My alarm woke me at 08:10, and I left the house at about 08:35, arriving on Front Street in Chester-le-Street for 08:50. A couple of minutes of waiting at the 21/X21 stand ensued before an ''Angel'' B7 Gemini 1 appeared from Picktree Lane, swinging around at the foot of the Front Street and pulling into the stand to operate the 08:55 #21 service to Newcastle. A person boarded in front of me, making me the second passenger of the day on 3965. Took my seat at the front right hand side upstairs, putting my earphones in and listening to music as the journey through to Newcastle Eldon Square passed by, stopping at every few stops to pick up passengers. Quite busy by the time we hit Gateshead Interchange, where a rather large amount of passengers disembarked, then again in Newcastle – when we were pulling into Eldon Square, I had the upper deck all to myself. I made my way downstairs, where I saw Sean walking out of Haymarket Bus Station, he spotted me also and waited for me to alight in the set-down stand in Eldon Square.
After greeting him, we made our way up the bus station; one of his aims was to ride ''Toon Link'' service 47 before it gets, in his words, ''ruined''. As my 21 had pulled in at 09:37, we had a couple of minutes to wait before Renown 5148 came out of the layover and into the stand to operate it's next duty on the 47. Boarded this, Sean sat on the right, myself on the left, at the double facing seats towards the rear, with only one other passenger towards the front. Discussed his work, etc., and before we knew it we were at the MetroCentre. While the journey on 5148 was only brief, it was a fantastic B10BLE; having never been on this particular vehicle before, it was another soon-to-go Renown I can tick off. As we alighted in the Interchange; I spotted a plain black OmniCity standing on the 46 back to Newcastle, so we quickly scooted across to the Newcastle-bound Go North East stand, boarding black liveried 5234. Sean and OmniCities are an interesting topic, but he seemed to enjoy the journey on this. Don't know if it was just the novelty of it being black, etc., but as I seem to dislike OmniCities myself, I didn't make much of this journey, as it was only about 15 minutes and practically carrying fresh air! Sean asked if Cramlington was above Blyth, to which a man sitting near us then said ''yes – miles away''before sinking back into his seat. Once we were across the Tyne, Sean suggested we bailed at Central Station for some train photos. The time by this point was 10:05-10:10ish, and the Northern Rail service to Nunthorpe (serving Sunderland – valid on Explorers) was expected on Platform 7 at 10:30. After taking a couple of photos (of which mine are on Flickr) of both a VTEC 91 set, and a Northern Rail Pacer, we headed to Platform 7, where the Northern service to Nunthorpe was standing, idle. There were two sets connected together, one being 142086 and the other 142090. Decided to sit in 142090, which had about a dozen passengers, excluding the two of us. Sean told me about some of his travels, while I commented on how much better 142090 was than 142089, which I had last time I used the Northern service between Newcastle and Sunderland – screaming like no other Pacer, in comparison, 142090 was absolutely fantastic. Screams to a minimum, we arrived in Sunderland at the scheduled time.
After walking up into the streets of Sunderland, we headed towards Park Lane – intending to get the 11:07 #78 from Sunderland to Chester-le-Street. While we waited, and our ''Coast & Country'' Streetlite didn't seem to reveal itself, we spotted a Vyking entering on the 20 to Durham. Had a ride on this to Durham, changing our plan to get a ''MAX'' X12 back to Chester-le-Street, then a ride on the ''Coast & Country'' routes. We discussed various things to pass the time as we sat upstairs on 3980, our vehicle for this run, about an hour after leaving Park Lane, we were entering Durham Bus Station; with quite a heavy load on the upper deck, presumably also downstairs. Sean led us towards the fish and chips place just outside of the bus station, which turned out to be Bell's. Normally go to Bell's when in Durham with family and having the traditional portion of chips from the Bell's in the ''old'' part of Durham. As we stood on the North Road roundabout, I pinched several of Sean's chips, waiting for our ''MAX'' service towards Newcastle, which according to the live map at the time; was running 9(?) minutes late. Surprisingly, Pulsar 1441 showed up, in full ''MAX'' livery, only about 5 minutes late. Went back to the bus station, joining the queue of around 20 people to board, we got two seats together just before the stop... Couldn't help but feel we were invading OAP territory! As we re-entered Chester-le-Street, Sean made a positive comment(!!!) about the nice houses just beyond the Front Street at the top. Unfortunately, we had to watch the 12:45 #8 to Stanley leave right in front of us, a ''Coast & Country'' Streetlite being the vehicle. My first ride on a ''MAX'' Pulsar, and I have to say positive things. While 1441 did feel somewhat underpowered in comparison to other Pulsars I have rode, I enjoyed the seating on this journey, as well as the ''MAXed'' up feeling on this, and intend to use the ''MAX'' X12 service more often as a result of this upgrade.
