Interesting range of views so far, was wondering what people’s thoughts had been as it did feel different to previous years. The field felt a bit emptier and was a shame only one of the Busways heritage liveried quartet were in attendance but I guess they have been to a couple of NEBPT events already. Was good to see most of the advertised vehicles turn up, with some additions – I only counted a handful of no-shows including North Star, the GNE Cherry Citaro and Newcastle Corporation NVK341.

It was good to see 838 back on the rally scene, even if only a static exhibit. Had expected 268 and 669 to make an appearance too but presume they were VOR.

The way the vehicles around the top entrance were parked was annoying as it prevented decent photos but presume there was a method to the madness.

There didn’t seem to be that many cars or ‘other’ vehicles as in the past but that didn’t bother me as my interest was the buses. There also seemed to be a few less trade stalls than in years gone by.

I was torn on the new way of doing the shuttles – having four vehicles each doing the same run hourly meant less variety but also meant you could plan runs to sample each of them. I’m sure the shuttles were more frequent than previous years too - every 15 mins combined – yet they carried healthy loads, especially the open topper which was pretty rammed each run I saw. A welcome addition was the timetable being available to view in real time. It would have been nice to see a few more buses on the runs but realistically this would probably have just been the other NEBPT buses in operation as many of the others I think tend to stand as static exhibits only at most events I’ve attended, which is a pity but also understandable given the time, effort and money that individuals put into restoring and maintaining them.