Bus Related Outings and Reviews to be posted in this thread

What sort of adventures or tales have people got from their trips on buses?

Breakdowns, bricks through windows, fights?

Once witnessed a father and son (grown up) in a headlock with all the associated shouting, swearing and shoving at the back of the bus on a 3 to Hylton Castle one evening a few years ago.

Driver phoned for the police at Marley Pots. They legged it before they arrived but the pair of them still took the opportunity to verbally abuse other passengers while on their way off. We still had to wait for the police to come before we could get moving again

I'm fortunate enough not to have experienced having a brick through the window though

During the snowy periods a month or two ago, I was doing round trips with the driver because I had a few hours to kill. Some kids were throwing snowballs off the bus (again, think it was in the Hylton Castle area). We were near the terminus of the route, and as I knew the driver I asked him to open the doors on the way back before reaching the kids so I could pick up some snowballs before we got back to them. He agreed and I jumped off the bus when we got to the kids and threw a few snowballs I'd collected just beforehand off them.
Don't mess with Stagecoach in Sunderland ;-)

Fights used to be a regular occurrence on the last buses travelling from Newcastle to Blaydon/Winlaton/Rowlands Gill/Chopwell. On one occasion the police were called but the combatants decided to scarper through the emergency door at the back of the bus. Since the bus was only two stops away from where I wanted to alight, and because the bus driver was refusing to let anyone off the bus, I opted to to do the same thing rather than wait for the police to show up (as did one or two other passengers). The same journeys also witnessed spontaneous outbursts of singing and dancing, usually initiated by passengers who were somewhat inebriated, but that didn't stop other passengers joining in with the fun and games.

I've experienced a brick through the window before. It wasn't on a bus but on a train coming back from Sunderland to Newcastle in, maybe, 1984/5 (I vividly remember maps on the train showing routes from Newcastle to South Shields). The window was smashed coming through Gateshead so the brick must have been dropped from the bridge which now carries the Felling by-pass across the railway. The train was delayed for a little bit, then carried on to Central Station. On the same train, there were also some glue-sniffers sitting in the same carriage stinking up the train with solvents. A rather eventful train journey for a five/six year old.

Can't say I've seen any fights or bricks thrown through any windows - thank god! The old 638 from Sunderland to Heworth on a night was always an interesting ride if you happened to get on the last bus though. Including a young lass that drunk she ended up falling face first in to her pizza.

As for days out and such though. I'm getting sent down Brighton for the best part of a week later on this month, so hoping to have a good bit of free time to catch some of the fleet down there. Thankfully I travel with someone else who is an enthusiast, which I find helps!

I've also been thinking about doing a Saturday up Edinburgh sometime in July. Tickets are up at the moment, and I could probably do an advance return for £25.

The only reason I asked, was because me and a few mates were chatting about the time we were merrily sitting at the back of a Superliner coach working the 231 a few years back - when heading through Fencehouses, someone chucked a brick through the window.

It got me thinking about other adventures which included:
* A certain bad tempered driver on the 194, waiting for his relief at Philildephia depot. He got that sick he drove the bus (with passengers) inside the depot, got out and left us sitting there.

* Heading to Gateshead on the short-lived 191 and noticing the engine on the National getting very hot. So hot you could feel it through the back seats. The driver detoured into Sunderland Road and this meant a change. It also meant a mad dash onto the x66 at Gateshead before our 25p transfer tickets expired (you had an hour to change from time of issue) and we werent going to fork out another 20p if we could help it!

* Waiting at Gateshead in the mid 80s and seeing a driver loose his rag with an Atlantean engine. The engine won and seemed to explode - luckily the driver had turned his back in a temper as he stormed off just as the engine went.

* A 16/17 year old on the 194 at Grasswell trying to get on with a kids 20p fare and spitting at the driver when he was refused.

* Sitting on a Prestege when a car decided to crash into the back of it in the bus lane outside Low Fell library.

* A Bristol VR on a school trip back from the Gateshead Garden Festival swerving to avoid a car and clipping the wall outside the Shell petrol station at Harlow Green.

* A 294 driver going the wrong way at the top of Worm Hill Terrace in Washington and having to do a reverse turn into a small residential street - it caused chaos.

