(15 Nov 2015, 2:31 pm)Dan wrote Marcus missed his favourite line... "Courtesy of x's wallet"!

Suppose it was courtesy of my debit card instead, like..!


...and it has to be large, rather than traditional!

I've discovered over the last month that a large breakfast goes down nicely with a strawberry and lime kopparberg too. 

It was payment for the ride down to Manchester.

A really enjoyable review to read. I was hoping to go down myself on the National Express. Unfortunately family commitments meant't I could not make it. I used to visit Manchester quite a lot in the mid 1990's. Cracking city for record shops.

Charles

(16 Nov 2015, 1:37 pm)Charles41 wrote A really enjoyable review to read. I was hoping to go down myself on the National Express. Unfortunately family commitments meant't I could not make it. I used to visit Manchester quite a lot in the mid 1990's. Cracking city for record shops.

Charles

Thanks, Charles. Sad that you couldn't make it; was a great event. I'd like to think Go North East might do something similar with their Volvo Olympians or Wright Renowns in the future. I was impressed by the frequency and variety in Manchester, and I'm looking into returning at some point in 2016. Other things on my to-do list include the Cumbrian Coast Class 37s; Leeds and West Yorkshire (with tyresmoke); York again (with citaro5284); and I'm also looking into doing an East Scotland Explorer (during the Summer holidays). It would involve getting the train up to Edinburgh, then visiting the likes of Kirkcaldy, Leven and Dunfermline. What has drawn me to the location is the apparent presence of a lot of Stagecoach coaches. Once I've got a DSLR camera; I'm also going to focus on rail photography more.

(17 Nov 2015, 9:29 am)R852 PRG wrote I'm also going to focus on rail photography more.

Have you tried the Settle and Carlisle railway, the views are amazing. You can get a round robin day ticket from Newcastle. It's a really good day out and you get plenty of time in Leeds and York for spotting or shopping.

Charles

(17 Nov 2015, 1:29 pm)Charles41 wrote Have you tried the Settle and Carlisle railway, the views are amazing. You can get a round robin day ticket from Newcastle. It's a really good day out and you get plenty of time in Leeds and York for spotting or shopping.

Charles

I've never travelled on the Settle-Carlisle line, no. Some of my ideas for rail photography include Plawsworth (haven't been before for any rail photos, but it's local to me, I know it's a lovely village), which would mean catching an ''Angel'' 21 to Plawsworth and walking through the village to the location itself.

(17 Nov 2015, 1:51 pm)R852 PRG wrote I've never travelled on the Settle-Carlisle line, no. Some of my ideas for rail photography include Plawsworth (haven't been before for any rail photos, but it's local to me, I know it's a lovely village), which would mean catching an ''Angel'' 21 to Plawsworth and walking through the village to the location itself.

I have been to Plawsworth a few times when I younger to photograph trains.

I also used to visit the garage of Crossroads Coaches at nearby Kimblesworth. Unfortunately they are not trading any more.

Charles

Intending to have an outing on an Explorer tomorrow, providing the weather isn't too bad. Haven't done one since September, and I have a few things I need to catch up on, so decided an Explorer is the best ticket. Unsure of where I'm going to end up, but I'll be heading to Durham in the late afternoon for some photos of the Christmas Market coaches.

Saturday 5th December 2015

My outing from today:

08:06 X12 1442 Chester-le-Street Corals to Newcastle Eldon Square
Decided I would make this trip my last Explorer of the year; and I caught the 08:07 X12 service from Chester-le-Street to Newcastle. This is a Stockton run, meaning the allocation is an Arriva ''MAX'' Pulsar. 1442 turned up, which I was quite pleased with as 1442 is the only one of 1441-1443 that I hadn't yet made a journey on. As is standard, this service was lightly loaded with about fifteen passengers on board throughout. Always enjoy a ride on a Pulsar; and I feel the ''MAX'' specification examples are some of the best in the fleet. While these can reach up to 60mph when let loose on the fast stretches of the X12; the DB300 Geminis can usually only top 50mph. Sean was out and about doing the Tyne Valley diversions today, and I owed him a Wetherspoons breakfast after excessive use of the ''thumb'' in Facebook Messenger. His train was being held up at various signals, and he gave me a rough arrival time of 09:30.

08:40 46 2844 Newcastle Haymarket to Regent Centre Metro
Following arrival into Eldon Square at 08:35; I thanked the driver of 1442 and had a little look around in the bus station for anything of interest. As expected, it was quite quiet, so I decided to have a wander across to Haymarket. An Optare Solo caught my attention; it was left unattended in one of the stands, and I came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be moving any time soon. Shortly afterwards; one of the 46-branded Jesmond examples came in with a 46 for Featherstone Grove, so I decided to have a little ride on that up to Regent Centre. It departed with myself as the only passenger; nice enough bus inside although a bit lame when getting up to a decent speed. 

08:51 Metro 4014+4080 Regent Centre to Haymarket
On arrival at Regent Centre, I decided I'd catch a Metro back to Newcastle. I descended the stairs that led down to the platform for South Hylton-bound trains, and noticed a fair few passengers were present, indicating that a service was due soon. Within thirty seconds; I heard the rumble of a Metro in the distance, and looked north to see one coming along. 4014 was leading, and looked quiet, so I naturally expected the second car to be just as deserted. It was equally as quiet, with roughly twenty people spread out across the entire carriage. Between Ilford Road and West Jesmond; I began to smell a strange burning smell. Other passengers picked up on it too, and I couldn't put my finger on what exactly it was. After Jesmond; Haymarket was next, so I prepared to alight.

