Purchased a North East Explorer today, and had a good time. Day got off to a bad start with the Tyne and Wear Metro, but in the afternoon things turned much better. Read on to find out more...
The day began at 08:30 when I was woken by a push-notification on my phone. It was citaro5284, letting me know that I was starting off with 4909 on the 09:40 #78 to Sunderland. Slightly disappointed, was really hoping for a ''Lime'' branded B10, but nonetheless; 4909 was a nice ride this time last week, so I was undeterred. Got to the bus stop for 09:35, and at 09:41, I saw a red B10 heading down Ropery Lane. Put my hand out, and the driver brought this horse to a stop. Asked for an Explorer, which I had to say a few times as the driver later laughed with me saying he thought I'd asked for a ''sport'', haha. Took my seat at the very rear, I enjoyed the sounds of a B10BLE engine, as it's going to be a distant memory in coming months, and on top of that, will be extinct on this route in a couple of days. Enjoyed every minute of this, I no longer cared about it being a non-''Lime'' branded example, just the fact that it was a Renown was enough to please me. Funny how the mundane becomes so desirable...
Left 4909 in Sunderland's Park Lane Interchange; as the sun was alright, and the weather was good, I opted to head out of the bus station for some photos. There was a man standing with some binoculars around his neck, and a notebook in his hands, who I worked out must have been a bus spotter. Didn't appear to have a camera with him, although he was carrying a bag. As I lifted my camera, minding my own business, he approached me and asked me if I had seen ''five three seven oh''. I had to ask him a couple of times to repeat because of a roaring B10 departing the bus station, until I worked out he was asking after 5370. I told him I hadn't, but nonetheless engaged in conversation. I introduced myself, and he introduced himself as something beginning with M (he was quite quiet!) - either Mike or Michael, think it was the latter. He said he'd come from Billingham, and had used the X7 from Middlesbrough to get to Sunderland. After about 10-15 minutes, it was 10:40 when I checked my phone, so I bade him farewell and made my way to the Metro station. This was where the day became a mess...
I was of the understanding it would be as simple as the Metro to Heworth, then onto the 900 to complete my journey, far from it. A pleasant journey as far as Seaburn, when an announcement came on saying this train would be terminating at Brockley Whins. I thought to myself – ''where the hell is that?!''. I've passed through the station before, but it seemed to be almost in the middle of nowhere to the amount of attention I had paid. As we slowed down and approached the station, people began to prepare to disembark. People began to walk along to an overbridge, then across it to a housing estate. I was thinking – ''where is this replacement bus?'', as a queue of around 60-70 people had formed at a single bus stop. I overheard a man on the phone saying a Metro supervisor had explained that we would need to wait for a regular bus to show up and get on that. I winced at the thought, but after about 10 minutes of waiting, a Volvo B7 President (6027) rounded the corner, with the 901 Metro Replacement screen as the destination. I was about 20 people into the queue, so I had boarded in a matter of minutes. Showed the driver my Explorer, and headed upstairs to sit at the very rear of the bus. When we did pull away from Brockley Whins, we were full and standing, some people standing on the upper saloon. A 20 minute ride to Heworth ensued, before we were asked to head to the other side of the interchange for a 900 to take us for the rest of the journey. Being one of the first to board, this made me one of the last to leave. A big queue had already formed, and I was at the rear. Then, another 901 came in and dropped passengers off. By the time a Vyking, which was ready to leave when we arrived(!) came around, and I am not being dramatic here, the queue was a horseshoe shape consisting of 100-150 people!!!
There was no way that I would ever get on Vyking 3974, which was picking up people at the front of the queue. Luckily, President 6014 came into sight, and started picking up behind 3974. People chose between the two, until 6014 overtook 3974 and came very close to where I was queueing. Most people were thinking – ''what the hell is he doing, leaving with about 20 people on?!'', but the people just behind me had the decency to allow those in front of them to board before them. Again, I opted for the back seats upstairs, and we pulled away from Heworth about 5 minutes later. A long, tedious, cramped journey took place, before we got to Gateshead, then to Central Station. I couldn't be bothered to alight here, so just survived until the termination point of Market Street (Monument). The time was 12:30..................had the Metro been running as usual, I would have been there roughly an hour earlier. What a way to waste a day, nice one, Metro! No warning of the train terminating at Brockley Whins, and also, why on earth didn't our replacement bus just continue to Monument? It later came out of the layover at Heworth anyway to do a run on the 900, so why didn't it just do that with us still onboard in the first place? I honestly thought riding these Metro Replacements today would be quite fun, having never rode on them, but I'm afraid it'll take me a long time to do them again, unless absolutely necessary.....
An hour behind schedule, I headed towards Eldon Square/Haymarket. To get a bit of Arriva traction out of the way, I decided to board a 43/44/45, etc to Regent Centre and back. I understand a lot of you must get bored of me always doing Regent Centre and back whenever I do an Explorer, but I'm afraid I don't know much beyond there, and there is only a certain amount of hours in the day to go to Blyth or Ashington. Back on-topic, I saw an Optare Solo enter with a 46, as I knew this went to Regent Centre, I opted to have a go on this. I've not been on many of these, to tell the truth. One on the 64, and then one on the P&R (in that livery iirc?) for the Durham Lumiere event back in 2013 was the last I can remember, so this was a nice refresher. My ride for this short trip was 2842; first thoughts when I boarded was that the interior was clean, not many people were on, and the seats were nice at the back, they were pretty comfy and offered plenty of legroom. Was sat at the rear again this time, but only so I could hear the engine as best as possible. Overall verdict; by the time we'd reached Regent Centre I was fairly impressed. I know some people hate these Optare Solos (this one seemed like it had been refurbished? - don't know if the examples at Belmont are extremely bad or something, but whenever I'm there I can hear them before I see them!) but I felt this was very nice. Disembarked, and headed to the other side of the bus stands for the first thing back to Newcastle. To my surprise, it was yet another 46, operated by yet another Solo! Flagged it down, and boarded. The driver inspected my Explorer very closely, before smiling and letting me on. We pulled away from Regent Centre with a small load of about half a dozen people, picking up one or two along Gosforth High Street, but other than that, another alright journey. Seats were equally as bearable, and the interior was once again not in bad shape. Apparently the examples at Belmont are very tatty and disgusting inside, will have to try one at some point. Fleet number for the Solo back to the Haymarket was 2844.