*I would gave been about 10 and we were sitting upstairs on a MCW Metrobus heading to Barley Mow passing the site of the Gateshead Angel when a gust of wind got hold of us. The sheer panic on the passengers faces was enough to tell me that we had a lucky escape!
Whether it did or not, Im not sure, but it felt as if the bus had lifted off the ground.

* Waiting for the last 194 back to my parents after a few under age sherbets in a pub in Hetton. Sticking my hand out for the bus, it turned out it was the last x94 and the 194 had been early. The driver asked where I was going, let me on with my pass, went the normal way through Fencehouses to Shiney and instead of heading to Washington on the Highway, headed off down Station Lane towards Penshaw following the 194 route!
Legend! Saved me a long walk home!

Just remembered about this one, completely forgot! Jumping on the 194 home from school in Washington, there was a bit of bother with other school kids and the rear emergency door being opened from the outside. A well known driver who resembled a character from an ITV series set in 1960s Yorkshire decided enough was enough, drove a few yards down the road and turned into the school car park. Bearing in mind the emergency door was still open and it was a service bus, the driver then proceded to honk his horn until a deputy head came out to see what the hell this green bus was doing in the car park!

I was not on it, but if anyone is too young or cant remember, have a search to see if you can find photos of the decker that crashed through the railings on the Redheugh Bridge OR the JCB which rolled down the hill into a bus on Easedale Gardens in the mid 80s.
That would be a story to tell your grandkids being on one of those!

(05 May 2013, 11:45 pm)Andreos1 wrote I was not on it, but if anyone is too young or cant remember, have a search to see if you can find photos of the decker that crashed through the railings on the Redheugh Bridge

I vaguely remember this with the bus lying on its side and part of its upper deck protruding over the side of the bridge. It would have been in the mid-90s and I'm pretty sure it was the 602.

I cant remember which bus it was, maybe there has been more than one incident of it happening.
The only reason I am sure about the one in the mid 80s was because the legend that is Paul Frost was presenting the local news with it on and I was at with one of my grandparents watching it (she died in early 90s).
Spookily enough I was also with her when the JCB rolled down the hill and she lived 2mins up the road. With it being near the hospital the sound of sirens didnt alarm us - it was only seeing it on the news that alerted us.

Here is going to be a long trip, at 9am am going to Leave mine and do the following

BUS Thatto Heath - St Helens
BUS St Helens - Newton Le Willows
TRAIN Newton Le Willows - Manchester
BUS Manchester - Huddersfield
BUS Huddersfield - Manchester
TRAIN Manchester - Newton Le Willows
BUS Newton Le Willows - St Helens
BUS St Helens - Old Eccelston

the amount of miles am going to cover today its going to be very high

A few years ago I bumped into a mate of mine, a driver on the X35 in Hetton, decided I would jump on and have a trip to Hartlepool and back up to Sunderland, this drunk got in at Hetton on the return, and although I know the driver sbould not really be talking to me, this guy, who I think was possibly on drugs as well, starting screaming at me with foul language, there was only me, the driver, an old lady and 2 young girls on the bus, this idiot was trying to chat the girls up who looked quite uncomfortable, so I was watching him when he caught me looking, the driver kicked him off the bus at the Burn Inn, as he was walking down the bus to get off he had his hand in his jacket and I honestly thought he was going to pull a knife, that his body language and behaviour was indicating, I was frozen to the spot and could feel myself nearly crying with the thought of 'not like this, not here, not now' going through my mind, i think it is the only time I ever remember being so scared, like a rabbit caught in the headlights...

Some other bus related tales

*On the 194 one night, bus pulled into Philly depot for something, we were left sitting there for about 10 minutes, dont know why, anyway bus gets to Easington Lane, I need the 152 to get home, I had just missed it by seconds, had to walk back to Murton, on roads that are unlit, not too good as it is easy to scare me at the best of times

*Coming back from school in Durham one day when I was 10/11 on the 154, the driver was horrible, a big fat ginger bloke from Murton called Norman who took delight in screaming at people, coming along Broomside Lane I was being a bit boistrous, he stopped the bus and threatened to put me off right there and then if I did not sit down and shut up, naturally I the rest of the journey was done in silence.