09:15 Metro 4053+4054 Monument to Wallsend
One of my few aims for today was a ride on a ''North Tyne Links'' MPD; which would require heading over towards Wallsend. I knew the quickest and simplest way to get there was to take the Metro from Monument to Wallsend; so I paced it towards Monument station. When I got to platform level, I saw that trains had been suspended in both directions between Jarrow and South Shields. Similar to the situation at Regent Centre, within a short period of thirty seconds, a Metro came into view. 4053 and 4054 were adjoined in this pair; was nice to see two cars in numerical consistency. The set arrived completely empty, and the fifteen or so people waiting for it were all spread across the two Metrocars; possibly the quietest journey I've ever made on the system. Towards Walkergate, we passed the Stagecoach depot; which was filled with stacks of Enviro400s, as well as a handful of ALX300s and a B10M driver trainer that I could see. Wallsend was the next station, so I jumped ship here.

09:34 41 567 Wallsend Metro Interchange to Battle Hill Drive
I walked down to the bus interchange from the Metro station; intent on a ride and a photograph of a ''North Tyne Links'' MPD. 567 was present in the bus station, with the driver standing outside having a cigarette, and Stagecoach's 22344 was stood with an 18 for Forest Hall. I got some photos of the two of them, and hovered around waiting for 567 to do something. In that time; dual-door 5154 appeared with a 17 to Whitley Bay, which I was incredibly tempted by. However, I knew what I had came here for, so I stuck with 567. Before long, the driver fired up the engines of the MPD, and set the destination for the 41 to Wallsend. Decided I would catch this around to Battle Hill Drive, and then go wherever from there. The refurbished interior of this little machine was very smart, and it was quite fast as well. Nice enough route, didn't pass anything of real interest, and within the space of twenty five minutes, we arrived at Battle Hill Drive.

10:03 306 1412 Battle Hill Drive to Newcastle Haymarket
Having thanked the driver and watched 567 speed off back to Wallsend, I waited for something else to come along. Following a brief wait, in which I saw a 306-branded Streetlite pass me heading to Whitley Bay, I saw the unmistakable sight of an original-liveried Arriva Wright Pulsar coming along with a 306 to Newcastle. It was something I couldn't turn down, so flagged it to a halt. Pulsars sporting this livery seem few and far between; with many either carrying the company corporate livery or ''Sapphire'' branding. After taking my seat, I noticed it still had it's original interior, which was very warm and vibrant in my opinion. Similar to 1442 earlier in the day, it was a very speedy machine and offered a comfortable journey. When passing Jesmond, I was disappointed to see Jesmond's B10BLE 4514 fly past us with a 52 to Cramlington. Almost all of the bus emptied on St. Mary's Place, but I continued on to the bus station, now intent on a Stagecoach ALX300.

10:33 X21 3872 Newcastle Eldon Square to Chester-le-Street Red Lion
I walked through Haymarket bus station and through Eldon Square, emerging on the other side to see ''Work, Eat, Play'' branded 3872 making it's way up Blackett Street. The LED display in the front destination told me that it was operating the X21, so I double backed and returned to Eldon Square bus station to catch this somewhere. During the walk, I decided I would catch this to back to Chester-le-Street and wait for something of interest. The Lolynes are personal favourites of mine, purely for nostalgia purposes, so I always look forward to a ride on one. Took ages for the congestion in the bus station to allow 3872 to get to the stand; and when it did, I boarded and made my way upstairs. Ordinary journey up until we hit the A1(M), where the strong winds began to push the bus into other lanes. Luckily, the driver managed to keep control of 3872, and we exited the motorway safely. Was certainly quite scary being forced into other lanes, though. Upon arrival at Chester-le-Street, for the second time today, I looked around for anything interesting.

11:14 8 5399 Chester-le-Street South Burns to Washington Galleries
As my phone could have done with some charging, I decided to aim for a ''Coast & Country'' Streetlite somewhere. 5403 arrived with a Stanley-bound 8, but I decided to catch the imminently due Sunderland-bound 8. While they are still nothing on a good B10BLE; I have come to, regrettably to an extent, find the Streetlites more bearable than I initially did. The plug sockets and charging facility is an added bonus, but for me; sound is everything. They still sound whingey and annoying, but I can mute that with my earphones. Still, they're not on par with a Renown, but I have found I can tolerate them. Wouldn't want to spend an entire day on them, however. The Galleries came up on the Next Stop Announcements system, so I chose to alight here and find something else.

11:37 82 8255 Washington Galleries to Heworth Metro Interchange
Thought of catching the X1 through to Newcastle, but the queue had reached the bottom of the escalators and I couldn't be bothered with a packed bus. Then, after 5399 had departed, I saw a Heworth-bound 82 appear. Suspecting a Wright Merit; I was surprised to see it was 8255, one of the two surviving Cadets based at Washington now. Once more, I couldn't turn down this opportunity to ride this little guy so I boarded and made my way towards the back; sitting on the offside quadrant. Interior was quite dirty; with various pieces of litter scattered all over the floor, but the ''graffiti'' moquette seating was quite welcoming. 8255 was quite a speedy Cadet, in my somewhat limited experience of them, they've just trundled along at an average pace, but 8255 kept producing plenty of kickdowns throughout the route as the gearbox slipped on the faster stretches. Considered bailing at Concord, but I opted to stay on until Heworth and then see whatever took my fancy. What made it even better, was that I consequently managed to get a photo of 5169, still in it's ''Fab57'' livery, at Heworth. 