Now, this was when the day turned for the better. As I walked out of Haymarket, I spotted something yellow on Percy Street; 3823 as evidenced by the front panel. Totally by chance, I had hit the jackpot. Making my way down into Eldon Square, I watched it set down passengers before a small load of about five people boarded, myself included. An elderly couple had taken the nice seats at the front, so I opted to sit behind the stairs instead. Thoroughly enjoyed this quiet ride, the two at the front nodded off by the time we hit Gateshead Interchange, and anybody who did board sat downstairs. Brilliant time flying through the countryside, was lovely to follow the rails of the Tanfield Railway from the road, haven't been in a few months so I must squeeze that in at some point one Sunday. Some Pie & Peas sold in the station building at Andrew's House (the main one next to the sheds and yard!). As we passed Stanley depot, I counted half a dozen ''Coast & Country'' branded Streetlites parked up in full-view. Was great to see that many in the flesh with my own eyes, and minutes later we pulled into Stanley Bus Station.
My day was now much improved, having had a dosage of Volvo Olympian. I'm turning into another Adam - for a long time he seemed to have a knack of hunting one down on a daily basis! Was slightly peeved when we were pulling in, 3831 was pulling out with a ''Diamond'' 44A for Newcastle. However, there was an 8 back to Chester-le-Street due in about 10 minutes, so I waited for that. A red Solar turned out to be my ride, rather than a B10BLE. 4930 entered the bus station, and I boarded on the 14:15 #8. Not a bad journey, I have to say I would have preferred a Renown, but this was a nice change. Although, it could well have been my last trip on the ''Lime'' before it's transition to ''Coast & Country'' (for those interested, it even had ''Coast & Country'' timetables!), I wasn't too fussed. Out of the former ''Whey Aye Five 0'' batch of Wright Solars (4926-4931), 4929 and 4930 have always been favourites, the reasons I don't know myself haha. Just always liked them, used to be regulars on the occasional runs I used on the 50 before the route was taken over by OmniShities, and the world went downhill from there...
Once I was back in Chester-le-Street, I was torn between a ride to Durham and back on the X12 (reason A, my first time on it with the full X12 route number, and reason B) my first time on a ''MAX'' spec DB300 on the route). However, I was somehow quite tired by this point, with all of the faffing on with the Metro Replacements, etc., so I just decided to get the next 21 home. To be honest, as this would have been the 14:56 from Chester-le-Street to Durham, I was quite pleased I chose against it – as I'm sure aureolin made a post in the ''Late running records'' thread about it being something like 18 minutes late? Dodged a bullet with that idea! Before I knew it, an ''Angel'' headed along to it's Durham-bound stand, which I boarded after a small number of passengers alighted. Vehicle was 6065, one which I've always been a bit ''iffy'' about, as it was this vehicle involved in the N21 incident with the cyclist. Sat upstairs, behind the stairwell, and within minutes I had pressed the bell and was walking home.
A log of the day is below;
09:41 #78 – Chester-le-Street Durham County Cricket Ground to Sunderland, Park Lane Interchange – GNE 4909
10:55 T&W Metro – Park Lane to Brockley Whins – T&W Metrocars 4021 & 4058
11:25 #901 – Brockley Whins to Heworth Metro Interchange – GNE 6027
12:00 #900 – Heworth Metro Interchange to Newcastle Market Street West – GNE 6014
12:44 #46 – Newcastle Haymarket Bus Station to Regent Centre Metro – ANE 2842
13:01 #46 – Regent Centre Metro to Newcastle Haymarket Bus Station – ANE 2844
13:15 #X31 – Newcastle Eldon Square Bus Station to Stanley Bus Station – GNE 3823
14:13 #8 – Stanley Bus Station to Chester-le-Street South Burns – GNE 4930
14:47 #21 – Chester-le-Street North Burns to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace – GNE 6065
Thank you all for reading, I appreciate if you've made it this far, haha. As for other plans this weekend, a little birdy tells me tomorrow could be a lucky day..... I'll have to be up nice and early.....
Monday is the MetroCentre Rally, as I'm sure all of you are aware. The Northern National Restoration Group's 4710 will be in attendance, along with Metrobus 3501 and Olympian 3833. I've been in conversation with Craig Smith (owner) about some photos of the restoration work done on 4710. I recall he mentioned the engine would be on display for the public to see - DaveyBowyer...!!
I can also say that there will be a special line-up.....no further comments to make.
I hope to meet people there, I'll be hovering around 4710 quite a bit, looking forward to possibly having a ride on it during the day. I'll be there nice and early hopefully, around 09:30. I intend to leave late in the afternoon, after taking plenty of photos.
Marcus
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