(28 Mar 2015, 6:00 pm)Dan wrote As Marcus and I have been with each other for the majority of the day, I'll leave the in-depth review to him, as I wouldn't want to steal his glory! It might take him a while to publish his, as he's not used to riding quite so many buses in one day!
I had a few objectives today, although my main one was to catch some of the OmniCitys mid-route on the 45/46 as there's some stunning backdrops to provide some unique photo opportunities. I decided that it would be best to do this sooner rather than later, as more and more OmniCitys will be getting repainted over the coming weeks, and I wanted my final photos of them before the Streetlites enter service. A side objective was to fit in a ride of the 128, and to also catch some of the Volvo B7TLs which have recently been repainted into Go North East's corporate livery. So, without further ado, the record of my journeys today is given below:
0859 #20: Newcastle Road, Sunderland to Durham - Go North East 4990
1045 #128: Durham to Beamish Museum - Go North East 646
1133 #8: Beamish to Stanley Bus Depot - Go North East 4896
1152 #X31: Stanley Bus Depot to Lanchester - Go North East 3888
1252 #15: Lanchester to Consett - Go North East 6009
1332 #45: Consett to Shotley Bridge - Go North East 5240
1401 #46: Shotley Bridge to Rowlands Gill - Go North East 5235
1431 #45: Rowlands Gill to Newcastle - Go North East 3832
1517 #310: Newcastle to Jesmond - Go North East 6105
1537 #309: Jesmond to Newcastle - Go North East 6113
1546 #21: Newcastle to Gateshead - Go North East 6069
1608 Metro: Gateshead to Stadium of Light - Tyne & Wear Metro 4032
I was a little disappointed when 4990 was allocated to the 20 I had planned to get to Durham. It's certainly not one of the better examples branded for the "Prince Bishops" services, and I had hoped for a double decker as there's usually a few of the Volvo B7s/B9s out on a Saturday (I'm swearing, Michael, I know!) There was some light rain which progressively worsened as I got closer to Houghton-le-Spring, though it died off by the time I (finally) arrived at Durham. I took some photos for about 20 minutes; at which point, Marcus appeared. He had the same objective as me: to catch the 128! After some more photos, we jumped on the 128 at Durham Bus Station and enjoyed the scenic ride to Beamish. I'd checked the sun calculator website to see if it would be possible to get some photos at the entrance of Beamish Museum, and it was our lucky day, as the angle of the sun was more or less spot on.
Marcus and I discussed what we had planned for the day, and our plans were pretty similar, so we decided to stay together rather than split. Hoping to get a "Lime" branded Volvo B10BLE, we waited for the 8 to take us to Stanley, and there was some photo opportunities while we waited. A former "Lime" turned up (4896), and I was quite pleased to be reunited with an old friend. There was a period a few years ago where 4896 was allocated to the 16:08 78 out of Sunderland more or less every day, and I really became quite fond of it. It had a great idling sound and seemed to be one of the quicker ones. It wasn't quite as I had remembered it, but I enjoyed the ride nevertheless. Marcus realised that we were approaching Stanley Depot and suggested that we hopped off to take some photos, then suggesting that it would be a good idea if we got the X31 to Lanchester and 15 to Consett instead of our original plan to get the V8 up to Consett. An Olympian wasn't allocated to this X31 as Marcus had hoped for, but we both quite like Tridents so we weren't complaining. Marcus pointed out that there's less legroom on the native Dennis Trident/Plaxton President opposed to the ex-London Volvo B7TL examples, which we were able to confirm on our ride to Consett from Lanchester. I hadn't yet photographed 6009 following its repaint, so was pleased when it turned up, and I was massively impressed by the way it tackled the steep banks.
We were now on to my main objective for the day: taking photos of the Red Kites. We started off with 5234 in Consett Bus Station, and we made our way to Shotley Bridge on the following 45. We jumped off and took some photos of the river, and then made our way back up to the main road to wait for the 45 which was due in the opposite direction. Marcus was quite pleased with his photo, which made me quite happy, as he probably wouldn't have had that photo opportunity if he didn't decide to stay with me! Soon after, the 46 arrived and took us down to Rowlands Gill. Sadly, the sun wasn't great which meant that we didn't get a decent photo here. To make up for it, I knew an Olympian was due on the 45, so I let Marcus know and he was very happy indeed. We decided to stay on that all the way to Newcastle, and upon arrival, I thought it would be good if we could get some photos of ANE's new arrivals. We weren't as successful as I'd have liked, but we did get some photos (which is better than nothing). I wanted to get a 58 back to Gateshead, but Marcus was pushed for time, so we opted for another ride of a Volvo B9TL and got the 21 back to Gateshead. Marcus continued onwards to Chester-le-Street, and I waited for the Metro, after taking some more photos in Gateshead.
Superb day out. Glad that I've managed to take some photos in areas I hadn't previously, and pleased Marcus didn't ignore me this time!
Great review Dan
