Today was my last available day for an outing, as I go on holiday on Saturday (returning on Thursday 20th August). I decided I would make the effort to go out and write one more review before a brief hiatus. I'm trying to work around the ''See it Do it'' event at Barnes Park on Friday, if I do go, I won't be sticking around and I will be gone before anybody sees me. Anyway, on with the review.
#21 – Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace to Durham Bus Station – (10:20 --- 10:36) – Go North East 6060 – Volvo B5LH/Wright Gemini 2
After waking up and getting ready for the day ahead, I decided I would head through to Durham first. I left the house just a couple of minutes after 10:00; the walk to the Clifford Terrace bus stop (when I walk at a reasonable pace!) is roughly ten minutes. It's five minutes from the Red Lion in Chester-le-Street, so the 21 services from there are at 05; 20; 35 and 50 minutes past, with two X21s scheduled at 10 and 40 minutes past. The X22 also runs past it, just a few minutes before the next hour, also, the Arriva ''MAX'' X12 service goes past but does not stop (believe me, I would use it if it did!). As I awaited the 10:20 Durham service, a van pulled up at the bus stop. Watching in the corner of my eye with intrigue, I saw the man getting equipment out of the van. It was clear he was either repairing (although I could not see any damage) or simply maintaining the bus stop. He was pulling a big hose out of the rear of the vehicle as I was walking a couple of metres down to flag the approaching ''Angel'' Gemini, it's possible he was just cleaning the windows. The company name did have the word ''Clean'' in it, so I'd suggest it's likely. Vehicle was 6060, with a driver I had never seen before. Ever since the big rota amalgamation just over a year ago, I've seen countless new drivers at Chester-le-Street. Sat at the front upstairs, and watched the quiet journey go by. Standard journey on one of the ''Angel'' branded B5LHs, it was smooth and punctual.
#44 – Durham Bus Station to Stanley Bus Station – (10:47 --- 11:24) – Go North East 5287 – Mercedes 0530N/Mercedes Citaro
We were dropped off of the 21 at the drop-off stand in the bus station, at the very top. After I walked around to North Road, and down to Greggs for my usual bottle of water to get me through the day, I made my way back up to the bus station. I waited for a ''Pronto'' X21 and a ''Sapphire'' 22 to depart the bus station through the exit, before I walked back undercover. As I re-entered, I saw the time on the big timetable board; it was exactly 10:45, and the ''Diamond'' 44 (which I intended to catch to Stanley) was due at 10:50. Within a couple of minutes, I saw the distinctive ''Diamond'' livery turning into the top of the bus station, and I made my way towards the stands. The driver brought it to a halt a couple of stops down from it's allocated stand, and after waiting for all passengers to alight, I boarded and showed him my Get Around, before heading to find a seat. Opted for my favoured place to sit on a Citaro; at the very back, where I can rest my arm on the luggage rack thing where another seat could be. One elderly lady boarded, asking the driver ''if he went to the hospital''. A few more were picked up at Millburngate, with a couple alighting in Sacriston and Edmondsley. In or near Sacriston, I saw a conked out 3868, with passengers on board and hazard lights flashing. A decent number of passengers were picked up in the Craghead and South Stanley. 5287 provided quite a pleasant ride, and we entered Stanley with a load of about twenty five passengers, at 11:24. One thing that I noted, with regards to the proposed changes to the ''Diamond'' services and the X30/X31, is that quite a number of passengers boarding near Stanley, were heading to either the MetroCentre or Newcastle...
#X30 – Stanley Bus Station to Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station – (11:26 --- 12:08) – Go North East 6131 – Scania N94UD/East Lancs OmniDekka
As we pulled into the bus station, I saw the Newcastle-bound X30 was waiting in it's stand; was so I decided to catch that to Newcastle. In one of my most recent reviews, I mentioned I was looking to get one of the refurbished 04-registration OmniDekkas (6131 and 6133), luckily for me, I had the red liveried example of the pair; 6131. A few people were already on board, they were all sat downstairs; I guessed they were carrying on the journey from Lanchester. After the next driver arrived (with the driver who had brought the bus from Lanchester going elsewhere, seemingly leaving those passengers on board with the doors closed, which I think isn't allowed?) and logged on to the ticket machine, the queue of about fifteen passengers (the majority being OAPs) started moving. Most of them sat downstairs, however a few OAPs made the back breaking journey up the staircase to sit on the upper saloon. Fortunately, the front seats were unoccupied, and I sat down and relaxed into the seat directly above the driver. For about thirty seconds anyway. I winced as I heard some loud children racing up the stairs, and then coming towards the front. Two women appeared to be in charge of the four children; the six of them all sat on the left hand side. The eldest boy, who brandished a thick north eastern accent and a blue and white hoodie; was the epidome of the typical British charver. With the racket that family of cattle produced in the background, I put it out of my mind and enjoyed the ride through to Newcastle. This machine raced along the open country road that passes the Tanfield Railway, then soared through Sunniside and down Lobley Hill Bank, before climbing into Gateshead via Bensham, where the animals alighted. I then enjoyed the rest of the journey through to Newcastle.
