(23 Jun 2016, 5:57 pm)Andreos1 wrote I may be stating the obvious (and I do understand it isn't an easy one to fix at all), but regardless of any of the valid comments regarding attitudes and organisation - is seeing the same vehicles over and over, not an issue?

Thousands of pounds have been spent and many hours have been dedicated to the cause, but there are only so many vehicles in the region that have been restored and those same vehicles are attending the rallies up and down the north east.

You can produce loads of glossy guides, have exciting new venues and an open attitude from organisers - but apart from the odd example and until another vehicle is seen in public for the first time, we are seeing the same stuff over and over.
Eventually (despite all the effort and money spent by various groups and individuals), are people going to tire of seeing the same vehicle?

As an example, I love the stuff that was floating around in service in the 70's and 80's. The vehicles I had a connection with as a kid.
I have seen them out on the road, I have seen them at events and seen them on YouTube. I have admired the detail and the time & money spent on them. I get the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, when the engine starts and I look at the liveries from times gone.
It might just be me, but I don't want to go to a car park in Durham, and a field at Seaburn and a another car park at the MetroCentre time after time, just to see them again.
It may be a bad comparison, but no matter how much you admire a film, there is only so many times you can watch it before the novelty wears off.

Of course there will be new enthusiasts and there will be people who haven't seen these vehicles at all or since restration and ultimately, these are the people organisers want to attract.
Whether they come time and time again, is the question that needs answering.

Sadly, I personally kind of feel this way. We now have four rallies organised in association by the same group plus the 500 Group's Teesside Running Day and Aycliffe and District Preservation Society's event at Shildon Locomotion, all of which are only separated by a matter of weeks and a number of buses will attend a number of these events, I am starting to slightly bored of the same stuff at each event, so far the 500 Group's event was my favourite as there was a few different things I hadn't seen before including a Black Prince liveried Mercedes/Optare Prisma and even seeing Stagecarriage's OmniDekka that day made me happy as I required a photo of it, same story with Sunday when Stagecarriage brought their recently acquired Enviro 300. I feel seeing the same buses, some of which may appear at all six events can become a bit tiresome if there is nothing different there to add to the variety. Some way how they can still be successful is attracting families and children to go along to an event and those who aren't enthusiast's are only likely to go to the ones local to them. Mind saying all this, some people won't be the same, some even get excited just seeing the Arriva and Go North East stuff at these events even though they are in daily passenger service, in some cases on their local routes that they use.

I will be honest, part of the reason I still tend to go to rallies around the North East is that it can be an opportunity to catch up with or even meet new people.

I will make an appearance at Seaburn again this year, I'll probably pop up at Shildon with it being local to me but I am uncertain on whether I'll make an appearance at Whitley Bay or not simply as I was left slightly unimpressed after travelling all the way to Newton Aycliffe and the shuttles were two preserved buses that I had been bombarded to death with already over the rally season last year and the other two being Go North East service buses, one of them being a TTX Gemini which I had planned to catch one from Newcastle to Peterlee to return home and of course there wasn't really anything different to what had attended at all the other events that had already been held.