*In Durham in 1999 or 2000, had an argument with an Arriva driver over the way he spoke to another passenger, he started getting aggresive saying I ought to be but put in my place, so I just said to him, step off the bus big fella and we will continue the argument, he would not and told me to step in front of the bus to settle the argument that way, I wish I stepped out in front of that bus just to see if he had the balls to do anything but my dragged me away as somebody phoned the Police

I aint had a brick through a window while I have been on a bus, though seen a bird go head on with a decker, the impact was that hard it's beak cracked the glass a bit, I was around to hear quite possibly the best announcement on a train, coming back from Berwick on GNER, a window got put through, when the train got to Newcastle, the train manager announced 'GNER would like to apologise for any inconvenience, but this train will be terminating at Newcastle, this is through no fault of ours, some little Bastard thought it would be funny to smash a window in one of the carriages' to which an old lady replied 'Kids today, little twats have no respect'

I think I might try the long X18 from Newcastle to Berwick sometime - Anyone ever used it?

(17 Nov 2013, 2:09 pm)Tom wrote I think I might try the long X18 from Newcastle to Berwick sometime - Anyone ever used it?

Nope. I don't think I could last 4 hours on a bus. I do need a trip up Berwick to catch some of the Perryman's fleet, but I think I'll go East Coast.

(17 Nov 2013, 3:51 pm)aureolin wrote Nope. I don't think I could last 4 hours on a bus. I do need a trip up Berwick to catch some of the Perryman's fleet, but I think I'll go East Coast.

I'd be going East Coast back, but the views on the X18 look truly fantastic. X15 seems a better option on the bus like.

(17 Nov 2013, 3:54 pm)Tom wrote I'd be going East Coast back, but the views on the X18 look truly fantastic. X15 seems a better option on the bus like.

On my first trip to Berwick (as an enthusiast) in September 2012, I wanted to take the X15 there and X18 back as it allowed for quite a few hours in Berwick whilst also being able to see the views.
I think I've left it a little too late to squeeze in the trip this year, but when the nights start to get lighter again, I think I'll go then.

(17 Nov 2013, 4:00 pm)Dan wrote On my first trip to Berwick (as an enthusiast) in September 2012, I wanted to take the X15 there and X18 back as it allowed for quite a few hours in Berwick whilst also being able to see the views.
I think I've left it a little too late to squeeze in the trip this year, but when the nights start to get lighter again, I think I'll go then.

Furthest I had been was Alnwick, the X18 was 45 minutes late, and then I got 4515 which I had to stand all the way on

Just on the train coming back from Newcastle after another bus trip organised by Stu Gray and Alex Kennedy.

We departed Worswick St bus station around 1040 and had a blast down the A1 before following the old X1 route in Tiger ESU110, formerly part of the Tees/United fleet. After arriving in Middlesbrough, we carried onto the Stagecarriage depot at Grangetown where we had a selection of treats laid on by the OM (Mr Atkin).
Dennis Condor G303FWC was first up as we set off along the A66 and A174, climbing up through Skelton to Lingdale for a photo opportunity (even the sun made an appearance!) before returning to the depot via Margrove and Guisborough.
Second bus out was (former GNE) Olympian R556LGH for a quick trip via South Bank and the Riverside Stadium to the Transporter Bridge for another photo stop, before returning to the depot once again for another vehicle change.
The third run of the day was aboard Leyland Olympian H651VVV, formerly part of the Stephensons of Easingwold fleet and once a Stagecoach vehicle. This trip took us via Redcar and Marske to Saltburn where a quick lunch stop for fish and chips enabled a quick break by the seaside! The return climb up Saltburn bank was an experience in a Leyland and will no doubt be remembered by many! We returned to the depot and returned onto the Tiger for the opposite trip to Newcastle, which was operated via the A19 route that would have been used by the Tigers when operating the X10 earlier in their lives.
All in all a superb day out and many thanks to the 2 lads who organised it!

Well what i day i have had, was up at 5am this morning to go to dewsbury rally, i went down on Preserved Alexander PS R896 XVM from Kirkby near Liverpool, was a good laugh and a lot of my friends went aswell, once returned in liverpool me and one of my friends decided to do a round trip on the 79 service (Liverpool - Halewood - Liverpool) with a Driver friend, i then left my driver friend yo catch another driver friend to St Helens, the town i lived in, when we arrived in St Helens a drunk guy refused to get of the bus, bus station staff could not remove him from the bus so the police was called and the police man got him of with no issues. so i been awake a total of 20 hours 35 mins so far!

