Saturday 24th October 2015

My outing from yesterday;

#X12 – Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Durham Bus Station – (08:28 --- 08:45) – Arriva North East 7626 – VDL DB300/Wright Gemini 2 – ''MAX''
I'd decided, the night prior, to have a walk down to Chester-le-Street depot before starting my outing. This meant a 07:00 alarm, I'm trained to waking up at this time on weekdays but weekends is another matter, I tend to give myself until around 07:30-08:00 usually. Nevertheless; I woke to my alarm, did the usual morning stuff, and left the house at 07:30. Walking an entirely different route to the route that I usually would, I arrived at Chester-le-Street depot for 07:50. The massive white doors that lead to the engineering facility were completely shut, so I carried on to the centre door, where most buses leave from on a morning. Standing there was a ''Lambton Worm'' Versa, with a young female driver at the wheel and a Leading Driver stood at the depot entrance, presumably seeing all of the drivers out of the depot safely. Bringing up the rear was an ''Angel'' B5LH and ''Work, Eat, Play'' Dennis Trident 3804. It looked like quite a hectic scene, so I opted not to get in the way by taking some photos (albeit from just the footpath). A walk along to the final door; the entrance into the depot for buses, where they refuel and then drive along the back of the depot to be washed, proved to be a wasted walk; as no vehicles were present. After walking along to Front Street, I had nearly half an hour to kill before the 08:26 X12 to Durham was expected. I occupied this time by taking a number of photos; a surprise included recently transferred 5201 on the 08:28 X21 to Newcastle. Moments after taking that photo, I spotted a ''MAX'' branded Gemini 2 coming, so headed across to the bus stop to board. A couple of passengers were sat downstairs, and after collecting my All Zones Day Ticket from the female driver, I headed upstairs.

#6 – Durham Bus Station to Bishop Auckland Bus Station – (08:55 --- 09:29) – Arriva North East 1526 – VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar 2 - ''Sapphire''
It was an enjoyable ride through to Durham; although I find the Pulsars offer a better ride than the Geminis, the former can sometimes reach 60mph when let loose, whilst the latter sometimes struggle to get above 50mph. I think the highest 7626 got to was probably 45mph. However, we did manage to pick up a couple of minutes, and arrival in Durham was punctual. As I'd yet to sample one of the ex-Arriva North West Pulsars for myself; I'd decided to include one in the review to give my thoughts on them. With the X12 scheduled to arrive into Durham Bus Station at 08:45, I aimed to catch the 08:57 6 to Bishop Auckland. This was also to be my first time on the route since it was upgraded to ''Sapphire'' standard. A ''Pronto'' branded Volvo B7TL was stood in the layover of the bus station at the top, with the driver stood outside on his mobile phone and having a cigarette. Then, I noticed that the blind was actually still set for the X46; an early-morning and late-evening service that runs a couple of times per day. As it's a rarely photographed service, I wasted no time in getting a photograph. With that done, I headed back into the bus station. I didn't have long to wait before a ''Sapphire'' branded Pulsar entered the bus station, and came onto the stand for the 6. Along with two other passengers, I boarded. 1526 was the fleet number; I took my seat at the row before the back. I don't care what people say about Arriva's ''Sapphire'' and ''MAX'' seating being the same as Go North East's ''e-leather'' seating; the Arriva seating is far nicer. I managed to connect to the speedy WiFi without any issues, and charged my phone to get it back up to the full 100% battery. I didn't pay much attention to the scenery, or other passengers (although the bus remained lightly loaded throughout the journey), as most of this journey was spent talking in the Facebook Messenger group chat (which consists of Dan, Adrian, tyresmoke, northern156, citaro5284 and I). When Bishop Auckland Bus Station came up on the Next Stop Announcement system, I prepared to disembark.  

