicles with government funding) or is it just make do and mend with the odd flurry of second hand stock to tide them over? 

There's a lot of questions like this at the moment and I think the possibility of franchising is a convenient excuse for the operators.