12:19 Metro 4036+4078 Heworth to Central Station
With some severe delays to the Tyne Valley line today, due to severe flooding and various other factors resulting in delayed and cancelled trains pretty much everywhere, I decided I'd have a little peak at Central Station to see what was there. Was just a few stations to Central from Heworth, so I just stood. An elderly gentleman who boarded at Gateshead Stadium was offered a seat by a young girl; he refused but thanked her, and a woman commented to him that the youth of today aren't all bad... Upon arrival at Central, I alighted and headed up to the railway station. 91111 was leaving with a Kings Cross-bound service, and I made my way across to the Thunderbird sidings. 67020 and 67026 were present, but were blocked by a Northern Rail 156 unit, which prevented a photo.

12:50 Metro 4016+4050 Central Station to Monument
Just a short one-stop hop to Monument from Central. I'm unsure why the station is announced as ''Central'', as visitors to the city could easily confuse this with the city centre, when in fact it is just the railway station. I certainly always call it ''Central Station'', unsure of others. Was a quick journey along to Monument, and marked my final Metro journey of the outing.

13:16 X31 5253 Newcastle Eldon Square to Stanley Bus Station
Ex-''Lime'' 4900 caught my attention operating the 53, so I caught up to it and stood outside of the doors in an attempt to get the driver's attention. He just shook his head at me, which was strange, as he was in service and had other passengers on board, and didn't move for another minute or two... I found myself hunting Stagecoach's ALX300s again, but gave up and decided to head back to Eldon Square to catch an X30 or X31 up to Stanley, then a 16/16A to Durham for the Christmas Market coaches. When I arrived at Eldon Square, I could see a ''Toon Link'' OmniCity on Percy Street, which came in on the X31 to Stanley. Sat at the nearside quadrant and put my earphones in, 5253 gave an extremely comfortable journey, and has to be one of the best OmniCities I've travelled on. 

14:00 16A 5287 Stanley Bus Station to Durham County Hall
After a spirited run up to Stanley, I arrived in the bus station to find ''Durham Diamond'' 5287 sat with a service to Durham. Naturally, rather than stick around, I opted to go with this. Done this route several times before, so it wasn't anything new to me. Aside from the new number, with all of my previous journeys being done under the 43/44/44A services, nothing was different. Recollecting back to when I used to give the Citaros a poor rating, I am now very fond of them and look forward to a journey on one. Thankfully, they will be around for many years to come, so we will still have some ''decent'' buses around. Very powerful Mercedes engine, as expected, and the vehicle didn't struggle at all with the route. In order to get some photos of the Christmas Market coaches at County Hall, I jumped off here and headed in to get some photos in the coach park. A variety of operators and coach types were present and I got a few shots before getting bored, and decided to head back to catch the next bus to the bus station in the city centre.

14:40 X12 1441 Durham County Hall to Durham Bus Station
Following a five minute wait in the wind, I was greeted with the sight of another Pulsar; my third today, and my second ''MAX'' example of the outing. Was just a short journey, the driver was a miserable sod who seemed completely unphased by anything. Only took a few minutes to get to the bus station, where I saw 7455 in the layover bays (it had passed me earlier on operating the X24, so I concluded that this was to be operating the 15:10 service). Opted to catch that home, allowing twenty minutes in Durham for some photos.

15:09 X24 7455 Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Black Horse
Following a photo session, I headed into the bus station at 15:05 in order to catch the 15:10 X24. 7455 was still parked over in the layover bays, but it was soon moved and proceeded to do a loop of the bus station and returned with the destination set for the X24 to the MetroCentre. Was pleased to see that this had Civic V3 seating as opposed to dreadful Urban90s. Although it sounded rough when pulling out of it's stand in the bus station, it wasn't too bad when it got going, despite never getting above 45mph at all throughout my journey on it. Given my limited experience of the Lowlanders, I'm often willing to jump at the chance for a ride on one. I quite like them for a short journey such as Durham to Chester-le-Street, but I don't think I could tolerate them for any longer than that. I gather they were once used on the X18 as well...? Ouch. I alighted at the Black Horse and ended the day at this point, and walked home for 16:00. 

As usual, I had a great time out on an Explorer. I went in with no solid plan, and it provided a better outing on the whole as it allowed me to choose whatever and go with it. My next Explorer will be at some point in January, I've started to stop reviewing my Get Around adventures as there is never much of interest, but Explorers and outings further afield will always be given a review. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

R852 PRG

Brilliant review as always, Marcus.

Good review Marcus [emoji2]

certainly remember the 57 reg Lowlander's being used on Coast and Castles routes, but not sure which specific route or whether it just popped up on any of the C&C routes. Think 7455 is the one that is a bit flat, I recently got treated to 7456 on an evening X12 between Newcastle and Durham and it absolutely flew along the fast sections of the route, certainly put the DB300's to shame.

(05 Dec 2015, 8:45 pm)Jimmi wrote Good review Marcus [emoji2]

certainly remember the 57 reg Lowlander's being used on Coast and Castles routes, but not sure which specific route or whether it just popped up on any of the C&C routes. Think 7455 is the one that is a bit flat, I recently got treated to 7456 on an evening X12 between Newcastle and Durham and it absolutely flew along the fast sections of the route, certainly put the DB300's to shame.

