ANE 1767 1 Ashington - Blyth - What a heap of misery, engine squeals and no legroom. Managed to get 10 minutes of layover on the route at Bedlington, Bebside Interchange and Cowpen despite being held at 2 sets temporary traffic lights.
ANE 1504 X9 Blyth - Newcastle - Brandon joined me from here on, this was a newly refurbished VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar, to my surprise - silver handrails, the same as in the Sapphire spec vehicles.
GNE 5292 43 Newcastle - Central Station - A short ride on this, a revenue inspector was on board checking tickets and giving advice. Marcus joined us at Central Station for photos of the Duchess of Sutherland steam locomotive on the "North Eastern" railtour.
GNE 6123 X30 Newcastle - Stanley - my second EL OmniDekka, quite a nice ride to Stanley. Marcus expressed his concerns over the connecting 8, as we were held up in traffic in Sunniside.
GNE 5406 8 Stanley - Beamish - A short ten minute ride on this STREETLITE (sorry!), Beamish-branded 5419 was parked up in Stanley depot (thank crunchie!). We took photos of another C&C StreetLite on the 8 before heading down to the Museum coach park to get photos of the 28A and a Stanley Travel Plaxton Elite.
GNE 650 128 Beamish - Durham - This was certainly a good Venture(!) to Durham. Three teenage girls got on in some village and were making a right racket. It was about 1500, and I popped to Subway in Durham for lunch/dinner(!). We were taking photos at the bus station for a short while then Marcus headed off home on a 21 which was operated by a red President (can't remember the number).
ANE 7626 X12 Durham - Newcastle - my second ride on a X12 VDL DB300/Wright Gemini 2DL, we managed to catch up to the red President on the 21 in Chester-le-Street. When we reached the lights at the Market Place, we set off at 2mph and could hear the accelerator being pushed hard many times. We pulled over just close to the roundabout, some tit driving an Angel-branded B5LH blared the horns at us for some reason. The driver managed to get it up to 20mph up to Birtley via all stops, then got advice to get the bus out of 'limp mode'. After being shaken around by the kneeler, normal service resumed. On arrival at Newcastle, I wished Brandon farewell as I sprinted to Haymarket for my connecting X20.
ANE 7470 X20 Newcastle - Ashington - I wish I had got 7504 on the X21. It would have been quicker in the race to Ashington. It took close to an hour from Newcastle to Ashington, with no traffic. Four teenage girls were blasting music and making a right racket, they had no idea where they were as they had gotten on this hellhole by mistake instead of the X18. Then I forgot about the new route in Ashington, which meant I had to connect onto either the 1, 19 or X21 to get home.
GNE 5246 19 Ashington - Fifth Avenue - The Looney bus. There was two strange people on board, reading out strange messages and talking to people like George and his friends who weren't on the bus, he wasn't on the phone either.
Thanks for reading.