#44A – Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station to MetroCentre Transport Interchange – (12:14 --- 12:30) – Go North East 5337 – Mercedes 0530N/Mercedes Citaro
On Percy Street, while still on 6131, I could see the Wright Streetdeck demonstrator was on stand with the X21 service to Bishop Auckland. Tempted to have a ride to Chester-le-Street on it, to see if the route had changed the bus for the worse since my previous ride on it about two weeks ago, I was a bit annoyed when I saw it pulling out as we were pulling in. Nothing else of interest was in Eldon Square at the time, and I couldn't see any enthusiasts up at the little island by the Haymarket when I entered on 6131, so I just did a little loop around the bus station, from Percy Street, down past Haymarket and then back in through the bottom, to kill some time. A few minutes later, I saw one of the red Stanley-based Citaros on Percy Street, with the destination already set for the 44A to Durham. I decided I would catch this across to the MetroCentre, I'm quite fond of the seats in these two buses; they're nicer in my opinion than the seating on the average Citaros. I'm guessing they retained this seating from their previous operator (Southern Vectis?). Despite being 06-reg (making it nine years old and one of the oldest in the fleet), I found this example had just as much power and smoothness as a two year old ''Connections4'' example. After I jumped off at the MetroCentre, I once again found myself in a situation where there was nothing of interest. Soon, I just got bored of waiting for something good, and decided to board the next thing back to Newcastle...
#10A – MetroCentre Transport Interchange to Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station – (12:44 --- 13:02) – Go North East 6083 – Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 2
Within a few minutes, I saw a ''TEN'' branded B9TL coming in, Newcastle-bound, in the distance. Two Riverside drivers were floating around the stand, so I came to the conclusion that there was going to be a changeover. Sure enough, after the bus had emptied, the drivers changed over. Passengers started boarding while the previous driver continued to sort out his belongings, which were on the luggage rack thing. While the lower deck was quite busy, I headed upstairs to find it deserted. Taking advantage of this, I got an interior photograph. The rest of the queue ended up making their way upstairs, and we pulled away at 12:45. I looked at the VOR line inside Riverside as we passed; I saw recently withdrawn 4841, an R-PRG example, which was a sad sight. Before long, we were crossing the River Tyne and heading into the city centre. It was the usual B9TL journey, with the smoothness of the engine providing a great journey. Upon arrival in Eldon Square, I noticed the row of bench seats in Costa were unoccupied, so I sat down and treated myself to a small Hot Chocolate for £1.40(?). I connected to the Eldon Square WiFi and had a Snapchat conversation with Adam, before finishing and leaving Costa at 13:15. Then, I headed up to the little island next to the Haymarket for some photos. After spending quite a while there, and getting some decent photos, I headed back into Eldon Square for the next ''Angel'' 21 service back to Chester-le-Street.
#21 – Newcastle, Eldon Square Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Lloyds TSB – (13:57 --- 14:32) – Go North East 6016 – Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President
Before long, an ex-London President appeared with the 21 service; Chester-le-Street bound. It was 6016, in my opinion, one of the better B7TLs in the fleet. I ended up sitting to the left of the staircase upstairs; we departed Newcastle with a load of about twenty people upstairs, then about thirty by the time we'd hit Gateshead. I wasn't expecting a service at this time to be so busy. At Low Fell, a young mother and her daughter were walking down the stairs for their stop when the driver pulled away as they were descending the stairs. Shows how sometimes you really do have to make a presence at the front of the bus for the driver to register that you're wishing to disembark. He was another new face at Chester-le-Street depot, can't recall ever seeing him before. By the time we'd reached the Red Lion in Chester-le-Street, nearly everybody had alighted. I was the only passenger still upstairs; after a driver changeover, I prepared to alight at the next stop on the Front Street, next to William Hill (although I believe the stops themselves are named after the nearby Lloyds Bank). When I thanked the driver, I noticed he was yet another unfamiliar face. Where have they all come from?! A quick de-tour before walking home meant I was in the house for 15:15.
It was a nice little outing, obviously as can be seen, I didn't go very far and stayed in my comfort zone. When I return from holiday, I intend to do an Explorer on Saturday the 22nd of August, so there will be no more reviews until then. I'll still view the forum while I'm away. Thanks for reading.
R852 PRG