Yep, 7453-6 were Coast and Castles X18 vehicles. X15 was Primas, X14 was the Y-reg Lowlanders as of early-2014.

They were used on the 518 (now the X18 as stated in the second photo) for a period of time:

7455 YJ57BVF on 518 by dbp dearingbuspix, on Flickr

Then they gained a more generic Coast&Castles branding (no branding for a specific route):

Arriva North East 7456 YJ57BVG by Johnathon, on Flickr

(05 Dec 2015, 8:49 pm)GX03 SVC wrote Yep, 7453-6 were Coast and Castles X18 vehicles. X15 was Primas, X14 was the Y-reg Lowlanders as of early-2014.

Its quite a shock how much its changed in the past year with all the E400s and Scanias coming in.
In the later years I think it was pretty common for a 57 reg E400 to turn up on X15s
The X18 was a split allocation with a few E400s and the 3 VDLs

Decided not to brave the weather today, given that it is raining heavily, and chose to have a lie-in for a change. To give some sort of contribution nevertheless, I've uploaded a few photos from my archive files to my Flickr. They are viewable on the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127739730@N02/?

Given that I didn't venture out last weekend, I've decided to embark on an outing with Adrian. Intending to head down to Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Darlington for some photos, and I'm hoping to have my first experience of a ''Frequenta'' Solo while down there. Hopefully the weather is good.

(18 Dec 2015, 5:54 pm)R852 PRG wrote Given that I didn't venture out last weekend, I've decided to embark on an outing with Adrian. Intending to head down to Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Darlington for some photos, and I'm hoping to have my first experience of a ''Frequenta'' Solo while down there. Hopefully the weather is good.

Forecast to carry on mild, I believe.

Big'un and I are tootling off down to Richmond, tomorrow. Regular loop home-p'lee-darlo then darlo-durham-home at either end. Not being too ambitious with it being the last Saturday before Christmas.

We did the stagecoach 35(?) from Hartlepool to Stockton a few weeks ago and it was a really nice run.

Saturday 19th December 2015

Had an enjoyable day in the southern end of the region today on an Explorer, accompanied by Adrian and Sean. 

08:29 X12 7620 Chester-le-Street Red Lion to Durham Bus Station
Having agreed to meet Adrian in Chester-le-Street to catch the 08:26 X12 service through to Durham, I left my house at 07:50 and had a long but leisurely walk into town, arriving by 08:15. Adrian had only just come in on an 8 from Sunderland, and while walking down the Front Street, I managed to get a photo of ''Angel'' 6066 at the Black Horse in the dark, which I think came out quite well. We sat down on a bench and awaited the X12, which pulled into the stop three minutes late. Baffling how a bus can be running late when there is no traffic, and the service in question only starts at Birtley. Driver seemed pleasant enough, and we sat down in some of the OAP seating in the downstairs saloon. Prefer the Pulsars to the Geminis, but I'm not overly fussed as long as the vehicle itself is nice enough. Was a smooth journey through to Durham, and the driver made up some time, arriving into the bus station on-time at 08:45.

08:57 57A 2818 Durham Bus Station to Hartlepool Yates
Adrian had suggested we catch the 57A service down to Hartlepool and go from there, which I agreed would be nice as I'd not been to Hartlepool before for buses (once in total, for the Tall Ships Gala in 2010 with my parents). He had filled me with hope of more than just a clapped out Belmont Solo; explaining that a ''MAX'' Gemini had appeared on the service earlier in the week, and that Lowlanders and Pulsars were frequently allocated. Alas, when the time came, 2818 came into the stand. Adrian, who frequently uses the Solos on the Durham services as a means of commuting to work, told me that 2818 wasn't a bad one in comparison to some of the others. Even when we were idle in the bus station, the back of the bus was shaking violently, but I had limited experience of the Belmont Solos prior to this, so was determined to make do with it. All in all; a good ride down to Hartlepool, the service remained lightly loaded throughout the journey, and the Solo was quite smooth (despite sounding like a Lowlander scraping off the bottom of road at some points!).

10:27 1 35158 Hartlepool Yates to Middlesbrough Bus Station
We alighted 2818 and watched it sail off onto another run back to Durham, before taking some photos for about fifteen minutes and then locating the bus stop for the 1 to Middlesbrough. In our time at Hartlepool, we had a walk to the Stagecoach office to see what was there, to find nothing, and got photos of an Arriva ''Eco-Green'' Streetlite amongst some local Stagecoach vehicles. Fortunately for us, we landed one of Hartlepool's Darts on the 10:23 (running four minutes late) service to Middlesbrough. While we were initially going to catch the ''Zones'' 36, we opted against it after realising the length of time for the journey would set us back towards noon. Managed to secure the back seats of this already busy service, and we talked generally for the fifty minute journey (longer than timetabled, with frequent stops, a full load and dawdling passengers) to Middlesbrough. A very nice bus though; with an immaculate interior and a speedy engine. 

11:45 64 4706 Middlesbrough Bus Station to South Bank
Upon arrival at Middlesbrough; we headed out to the BBC Tees building for some photos of buses entering and exiting the bus station. Sean was nearby, and joined us within ten minutes. Following some more photos, we headed back into the bus station with the intention of getting something somewhere. One of Redcar's notorious Temsa Avenue's, 4706, appeared with a 64 to New Marske. We opted to have a ride on this for about ten minutes and then catch something back. Seating was dreadful, although I imagine NK53 TKT would be over the moon with them...! A nice ZF gearbox as well, was quite surprised to hear one in this sort of vehicle. Internally, it was quite scruffy, and I have to say I don't understand the sense in such an inconsistent seating plan. Then again, the vehicle is Turkish, and Sean nicknamed them ''Turkish Delights''... Matter of opinion! He used his invaluable Bus Checker app to work out where we could get off and make an almost immediate connection back, and we bailed in the South Bank area.

