citaro5284's Car – Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground to Lillyhall Industrial Estate – (07:52 --- 10:35) – citaro5284 – Seat Leon FR Technology TSI 140
Having prepared myself for today, I woke up just before 07:30; to be picked up at 08:00. In order to wake me up a bit, I was initially going to walk, but my dad insisted on running me along to the bus stop in the car. Getting there for bang-on 07:50; I watched my dad head back to the house, and walked to the bus stop. Then, I saw a red Seat Leon pull into the bus stop with a blare of the horn, before coming to a stop. I jumped in the back; Dan had been picked up prior to me, and we had a small run along the A167 in order to get to the A1(M), which would take us to Scotch Corner. I know citaro5284 does a lot of work on his car; cleaning it regularly, and it certainly shined when I saw it first appear. Inside, it was immaculate, and I found the seating in the back to be extremely comfortable. Despite being an averagely-sized car, I think it was quite a speedy thing. After spending several hours travelling in citaro5284's today; I am quite fond of them. There were always some nice tunes on, which mixed in with our conversations throughout the journey. The A66 was extremely quiet, it was just a brilliant ride with the fantastic scenery along the route, far superior to the A69. At about 09:30, we made a stop at the McDonalds in Penrith; where we each opted for a McMuffin thing (I've never bothered with a breakfast at McDonalds before, my arteries are fine how they are) on behalf of citaro5284's wallet. Back on the road at around 10:00, we followed the satnav, and arrived at the Lillyhall Industrial Estate for 10:30. Another part of the route that I loved, was the Bassenthwaite Lake; with the clouds covering the tips of the mountains, it was quite a sight. We found the site with no problems, and joined the long line of visiting cars.
My first impressions were that the event didn't look too busy. Not many people were walking around, in comparison to what you would find at the MetroCentre Rally by 10:30; however, it is hard to match that on the scale of a small gathering such as this, and the biggest rally of the year in a region. Just next to where we parked; was a Stagecoach ''Gold'' Enviro400, parked next to it was a corporate liveried Enviro300. They appeared to be unattended, with no representative from Stagecoach present. Although, with the Lillyhall depot just across the road; I'm not sure if that was needed. It was easy enough to just send two buses across the road for the day; the doors of the Enviro300 were open so Dan and I had a look inside for some photographs of the interior while citaro5284 chatted to somebody from the Workington Transport Trust outside side; presumably discussing the various engines and their litres. When we first drove in; the first thing that caught my attention was the line-up of 2 Leyland Nationals; Mk1 WHH 556S (in ''REV01'' livery from it's days as a Leyland test bus at the facility), Mk2 FTN 710W (4710 from our part of the country), Lynx F251 JRM (which Dan and I had a ride on at Lillyhall in May), and Lynx G215 KRN (in Preston Bus livery). After photographing them, Dan and citaro5284 had a little wander around while I boarded 4710 and chatted to my friends at the Northern National Restoration Group.
Shuttle – Energus Building, Lillyhall Industrial Estate to Workington Bus Station – (11:02 --- 11:20) – Preserved ex-Cumberland Motor Services PHH 149W – Bristol VRT
After doing a loop around the rally site, and returning to the line-up of single deckers, we saw this Bristol VR pulling out, and swinging around to where we were. A small amount of people made their way towards it, indicating it was going out on a shuttle service. Knowing how popular these buses are; we decided to board. We left the site with only a handful of people on; the majority upstairs, however, citaro5284 led us to the back downstairs. When he first began working with Go North East in the early 1990s, the Bristol VR was a regular on the various Northumbria Motor Services routes that he used; along with various bodied Leyland Olympians and Mk1 Leyland Nationals, not forgetting the Optare Delta and Bristol LH. He sat at the seat he always opted for, on the right hand side on the last row downstairs, while Dan sat beside me at one of the side-facing seats, just before the back row. I felt the bus had a lot of power in it, I enjoyed my ride on it and would label the bus a ''beast''. However, when it was initially pulling out of it's spot to perform a shuttle, it sounded very unhealthy, with several noises I would associate with coughing and spluttering coming from the engine. That aside, it was a pleasant journey. When we came to Workington, we debated whether or not to alight here. When we came to a stop in the distinctive bus station, I asked the man at the wheel when the next shuttle back to the rally site was. He pulled out a little sheet and came to the conclusion that the next service was at 12:10. Dan and citaro5284 said that was fine, before we alighted.
