I do apologise for the delay in this review, but I've been busy/pre-occupied all week and not had time until now to publish it. On Sunday 6th September, I had a great afternoon spent on three preserved Leyland Nationals; former Northern General Mk2 4710 (FTN 710W), the Workington Transport Heritage Trust's Mk1 REV01 (WHH 556S), which saw use as a test bus at the Leyland plant in Workington for the majority of it's life, and former National Welsh Mk1 YFY 4M. The outing was organised by the Northern National Restoration Group; departing Bishop Auckland at 12:30 and supposedly arrived back at 15:30, after a trip down to Barnard Castle. While it was originally a private outing to which I was invited, it was opened to everybody later on, so I invited Adrian, MurdnunoC, and also Adrian's work friend Ken, who came along with his wife. As there was a lot of changing around and goings on, I'm going to give this review in story format.
I'd invited MurdnunoC along to the event, because I know he loves Leyland Nationals, and also because he would no doubt still be bummed out after the loss of his alter-ego Geoff at the Seaburn Rally on 31st August. He offered to take Adrian and I through to Bishop Auckland in his car, which we accepted. I wasn't keen on catching the X21 service that arrived in Bishop Auckland at 11:34 as I feared it would be loaded with the dregs of enthusiasts, then the one before that would get in at 10:34 was unappealing as it meant roughly two hours in the god awful place we call Bishop Auckland Bus Station. It was nice of MurdnunoC to offer us a journey through in his car; after I'd walked into Chester-le-Street for 10:15, I sat with Adrian on Cone Terrace until roughly 10:45, when his Vauxhall Vectra appeared; as we got in, MurdnunoC pointed out that he had fitted a special fleet number to the vehicle, 0006, to go in my review. It was a very nice car, however it doesn't compare to citaro5284's Seat Leon I'm afraid. At around 11:15, we got to our destination.
Following a comfortable ride through to Bishop Auckland, we found ourselves getting out of the car in Morrison's Car Park. As none of us are really familiar with Bishop Auckland, I had a look on Google Maps to see how far away from the bus station we were; I suggested we just walked however MurdnunoC told us we ought to park as close as possible as we had the car and it would be easier. After a brief drive, we parked in the multi-story Newgate Centre car park, almost adjacent to the bus station. We observed the closing time on a Sunday was 16:15, we would be back by then so needn't have worried. While we sat down at a bench in the pretty much deserted bus station; I saw one of the ''Frequenta'' branded EcoCities coming in so decided to go down for a photo. A man who stood near me, also getting a photo, and after an introduction he said he was called Paul. I walked him up to the top of the bus station to introduce him to the others; in this time, Ken and his wife had arrived. A group of the six of us stood and observed the goings on; the 11:34 X21 soon arrived and a young boy called John (I've met him before on one of my outings) came over and made himself welcome in our group, and then Jimmi arrived at about 12:00.
After informing Ian & Craig of some of the numbers in the bus station, I heard the growl of a National approaching. Sure enough, it was YFY 4M; driven by the owner of The Eden, Graeme Scarlett, with it's owner, Steve Foster, sat near the front of the vehicle. To my surprise, it did a loop of the bus station, before leaving and coming back around. As we watched YFY 4M parking up, the now familiar horns of FTN 710W were sounded as it came into the bus station, followed by REV01. I was pleased the latter had had a good journey from Workington. While the three buses lined up in the layover and they sorted out drivers, Adrian, MurdnunoC, Jimmi and I hopped on board FTN 710W while Ken and his wife went for REV01. Each bus in attendance was different in some way; FTN 710W has a Volvo repowered engine, YFY 4M has an original Leyland, and REV01 is a fantastic DAF repower. We sat at the front of the bus as the back appeared to have been hijacked by the families of the key group members; I originally sat in Craig's dad Alan's seat (was only keeping it warm for him) however when he came back on, I darted over to the opposite seats where Adrian was. With Stu Gray driving, we pulled out of the bus station, following the other two.
