First I began on the 9:42 CrossCountry Service from Newcastle due to arrive into Wakefield Westgate at 11:22, Im no expert when it comes to trains but I know this was the usual 4 coach Voyager, Journey passed quickly until Leeds but then we were stuck behind a local service and our train filled up fast at Leeds, possibly due to people making local journeys due to the northern strike. We arrived around 10 minutes behind schedule at Wakefield.
Walked straight to the bus station to see what was there. Took me less than 10 minutes from the train. This is a fairly large bus station served mostly by Arriva but there is also a small stagecoach presence and a few others. Some interesting observations I made include a large amount of buses painted in the new Arriva livery. There seems to be a greater percentage of the Yorkshire fleet repainted into the new livery than the north east fleet although this observation is only based on what I saw today. Whilst I would not say that I am a fan of the new livery, I must say that it is growing on me and I quite liked the look of the new Sapphire livery on a route 110 branded Enviro 400. Spent time around the bus station and then left for Leeds in a bus familiar to me.
My ride to Leeds was in the form of Volvo B5LH 1713 (NK13 AZB), ex Blyth Depot 7802. Whilst I know the Volvo B5LH divides opinions, I have always liked them and found that they stood out against the VDL DB300's on my local Blyth routes. The journey on the 444 took 58 minutes compared to the quicker Sapphire 110 which takes 35 but it was definitely worth it to ride a vehicle which has took me home so many times on my local Blyth routes.
The biggest observation I had in Leeds is just how many new buses there is since I was last there in August. This I believe is due to new air pollution rules introduced by the council. The new buses include the large fleet of First Streetdecks including those on the Park and Ride. I like the green Leeds City livery which stands out against the normal First livery.
After exploring Leeds city centre, I caught the 15:30 CityZap service to York which was either 3609 or 3610 (unfortunately I have become confused between the reg YL02 ZAP and LY02 ZAP). This gave me plenty of time to catch my train at 16:54
My train was the 16:54 service to Stirling, this was operated by a Virgin HST. It arrived into Newcastle at 17:49. I decided to catch the metro from Central Station to Haymarket which was a mistake as I had 13 minutes to wait and then ended up on a packed carriage with a large group of children on board that looked like they had been on a school trip. I guess that might teach me to walk next time rather than catch the metro 2 stops.
My bus home was, possibly appropriately given where I had been, ex Yorkshire 7635.
Hope this is not too long and thanks for reading!
Arriva Yorkshire 1713 (ex Blyth 7802)
![[Image: 41957267042_79d5b3989d_z.jpg]](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/948/41957267042_79d5b3989d_z.jpg)
Arriva Yorkshire 1713 / NK13 AZB by Pulsar Photos, on Flickr