The (slightly delayed) Daily Digest for 21/02/13:

First on the agenda - something which should have been included in 20/02/13's digest, but photos weren't provided on-time - work on Go North East's new depot continues. Some photos can be seen on the links below. Many thanks to North East And Regional Bus Photos for sharing them:
Photo 1 (North East And Regional Bus Photos)
Photo 2 (North East And Regional Bus Photos)
Photo 3 (North East And Regional Bus Photos)

Secondly, the new "TEN" branded B9s continue to be road tested before they're put out again, as can be seen in the photo below:
6076 (North East And Regional Bus Photos)

Next, the "Northern" branded Scania L94UB/Wright Solar continues work with Percy Main. Her move to Gateshead creeps up, and is forecast to happen very soon. The most recent photo of 4944 is below, and was seen working service 9:
4944 (S.Blair250)

"Poppy Bus" Scania L94UB/Wright Solar was seen working "Citylink" service 58 yesterday, but later moved onto "Saltwell Park" service 54. Both pictures will be provided by Scott Cooper, and will be added when he manages to upload them to Flickr! (Should happen within the next few hours - he finishes work in 2 hours)!

Also, work on the "Go North East: Buses By Brand" collection continues. The "Nexus" and "DFDS Seaways" brands have been addedm and their respective vehicles added too - due to them not being advertised as 'service brands' on the Go North East website, I'd completely forgotten about them before actually seeing them while spotting yesterday! As a note of which vehicles have been added (be it to replace other photos or to be the first photo added), please see below:
- "Northern" 3968
- "North Tyne Links" 505
- "North Tyne Links" 548
- "Pronto" 6034
- "Fab Fifty Seven" 5167
- "Fab Fifty Six" 5203
- "Northern" 4918
- "Tyne Tees eXpress" 3963

Despite its rumoured departure from the fleet on Wednesday, demonstrator 9133 is still (or rather, was yesterday) with Go North East. A few interior shots were also gathered, and I believe they're the first to hit Flickr. Photos can be seen below:
- [Demonstrator] Exterior shot of Go North East's 9133 (YJ62FFB), Optare Versa 11.7m
- [Demonstrator] Interior shot of Go North East's 9133 (YJ62FFB), Optare Versa 11.7m
- [Demonstrator] Interior shot of Go North East's 9133 (YJ62FFB), Optare Versa 11.7m

Likewise, despite 4863's rumoured withdrawal drawing ever-closer, she still remains in service, as can be seen in the photograph below:
- 4863

Following on from a topic which started here, evidence can now be shown of the posters advertising some of the fare increases. This particular poster was on "Soccerbus" 4863. Please see the attachment for the poster - I didn't upload it to Flickr for obvious reasons! (danielgrahamm)

Penultimately, 21/02/13 saw the final day of the major Metro line closure between Byker and North Shields that was in place. To allow for track and bridge replacement work, a line closure had to be put in place in the affected areas and a frequent bus replacement service operated by Go North East on behalf of Nexus also put in place. This work was the last in a series of major line closures to replace 30-year-old Metro tracks and track beds as part of the £385m Metro: all change modernisation programme. A lot of the same vehicles which were previously used were used once more, so not a lot of shots were gathered. A few photos can be seen below:
- "Northern" branded 3968 (danielgrahamm)
- "Northern" branded 6022 (danielgrahamm)
- "Northern" branded 3975 (danielgrahamm)
- "Northern" branded 3970 (danielgrahamm)
- "Northern" branded 6013 (danielgrahamm)
- "DFDS Seaways" branded 3866 (danielgrahamm)

Finally, the odd allocations!

-"Tyne Tees eXpress" 3963 on "Citylink" service 58 (danielgrahamm)
- "Laser" 5309 on "Fab Fifty Six" service 56 (S.Blair250)
- "East Durham" 538 on "Prince Bishops" service 20A (S.Blair250)


That was a long one! Apologies for the delay in getting it on - I was meant to be at a party last night so it would have been delayed anyway, but I went to bed quite early because I was so ill. I would have gotten it done first thing this morning, but I had to upload my own photos to Flickr to provide some more material for the digest! If anyone has anything they'd like to be submitted into the digest (just in case it goes by unnoticed by me), feel free to PM me with the links to the photos accordingly. Thanks.