Ian was driving REV01, I'm unsure of who was at the wheel of YFY 4M. Some charver children that were no older than thirteen (most likely part of an inbreeding programme, I imagine the oldest one was the father of the youngest) that had hurled a bit of abuse at us in the bus station (saying to me – ''do you mind not taking photos of us you dodgy cunt'') deliberately got in our way when exiting the bus station; a blast of FTN 710's horns did the job and I think I saw one of them crying in shock. Believe it or not, we were separated from Ian in REV01 at some traffic lights, but I could see them again shortly afterwards. Following a loop of a housing estate (which meant a long drive downhill then a long climb back up, showing what the bus was made of), we arrived at our first photo stop; Paradise. In the meantime, YFY 4M had fallen behind after some issues climbing a bank, and we overtook it. It seemed to be a small little village, and our photo stop was conveniently in the right place for the sun, offering some nice photos over the grass that we were parked near. Once again, I enjoyed my time on FTN 710W. I've started to cover a few miles in this machine recently, having had a quick ten minute ride on it at the Howlands Rally and then I was invited to go to Seaburn with the group in the vehicle. Our next move was decided as REV01; the DAF repowered National, which I was eager to try.
Adrian and I sat on the back seats while Jimmi and MurdnunoC went for the seats just in front. Ian was still driving REV01 if I remember correctly, and a handful of other passengers were sat further down the bus. It seemed FTN 710W was the centre of attention, with a lot of people seeming to go for that over REV01 or YFY 4M. I was actually expecting REV01 to be the centre of attention, having travelled such a long way for the event. As REV01 was in the lead, we departed first. One of my favourite aspects of this vehicle, after riding it on two occasions today, is what it does when pulling away from a stop, or a junction (basically after standing stationary for about five seconds) is the violent shaking at the back, as the engine kicks into life again. It's hard to try and explain what it was like, but it showed how much power was in the vehicle. Another point, is the sound. REV01 sounds a lot different to my accustomed FTN 710W; as it has a DAF engine as opposed to a Leyland or a Volvo. It was very melodious and some of the country roads we travelled on allowed some nice kickdowns. I was very impressed with this one. Our next stop was on the outskirts of a place called Butterknowle...
With REV01, FTN 710W and YFY 4M in their remaining formation, we snapped some photos of the three on an open country road, complete with beautiful scenery. I spoke to Craig for a few minutes, showing him some of the photos that I'd obtained so far from the outing. After about ten minutes at this photo stop, people started boarding the buses again. I opted to go with FTN 710W for a second time, which seemed to be the busiest still. As the convoy departed once more, I was surprised to find that only a few minutes after setting off again – we came to a stop again. It appeared we were at a turning circle of some sort; a flat sheet of tarmac that spanned the length of a small bus station such as Concord. FTN 710W; REV01; and YFY 4M all stood for about fifteen minutes while we all got photos of them. I spoke to Ken and his wife for a few minutes, trying to convince them to join me on YFY 4M for a ride; to no avail, as he was hoping for another ride on REV01. Adrian and MurdnunoC appeared pretty content with their seats on FTN 710W, so I decided not to trouble them. Jimmi seemed to just be going with the flow, but I decided I'd have a ride on YFY 4M until the next photo stop, on my own. As I boarded; I was greeted by the cheery Steve Foster, who owns the vehicle. I introduced myself and took my seat in the middle of the vehicle. We departed with about half a dozen passengers on board; Keith Lee was driving and Ian was at the front with him, having planned the route. YFY 4M was leading this time; the others all sat at the back and I think, in hindsight, I must have looked like a bit of a Billy-no-mate, as Steve shouted down a couple of times asking if I was alright. In the end I was persuaded to come up and join them; but only about thirty seconds after taking my seat, we were stopping again for another photo-stop...