12:03 64A 4704 South Bank to Middlesbrough Bus Station
South Bank, at first sight, appeared to be a dreadful place, and I was pleased to see the bus out of here coming along the road, back to Middlesbrough. Another Temsa, this time 4704, operating the 64A. As I somewhat expected, it was fairly loaded, and the awkward seating layout of these vehicles made it look busier than it actually was. Some annoying young children were sat at the back, and the pain of the seating was dreadful. While the Temsas seem to have a novelty value to them, and I'm pleased I managed to ride two today; they are only good for smaller journeys in my opinion, I can't imagine I would last as long as an hour on one. Arrival back into Middlesbrough was at 12:13, and Sean saw a ''MANviro'' that he decided he wanted to bash, in the stand behind us.

12:14 39 24106 Middlesbrough Bus Station to Middlesbrough Bus Station via Park End
Having never experienced one of these before, I was intrigued to see what they were all about. Sean picked up some timetables at the front of the bus while the driver pulled out of the stand, and we quickly studied them before deciding to do a round trip on this service. The roar of the MAN engine was very prevalent, I love how these sound. Very impressive vehicle internally, was in immaculate condition until Sean spilled some Greggs Mince Pie things everywhere, and when I deliberately tried to make him laugh after he attempted to follow the guidelines of the ''five second rule'' (basically it's apparently okay to eat something that has been dropped within five seconds), and he began sending sugar and pastry everywhere. The journey to Park End was very quiet but we picked up a decent load for the return journey. Enjoyed having a ride on this vehicle, and we saw the famous Tony Kuy standing doing some spotting upon return to Middlesbrough bus station.

13:01 11 17027 Middlesbrough Bus Station to Carter Bequest Hospital
We were originally going to catch an X66 or X67 across to Darlington next; but something caught my eye that was entering the bus station. One of the Stagecoach ALX400s that are stabled at Stockton depot was in service, so we followed it to where it stopped and decided to go with it. Didn't even bother to check which service it was operating and just jumped on board, the driver had a face like a smacked backside but the original interior of this vehicle was outstanding. It still retained bench-style seating and had a number of other original fittings. Once more, this service was very lightly loaded, and I was initially going to head upstairs but Sean ordered me to head to the back for ''the engine''... Sad. The throaty roar of the Dennis Trident engine was absolutely superb; I was still happy with this winner five minutes out of Middlesbrough. As we had done with the Temsas, and after realising that we were on an 11, and that service does not serve Stockton High Street, we decided to bail at the next stop. We'd been leap-frogging an Arriva Cadet, which we were hoping to jump on immediately afterwards, but it flew past as we alighted. An absolutely brilliant journey; a healthy machine with a very nostalgic feeling to it. Strongly recommend riding one.

13:30 12 27240 Carter Bequest Hospital to Middlesbrough Bus Station
Following a ten minute wait at the bus stop for the next bus, we jumped on 27240; a relatively new 65-plate Enviro300, on the 12 back to Middlesbrough. This was my first experience of one of Stockton's latest E300s, so I was happy to see the registration plate. I'm terrible with knowledge on the Stagecoach fleet numbers, so wouldn't be able to tell if this was new or not otherwise. The ''new bus smell'' was not detectable at all on board, which was a shame as I quite like the fresh smell. Made a bad decision by sitting at the seats located behind the wheel arch towards the back of the saloon, I ended up having to move next to Sean because I couldn't bear it any longer. Mechanically the vehicle was sound and offered a great journey back to Middlesbrough; it was a shame that we had missed the Cadet on the 17, but I was also happy to be able to tick off a few Stagecoach on Teesside buses for haulage. 

13:57 X66 1405 Middlesbrough Bus Station to Stockton High Street
The plan was to now head across to Stockton for some photos, and for some variety, I decided we'd catch the Arriva X66/X67 across. After seeing one of Darlington's ''Frequenta'' Solos on there in the morning, I was hoping we might have a rare cop, but Pulsar 1405 rolled in with the next X66 to Darlington. This was one of the recently refurbished examples, so I was quite happy with this. One of the oldest Pulsars in the Arriva North East fleet as well, so it was another bonus. Similar to the Stagecoach Dart that Adrian and I had sampled on the 1 from Hartlepool earlier in the day, this was another flying machine and hit 60mph at one point (according to my Speedometer app on my phone). Something that didn't look quite right was that the backs of the seats were still coloured green from the vehicle's time as a standard spare vehicle. Was somewhat nostalgic as well though, as it was a trait that this vehicle held from it's entry into service. That aside, no different to any other ''MAX'' bus. When Stockton High Street came into view, we prepared to alight.

14:27 X12 7627 Stockton High Street to Durham Bus Station
Got some nice photos in Stockton, including a photo I intend to use as my ''Christmas Photo'' on Flickr. Managed to photograph the Stagecarriage 84 and also some ''Dots'' and ''Zones'' E300s. All in the space of about ten minutes, I understand why Stockton is popular with enthusiasts. I managed to convince Adrian and Sean onto the next Durham-bound X12, and it appeared in the form of 7627. My second ''MAX'' DB300 journey of the outing, and arguably a similar one. Felt no different to 7620, although the route covered was not the same. The X12 route is very scenic between Stockton and Durham, with some particular nice parts in the Sedgefield and Coxhoe areas. Although it took just shy of an hour, I think the journey flew over. I can usually tolerate journeys just over an hour, providing I'm content with the vehicle being used. The DB300s aren't as fast as the SB200s, and I like speed, so they can't compete with a decent Pulsar in my opinion.