Whey, seeing as though everyone else is doing it.
My adventures last Friday involved dropping my car off to be serviced in Durham - hopping on a 20 to Durham Bus Station and then an x21 to Framwellgate Moor so I could sort some stuff out.
A 21 to Chester followed, before getting a 78 home.

Needing to pick my car up, I navigated my way onto a 20a from Houghton after using the 4 and made the trip back to Durham.

Nowt exciting, nowt out of the ordinary on any of the vehicles - but made the most of my red and green ticket.
Each bus journey probably averaged out at £2.00 a pop at the very minimum - possibly nearer £3.00, so I reckon the company are out of pocket by a few quid compared to the money they would have made had I bought singles.

Over the years I've done many long distance day trips by bus. Mind I might have covered many miles in a small area, but I've done some really long distance trips in my time. Here are some of them, some sections were linked my trains which will be stated below.

Battle Hill - Newcastle - Carlisle - Galashiels - Edinburgh (Via Peebles) - Galashiels (X95) - Melrose - Galashiels - Berwick - Alnwick - Morpeth (Via Amble) - Newcastle - Rosehill

Largs - Ayr - Dumfries - Carlisle - Wallsend - Rosehill

Blackpool - Preston - Lancaster - Keswick - Carlisle - Newcastle

I've done numerous trips around the South East including one that took in the following places - Guildford, Aldershot, Camberley, Bracknall, Slough, & Wycombe

