10:32 #78A – Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground to Sunderland Park Lane Interchange – GNE 5407
11:19 Tyne and Wear Metro – Park Lane to Monument – Tyne and Wear Metrocars 4055 & 40xx
12:14 #47 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 6118
12:44 #47 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 6121
13:11 #21 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Red Lion – GNE 6069
13:49 #78A – Chester-le-Street South Burns to Pelton Bridge – GNE 5396
14:36 #78A – Pelton Bridge to Chester-le-Street Red Lion – GNE 5399 (+ 17 minutes late...!)
15:02 #X22 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace – GNE 4928
The first ride of the day, on 5407, was roughly half full, much more than I expected to be honest. I paid £3.20(!) for a single on the Metro (zones A, B & C) so I could save time, and numbers weren't as big as I expected. Don't recall any standees, although after Heworth, all seats were taken as far as I could tell. Not many on both journeys on ''Red Kite'' service 47, however I will comment that I liked 6118 and 6121, both very nice; and I was the only passenger on 6069 back to Chester-le-Street! Not kidding, couldn't see another soul on the bus besides myself and the cheery driver. The ride up to Pelton on 5396 was mainly Asians, don't know how, don't know why, but there was a handful of OAPs at the front, and then exactly half a dozen Asians fast asleep at the very back. No comment. Spent about 10 minutes at my grandparent's grave, then, again, I don't know how or why, but coming back down, 5399 was as many as 17 minutes late, with about 20 people aboard. I was livid after 15+ minutes of waiting, but once I was on, I had cooled down. Then about 10 passengers on the X22, being a Sunday service, this was allocated a single deck vehicle. Now, for Thursday;
09:50 #36 – Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground to Houghton-le-Spring Church – GNE 4965
10:26 #X1 – Houghton-le-Spring Church to Washington The Galleries Bus Station – GNE 6049
10:43 #82 – Washington The Galleries Bus Station to Heworth Metro Interchange – GNE 6013
11:25 #57 – Heworth Metro Interchange to Newcastle New Bridge Street – GNE 5171
12:27 #45 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – GNE 5417
12:54 #X66 – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Gateshead Transport Interchange – GNE 5394
13:13 #X21 – Gateshead Transport Interchange to Chester-le-Street Black Horse – GNE 6035
Started with the 36 to Houghton-le-Spring, which was Solar 4965. Having never rode this particular vehicle, I was happy to see it turn up. Tends to be 4936 and 4937 that Deptford throw out on this service, so it was a nice change. Once I was at Houghton-le-Spring, I alighted. I spotted recently transferred 4909 on the 38, so went for it, but realised it was going to Rainton Bridge, so stuck around until a ''Red Arrows'' service came, which was manned by 6049. This was the only ''Red Arrows'' branded vehicle I was yet to ride prior to today, so this made a nice fulfilment. Not particularly busy, so I alighted at The Galleries. Immediately behind, I saw President 6013 pull in on the 82. As this service was quite a topic of conversation the night before, specifically the allocation of double deckers, I decided to have a ride on it to Heworth, to see for myself what all of the fuss is about. I sat at the front upstairs, as ever, and I had the upper deck to myself for the entire ride... I can certainly say I don't think deckers are needed on this service during the day time! I did not observe passenger numbers downstairs, although from my branch higher up in the tree, I did see plenty of OAPs boarding, enough for me to think at one point or another all seats would have been taken. Like I said, this was between Washington and Heworth, not the former and Birtley, so I couldn't make a fair judgement on the argument being provided, thus I'm unable to defend it or disagree with it, apologies. After disembarking at Heworth, I had a wander around, until a dual-door ''Fab57'' branded Renown soared in, bound for Newcastle. Hopped on this, and the first thing I noticed was the dreadful smell... Newcastle couldn't have come any sooner! When I eventually reached said location, I walked to Eldon Square, hoping for any Olympians. None showed after a while, so I boarded my first ''Red Kite'' Streetlite; 5417. A pleasant ride this was, and I bailed at the MetroCentre to then have a ride on 5394 to Gateshead on the X66. Both weren't bad, the engine noises of a Streetlite were very clear in both examples, sounding spot on if I'm going to be honest. Waited at the 21/X21, etc stand before boarding 6035 on the ''Pronto'' X21 back to Chester-le-Street, before walking home (for once lol!).