15:29 21 6067 Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Clifford Terrace
We decided to switch buses at Durham for the sake of some more variety. I was intending to catch the 15:31 ''Angel'' back to Chester-le-Street as it would stop at my local stop unlike the X12, and the vehicle that would be operating it was 6067, as it was sat in the drop-off stand at the top of the bus station. As expected; this service was absolutely loaded with Christmas shoppers (believe this Saturday is the busiest shopping day of the year?) and we departed with a busy load. 6067 is one of my favourite B5LHs, simply because it's in model form. Usual journey on one of these, despite sounding a bit rough when pulling out of the bus station, and I alighted at my local stop after saying goodbye to Adrian and Sean.

All in all; was a fantastic outing that I really enjoyed. 17027 was a highlight and I was pleased to step out of my comfort zone and have a rare trip down to Teesside. Intend to do it again in the near future as there is a lot of old and new stuff down there that I don't generally experience further north. Thanks for reading, and given that this is my last review before Christmas, have a nice Christmas.

R852 PRG

Christ you must be mental to get off a bus in South Bank, you couldn't pay me to jump off a bus there!

Be thankful you didn't get a Solo on the X67, Solo's are pretty rough heading down the A66. Was pleased to have 1405 back to Darlington this evening, certainly can provide a superb thrash down the A66.

I'd like to take the opportunity to wish all of the readers of my reviews a Happy Christmas, and thank you for your continued support and praise of my reviews throughout this year. I've received a Nikon D3300 DSLR today, and I can't wait to get out and about taking photos with it. I'm unsure of when my next review will be, as any outings over Christmas tend to be short and nothing to shout about, but my next North East Explorer will be reviewed similarly to my previous two Explorers in this thread. 

R852 PRG

He'll only manage to get out and about taking photos with it if he figures out how to charge it...

30 minutes later and he's still struggling...

(25 Dec 2015, 12:53 pm)Dan wrote He'll only manage to get out and about taking photos with it if he figures out how to charge it...

30 minutes later and he's still struggling...

Can he not figure out that the answers can be found in the instruction manual? Although the booklet seems like a novel, it certainly saves some time [emoji1]

Saturday 2nd January 2016

My first outing of 2016, which I decided would be an Explorer. 

08:09 X12 1441 Chester-le-Street Corals to Newcastle Eldon Square
To commence the outing, I decided to catch the same northbound X12 that I usually do if heading in that direction on a Saturday; the 08:07 from Chester-le-Street, and the 08:45 arrival into Eldon Square Bus Station. As it is a Stockton run; the allocation is typically one of 1441-1443, and today I was landed with the eldest of that batch, 1441. As I boarded, I noted that the driver was seemingly in a world of his own, and made no eye contact with me and began to fill out a defect card while I stood there waiting to be served. Once I did finally receive my Explorer, I made my way towards the rear of the vehicle, taking a seat on the nearside (usually go for the offside). The driver mounted a couple of kerbs and was generally just a bit crap, he seemed to enjoy speeding up and then braking harshly. Nevertheless, he got the bus into Eldon Square on time. Wasn't impressed by his driving abilities, even though I don't hold a licence and can't really compare, I can criticise.

08:58 X10 6048 Newcastle Eldon Square to Middlesbrough Bus Station
Despite only having an outing down on Teesside a few weeks ago, with Adrian and Sean, I agreed to head down and meet with Scott (tyresmoke) to do a round trip on the 28 (Middlesbrough-Nunthorpe), as he was the only member of our social circle that I'd yet to meet in person or go on a jolly with - for the record, citaro5284 isn't doing well in that respect, with only Dan and I ticked off. After doing a few loops around Eldon Square to kill boredom; I witnessed 6048 coming out of the layovers, and made my way to the top stand in the bus station. A very small queue had formed, and I was fortunate enough to grab the seat above the driver for the journey. Believe it or not; I had not used neither the X9/X10 nor the X7 until today, so it was something I was looking forward to. Despite the awful weather, consisting of rain and wind on the A19, we got to Stockton a few minutes early, and the driver assisted a couple of people in explaining how the X93, X9/X10 and X12 work with tachographs, and how they wouldn't need to change buses in Whitby for the X93 down to Scarborough. Stayed on until Middlesbrough so that I could get the full route cleared; 6048 did alright, but the poor state of these buses is pretty evident, as was demonstrated on this example.

10:40 X67 4656 Middlesbrough Bus Station to Stockton High Street
Following about fifteen minutes of photos at Middlesbrough, during which time I saw Scott going out on his first run on the 28 (the 10:25 departure from Middlesbrough - with 10-reg VDL Pulsar 1446 in his command), I decided to catch something across to Stockton for some photos there. I had the choice between Scania OmniCity 4656 and a ''Zones'' E300, and despite being in need of one of the latter for haulage, I decided to catch the X67 as looked so much quieter. Driver seemed quite pleasant and smiled at me as I boarded; one other gentleman was on board, and sat in the forward seating in the saloon. Made my way towards the back, and sat in the offside quadrant for the appealing legroom. I've done this journey once before, albeit on one of the refurbished 09-plate Pulsars, so it was different traction completely. Still need to clear the Darlington-Stockton section of the routes. Following a journey lasting no more than fifteen minutes, we arrived in Stockton. Quite liked 4656, it was certainly a smooth runner and appeared to have been well looked after.