Dales & District review

Another new bit of territory covered for me today...
One of my mates (also a driver and enthusiast) likes to go on days out riding around so when our days off meet its always good to do something different. So today saw us off on a Freedom tour of North Yorkshire with a Dales & District Freedom ticket (£9).
We drove to Darlington as we figured it would be easier given the time constraints I had today (going out for a family meal on the evening... Just been to Toby Carvery!) and started from Tubwell Row.
Our first move was the MAN 14.220 with MCV Evolution bodywork, in the form of London reject AE60GRX, on the 0900 service 72 to Northallerton. This was a fairly quiet journey into Northallerton, gradually picking up more on the way as the bus entered North Yorkshire (where concessionary passes are valid from 0900 rather than 0930 in majority of the rest of the NE).
Getting into Northallerton at 0950 proved to be at the start of a busy period with no less than 4 other vehicles arriving and departing plus the town bus which we wandered down the High St to see. A rather smoky Solo (MX07JNJ) arrived and was replaced with an E200 before departing to Richmond on the 55, providing a rare working opportunity! The other independent operator operating in Northallerton is Abbotts of Leeming who run the hourly services 80/89 between there and Stokesley with two new Optare Solo SRs, of which we saw both during the hour or so we were there.
The next bus provided was one time Stagecoach Optare Solo MX04VLP on the 1042 service 153 to Thirsk, which proved to be rather flat and not quick by any stretch of the imagination! I believe this to be a former Devon County Council owned vehicle as it certainly wasn't to Stagecoach spec, though it did carry its Stagecoach fleet number above the cab. A rather stately ride saw us arrive into Thirsk around 1120, in time to see the Reliance vehicle (a Volvo B6BLE) and the Hutchinsons town bus (a ropey looking Cheetah) arrive.
We had over an hour break here due to the way the timetables work, but this allowed us time to see the other Thirsk town bus which was D&D Primo YX07HPC, and also wandered round to the coach park to find 2 Shearings vehicles and the Glenton Palmer branded Panther from Stanley Coaches all stopping enroute to/from various holidays, Monday being market day in Thirsk.
After a nice lunch from the chip shop in the town square, it was time to depart to Ripon, on board ADL Enviro 200 MX10DXM (which had earlier replaced the Solo in Northallerton). This provided a very steady run to Ripon on service 70, still sporting its (rather home made looking) luggage racks from its previous life on service 767 Harrogate-Airport.
Once we arrived in Ripon, we saw a few of Transdev's 36 deckers (Volvo B7TL's) which look very smart in their 'City Connect' livery, though I think I preferred the last version. Also around was Eddie Brown Solo KX04HPU on their town services and Dales & District's silver Iveco Daily NX10CCA on the 138/139 services.
The next move on the Freedom tour was onboard Optare Solo MX55BXR, operating the 1340 service 159 to Richmond. This being one of the Cummins powered Solos, it provided a quicker ride via Lightwater Valley to Masham where we jumped off and had a quick wander round the village. Its not hard to see why service 159 has recently been improved with a Sunday operation, with a decent loading even on a Monday afternoon, though it was a shame that the Wright Streetlite that is usually found on service 159 was nowhere to be seen!
After a 25 minute break here we jumped onto another of the same batch, MX55BXS on 1430 service 144 to Bedale, which has to be high on the list of tightly timed routes! A ride which I'm not sure could be provided by anything other than a Cummins powered flying machine, saw us whisked (literally...) upto Bedale in no time whatsoever! A 10 minute connection onto the service 157 departure to Hawes at 1505 saw us board another ADL E200, MX10DXY this time which appeared to show plenty of battle scars and seemed to agree with my perception that these E200s are not up to the demands of rural operation. This E200 struggled up along the country roads and a few jumpy gear changes and the low power certainly suggested that it was stuck in limp mode... A quick glance at the dashboard upon disembarking seemed to agree!
A 5 min connection in Leyburn from the 157 to the 159 turned into a -2 min connection (although this was partly attributable to leaving Bedale 4 min late thanks to waiting for the inbound connection off service 73). Luckily the 159 was sat there in Leyburn waiting for our arriving 157 in case of any connecting passengers, something which Dales & District seem to excel at! The driver of the E200 on 157 even contacted their office via the cab phone in Bedale to ask where the 73 was for a concerned customer wondering if he'd missed it, excellent customer service (especially from a driver which seemed to take delight in annoying everyone else...).
Another rather empty ride on the 1535 service 159 from Leyburn to Richmond was onboard former Leven Valley Solo NT06GKA, which was noticeably slower than the 55 plates which we had been on previously, despite also being a Cummins engined example! It still retained all of its internal notices from Leven Valley too, including its former fleet number. We were the only two passengers on this entire journey, albeit it was a short run from Leyburn to Richmond only, not starting all the way up in Hawes.
A quick (long enough given the cold!) stop in Richmond allowed some evening shots to be attained of the town service (which had dropped to a Sprinter by 4pm, usually a Solo through the day) as well as one or two of the Arriva Solos passing through on services X26/X27.
The last trip of the day was on Mini Pointer Dart MX06ULP on service 29, covering for the more usual Plaxton Primo. It had no destination displayed and only one operational number blind from what I could tell, so a board in the windscreen displayed the intended "29 Darlington" destination, not ideal in the dark for customers joining enroute (of which there were none), only one other passenger onboard on departure from Richmond Market Place, and they departed the bus within the confines of Richmond itself, leaving just the two of us on the remaining ride to Darlington via Melsonby and Cleasby.

All in all a good day out sampling some of the lesser used bus territory, and hard to believe Arriva used to run across the majority of it (in former guises for parts!) and its quite easy to see how Procters Coaches have built up a very large network. Unfortunately a lot of it now has the axe hanging over it, with North Yorkshire County Council having to find savings and proposing to chop a lot of services. The £9 Freedom ticket gives good value for travel across such a wide area, it may seem expensive to some (comparing it to the North East Explorer perhaps) but I don't mind paying that little bit extra in rural areas, its quite a nice change from riding around between towns.

Total log from today was:

0900 72 Darlington-Northallerton AE60GRX (MAN / MCV)
1042 153 Northallerton-Thirsk MX04VLP (Solo)
1229 70 Thirsk-Ripon MX10DXM (E200)
1340 159 Ripon-Masham MX55BXR (Solo)
1430 144 Masham-Bedale MX55BXS (Solo)
1505 157 Bedale-Leyburn MX10DXY (E200)
1535 159 Leyburn-Richmond NT06GKA (Solo)
1625 29 Richmond-Darlington MX06ULP (MPD)

