Had an enjoyable outing today, on a Get Around day ticket. A log is below:

Saturday 30th January 2016

#X25 - Chester-le-Street Corals to Gateshead Transport Interchange - Go North East 3878
#X25 - Gateshead Transport Interchange to Chester-le-Street Red Lion - Go North East 3869
#8 - Chester-le-Street South Burns to Stanley Bus Station - Go North East 5408
#8 - Stanley Bus Station to Chester-le-Street South Burns - Go North East 5408
#28A - Chester-le-Street South Burns to West Pelton Twizell Road Ends - Go North East 4929
#8 - West Pelton Twizell Road Ends to Pelton Bridge - Go North East 5404
#8 - Pelton Bridge to Chester-le-Street South Burns - Go North East 5402

Started off by leaving my house at 07:30, it was still slightly dark but it had lightened up by 08:00, when my walk to Chester-le-Street depot finished. I observed the goings on, and photographed a few buses leaving the depot, before walking to the Front Street for 08:15. Spent just short of an hour getting some photos of stuff passing through, before I sighted Dennis Trident 3878 operating the 09:10 X25 service to Newcastle. I'd caught 3878 on the exact same journey last Saturday, but as it was a Lolyne and I had no real idea of where I was going today anyway, I decided to catch it through to Gateshead and get some photos on West Street for a while. The ticket machine had been playing up last week, so I was somewhat annoyed to see that it was on this occasion as well. When the machine had finally printed my ticket (after wasting at least a full roll of tickets!), I headed upstairs and enjoyed the journey through to Gateshead.

After alighting, I received a tip-off from citaro5284 that 3869 was on the board behind 3878, so I opted to remain in Gateshead for a while and catch 3869 back to Chester-le-Street. The wind was horrible and it was bitterly cold, but I was persistent on West Street, and then headed back into Gateshead Interchange at 10:25 to catch the 10:35 X25 back. 3869 rounded the corner and I boarded; 3869 isn't a personal favourite of mine, but it's still a Lolyne and provides a good journey. It went into limp mode on it's way up Old Durham Road, topping around 10mph at the very most, was quite worrying how slow it was going, I thought it was about to overheat at one point as the driver had his foot on the floor. Bus slowly began to get busy after Wrekenton, and we arrived back in Chester-le-Street a few minutes late at 11:11. 

I looked around and couldn't decide exactly where to go next. I was intending on heading to West Pelton for a photo of the 28C, and also paying a visit to my grandparents' grave in Pelton, so I decided to go with the latter first as I saw a Coast & Country Streetlite coming in on the 8 for Stanley. I joined the queue to board, and noticed the driver was a man called Alan; he used to take me to school a lot on the 21, as I used to always catch the 08:10 21 from the Black Horse, the duty of which was a part of a 4 day rota (where a driver works 4 days for 12 hours, and then has 4 days off, in that cycle). As I showed him my Get Around, he asked me if I knew the route for the 8 as he hadn't done it in absolutely ages, following a period of being off for 2 months and only driving the 8 one Saturday every 16 weeks to begin with. I happily obliged and stood at the front of the bus, guiding him correctly up to Stanley Bus Station with 5408, the journey went without any issues (although he doubted me when I told him he had to go into Beamish Museum), and stayed on for the return journey to Chester-le-Street. I thanked Alan for his company and alighted at South Burns, while he carried on to Sunderland on his own.

Decided that my next move would be to West Pelton for a photo of the 28C, and so I stuck around and waited for the 12:32 28A there. Ben Stoves came in with 4929, and his relief driver arrived a short while later. This guy was a miserable old prick, who often used to snarl and mutter under his breath whenever I boarded his bus (FOR NO REASON!). I can vividly recall, when 4837-39 and 4844 were based at Chester-le-Street, I had one of them on the 71 (along with him) and when I pressed the bell twice (as the ''stopping'' sign had not illuminated the first time) he made a snide comment as I disembarked. The ZF gearbox in 4929 sounded superb as we pulled out of the town centre, although we never got beyond 30mph, either the driver was just being awkward or the bus was incredibly slow. 

When we got to West Pelton, I got off and managed a photo of the Nightingale Streetlite before then catching 5404 on the 12:58 8 service to Pelton Bridge. I went into the church grounds and paid my respects before then having a wander through the estate that my late grandad resided in. It hadn't changed much since his passing. Then, I caught 5402 on the 13:33 8 back to Chester-le-Street. I sat next to the emergency door and was disappointed to see how violently the emergency door was rattling, you'd have thought the bus was about a year from retirement, not 2/3 of a year old. When I arrived back in Chester-le-Street, I decided to call it a day and walked home. It was a great outing overall, thanks for reading the review.

R852 PRG