Now for today; I awoke in time to catch the 09:50 #36 (leaving Chester-le-Street at 09:45) through to Houghton-le-Spring. 4965 again, this time it was completely empty, and running 1 minute early. Had a brief chat with the driver, commenting on the fact that the bus was empty, to which he said he imagined most people were heading the other direction for the market at Chester-le-Street, which was a fair point. Not a soul until we reached Fencehouses, where the bus began to fill up a bit; by the time we were at Houghton-le-Spring, there was roughly 20 people on board this 36. After disembarking, and watching 4965 go, a ''Red Arrows'' service was the next thing to appear. I decided I'd just board this rather than stick around. Noted the fleet number was 6054 as I made my way upstairs, where, for the journey as far as Washington, there was just 5 others with me. As the journey went by, I noticed the old Philadelphia depot my uncle had pointed out when he joined me one morning. As we were going at something of a slow speed when we passed, I couldn't help but notice streaks of blue and red on the garage doors at each side, most likely a hint of it's former glory... Looked like an absolute junk yard with vehicle parts strewn all over the yard! However, I am somehow pleased that a former bus depot had survived, however, I'm not sure if Chester-le-Street depot will be viable for another lease of life when it's time does eventually come.
When we pulled into The Galleries, I left 6054 and headed up into the shopping centre. I was tempted to have a sit down and drink a Costa in their café, but I decided against it and headed back down to the bus station. After aimlessly wandering for a bit, I joined the queue for the next Newcastle-bound X1 at the end, next to the bottom of the escalators. During the wait for one to show, the queue managed to get as far as the Sunderland-bound 8 stand, don't know it's letter I'm afraid, although I'm sure people can relate to where it is I'm talking about. Eventually, one which I have been meaning to ride recently, 6005 (after hearing Adam's comments of a distinctive engine noise!), I was very pleased I had waited. Thankfully, another X1 followed it in moments after, which divided the massive queue in half, meaning when mine left, there were still a few seats spare.
A 30-40 minute journey took place, during which Dan contacted me telling me he had just left Chester-le-Street after doing a morning of work there, also informing me that there was a couple of Olympians out playing. One would be 3830, departing on the 11:26 X70/X71 from Consett. The time once I'd reached Eldon Square was 11:30, and the bus was due in at 12:22 (to depart at 12:30), so I contemplated a ride to the MetroCentre and back, hopefully a ''Red Kite'' Streetlite in one direction and a ''Toon Link'' Renown in the other. 6005's engine noise really is unique, I couldn't help but listen to it, as it was fascinating to me haha. However, I saw the little Costa was deserted, aside from one man sitting by himself reading the newspaper, so I decided to go with it. Sat at the bench seats, facing out into the bus station, with a nice Hot Chocolate. Observed plenty of things while I sat there watching the bus station and surfing social media on my phone; next time somebody has time to kill on a day out, I strongly advise you sit in Costa in Eldon Square and watch the world go by; it's unbelievably peaceful. Come 12:00, I'd been in Costa nearly 30 minutes, and my drink was nearly gone, so rather than purchase another, I decided to have a walk across to the other bus station, Haymarket, to see if there was anything worthy of noting.
While I walked across, I saw Bazza standing at the top of Percy Street; as I'd met him at the MetroCentre this year, I thought I would say hello. As I passed him, I said hi, and within seconds I was looking at NEB trying to locate 5410 for him. He said he was on a ''Streetlite hunt'' and that 5410 was the only example he needed to photograph, before moving on to the new deckers from Brighton & Hove. I had nothing better to do until the Olympian came through, so I just stood with him for a few minutes, before a Chester-le-Street based driver, who I was acquainted with but hadn't seen in a long time, caught my attention by waving and smiling while he waited at the lights on Percy Street; driving 6037 on the X21. I knew he wouldn't mind me taking a photo of his bus, so I got my camera out and took a photo. As the lights changed, and he moved on, he gave me another wave before descending into the bus station. My camera was out, so I decided I may as well take a few photos of other things at a standstill. While 7610, on the ''MAX'' X12 service, stood at the lights, a nice old couple started posing and waving at me downstairs, which they had all to themselves. That somehow put a smile on my face. After a short while, the time was getting on to 12:20; so I asked Bazza where any of his friends were, he said Lee and David weren't with him today and that he was all by himself, but Lee was to join him tomorrow (I think that's what he said anyway haha). A glance back at the Haymarket made me get a glimpse of a yellow decker heading in the other way (don't know what it is, but it's not the usual route along Percy Street). I bade farewell to Bazza, as I made my way down into Eldon Square, 3830 came to a halt at the stand. Joining the small queue of around 7 people, I managed to get the nice seat at the front. One thing I did notice was the destination blind at the front was loose, it really stood out when we were heading up the climb out of Eldon Square when it swung open so far I could see the stuff inside. I kept it together with my feet until we reached Consett. Aside from the dodgy destination screen flap thing, 3830 was a very powerful bus that soared up some of the banks on the route to Consett, very impressed with it's performance. When we reached Consett, and I could see the bus station, I noticed another Olympian was standing in the bus station, with the first of a queue of passengers boarding.