(25 Nov 2013, 10:18 pm)tyresmoke wrote Dales & District review

Another new bit of territory covered for me today...
One of my mates (also a driver and enthusiast) likes to go on days out riding around so when our days off meet its always good to do something different. So today saw us off on a Freedom tour of North Yorkshire with a Dales & District Freedom ticket (£9).
We drove to Darlington as we figured it would be easier given the time constraints I had today (going out for a family meal on the evening... Just been to Toby Carvery!) and started from Tubwell Row.
Our first move was the MAN 14.220 with MCV Evolution bodywork, in the form of London reject AE60GRX, on the 0900 service 72 to Northallerton. This was a fairly quiet journey into Northallerton, gradually picking up more on the way as the bus entered North Yorkshire (where concessionary passes are valid from 0900 rather than 0930 in majority of the rest of the NE).
Getting into Northallerton at 0950 proved to be at the start of a busy period with no less than 4 other vehicles arriving and departing plus the town bus which we wandered down the High St to see. A rather smoky Solo (MX07JNJ) arrived and was replaced with an E200 before departing to Richmond on the 55, providing a rare working opportunity! The other independent operator operating in Northallerton is Abbotts of Leeming who run the hourly services 80/89 between there and Stokesley with two new Optare Solo SRs, of which we saw both during the hour or so we were there.
The next bus provided was one time Stagecoach Optare Solo MX04VLP on the 1042 service 153 to Thirsk, which proved to be rather flat and not quick by any stretch of the imagination! I believe this to be a former Devon County Council owned vehicle as it certainly wasn't to Stagecoach spec, though it did carry its Stagecoach fleet number above the cab. A rather stately ride saw us arrive into Thirsk around 1120, in time to see the Reliance vehicle (a Volvo B6BLE) and the Hutchinsons town bus (a ropey looking Cheetah) arrive.
We had over an hour break here due to the way the timetables work, but this allowed us time to see the other Thirsk town bus which was D&D Primo YX07HPC, and also wandered round to the coach park to find 2 Shearings vehicles and the Glenton Palmer branded Panther from Stanley Coaches all stopping enroute to/from various holidays, Monday being market day in Thirsk.
After a nice lunch from the chip shop in the town square, it was time to depart to Ripon, on board ADL Enviro 200 MX10DXM (which had earlier replaced the Solo in Northallerton). This provided a very steady run to Ripon on service 70, still sporting its (rather home made looking) luggage racks from its previous life on service 767 Harrogate-Airport.
Once we arrived in Ripon, we saw a few of Transdev's 36 deckers (Volvo B7TL's) which look very smart in their 'City Connect' livery, though I think I preferred the last version. Also around was Eddie Brown Solo KX04HPU on their town services and Dales & District's silver Iveco Daily NX10CCA on the 138/139 services.
The next move on the Freedom tour was onboard Optare Solo MX55BXR, operating the 1340 service 159 to Richmond. This being one of the Cummins powered Solos, it provided a quicker ride via Lightwater Valley to Masham where we jumped off and had a quick wander round the village. Its not hard to see why service 159 has recently been improved with a Sunday operation, with a decent loading even on a Monday afternoon, though it was a shame that the Wright Streetlite that is usually found on service 159 was nowhere to be seen!
After a 25 minute break here we jumped onto another of the same batch, MX55BXS on 1430 service 144 to Bedale, which has to be high on the list of tightly timed routes! A ride which I'm not sure could be provided by anything other than a Cummins powered flying machine, saw us whisked (literally...) upto Bedale in no time whatsoever! A 10 minute connection onto the service 157 departure to Hawes at 1505 saw us board another ADL E200, MX10DXY this time which appeared to show plenty of battle scars and seemed to agree with my perception that these E200s are not up to the demands of rural operation. This E200 struggled up along the country roads and a few jumpy gear changes and the low power certainly suggested that it was stuck in limp mode... A quick glance at the dashboard upon disembarking seemed to agree!
A 5 min connection in Leyburn from the 157 to the 159 turned into a -2 min connection (although this was partly attributable to leaving Bedale 4 min late thanks to waiting for the inbound connection off service 73). Luckily the 159 was sat there in Leyburn waiting for our arriving 157 in case of any connecting passengers, something which Dales & District seem to excel at! The driver of the E200 on 157 even contacted their office via the cab phone in Bedale to ask where the 73 was for a concerned customer wondering if he'd missed it, excellent customer service (especially from a driver which seemed to take delight in annoying everyone else...).
Another rather empty ride on the 1535 service 159 from Leyburn to Richmond was onboard former Leven Valley Solo NT06GKA, which was noticeably slower than the 55 plates which we had been on previously, despite also being a Cummins engined example! It still retained all of its internal notices from Leven Valley too, including its former fleet number. We were the only two passengers on this entire journey, albeit it was a short run from Leyburn to Richmond only, not starting all the way up in Hawes.
A quick (long enough given the cold!) stop in Richmond allowed some evening shots to be attained of the town service (which had dropped to a Sprinter by 4pm, usually a Solo through the day) as well as one or two of the Arriva Solos passing through on services X26/X27.
The last trip of the day was on Mini Pointer Dart MX06ULP on service 29, covering for the more usual Plaxton Primo. It had no destination displayed and only one operational number blind from what I could tell, so a board in the windscreen displayed the intended "29 Darlington" destination, not ideal in the dark for customers joining enroute (of which there were none), only one other passenger onboard on departure from Richmond Market Place, and they departed the bus within the confines of Richmond itself, leaving just the two of us on the remaining ride to Darlington via Melsonby and Cleasby.