#1 – Bishop Auckland Bus Station to Dale Road Industrial Estate, Shildon – (09:57 --- 10:23) – Arriva North East 1498 – VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar 2 - ''Corporate''
My next decided target was to visit the National Railway Museum at Shildon, for the event taking place over the weekend. This meant catching the 09:58 service 1 to Darlington. I took some photos to kill time; Chester-le-Street based President 6036 was parked in the layover bays. I managed to get a few shots of ex-North West Pulsars on the 6, and also ''OK Way'' MPD 571, which I believe forum user pdiddy was driving. Bishop Auckland is alright for photos, providing there are no tossers present. Before long; Pulsar 1498 emerged from the layover bays, having had a rest after working a 5A service. When it came to the stand, with the blind set for the 1 to Darlington, I boarded and showed the driver my ticket, before taking my seat in the same place I did on 1526; the row before the last on the offside. As I'd never done this route before, I watched my progress on the Google Maps app on my phone; passengers boarded and disembarked throughout this journey, and I soon alighted in Shildon, as close to the National Railway Museum as possible. One of my key targets for the outing was to visit the event at the National Railway Museum in Shildon; ''Diamond Deltic'', which celebrates the 60th anniversary of DP1's entry into service; October 24th 1955. The Class 55 (''Deltics'' as they were nicknamed) were the legendary predecessor to the HST; operating the London-Edinburgh expresses along the East Coast Mainline for decades. They operated in service from 1960 until 1981, and 6 of the 22 made survive in preservation. Some time ago, I became friends with one of the moderators on RailUK Forums; David Russell (''theblackwatch'' is his username). After walking around, getting photos of the 3 Deltics on display; DP1, 55019 and D9009, and watching 55002 take a train of brake vans on a ride, I soon located David and we got talking. The service arrived back in shortly after, and Ian Robinson and his dad came over and joined us. David and I decided to purchase some tickets for a ride behind 55002; being a ''Deltic crank'' (his words, not mine), he still needed 55002 for haulage for the year, having covered the other active Deltics earlier in 2015. I was charged £1.70 for my ticket. David explained that they used to run them for free but had to start charging as they couldn't afford to just keep running them and relying solely on donations. It was my first ride behind a Deltic, albeit only a short one, but it was very quick off the mark and the distinctive sound of the Napier engine combined with the intense clag was mesmerising. However, it is only a short ride, and before long, we were being pushed back towards the small platform that we left from. Following a walk along the side of the tracks, so David could get a decent shot of 55002 leaving, we headed up to the bridge for some more photos before walking having a walk back to the bus stop for 11:48 1 service to Darlington. David crossed over so he could get a photo, despite not being much of a bus fanatic; however, the 5A came first, which I let go past as it would have taken me back to Bishop Auckland. We parted ways and David headed back to the bridge for more photos, before I saw another Pulsar coming...

#1 – Dale Road Industrial Estate, Shildon to Darlington, Tubwell Row – (11:51 --- 12:20) – Arriva North East 1511 – VDL SB200/Wright Pulsar 2 – ''Corporate''
I was happy to be landed with another corporate-liveried Pulsar. I can't express how much I love the Arriva corporate livery on the Wright Pulsar body; it just looks so smart. The VDL SB200 chassis also offers a superb ride in my opinion, but sometimes sounds too similar to a Wright Streetlite... Think it's just the retarder whistling when slowing down. Took my seat at the rearmost seats as my favoured pair were occupied. I noticed that this Pulsar has a Next Stop Announcement system fitted; forgive my lack of knowledge, but why is this? I don't follow Arriva closely enough to know this. Some nice kickdowns were produced on the open roads, and before long, we were getting close to Darlington town centre. A decent number of passengers alighted at Northgate, and I stood up to disembark when I heard the announcement for the terminus; Tubwell Row. My main reason for including Darlington in the outing; was so that I could get a few photos of the ''Frequenta'' branded Solos, as they've been so far absent in my collection. Over the course of the thirty minutes I spent in Darlington; I managed six photos of ''Frequenta'' Solos, two ''Sapphire'' Pulsars, a ''MAX'' OmniCity, four ''Eco-Green'' Caetanos, and an oddity of a ''Frequenta'' Solo on the X66...

