A review for yesterday's outing.
1132 7 Newton Aycliffe - Ferryhill (ANE 1522)
Starting with Belmont based Sapphire 1522, not very often I actually ride the Belmont runs on the 7 so I don't really recognise most of the Belmont Sapphire drivers especially since the 22/24 joined the Sapphire brand. Typical Sapphire journey although the driver did not wait time at Woodham or Chilton so we ended up arriving at Ferryhill around 5 minutes early!
1218 7 Ferryhill - Durham (ANE 4651)
Running over 5 minutes late I got a shock to see MAX X66 branded Omnicity 4651 appear so I quickly ran across the road for a photo before jumping on. Annoyingly the only seat available without sitting next to someone was the seats behind the drivers cab which aren't as comfortable. Didn't perform too badly on this route especially as this one has taken some battering at Redcar/Whitby although I think this one got a new engine.
1251 X12 Durham - Birtley Front Street (ANE 1442)
Quite a nice Pulsar I thought this was, didn't seem to rattle at all. Was pretty standard journey on this route really so not a great deal to say.
1338 23 Birtley - Washington Galleries (JH Coaches KX59GOA)
This was my aim for today, to sample a Plaxton Primo as I have never been on one before so I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to ride one. Was surprised when I boarded to see that it didn't have Urban90's seats like most Primo's seem to do, instead it had some slightly more bulky fabric seats with seatbelts, I sat at the back and thought that the seats weren't massively comfortable but alright, perhaps the rest of the seats may be more comfortable. Thought the Primo was alright, it was not the best when going over speed humps but other than that I thought it performed alright and was comfortable enough, thought it sounded just like an Enviro 200. This is an interesting route, it seems to go round every side street. Not a very busy journey with there being me, two young lasses and a few OAPs on this journey.
1412 82 Washington - Birtley Front Street (GNE 8252)
Saw this just after jumping off the 23 and as this is due to be withdrawn any day now I'd thought I'd take a ride on this. Pretty uneventful journey as I spent half the journey figuring out where to jump off in Birtley.
Tried to get a photo of 8252 but sadly the 21 behind pulled out from behind the 82 and got in the way and was unable to get a photo which really angered me! Flagged down a X12 failing to realise it didn't stop there D'oh! so I ended up getting the 21.
1446 21 Birtley - Chester-le-Street (GNE 6039)
FFS! Everytime I get a 21 I get an old shed and when by some miracle I do actually get an Angel branded bus the WiFi often doesn't work. This has to be one of the worst Presidents I've ever been on, it rattled so much that it was unbearable so I made the decision to alight in Chester-le-Street...
1456 X22 Chester-le-Street - Durham (GNE 3868)
...Thankfully this pulled in behind the 21 so I quickly went to get off the 21, don't know how but I managed to nearly fall down the stairs on 6039. Anyway, much preferred my ride on this, sounded much nicer and performed much better than 6039 and was more comfortable to.
1607 7 Durham - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 7536)
Pretty standard journey on the 7, annoyingly couldn't get the WiFi to work when I first jumped on but was working when we got to Ferryhill.
Hope you enjoyed reading although the like button disappearing sadly means I have no idea if you enjoyed it or not unless you leave comments which is a shame really.
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