All in all a good day out sampling some of the lesser used bus territory, and hard to believe Arriva used to run across the majority of it (in former guises for parts!) and its quite easy to see how Procters Coaches have built up a very large network. Unfortunately a lot of it now has the axe hanging over it, with North Yorkshire County Council having to find savings and proposing to chop a lot of services. The £9 Freedom ticket gives good value for travel across such a wide area, it may seem expensive to some (comparing it to the North East Explorer perhaps) but I don't mind paying that little bit extra in rural areas, its quite a nice change from riding around between towns.

Total log from today was:

0900 72 Darlington-Northallerton AE60GRX (MAN / MCV)
1042 153 Northallerton-Thirsk MX04VLP (Solo)
1229 70 Thirsk-Ripon MX10DXM (E200)
1340 159 Ripon-Masham MX55BXR (Solo)
1430 144 Masham-Bedale MX55BXS (Solo)
1505 157 Bedale-Leyburn MX10DXY (E200)
1535 159 Leyburn-Richmond NT06GKA (Solo)
1625 29 Richmond-Darlington MX06ULP (MPD)

Sounds like a good day out, and certainly good value for money. The only thing for me is that the thought of almost an hour on an MPD quite frankly terrifies me.

Has anyone been up to Berwick before? I'm thinking of a day trip up there to get some photos of the Perryman's Versas mainly, but I've never actually been. What routes are the Versas primarily allocated to?

(27 Nov 2013, 9:54 pm)aureolin wrote Has anyone been up to Berwick before? I'm thinking of a day trip up there to get some photos of the Perryman's Versas mainly, but I've never actually been. What routes are the Versas primarily allocated to?

I believe 10 are allocated to the 51/52, assuming that is the PVR?
The 0905 Kelso 52 doesn't appear to get back to Kelso again until 1910, given that the 51/52 appear to interwork at Edinburgh with just under an hour's layover.

The other two, I believe, are shared between serrvices 60/68 - the 60 has a PVR of 2, while the 68 has a PVR of 1.
So you may be lucky and catch one of 'em on the 60 at Berwick!

(27 Nov 2013, 10:08 pm)Dan wrote I believe 10 are allocated to the 51/52, assuming that is the PVR?
The 0905 Kelso 52 doesn't appear to get back to Kelso again until 1910, given that the 51/52 appear to interwork at Edinburgh with just under an hour's layover.

The other two, I believe, are shared between serrvices 60/68 - the 60 has a PVR of 2, while the 68 has a PVR of 1.
So you may be lucky and catch one of 'em on the 60 at Berwick!

Scuppers that plan then. I think I'll head up Edinburgh instead and see what I can get.

Did a trip to try out the Venture Solos and the Sapphire today.
Vehicles marked * are vehicles that I required for haulage.

