I had intentions of catching a MAX-spec ex-Arriva London North Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini for quite a while, as they will become the allocation for service 35 for a short while.
I left the house and walked up to my nearest 35 stop, Hirst Park. I saw a MAX-spec Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini approaching, this was 7415 was had entered service that morning.
1220 #35A - Hirst Park to Morpeth Bus Station - Arriva Northumbria 7415
I was delighted that this vehicle had arrived. First impression were that the exterior looked smart, but inside was a different story. I sat upstairs at the front, not a lot of legroom. Then I saw a very bad repaint to the windowsill. See the latest Arriva thread for more. The seats were rock solid and had damage visible to the eye. The bus looked clean at a quick glance, but then I realised dirt everywhere I looked. The black flooring was worn down too. The handrails were painted in a tacky silver paint, badly, so all the grooves in the handrail were visible. The people sat on the other seats said that the bus was an old heap, and the green buses [the StreetLites] were much nicer. I then felt water dripping onto me, and other passengers were heard discussing that too. The entire of the ceiling had water dripping, more so towards the middle. The vehicle was very underpowered, and felt badly maintained. When alighting, I noticed the downstairs had flooded, with a large amount of water splashing up and down the lower deck. Nice, eh? Completely lost the "new bus" perception that enthusiasts think that passengers think.
1245 #2 - Morpeth Bus Station to Morpeth Railway Station - Arriva Northumbria 7458
To keep with the theme of ex-London vehicles, I boarded this instead of walking. I only had 4 minutes until the train departed, but I had an iPad for entertainment. 7458 was never refurbished when transferred to Northumbria, so the original 2002 (aquamarine, white and yellow) spec seats were still here. It will be a shame when these leave the fleet. This is the only T-FGN example left, so it'll probably be my first and last ride on it. A short while later, I arrived at the railway station.
I had heard the squeals of the Pacer going around the Morpeth Curve, so I then decided to go to the Sainsbury's Local nearby to get some drinks.
1409 2A13 - Morpeth [MPT] to Newcastle [NCL] - Northern Rail 142089
So, I stood ready for the train at 1345. It arrived on time heading for the Barmoor sidings. The through Virgin Trains East Coast service whizzed through, on time, at 1345. But no trains passed through that would have be delayed by 2A13... Twenty minutes later, 142089 emerged from the sidings. I boarded and sat in the rear carriage, towards the cab. As I was expecting the fare to be high I had a £20 note, I asked for a Child Return to Newcastle and presented my £20 and the female conductor tutted, and then when she said the fare was £3.35, I got the £5 note out. Even then she failed to find sufficient change without me having to hold my hand out and for her to drop coins into it. 10p after 10p, she then dug into her pockets and drops a 5p into my hand, then into her other pocket and then a £1. I would still be there if I didn't have the £5 note.
The ride was as bouncy and squealy as ever, of course, resident Pacer Chaser Lee Calder would disagree with my comment that Pacers are the worst heaps of crap ever built...
To my surprise - four members of staff were manning the train instead of the usual two. Did someone forget about the engineering works...?!
I spent a couple of hours at Central, I saw 91128. Which my brother reports he also saw on the way to the Life centre with his workers. I took a few photos and then went to Costa for a hot chocolate.
1617 2A26 - Newcastle [NCL] to Morpeth [MPT] - Northern Rail 142019
142019 was my ride back to Morpeth. Information flyers about the major disruption on the Tyne Valley were on the seats, and everyone on board were reading them. It was dark so there wasn't much to look at, so I sat and played on the iPad.
On arrival at Morpeth, I walked down to the bus station where I saw 1580 depart on a short North Seaton 35 working. I let 1579 go as I was tucking into a portion of chips.
I saw an Ashington-Morpeth driver on the X15, who got off and had a friendly chat to me, before he headed to Alnwick, where an Ashington-Alnwick driver would take over for the last leg to Berwick.
1712 #35A - Morpeth Bus Station to Ashington Bus Station - Arriva Northumbria 7485
I boarded yet another ex-London vehicle, I was welcomed aboard by the driver who asked where I had been today. 7485 is fitted with WiFi and high-back 2010 (blue squares) spec seating, from its days as a X93 summer extra vehicle. Back in them days, it was thought that these would be MAX'd, then "mini-MAX"'d, but there is no nickname for a bog standard Arriva bus with WiFi!!