Seem as I haven't done a decent outing in the North East in a while, I thought I'd give a review.
0846 21 Newton Aycliffe - Peterlee Bus Station (ANE 4810)
In typical fashion, I left the house late for my first bus, so I had to walk quickly to catch it, fortunately I arrived at the bus stop at St. Clares Church with a few minutes to spare. Disappointingly once again, I got one of the original batch of 11 EcoCitys rather than a ex demo which I prefer but fortunately I landed 4810 which at least has working WiFi, 4811 does have WiFi but I broke that one afternoon on a X21/21 home a few months back. Pretty quiet journey in terms of numbers really for the full journey as the weather wasn't great.
0956 22 Peterlee - Dalton Park (ANE 1598)
Sadly in what is my opinion, the worst Streetlite branded for the 22 turned up which annoyed me as this one has a VERY shaky emergency exit door and I almost always land this example, in a bid to try and avoid the infuriating emergency exit door, I sat at the back, unfortunately two scruffy chavy types joined me despite their being plenty of other seats available, same happened on the 21. Horrible journey, my iPod (which has a broken wheel meaning I can't alter the volume or anything) was certainly required to stop me going totally insane on even this short journey. Had a half hour break by wandering round That's Entertainment making some musical purchase's before heading for my next bus...
1040 202 Dalton Park - Seaham Byron Place (GNE 656)
Whilst waiting for this bus I noticed a lad about my age who got off the same 22 as me, who looked to be waiting for a bus, I figured the fact he had been there half an hour he would also be wanting the 202 but he didn't so I am totally confused as to what he was waiting for. Anyway 656, this one has missing logos on the front, think this may have been the one which has been involved in a incident recently, nowt much to say about this journey other than the fact the WiFi didn't work.
1109 238 Seaham - Sunderland, Burdon Road (GNE 573)
As the MPD's seem to be on their way out, I figured I get the 238 as this could be one of my last chances to catch a GNE example, also I had yet to do this route. Not a bad bus I thought and the route was okay even if I had absolutely no clue where we were going once we got past Ryhope. Alighted on Burdon Road and took another break for a quick bit of shopping and lunch before heading over to Sunderland University to photograph some of JH Coaches Presidents running a shuttle service for Sunderland University Open Day.
1305 9 Sunderland Park Lane - Jarrow Bus Station (GNE 3982)
Decided to sit at the front upstairs but bailed to the back after Monkwearmouth as the family who sat next to me at the front (typical I was the only other passenger upstairs!) were annoying me with the parents being arguably louder than their child, I was getting a headache so I moved and the woman gave me such dirty looks for doing this, I wanted to tell her where to go because she looked at me for a good 3 minutes, I decided to return the stares when they got off but sadly they didn't turn round. Continued the rest of the journey in a bad mood as a result.
1405 9 Jarrow Bus Station - North Shields (GNE 4917)
Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown 4917 was on this journey, I always seem to get this example but I quite like this one. Not much else to say about this uneventful journey. I realised that I had not had the same vehicle type twice, so I thought about making this a no repeat type outing...
1440 53 North Shields - Killingworth Bus Station (ANE 1496)
...Well that idea is out the window as I knew I'd get a Pulsar on the 7 home later. Pretty meh journey really, as much as I like Pulsars, I have them 7 days a week where I live so on these outings I like to get different stuff, was hoping for a ALX300. I found the bus and journey pretty boring, so made the decision to bail at Killingworth.
1530 52 Killingworth - Cramlington (ANE 4516)
Fortunately I managed to get a ALX300 for this journey which pleased me as I haven't had much luck at catching these, as the previous journey proved! I really like these and will be sad when they leave the fleet as they feel more like a proper bus to me, built like a tank (excluding emergency exit door) and make a good noise. Arrived in Cramlington and got a few photos including some Arriva MPD's and IndiGo 631 on the 19 to North Shields.
1607 43 Cramlington - Morpeth Bus Station (ANE 4518)
Unfortunately it wasn't a 43/44/45 branded ALX400 meaning I couldn't get a photo but I was more than happy to land this for my next journey upto Morpeth, liked this one more than 4516, this one had a bit of a whineing sound to it which I liked. Pretty quiet journey to Morpeth on this, quite like this route.
1703 X15 Morpeth - Newcastle Haymarket (ANE 7513)
Was hoping for PCL Travel's recently acquired Primo to be on the S1 but sadly the branded Dart was back on the road. After visiting the loo I had some woman asking if I took a photo but just walked away. Got a crap photo of 1583 on the X16, just my luck Arriva would send a freshly X16 branded 1411 to Carlisle leaving me with this... So just behind Charles41, I made my way to Newcastle on the X15. Got 7513 for this journey which is the last of the 57 reg batch and unlike the other examples in the North East fleet, these are full height examples whereas the others are a lower height, so I always feel strange on these examples as I am used to the lower height examples, makes me feel like I have shrunk as it seems to be a fair height between the floor and roof upstairs. Pretty uneventful journey really. Noticed the buses leaving Newcastle were jam packed, pretty much no seats left on any of them including double deckers, took me a while to figure out that Newcastle were at home as I obviously don't follow football. As I was arriving into Haymarket I spotted the recently transferred 4512 on the 45 so made sure to photograph that: https://flic.kr/p/N6PVJx then spotted Durham Diamond Mercedes Citaro 5288 on the X31 to Stanley: https://flic.kr/p/MgKotq Naturally despite the fact that I would get home half an hour later, I rejected the X21 to Durham as I ain't a fan of the StreetDeck's and I am sick to death of riding them now, so instead waited for the X12.
1755 X12 Newcastle - Durham Bus Station (ANE 1443)
Was kinda hoping for a VDL Gemini as something different but got another Pulsar in the form of MAX 1443, fortunately this one is currently free from the dreaded EcoNOspeed, so got some good performance out on the A167 between Chester-le-Street and Pity Me.
1915 7 Durham - Newton Aycliffe (ANE 1515)
Told ya I'd get a Pulsar! Landed 1515 for the final leg of the outing, evening 7's are quite fun as the timetable is very tight so you get some Pulsar thrash in a bid to keep to the timetable which despite the drivers best efforts usually fails with this journey being a good example of that as someone got on at the stop at Croxdale Roundabout with a concession pass which the driver refused to accept as it wouldn't scan and the passenger was aware it doesn't scan as he stated it before even putting it on the machine, so this resulted in us going nowhere for about 5 minutes until the passenger gave up and paid full fare.
Despite a few hiccups, a decent outing overall. Thanks for reading.
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