11:20 36 27245 Stockton High Street to Middlesbrough Bus Station
Spent just shy of half an hour getting some photos in Stockton; managed to tick off a few ''Dots'' and ''Zones'' Enviro300s, including the rare working of the former vehicle operating the latter route, also got a wave and a smile from the driver of 22019, which in turn put a smile on my face. Just prior to waiting for the next 36/37/38 service through to Middlesbrough, a man walked past me (he evidently had some disabilities) telling me to ''f*** off over to the bus station if I was going to take photos of buses''; in response to which I then just threw him in his place, before he waddled off and then I saw a 36 coming along. To my delight; it was ''Dotty'' 27245. Although it was pretty full upon departure, I managed to secure a well-positioned seat and relaxed into the nice padded seating. Now with one ''Dot'' cleared for haulage, I happily arrived back in Middlesbrough for 11:40.

11:43 28 1446 Middlesbrough Bus Station to Middlesbrough Bus Station via Nunthorpe
After strolling over to Stand 6, perfectly timed for Scott's arrival into the bus station, I joined the queue and boarded 1446, quickly grabbing the seat located directly behind the driver's cab and briefly engaging in conversation with Scott before our departure. He'd described 1446 as a ''limpy'' Pulsar earlier that morning when he'd found out he was paired with this one for his two runs on the 28 in the late morning, his personal favourite seems to be the spare ''Sapphire'' Pulsar as he drove it on it's first or second day in service I believe. The number of passengers rose on our way out of the town centre, but soon dropped into the single digits when we hit a housing estate. Upon reaching the terminus; we got off for some photos and then cleaned the interior before turning around with the 12:28 Middlesbrough-bound service. I personally thought it was a pretty good bus, but obviously I don't ride nor drive Pulsars as much as Scott will, so I can't give a very good opinion or distinguish them. However, in my opinion at least; I think it's all down to the person driving the bus.

13:10 X7 5333 Middlesbrough Bus Station to Stockton High Street
Once 1446 had unloaded, I said goodbye to Scott and thanked him for the little excursion, before he headed over to the layover bays for a driver changeover to take place. I watched from a distance as he was then picked up in the staff van, and then a ''Wear Tees Express'' Citaro caught my eye, which I decided to wait for, and then catch over to Stockton (again!) and hopefully connect onto the 13:50 X12 to Durham after a short while getting more photos in Stockton. Watched it pull into the stand; I was the sole passenger to board, and was for the entirety of my journey. The driver was incredibly pleasant and had impeccable manners, the epitome of the ideal bus driver. As we pulled out of the bus station - WOW. The ZF gearbox in this was amazing, I absolutely love a healthy-sounding ZF, allowing me to recall memories of the DAF-engined Prestiges. Was very impressed by the mechanical and internal quality of this Citaro, and somewhat didn't wish to disembark.

13:55 X12 7626 Stockton High Street to Durham Bus Station
Having landed on Stockton High Street for the second time today, I was excited to see Stagecarriage's R833 OVN turning around at the top of the High Street. Driving it was Si Smart, who kindly stopped the vehicle for a few seconds and allowed me to get a few shots before pulling away with a thumbs up. Would be nice if Stagecarriage could possibly do an ''Olympian Farewell'', or something similar, given how enthusiast-friendly a company they seem (which is no surprise, given that the owner is an enthusiast and a member of this forum anyway) and the number of Olympians they have in their fleet. Running a couple of minutes late, 7626 appeared with the X12 for Durham. This one has been cleared for quite a few miles by this point in time, so it wasn't anything special. Still currently need 7609, 7610 and 7618 for haulage. Not a massive fan of the DB300s; the seating is tolerable and they're alright when they're going at a decent speed (never been on one that has topped 50mph sadly), but other than that, I just find them boring. As I'd done Stockton-Durham before, it wasn't a new route to me at all, so wasn't of much interest.

15:12 X24 7620 Durham Bus Station to Chester-le-Street Black Horse
Got some photos around Durham Bus Station; including one of David Turner driving 1477 on his last shift, which I later found out after he approached me and we had a brief conversation, and I promised to forward him a copy. ''Sun FM'' branded 6099 appeared on the 20/20A, and as I still needed a photo of that livery, I headed to the exit of the bus station to get one. Headed into the bus station at 15:05 to allow plenty of time to catch the 15:10 X24 home. At 15:10 it hadn't shown, due to the driver seemingly faffing on, but on the plus side, it was a rare working of 7620. Driver had his foot to the floor for the whole journey, and given that he was doing well for time, I decided to ask him to wait a moment after I'd alighted so I could cross over and get a photograph. When I made this request; he looked at me stunned and in amazement, before telling me that he was already running late. Not due at Corals until 15:28, and the current time at this moment was 15:25. Couldn't be bothered to argue the toss with him so just gave him a glare and walked home. 

Another good outing; was nice to do a round trip with Scott on 1446, and then got a good number of photographs. Next Explorer will be at some point later in January - thinking of doing a B10 bash next Saturday. Thanks for reading.

R852 PRG

Good review.