#7 – Darlington, Tubwell Row to Durham Bus Station – (12:50 --- 14:03) – Arriva North East 7534 – Dennis Trident 2/Alexander Enviro400 – ''Sapphire''
The ''Frequenta'' brand looks quite smart in my view; but my only gripe is the bodywork of some of the Solos. Some have the grills on the front panel, between the lights, which I like, but some don't, which just looks out of place to me. Next time I'm down in Darlington, I think I'll do a round trip on one of the ''Frequenta'' routes, as they all appear to go in a circle anyway. Maybe the 13A/13B to Firth Moor, that was one of the routes that I saw quite a lot of. Having had a successful half an hour in Darlington, I decided to catch the next ''Sapphire'' 7 service back to Durham. When the 7 first became ''Sapphire'' standard; I can remember having a ride down to Darlington on one of the Pulsars, but being treated to a DAF SB200GS/Plaxton Prestige on the return journey. I know Prestiges are unpopular with a lot of enthusiasts, but they were perfect in my opinion. Fair enough, they rattled like a box of nails and could give you a white finger; but the throaty roar of the DAF engine collaborated with the ZF gearbox was simply wonderful. I miss them sorely, some of the most melodious buses I can think of in my experience as an enthusiast. Anyway, this was to be my second ''Sapphire'' experience on the 7. Was overjoyed to see one of the new Enviro400s appear, as this would be my first ride on one of them, and I'd now have experienced both the Pulsars and the Enviro400s on the Durham-Darlington route. Was quite an enjoyable journey back to Durham, even though it felt like it had covered half of the north east by the time it reached Ferryhill Market Place. I was half expected Blyth Bus Station to come up next on the Next Stop Announcement system. That aside, I was fortunate enough to grab the offside front seats upstairs; with the generous amount of legroom and rather comfortable ''Sapphire'' seating, I could relax and recharge my camera and phone whilst browsing social media, using the free WiFi on offer. Excellent journey.

#X24 – Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Black Horse – (15:08 --- 15:27) – Arriva North East 7443 – DAF DB250RS/East Lancs Lowlander 7443 – ''Original Arriva''
After being dropped off in the bottom stands in the bus station at Durham; I headed up to my usual spot for photos at Durham, behind the stone wall at the entrance to the bus station. It offers some nice photos in the correct lighting conditions. After about fifteen minutes, it dawned on me that I had not yet eaten anything today, so I headed towards the Greggs at the bottom of North Road. Opted for a Margherita Pizza Slice, taking a photograph of surviving Mini Dart 1766 on the 62 while I passed it. As I walked back through the bus station; I walked past Jack and Sid, the former of whom appeared to turn around to me as I walked past and said something. I couldn't hear what it was though, I heard the word ''Green'' and that was it. As the time crept up to 14:45, I decided I was going to catch the 14:51 X12 service back to Chester-le-Street. When that didn't show, I proceeded to get more photos. A Scania OmniDekka which I still required a photograph of, 6126, was operating the 15, and two ''Durham Diamond'' branded Citaros, 5284 and 5285, operating the ''Diamond'' routes on their last day. Pleased I got photos of them. Something then appeared that caught my eye; one of the Lowlanders, 7443, came in with the X24 service. The driver parked it in Stand A before going elsewhere. About five minutes passed before the relief driver came along; and as I have limited experience of Lowlanders, I decided I'd catch this back to Chester-le-Street instead of the X12. I noticed it had Urban90 seating; I initially sat at one of the side-facing seats, before noticing that the very back seats were cushioned, so moved to them. 7443 struggled to get off the stand at first, but managed to eventually. Throughout the entire journey, I could hear not one single kickdown. There was also a droning noise whenever slowing down, which sounded like the chassis was just scraping along the road. However, somehow, I quite enjoyed the experience. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable day out. I amassed a decent number of photographs for my Flickr account, which can be viewed on the link in my signature. My next outing will be the NEBPT trip down to Lincoln for the Lincoln Vintage Vehicle Show, using Scarlet Band's R712 KGK (that is what Dan has told me, he seems reliable enough)... Thanks for reading.  

R852 PRG