Wednesday 19th May 2021

Yesterday, I enjoyed an outing with Dan and citaro5284, with a brief and unexpected appearance from a friend of ours whom I shall refer to as 'the Captain'. 

08:51 GNE 50 6930 Chester-le-Street to Durham North Road
My first vehicle of the day was ex-London President 6930 on the morning duplicate 50 to Durham. Having arranged to meet Dan and citaro5284 in Newcastle later in the morning, I had sufficient time to have a trip through to Durham then make my way round to Newcastle via Washington. I had also noticed that the 50 board this run dupes has a tendency to throw up either 6172 or 6173, but unfortunately I noticed it was 5256 pulling onto the stand as I emerged onto Front Street. At the same time, I saw 6930 coming in with the 78 dupe from Lumley, having earlier operated a couple of school runs on the 34. After turning around at South Burns, it pulled onto the stand just as a fully-loaded 5256 departed. The driver was an old hand from Crook depot who I believe may have been one of the many employees to come from OK Travel in 1995 following its acquisition. I sat at the back next to the emergency exit and enjoyed the slow but sure run to Durham with the cooling fans blaring all the way. We leapfrogged 5256 all the way and beat it to North Road, at which point 6930 headed back to the depot.

09:19 GNE 50 5256 Durham North Road to Washington Galleries
Immediately afterwards, 5256 arrived. A great number of passengers, mostly young people, alighted here. I can see why Washington seem to allocate a decker to this board, although I imagine various other boards experience similarly busy runs. I noted that the driver was rigorously enforcing face coverings as others boarded ahead of me. I have always been a fan of the Omnicities and have always had a particular fondness for 5255-5260, with that batch of six having been allocated to Chester for the 50 while I was a teenager and at the 'peak' of my enthusiasm for buses. I am of course still an enthusiast, but there are other interests which I pursue nowadays. I try to make the most of my downtime. I know the Omnicities have had something of a mixed reception. I feel that, at various points in their working lives, they have been poorly deployed onto routes which they weren't necessarily unfit for, but simply unsuitable for capacity. The Angel and the Cobalt Clipper come straight to mind. Nonetheless, they've been good workhorses and I will be sad to see them go. 

10:12 GNE X1 6367 Washington Galleries to Newcastle St. Mary's Place
After a spirited run through from Durham, I alighted 5256 at the Galleries and joined the queue for the X1. I have only been on the X1 a couple of times since the Streetdecks were introduced: 6364 from Washington to Newcastle in December and 6366 from Washington to Houghton in April. I found them perfectly suited to the route and appropriate replacements for the B9TLs that preceded them; while I've always found the B9s to be solid all-rounders, I feel that they were becoming a little tired on the X1 after nearly ten years. I was a little surprised by the decision to rebrand the 56 rather than similarly get Streetdecks for that. I dare say Streetdecks would be even better suited to that route. We departed from the Galleries with a healthy load and picked up another handful at Wrekenton, with more boarding as we headed down Old Durham Road. A woman argued with the driver over something which was hard to pick up from my table seat upstairs. We fell a little behind schedule as a result of that and the roadworks at Deckham, and I alighted at St. Mary's Place just after 10:50. 

11:35 GNE 74 729 Newcastle Eldon Square to Hexham Bus Station
I met with Dan and citaro5284 at the Five Swans and we had a Wetherspoons breakfast - an ironic staple of many an outing. They expressed amusement at my liking for black pudding which they felt was unbefitting for a man of my estate. Shortly after 11:15, we made our way round to Eldon Square and waited for the 74 to arrive. I had decided we would get the 74 so that I could sample one of the Sprinters in service, having been confined to non-service contract work whenever I had been in the area. I also factored in citaro5284's fondness for complaining and felt this would be funny. We left Newcastle on time and headed north-west out of the city. For those of you who have not done the 74, it is a nice run through the countryside but one with lots of twists and tight turns. It was a shame that the driver didn't think to turn the air-conditioning on. At various points, I will admit I was surprised as to how this service runs with Solos, let alone full-size single deckers in the past. 729 proved itself a nimble vehicle but its sensitive brakes don't seem to be worn in yet. There were a number of instances where I was thrown forward by the driver having to slam on the anchors. As anticipated, citaro5284 was full of joy throughout this journey.

13:41 GNE 689 670 Hexham Bus Station to Consett Bus Station
We arrived on time in Hexham and Dan and I crossed the road to get some photos as the position of the sun was good enough. Next on our agenda was the 13:41 689 service to Consett with 'Tynedale Links' branded 670 doing the honours. I last did the 689 in early September last year, from Consett to Hexham on a weekday morning run. Much like the 74, it is a nice run through mostly countryside. I would say I preferred this run to the Sprinter on the 74, purely for the air circulation enabled through the open windows. I also feel that the route this service traverses is a little more scenic and doesn't feel as never-ending as the 74 does in places. A couple of other passengers boarded with us in Hexham, with one doing the full route to Consett; a similar number boarded as we passed through Ebchester. Upon arrival in the bus station, we headed into the Company Row for a bite to eat. Dan and citaro5284 forced some alcohol on me. 

16:15 GNE X46 6348 Consett Bus Station to Newcastle Newgate Street
Slightly worse for wear, I led the other two back to the bus station to board the 16:03 X45 service. It failed to materialise and we boarded 6348 on the board behind. I do have an affinity for Enviro400MMCs and always hope for one over a Streetdeck when I regularly get on a Consett X-lines service. I noticed that the driver, an older, grumpy looking man, was sporting one of the name badges. It was an animated journey to the say the least, with the driver blaring the horn multiple times at car drivers who I presume he felt were in his way. There were various points where he simply forced his way through small gaps in traffic. I do love the Consett X-lines network and could quite happily have a run on one service in one direction and catch another service straight back. I am pleased that the investment into this part of the Go North East network was made and hope that it pays for itself in the long run. We alighted on Newgate Street and met with our old associate, the Captain, at the Keel Row just before 17:30.

18:22 GNE X21 6314 Newcastle Newgate Street to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace
After a nice catch-up with the Captain, I departed from the group and left them to carry on while I went to catch a service back to Chester-le-Street from Newgate Street. I was fortunate in that the first to arrive was the 18:15 X21 from Eldon Square, with 6314 and one of Chester's leading drivers at the wheel. I am still yet to tick off all of the ex-X9|X10 B5TLs on the X21 and was slightly frustrated at the fact that 6314 was a dud. I could, of course, do what some degenerates do: manipulate the rules to meet my needs and claim the lot of them by proxy on account of all of them having already been claimed by friends of mine. But my word is my bond and I play according to the rules. I think the B5TLs are fine runners on the X21 and think they would have been better-suited to having been bought brand new for it. It is ironic that the X21 pretty much killed the Streetdecks that were bought new for it and the X9 & X10 all but summarily executed the B5TLs which were bought for it, yet the X21 seems to be a perfect fit for the latter. If only cost-saving measures hadn't been the single aspect considered when they were ordered...


It is somewhat embarrassing that we ended up on just as many buses as did Wetherspoons but I suppose it was nice to have more of a social outing for a change of pace. I hope that it is not nearly two years before I next post a review. Please let me know if you have enjoyed this and I will try to keep them going regularly.