(Yesterday, 9:20 pm)PH - BQA wrote They weren't great at Jesmond either, but they were also much younger then - and being used on the 52 etc. rather than X16s. It's also not like Ashington had never seen a Streetlite before, they had 1579-81 from new.
7557 was just off for 3 months with engine trouble, but otherwise they seem about as reliable as they were at Ashington. 7562, from memory, did a fair number of X14/15s when based there and was pretty capable. Ultimately they're 17 year old buses and should be scrapped imminently.
My thoughts on the Ashington engineering situation is well documented at this point, and it was posted on here yesterday that senior staff have left the business, so it is clear that there are issues. That said, it is also clear that some of the buses are knackered at this point and badly need replacing, or allocated more appropriately. If the Streetlites were used on the 1/2 for example, like they should be, then there'd likely be fewer issues.
For the 415/460, unsure where the issue is but it was evidently enough of a one to result in them never being operated by anything else. Even to the point of sending deckers on the 434 so that a Solo can go onto the 415/460. My guess would be out of Felton, likely due to parked cars.
Yeah some fair points, mind I'm not sure I agree on withdrawing the 58 Plates. I know they're old but if there's plans for new deckers at Blyth in the next 2 years would it not be better to keep them and get shot of the Pulsars instead which are an operational headache.
They're both in pretty much similar spec from a passenger point of view and both old really.
I'd much rather have an old decker over an old Pulsar though.
(Yesterday, 10:40 pm)solsburian wrote @Bob5666 I would like the Redcar 72 plate MMCs return to be with the rest at Ashington where they were ordered for. For the likes of the X15/18/93, I wonder how the MMC’s perform compared to older busses, and perhaps something like a modern single or double decker coach would be more suitable (and attractive from a passenger POV) for such services.
Agreed on the coaches, the problem is they're not ideal for between Morpeth and Newcastle even known it's quite limited stops.
I always think it's a shame that they don't send the X16 upto Alnwick doing all the stops as the current X15 and then do a proper express with the X15 running non stop between Morpeth and Alnwick and have that extending onto the X18 aswell (with that terminating there).
In the Summer months there's definitely potential demand for it imo with the boost in numbers to rural Northumberland.
So you'd end up with something like
X14: Newcastle to Berwick Direct (Express - Every 2 Hours)
X15: Newcastle to Berwick via Seahouses (Express - Every 2 Hours)
X16: Newcastle to Northgate/Alnwick (Every 30 Minutes / Hourly)
X17: Newcastle to Throckley (Hourly)
X18: Newcastle to Alnwick via Amble and Morpeth (Hourly)
X20: Newcastle to Alnwick via Ashington (Hourly)
X14/X15: Coach operated, non stop between Newcastle and Morpeth and non stop between Morpeth and Alnwick A1 junction (in via A1068)
X16/X17/X18: Decker operated, Every 15 minutes combined Morpeth to Newcastle, local stopper services and doing villages between Alnwick and Morpeth.
It's provide a much better service and the Alnwick is a sizable town which just keeps growing with no rail service and the bonus of a major tourist attraction in the opposite direction.
(Yesterday, 9:20 pm)PH - BQA wrote They weren't great at Jesmond either, but they were also much younger then - and being used on the 52 etc. rather than X16s. It's also not like Ashington had never seen a Streetlite before, they had 1579-81 from new.
7557 was just off for 3 months with engine trouble, but otherwise they seem about as reliable as they were at Ashington. 7562, from memory, did a fair number of X14/15s when based there and was pretty capable. Ultimately they're 17 year old buses and should be scrapped imminently.
My thoughts on the Ashington engineering situation is well documented at this point, and it was posted on here yesterday that senior staff have left the business, so it is clear that there are issues. That said, it is also clear that some of the buses are knackered at this point and badly need replacing, or allocated more appropriately. If the Streetlites were used on the 1/2 for example, like they should be, then there'd likely be fewer issues.
For the 415/460, unsure where the issue is but it was evidently enough of a one to result in them never being operated by anything else. Even to the point of sending deckers on the 434 so that a Solo can go onto the 415/460. My guess would be out of Felton, likely due to parked cars.
Yeah some fair points, mind I'm not sure I agree on withdrawing the 58 Plates. I know they're old but if there's plans for new deckers at Blyth in the next 2 years would it not be better to keep them and get shot of the Pulsars instead which are an operational headache.
They're both in pretty much similar spec from a passenger point of view and both old really.
I'd much rather have an old decker over an old Pulsar though.