You'll sharp get sick of the sight of Teesside, I've now sickened myself off with down there at the moment, particularly Stockton. Also it must be nice seeing all these different enthusiasts, I would like to see some different faces as I'm sick to death of seeing some of the same few people over and over again everytime I've been down there recently. No offence but, I like some variety!

Glad you enjoyed your run out on 1446. A few of my colleagues had moaned about it recently that it was really slow and indeed when I started it up it had emissions light (usually a sign of limp mode!) and engine light both displaying so I did give engineering a quick call, they confirmed it was ok to continue with it. It wasn't as bad as I expected and indeed drove like any other Pulsar, it's not the fastest but far from the slowest either.

That 28 was a pretty bog standard run, busy to Saltersgill where it empties out and a handful of passengers remain til Marton & Nunthorpe. No wonder that service changes in February will make some changes to the network up this corridor (but that's for another thread!). Hopefully it gave you a good first taster of our town network anyway!

(02 Jan 2016, 11:08 pm)Jimmi wrote Good review.

You'll sharp get sick of the sight of Teesside, I've now sickened myself off with down there at the moment, particularly Stockton. Also it must be nice seeing all these different enthusiasts, I would like to see some different faces as I'm sick to death of seeing some of the same few people over and over again everytime I've been down there recently. No offence but, I like some variety!

Not sure where I'm going to aim for in my next Explorer. Thinking of bashing some of the Stagecoach in Newcastle ALX300s on the local city routes, as I'm really fond of them (I honestly don't know what it is, but I think it relates back to when I was younger, and I identified the two headlights on the front as eyes and the front panel making a smile; creating something of a happy face). Then again, I haven't been up to Blyth or Ashington in a while, and could do with some photos of the ex-London B7TLs.

Decided on a Get Around next Saturday; with the sole intention of bashing and photographing some of Go North East's Wright Renowns. Believe it or not, my rides on them feel few and far between nowadays (especially since the Streetlites arrived on the 8/78 in May 2015) so I could do with a day devoted to them. Obviously, it goes without saying, that an adventure of that sort would have to be reviewed.

Don't have any current plans to return to Teesside for a while, not at least until the weather picks up, possibly after Easter.

(02 Jan 2016, 11:15 pm)tyresmoke wrote Glad you enjoyed your run out on 1446. A few of my colleagues had moaned about it recently that it was really slow and indeed when I started it up it had emissions light (usually a sign of limp mode!) and engine light both displaying so I did give engineering a quick call, they confirmed it was ok to continue with it. It wasn't as bad as I expected and indeed drove like any other Pulsar, it's not the fastest but far from the slowest either.

That 28 was a pretty bog standard run, busy to Saltersgill where it empties out and a handful of passengers remain til Marton & Nunthorpe. No wonder that service changes in February will make some changes to the network up this corridor (but that's for another thread!). Hopefully it gave you a good first taster of our town network anyway!

Was a great little jolly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks again for allowing me to tag along, quite like the photo I managed of 1446 at the terminus. You'd painted a poor picture of it when you described it as ''limpy'', but it turned out to be a decent bus all in all. Could have been better (Renown), but it could have been worse (Streetlite).

Certainly seemed to have a decent loading on it, but only for a certain stretch; think we were alone for a couple of stops until the terminus and had plenty of time there to sit. Pleased I've got 1446 ticked off for haulage and photo, and yes, it did give me a good first impression of the Middlesbrough town services.

Marcus - just a suggestion - As I know you like B10's, why don't you try and ride some of Arriva's 52/53 branded Volvo B10BLE's?

(03 Jan 2016, 12:40 am)Davie wrote Marcus - just a suggestion - As I know you like B10's, why don't you try and ride some of Arriva's 52/53 branded Volvo B10BLE's?

Quite like Jesmond's ALX300-bodied B10s so it is a possibility. Always appears to be one present in Haymarket whenever I'm there, although sometimes just sat out of service in one of the upper stands. Got a couple of them cleared for haulage, it's more a case of needing photos of them at present, but thanks for the suggestion.

A good review, I was on Teesside in early December and had a great day. Going to head down there in the Springtime and have a look round some independent operators' garages.

I haven't had any trips out since before Christmas, if the weather is OK at the weekend I might try a trip to Crook and Stanhope.

Do Weardale still accept Explorers on the 101?

Charles

(04 Jan 2016, 1:37 pm)Charles41 wrote A good review, I was on Teesside in early December and had a great day. Going to head down there in the Springtime and have a look round some independent operators' garages.

I haven't had any trips out since before Christmas, if the weather is OK at the weekend I might try a trip to Crook and Stanhope.

Do Weardale still accept Explorers on the 101?

Charles

Thanks, Charles. Always appreciate your kind feedback. I believe Weardale have completely dropped out of the Explorer scheme because they weren't be re-compensated enough by the councils, if you have a look in the Weardale thread, I think I made a post in there a couple of months ago. You could catch the Arriva 46 to Crook from Durham?

(04 Jan 2016, 1:41 pm)R852 PRG wrote Thanks, Charles. Always appreciate your kind feedback. I believe Weardale have completely dropped out of the Explorer scheme because they weren't be re-compensated enough by the councils, if you have a look in the Weardale thread, I think I made a post in there a couple of months ago. You could catch the Arriva 46 to Crook from Durham?

I was thinking of getting the bus to Consett then walking over the moors along the old railway line to Stanhope if the weather improves. I'll probably get the 46 from Crook to Durham. Depending on the time I might have a look around Lees and Durham City Coaches at Langley Moor.

Charles