Shuttle – Workington Bus Station to Energus Building, Lillyhall Industrial Estate – (12:10 --- 12:26) – Preston Bus G251 KRN – Leyland Lynx
For about fifteen minutes, we stood outside of the bus station, taking only a few photos as the frequency on a Sunday is incredibly low. After meeting another enthusiast, who was quite a pleasant man; we told him how to get to the venue by car after informing him that the shuttles were every hour, which he agreed was quite disappointing. Having declined a kind offer of a lift in his car, we did a loop around Workington town centre to kill time. When we arrived back at the bus station, it was 11:55. We sat in the cold bus station, awaiting the 12:10 shuttle; at exactly 12:10, it appeared. It was the Preston Bus liveried Leyland Lynx; G215 KRN. We flagged it to a stop, and boarded. I noted the seating was identical to that in a President or an OmniDekka; albeit with the addition of seatbelts. It was actually quite smart inside, with about ten passengers already on board; one of which was the enthusiast from earlier on, I was pleased he managed to find the site and board the 12:00 shuttle from there. Dan and I sat on the right hand side, with Dan just above me at the seat next to the step, while citaro5284 sat in front of the enthusiast we were talking to in the bus station and generated a conversation. When we were heading along some of the country roads outside of Workington, there were some tremendous kickdowns. The route of the Workington shuttles was directly to the town centre, then a loop around through the countryside, before returning to the Industrial Estate. The driver knew exactly what he was doing, even allowing a photo-stop at one of the villages just outside of the town; I can't recall it's name at the moment, but it was quite scenic and offered a nice photo opportunity. It sounded really healthy as well, which I later came to the conclusion was because it was in service with Preston Bus on scholars work, hence the seatbelts, until Friday when the schools broke up; meaning it's fate is now debatable. We all concluded, on the return journey, that it was the best ride of the day.
Shuttle – Energus Building, Lillyhall Industrial Estate and return, via Workington Town Centre – (12:51 --- 13:30) – Preserved ex-Barrow Corporation LEO 734Y – Leyland Atlantean
After having some lunch and sitting down for a while, we saw this kick into life. Initially, we couldn't make heads or tails of what it was. At first I thought it was a Daimler Fleetline, however citaro5284 was adamant it was a Leyland Atlantean. Later on, we found it was the latter; albeit with a Northern Counties body. We made our way upstairs for this one; Dan sat on the fabric seating at the very back, with was different from the leather seating elsewhere; I sat in the middle while citaro5284 tried to explain that sitting behind the stairwell was the best way to do it. In the end, as we stood at a standstill for nearly ten minutes until our departure time of 13:00, we all sat at the back and discussed the different vehicles in attendance. I noticed the windows weren't openable, as some blocks of wood had been put in place. Not sure why, because it got quite hot. Although I could feel the power in it's engines, I didn't think this Atlantean was as strong as some of the other buses we tried today. It was a smooth journey, but I personally preferred some of the other vehicles. The three of us did a whole round trip on this, arriving back at the Energus Site for 13:30.
Shuttle – Energus Building, Lillyhall Industrial Estate and return, via Workington Town Centre – (13:56 --- 14:25) – Preserved ex-Cumberland F805 FAO – Leyland Olympian
After I took more photos of the line-up of buses in attendance, Dan and citaro5284 sat down at a small bench. Another enthusiast joined them, whom citaro5284 conversed with. We considered the buses that had already been out on shuttles, and tried to work out what might working the 14:00 shuttle to Workington. We eventually concluded that it was to be the famous Carlisle Bus Group's Leyland Olympian, 1005 (or F805 FAO), as a couple of people appeared to be boarding, and a person was sitting at the wheel. Walked across to the other side of the rally site, where the Olympian was parked, and Dan enquired as to whether or not it was going out on the shuttles. The driver confirmed that it was working the 14:00 to Workington, so we jumped on. Again, being another vehicle type that citaro5284 could recall; he sat at his favourite spot, even insisting I moved to the other side of the rear seats. Dan sat at the sideways-facing seat on the left hand side. Personally, I think it was one of the best rides of the day; citaro5284 seemed to enjoy it, although he did complain of the diesel fumes from the engine. It certainly had plenty of power in it; although it was not the ECW-bodied Leyland Olympian I had been hoping for for a few weeks, it was still a Leyland Olympian, and I really enjoyed it. After having yet another round trip, we arrived back at the rally site at 14:25. The 14:30 shuttle, which appeared to be the other Leyland Lynx in attendance – F251 JRM – was boarding a few passengers. For one final ride, we decided to board it.