(Yesterday, 10:40 pm)solsburian wrote @Bob5666 I would like the Redcar 72 plate MMCs return to be with the rest at Ashington where they were ordered for. For the likes of the X15/18/93, I wonder how the MMC’s perform compared to older busses, and perhaps something like a modern single or double decker coach would be more suitable (and attractive from a passenger POV) for such services.
Agreed on the coaches, the problem is they're not ideal for between Morpeth and Newcastle even known it's quite limited stops.
I always think it's a shame that they don't send the X16 upto Alnwick doing all the stops as the current X15 and then do a proper express with the X15 running non stop between Morpeth and Alnwick and have that extending onto the X18 aswell (with that terminating there).
In the Summer months there's definitely potential demand for it imo with the boost in numbers to rural Northumberland.
So you'd end up with something like
X14: Newcastle to Berwick Direct (Express - Every 2 Hours)
X15: Newcastle to Berwick via Seahouses (Express - Every 2 Hours)
X16: Newcastle to Northgate/Alnwick (Every 30 Minutes / Hourly)
X17: Newcastle to Throckley (Hourly)
X18: Newcastle to Alnwick via Amble and Morpeth (Hourly)
X20: Newcastle to Alnwick via Ashington (Hourly)
X14/X15: Coach operated, non stop between Newcastle and Morpeth and non stop between Morpeth and Alnwick A1 junction (in via A1068)
X16/X17/X18: Decker operated, Every 15 minutes combined Morpeth to Newcastle, local stopper services and doing villages between Alnwick and Morpeth.
It's provide a much better service and the Alnwick is a sizable town which just keeps growing with no rail service and the bonus of a major tourist attraction in the opposite direction.
(Yesterday, 9:20 pm)PH - BQA wrote They weren't great at Jesmond either, but they were also much younger then - and being used on the 52 etc. rather than X16s. It's also not like Ashington had never seen a Streetlite before, they had 1579-81 from new.
7557 was just off for 3 months with engine trouble, but otherwise they seem about as reliable as they were at Ashington. 7562, from memory, did a fair number of X14/15s when based there and was pretty capable. Ultimately they're 17 year old buses and should be scrapped imminently.
My thoughts on the Ashington engineering situation is well documented at this point, and it was posted on here yesterday that senior staff have left the business, so it is clear that there are issues. That said, it is also clear that some of the buses are knackered at this point and badly need replacing, or allocated more appropriately. If the Streetlites were used on the 1/2 for example, like they should be, then there'd likely be fewer issues.
For the 415/460, unsure where the issue is but it was evidently enough of a one to result in them never being operated by anything else. Even to the point of sending deckers on the 434 so that a Solo can go onto the 415/460. My guess would be out of Felton, likely due to parked cars.
Yeah some fair points, mind I'm not sure I agree on withdrawing the 58 Plates. I know they're old but if there's plans for new deckers at Blyth in the next 2 years would it not be better to keep them and get shot of the Pulsars instead which are an operational headache.
They're both in pretty much similar spec from a passenger point of view and both old really.
I'd much rather have an old decker over an old Pulsar though.
(Yesterday, 10:40 pm)solsburian wrote @Bob5666 I would like the Redcar 72 plate MMCs return to be with the rest at Ashington where they were ordered for. For the likes of the X15/18/93, I wonder how the MMC’s perform compared to older busses, and perhaps something like a modern single or double decker coach would be more suitable (and attractive from a passenger POV) for such services.
Agreed on the coaches, the problem is they're not ideal for between Morpeth and Newcastle even known it's quite limited stops.
I always think it's a shame that they don't send the X16 upto Alnwick doing all the stops as the current X15 and then do a proper express with the X15 running non stop between Morpeth and Alnwick and have that extending onto the X18 aswell (with that terminating there).
In the Summer months there's definitely potential demand for it imo with the boost in numbers to rural Northumberland.
So you'd end up with something like
X14: Newcastle to Berwick Direct (Express - Every 2 Hours)
X15: Newcastle to Berwick via Seahouses (Express - Every 2 Hours)
X16: Newcastle to Northgate/Alnwick (Every 30 Minutes / Hourly)
X17: Newcastle to Throckley (Hourly)
X18: Newcastle to Alnwick via Amble and Morpeth (Hourly)
X20: Newcastle to Alnwick via Ashington (Hourly)
X14/X15: Coach operated, non stop between Newcastle and Morpeth and non stop between Morpeth and Alnwick A1 junction (in via A1068)
X16/X17/X18: Decker operated, Every 15 minutes combined Morpeth to Newcastle, local stopper services and doing villages between Alnwick and Morpeth.
It's provide a much better service and the Alnwick is a sizable town which just keeps growing with no rail service and the bonus of a major tourist attraction in the opposite direction.