Once 3830 had pulled in, I quickly headed down to the stand it was on; the ''Red Kite'' 45/46 stand. Double checking with the driver, I boarded this Olympian, which was 3813, intending to travel on it back to Newcastle. About 10 minutes in, when we were out in the countryside, I began to understand why Robert likes this particular one. An extremely powerful machine, it handled some of the climbs with ease and flew down the other side. Another benefit was, despite not getting the front seat I was hoping for, the bus never got very full at all. Unsure of downstairs, but upstairs there was only ever about half a dozen passengers, all scattered around the upper deck, making it feel somewhat a bit empty. As I passed through Rowlands Gill, I got a PM from Adrian (aureolin), asking if I was heading to the MetroCentre. I told him I was on 3813, as I had reported in the rare and odd working thread, but I could easily meet him there. When we pulled into the interchange, I headed downstairs to make sure Adrian was getting on. I couldn't see him, so I hopped off, then saw him in the interchange. He said hi, and asked me if it had been taken out of service. A bit puzzled at what he had said, I then noticed the destination blinds were frozen to ''NOT IN SERVICE'' on all blinds, something I had seen at Consett but failed to realise. I told him it was still carrying on to Newcastle, so we boarded and headed back upstairs. A nice conversation took place while we headed across the Tyne and into Newcastle, where we alighted in Eldon Square.
We bumped into Bazza, along with Gary Devlin, who was still waiting for 5410 to come through. Being roped into another conversation, I suddenly saw a ''Tynedale Express'' Solar on the 74 from Hexham, which Bazza went bonkers about with excitement. We took this opportunity to head up onto Percy Street, in hopes of a photograph. The lighting wasn't great, so we headed along to Newgate Street, hoping to get a better shot. In the midst of this confusion, we forgot that the 74 didn't head along Percy Street... #fail. Nonetheless, we took some photos of ''Toon Link'' B10BLEs and various other vehicles, while we waited for 3830 to come back, as it would be operating the 15:00 out of Newcastle for Consett, which we would get as far as Gateshead, for the sake of a ride on an Olympian! The heavens opened on Newgate Street, forcing us to shelter in Wilkinson's, when 3830 eventually showed, running roughly 12-13 minutes late (if my watch was correct!). Sat at the front upstairs, talking again, until we reached Gateshead. Again, the destination thing was very noticeable, but the bus sounded superb. A quick nip to Gregg's ensued, where Adrian told me he had a free £5 voucher if I would like something. Very generous, I went for, as ever, the amazing Sausage, Bean & Cheese Melt.
6037 was my chariot home, having seen it in Newcastle earlier on, it was somehow nice to see it again in one day. Disembarked at my local stop on the Durham-Newcastle route; returning home for 16:05. After some contemplation, I started this at 17:00. A log from today's outing:
09:49 #36 – Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground to Houghton-le-Spring Church – GNE 4965
10:16 #X1 – Houghton-le-Spring Church to Washington The Galleries Bus Station – GNE 6054
10:50 #X1 – Washington The Galleries Bus Station to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 6005
12:30 #X70 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Consett Bus Station – GNE 3830
13:26 #46 – Consett Bus Station to Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station – GNE 3813
15:15 #X71 – Newcastle Newgate Street to Gateshead Transport Interchange – GNE 3830
15:30 #X21 – Gateshead Transport Interchange to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace – GNE 6037
Marcus