Shuttle – Energus Building, Lillyhall Industrial Estate and return, via Whitehaven Town Centre – (14:27 --- 15:05) – Preserved ex-Cumberland F251 JRM – Leyland Lynx
I had already rode this Lynx at Stagecoach's Lillyhall open day back in May, I was quite impressed at the time. However, after comparing it to G215 KRN's performance earlier today, it was quite bad. The engine just sounded extremely rough, and it didn't have half of the power that G215 KRN did. On the other example, the seating was actually alright. Even though the leather base and fabric cover was quite comfortable on this Lynx, the legroom was dreadful. I found myself sitting at an awkward angle, I saw citaro5284 doing so as well. That aside, I noticed the enthusiast from Workington Bus Station, and the earlier ride on G215 KRN; who asked us what else we had been on earlier today. We spoke with him for a while, and took advantage of a quick photo-stop in Whitehaven. An elderly man approached Dan and I, asking ''what is the interest''; Dan replied that it was an old bus, before he nodded and moved along. The journey back to the Energus site was pretty quick, and after getting some final photographs; we jumped back in the car, and left the rally at 15:10.
citaro5284's Car – Lillyhall Industrial Estate to Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground – (15:10 --- 18:19) – citaro5284 – Seat Leon FR Technology TSI 140
Another enjoyable ride in the red Seat Leon; on the way to Penrith, citaro5284 pulled into a lay-by so we could get some photographs of Lake Bassenthwaite; after nearly smashing through some fencing, we realised there was a gate that led down to the lake. We had a walk down to the lake, and took some photographs as it was such a beautiful sight. Afterwards, we got back in the car and drove to Penrith. On the way there, Dan surveyed some timetables. On Real Time Trains, it was apparent there was a Virgin Trains West Coast Pendolino due through the station at 16:22, and the 508 Lakes service, operated by Stagecoach, was due at 16:30. We used the underpass to get to the opposite platform of the London Euston-bound stopping service, only to hear that it was delayed by sixteen minutes. That went out of the window, so Dan headed to the bus stop to double check the times while I headed back into the car park to inform citaro5284, who had no problem waiting for us. Before long, an open-topper ALX400 appeared, and after getting our photographs, we headed back to the car. A short drive to KFC (which citaro5284 had been banging on about all day) for something to eat (I think they copied off me... I ordered first, then citaro5284 ordered for both Dan and himself, saying ''the same as him please''...). The restaurant was pretty much deserted, with the nearby McDonalds being the clear bread winner in Penrith. Once we were on the open road again, we enjoyed the scenery of the A66 once more, before finally; we reached Chester-le-Street at 18:15. I was dropped off at the same spot I was picked up at, just before 18:20. I thanked citaro5284 for the lift and said goodbye to Dan, when I then walked home and arrived for 18:30.
It was a very nice event, I'm very grateful to citaro5284 for offering to take me. Despite not sounding like everybody's cup of tea, with only two ''modern'' buses in attendance, I had a fantastic time. My only regrets are not jumping on the two Leyland Nationals that went out into service, C49 OCM (the very last Mk2 to be built) on the 12:30, which we could have caught, and CHH 210T (the flagship Mk1 of the Workington preservation group); which again, we could have caught. However, it was a fantastic day and I really enjoyed myself. Thanks to citaro5284 and Dan for the company. Now for those Flickr photos... Thanks for reading.
Marcus