I think it was somewhere near Cockfield this time; it was an open country road and the scenery stretched out for miles. It was breathtaking. While most people just took photos from close to the buses themselves; some people ventured out a bit further to capture all three in-shot, complete with the pleasant scenery, myself included. Once again I got chatting to Ken, and decided I'd join him and his wife on REV01. We sat down in the OAP section; the loading was light with only half a dozen people at the best, including the three of us. Ken was talking to me about when he was younger; to keep it National-related, he recalled the time he had a walk up to the now demolished Waddington Street depot one morning, to find FTN 710W parked out in full view; he later expanded by saying that Northern and United worked hand-in-hand at the time. I actually thought they were rivals, similar to Go North East and Arriva now. Another memorable occasion for him, was when he had a look at Durham Bus Station one morning (think he said it was a Sunday) to find an East Yorkshire National was there, I'm trying to rack my brains but I think he said it was on a route from Middlesbrough. He later managed to blag the driver for a quick photo under the Durham viaduct. Ken has some pretty interesting things on his Flickr; search for ''Ken Weaver''. Similar to my first ride on it, REV01 provided another great journey. The melodious sound of the DAF engine is quite distinguished from the full-Leyland in YFY 4M and the repowered Volvo in FTN 710W; it was nice that each vehicle had something unique and different about it. Before I knew it, I started seeing signs for Barnard Castle, and within a few minutes, we were coming to a stop in the town centre.
Several others went on their own adventures (most people to Morrisons for lunch); I walked down to FTN 710W and sat down, talking to Ian and Alan, then Craig. MurdnunoC and Adrian later returned; sitting next to me. Slowly, everybody returned, and we set off. The time by this point was 15:45; over the course of the afternoon, the proposed timetable seemed to have gone out of the window. It was only a short drive to the Bowes Museum; which NNRG photographer Alex Tighe had managed to secure for the outing. While we waited outside for confirmation of our entry; we edged our way through the tight gates and started driving around the car park towards the top of the museum. During the time, it seemed the young boy who joined us in the bus station at the start of the outing; John, was a bit upset over something. Wasn't overly sure what it was, but I'm guessing it was to do with the fact that we'd been out longer than expected and he'd been caught out. Mere speculation on the matter; it may have been past his bedtime.
While others took advantage of the photo stop (FTN 710W in front of the Bowes Museum), the organisers discussed how to deal with the situation. News got back that the people in REV01 and YFY 4M were hoping to come up for a photo; so Craig made the decision, based on the time, to take FTN 710W straight back to Bishop Auckland once we were done. Ian offered to stay until the other two buses had been up, then hitch a lift back to Bishop Auckland on the last one to be done. At about 16:15, we pulled out of the museum grounds, and after Craig informed Steve Foster of the change of plan (YFY 4M was next in line to go in), we headed back to Bishop Auckland. In hindsight, it really does amaze me how quickly we managed to get back; we left at about 16:15, and returned to Bishop Auckland at 16:38, just as the X21 was pulling into the bus station. Looked like John's luck was in; had we been about five minutes later, he wouldn't have made it. As people started alighting, I thanked Alan and Craig for a great day out, before we walked back up to MurdnunoC's car; which had survived the few hours in Bishop Auckland. We had a nice photo opportunity to have FTN 710W with 6069, which was operating the 16:38 X21 back to Newcastle, before jumping back in the car. MurdnunoC kindly handed me a shoebox filled with old timetables as ''reading material'', which I had a look through. Some that were of interest to me were the 194/294 from Heworth to Easington Lane (the timetable taking into account connections from the Tyne & Wear Metro at Heworth Metro), and the 775/778 from Consett to Sunderland. I was dropped back off at the Durham County Cricket Ground bus stop and thanked the two of them for accompanying me on the outing, before a walk home had me in the house for about 17:20.
All-in-all, it was a great outing and I really enjoyed it. I would hope the turnout numbers (in excess of twenty people) might convince the Northern National Restoration Group to hold another event similar to this in the 2016 season. Ideally, I would like to see a route replicated as opposed to what we did on this running day; possibly the 194 from Heworth to Easington Lane, and back (with Heworth being an easier starting point to Easington Lane, taking into account travel connections), as that was a distinguished route that operated for a lot of years with Leyland Nationals; including FTN 710W at one point. I have to thank them for putting on a good show though, it was an enjoyable day out and I got quite a few miles in each of the three vehicles in attendance. Thank you for reading the review, and I apologise for the delay in publishing it.
R852 PRG