0815 - 1 - Rosehill to Newcastle - GNE 4911
0858 - X71 - Newcastle to Consett - GNE 4905
The following 10 are around the Consett Area
1000 - V2 - Bus Station to Delves Lane / Chapel Drive - GNE 650*
1021 - V1 - Delves Lane / Chapel Drive to Bus Station - GNE 643*
1035 - V8 - Bus Station to Leadgate - GNE 645*
1043 - V8 - Leadgate to Bus Station - GNE 642*
1111 - V8 - Bus Station to Number 1 - GNE 648*
1118 - V8 - Number 1 to Bus Station - GNE 652*
1134 - V9 - Bus Station to Shotley Bridge, Snow Green - GNE 641*
1150 - V4 - Shotley Bridge, Snow Green to Shotley Bridge, Woodlands Rd - GNE 644*
1153 - 689 - Shotley Bridge, Woodlands Rd to Ebchester - GNE 647*
1203 - 46 - Ebchester to Consett Bus Station - GNE 5241
1245 - 15A - Consett to Durham County Hall - GNE 6009
1351 - X2 - County Hall to Bus Station - ANE 1457* (Saw someone using a flash when photographing the vehicle).
1436 - 7 - Durham to Ferryhill - ANE 1523*
1511 - 7 - Ferryhill to Chilton - ANE 1514*
1520 - 7 - Chilton to Ferryhill - ANE 1522*
1529 - 7 - Ferryhill to Darlington - ANE 1518*
1658 - X66 - Darlington to Middlesbrough - ANE 4647
1811 - X9 - Middlesbrough to Gateshead - GNE 6047
1927 - 54 - Gateshead to Newcastle - GNE 8346*
1952 - 1A - Newcastle to Rosehill - GNE 5262

Enjoyable day out, impressed by the Solos in Consett and the Sapphires are nice. Those Pulsars look so much better with bonded glazing.

Out of Peterlee and Stockton, which is the best in your opinion?

(07 Dec 2013, 11:44 pm)GMitchelhill wrote Did a trip to try out the Venture Solos and the Sapphire today.
Vehicles marked * are vehicles that I required for haulage.

0815 - 1 - Rosehill to Newcastle - GNE 4911
0858 - X71 - Newcastle to Consett - GNE 4905
The following 10 are around the Consett Area
1000 - V2 - Bus Station to Delves Lane / Chapel Drive - GNE 650*
1021 - V1 - Delves Lane / Chapel Drive to Bus Station - GNE 643*
1035 - V8 - Bus Station to Leadgate - GNE 645*
1043 - V8 - Leadgate to Bus Station - GNE 642*
1111 - V8 - Bus Station to Number 1 - GNE 648*
1118 - V8 - Number 1 to Bus Station - GNE 652*
1134 - V9 - Bus Station to Shotley Bridge, Snow Green - GNE 641*
1150 - V4 - Shotley Bridge, Snow Green to Shotley Bridge, Woodlands Rd - GNE 644*
1153 - 689 - Shotley Bridge, Woodlands Rd to Ebchester - GNE 647*
1203 - 46 - Ebchester to Consett Bus Station - GNE 5241
1245 - 15A - Consett to Durham County Hall - GNE 6009
1351 - X2 - County Hall to Bus Station - ANE 1457* (Saw someone using a flash when photographing the vehicle).
1436 - 7 - Durham to Ferryhill - ANE 1523*
1511 - 7 - Ferryhill to Chilton - ANE 1514*
1520 - 7 - Chilton to Ferryhill - ANE 1522*
1529 - 7 - Ferryhill to Darlington - ANE 1518*
1658 - X66 - Darlington to Middlesbrough - ANE 4647
1811 - X9 - Middlesbrough to Gateshead - GNE 6047
1927 - 54 - Gateshead to Newcastle - GNE 8346*
1952 - 1A - Newcastle to Rosehill - GNE 5262

Enjoyable day out, impressed by the Solos in Consett and the Sapphires are nice. Those Pulsars look so much better with bonded glazing.

That's one long day, but at least you got 15 winners.

(08 Dec 2013, 8:27 pm)Tom wrote Out of Peterlee and Stockton, which is the best in your opinion?

Stockton would be better. More variety and generally safer.

(08 Dec 2013, 8:46 pm)GMitchelhill wrote Stockton would be better. More variety and generally safer.

Cheers - I'll go to Stockton/Middlesbrough and Consett then on my Christmas trip out.