Headed to Tesco briefly so Sean could stock up on his supplies; when we came out – a ''Venture'' Solo SR (642) was standing with the 78 to Consett, picking up passengers. An opportunity that could not be turned down, so we joined at the end of the queue, leaving right on time. The last time I paid a visit to my grandad's grave was the 31st March, the anniversary of his death. Before that, the 21st March – but seeing as I hadn't been by myself in such a while, I asked Sean if he minded making a pit-stop in Pelton, 7 minutes outside of Chester-le-Street, so I could fulfill this. After disembarking, we walked slowly up to the church, as the next 8 up to Stanley was due in 20 minutes. I went into the graveyard for about 2-3 minutes while Sean faffed on with his camera settings. Once I'd spent a minute or two at his grave, I rejoined him just outside of the church, and headed back down to the bus stop we had alighted at. He commented on how nice a village Pelton seemed, which put a smile on my face, as usually some of the areas around Chester-le-Street are stereotyped as being chavvy.
A brief wait for the 8 took place, when a ''Coast & Country'' Streetlite came into sight. 5405 was our ride for this journey, Sean's first ''Coast & Country'' – and, despite it being my nearest depot, my first Chester-le-Street based example, with all 4 of my previous ''Coast & Country'' journeys being Stanley based. Sean couldn't get his plug sockets working, although he did seem to enjoy the seating, and also commented on how nice the blue lighting on the gangway was, which I agreed with. Not the first positive comment people have made towards me about the new buses; plenty of people at school have told me how much they love the leather seating, wifi, etc., which I have to say is something long overdue on the popular routes. Before long, we were in Stanley. Saw the line-up of ''Red Kite'' Streetlites parked up in Stanley depot, which was a fantastic sight I must say! After alighting, we headed onto Front Street, where I made a brief visit to Gregg's to refuel, and Sean headed to Pound stretcher. I was told by citaro5284 than Olympian 3822 would be the 14:00 X30/X31 arrival into Stanley, Lanchester-bound. As we re-entered the bus station, just a couple of minutes before 14:00 – Sean asked if we could change plans and get the X43, a Lolyne standing at it's stand, to save us some time. I had no problem with this, and 3822 entered moments after we took our seats on 3860 at the rear downstairs to get the full engine noise, heading to Lanchester, and following was 3825 on the 44A to Newcastle. Sean was adamant we should go for it, but as we prepared to disembark our stationary bus, the doors closed...
As we watched 2 Olympians leave us in Stanley, we spoke about recent fleet movements at the back of 3860, I also told him about the fond memories of Lolynes on Scholars services last year, including all of the fun we used to get up to, I miss it... Enjoyed the very scenic ride to the MetroCentre behind this beast, within half an hour we were pulling into the Interchange for the second time today. Spotted red Mercedes 5332 on the X66 at the other side, which I initially wanted to spit at, but nonetheless followed Sean towards. Only about 10 minutes on the overrated Citaro, which Sean constantly wound me up throughout calling it a ''beast'' and ''the best ride of the day''... Once we'd arrived at Gateshead Interchange, we immediately headed down into the Metro station, intending to get a Metro into Newcastle. A brief two minute wait took place, where 4029, followed by 4006 on the rear appeared with a service for the Coast. Just stood for this very brief hop to Monument station, where we alighted as Sean was in need of the restroom in Eldon Square. After making a brief stop at said location, we headed into the bus station at Eldon Square. Nothing special that we could see, so we opted to head over into Haymarket to see if Sean's favourite Pulsar, 1480 was hanging around. He couldn't see it unfortunately, however our luck turned around when we noticed ALX400 7474 standing with a 43 for Cramlington. Decided to get this as far as Regent Centre.
The moment we took our seat at the front upstairs (was hoping for the back downstairs – but they were taken by the passengers before us in the queue!), Sean spotted one of the Arriva OmniCities that operates his local 685 route between Newcastle and Carlisle, 4660, on local service 45 to Dinnington. It really was something of a race, as 4660 pulled out of Haymarket before us, then remained ahead of us until Gosforth, where our godly 7474 overtook it at an immense speed; remaining a distance away for the rest of the ride up to Regent Centre, being halted at traffic lights, etc., thankfully for Sean, we arrived there in enough time for him to catch the 45 to Dinnington. I thanked him for the day out, while I headed back across to get the first thing back to Newcastle, as per usual with my Explorers – a trip to Regent Centre for some Arriva traction is a necessity! This turned out to be an X20, operated by 7520, a vehicle I had never seen prior to today. Bus was carrying fresh air, nobody was downstairs and I couldn't see anybody upstairs. Seemed almost strange, as when I see the X20 service leaving Newcastle; it carries a very healthy load. A peaceful ride back to base, the time at this point in the day was 15:25; I could see a Durham-bound ''Angel'' 21 service on Percy Street, so opted to end this fantastic day here and make my way back to Chester-le-Street. The ''Angel'' B5 operating the 15:32 out of Eldon Square was 6057, a personal favourite of mine. Always seemed to be a regular on the 21s I used back from school last year, I somehow became quite fond of it, despite it being nothing special in comparison to the other examples.
As per usual, no comments to make about this. A journey I've made so many times it has almost become a routine. Unlike the 78 service, where a brilliant B10 would always appear, now a Streetlite of course, where I could make comments about various features – there isn't much I can say about this. A small load when we left Eldon Square, a roughly similar amount boarding at Gateshead, then the people using it as local links along the route to Chester-le-Street. After alighting, I made a quick trip to the supermarket and back, in time for the 16:30 #21 service to my local stop. 6070 arrived a couple of minutes before 16:30 at around 16:25-16:27, and left about a third full. Disembarked at my stop, ending yet another fantastic outing.
A log of today, as usual, is below;
08:55 #21 – Chester-le-Street Corals to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 3965
09:44 #47 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 5148
10:02 #46 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Newcastle Central Station – GNE 5234
10:26 Northern Rail – Newcastle Central Station to Sunderland Station – Northern Rail 142090+142086
11:09 #20 – Sunderland Park Lane Interchange to Durham Bus Station – GNE 3980
12:26 #X12 – Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Corals – ANE 1441
12:55 #78 – Chester-le-Street South Burns to Pelton Bridge – GNE 642
13:25 #8 – Pelton Bridge to Stanley Bus Station – GNE 5405
13:57 #X43 – Stanley Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 3860
14:29 #X66 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Gateshead Transport Interchange – GNE 5332
14:44 T&W Metro – Gateshead to Monument – T&W Metrocars 4029 & 4006
15:01 #43 – Newcastle Haymarket Bus Station to Regent Centre Metro – ANE 7474
15:16 #X20 – Regent Centre Metro to Newcastle Haymarket Bus Station – ANE 7520
15:29 #21 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Red Lion – GNE 6057
16:27 #21 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace – GNE 6070
A great day out, certainly think I milked the Explorer with 15 journeys made. Also, thanks to Sean for the company throughout the day; was greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Marcus