(25 Apr 2014, 9:49 pm)nk55 wrote I've included 2 spares from the diamond batch, 1 at chester & 1 at stanley. Thats why the new vehicle order has been left at 13.

It will have its own 2 spares on the order, which will be at chester and stanley (1 at each depot) so it wont need the diamond ones.. how ever it might not get citaros due to them being long routes.

(13 Apr 2014, 10:33 am)Davey Bowyer wrote Does anyone know of Scania's euro 6 offering as of yet?

(13 Apr 2014, 9:49 pm)Davey Bowyer wrote The only way the Red Arrows would be upgraded is if Scania come up with a suitable euro 6 chassis and powerful engine on the E400 body and GNE forgive them for the parts trouble that they had a few year back.

Scania do have a Euro 6 chassis, though none have been built yet. The "problem" is it has a Cummins engine, the same 6.7 litre as ADL E400s but the 280bhp version rather than 250bhp, not that there's really a problem with the Cummins engines.

(25 Apr 2014, 9:56 pm)Michael wrote It will have its own 2 spares on the order, which will be at chester and stanley (1 at each depot) so it wont need the diamond ones.. how ever it might not get citaros due to them being long routes.

Id hope they don't get Citaros. Although I am quite fond of them I think this new Volvo B8RLE would cope much better on the routes. Especially with the 8 going onto the Washington Highway and the A19 albeit this is just for a few seconds/minutes.

(25 Apr 2014, 10:21 pm)Robert wrote Id hope they don't get Citaros. Although I am quite fond of them I think this new Volvo B8RLE would cope much better on the routes. Especially with the 8 going onto the Washington Highway and the A19 albeit this is just for a few seconds/minutes.

The Wear Tees Xpress is proof that Mercs could work though. Arguably one of the most demanding services for a single decker, and the Merc manages it effortlessly.

(25 Apr 2014, 9:24 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote I think the X9/X10 do 3 Full Journey's a Day, which in Mileage is 186 Miles in 3 Round Trips

They do a lot more than 186 miles a day, it is roughly just over 80 on a round trip, most vehicles do 4 trips, so that is at least 320 miles.

(26 Apr 2014, 4:52 am)Dan wrote The Wear Tees Xpress is proof that Mercs could work though. Arguably one of the most demanding services for a single decker, and the Merc manages it effortlessly.

Oxford use there citaros on the A34 for a longer distance than what the 8 would be on the A19, Washington highway or the A1231.

(26 Apr 2014, 4:52 am)Dan wrote The Wear Tees Xpress is proof that Mercs could work though. Arguably one of the most demanding services for a single decker, and the Merc manages it effortlessly.

Forgot about that route XD, i agree they have coped on the X7 with every run being a citaro, no breakdowns so far?

They could work but still think GNE will go for something else

(26 Apr 2014, 4:52 am)Dan wrote The Wear Tees Xpress is proof that Mercs could work though. Arguably one of the most demanding services for a single decker, and the Merc manages it effortlessly.

Suppose so and as a cascaded vehicle they are doing quite well. I say this because most cascaded buses aren't as good as they have been worn down quite quickly by their routes. I'd say the 309 to Blyth is quite a long route for a bus not to get worn down although each Citaro only did this a few times (well, a few compared to the omnicities) between 2010 and them leaving the routes but I think over a period of time, just like the TTX B9s, the reliability of them will be lost and it will start to look like the B10s are still on the service. I have no clue when this will be though but im sure that it will happen at some point.

(26 Apr 2014, 8:40 am)Michael wrote Forgot about that route XD, i agree they have coped on the X7 with every run being a citaro, no breakdowns so far?

They could work but still think GNE will go for something else

I'm not aware of any lost mileage as a result of a breakdown - obviously incredibly impressive compared to what was happening when the B10s were allocated.

(26 Apr 2014, 5:27 am)citaro5284 wrote They do a lot more than 186 miles a day, it is roughly just over 80 on a round trip, most vehicles do 4 trips, so that is at least 320 miles.

So on average TTX B9TL must do just over a 1000 Miles per week on the X9/X10, And been doing that for almost 2 Years Now, No wonder there suffering with Reliabillity Issues, Would love to see the Mileage on Clock for one of these Vehicles, Hopefully one will be at MetroCentre Bus Rally Next Sunday, so I can have a look.

(26 Apr 2014, 12:59 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote So on average TTX B9TL must do just over a 1000 Miles per week on the X9/X10, And been doing that for almost 2 Years Now, No wonder there suffering with Reliabillity Issues, Would love to see the Mileage on Clock for one of these Vehicles, Hopefully one will be at MetroCentre Bus Rally Next Sunday, so I can have a look.

Slightly more than 1000.....6 days a week at 320 miles a day = 1920 miles!

(26 Apr 2014, 1:01 pm)citaro5284 wrote Slightly more than 1000.....6 days a week at 320 miles a day = 1920 miles!

That's why I put "Over a 1000 Miles" as I knew it would be over that Figure, I'm guessing your not including Dead Mileage up to Middlesbrough for the First Journey of the Day, otherwise it be over 2000 Miles per week for each Vehicle.

(26 Apr 2014, 1:07 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote That's why I put "Over a 1000 Miles" as I knew it would be over that Figure, I'm guessing your not including Dead Mileage up to Middlesbrough for the First Journey of the Day, otherwise it be over 2000 Miles per week for each Vehicle.

The 0620am X10 departure from Middlesbrough is formed by the 0510am X10 from Gateshead..?

Just been thinking and I think that both the Crusader and Diamond will get New Buses in 2014, This would allow for 30 Mercedes Citaros to become Available (Includes 06reg Red Spares), The Citaros would then Replace the Wright Solars on the Laser, Prince Bishops and Highwayman Services, This would then allow for the Wright Solars to Replace various Vehicles in the Go North East Fleet which are up for Withdrawal.

The Crusader will no doubt get some form of Double Decker, whereas the Diamond would get New Single Decker Replacements. Elsewhere the Lime would get New Single Decker Replacements on the 8/78, This would aid the Withdrawal of the Wright Renowns on Service.

This Brings the Total of New Buses so far to 44.

The X66 has been Rumoured quite a lot as Service to get New Buses due to the Poor Reliability of the Ex London Articulated Citaros, It would also make sense to Replace the Solar Fusions on the X40 also, This Result in 12 New Vehicles being Needed, as the X66 would receive a Frequency Increase a Result, so that Number of Seats Per Hour Remained the same as it does now with Articulated Citaros.

This Brings the Total of New Buses so far to 56

Not a choice that perhaps Everyone will agree with, But I think the Pronto X21 will receive New Double Deckers in 2014, to then replace the Ex London Plaxton Presidents which suffer from Reliability Issues, This would allow the Presidents to Replace the Remainder of the Volvo Olympian Palatine 2's in the Go North East Fleet.

My Final Choice is of course Toonlink which allow the Ex Arriva Wright Renowns to be Withdrawn and the Volvo B7RLE's to be Cascaded onto another Service within the Go North East Fleet.

This Brings the Total of New Buses to 78

As 80 New Buses are Expected the Final 2 Buses will be Red Spares which will either go to Chester le Street/Stanley for the Lime 8/78 or to Gateshead Riverside for the X40/X66.

This Brings the Total of New Buses to 80

Personally think that taking the Citaros from the Diamond would be a mistake. That route pretty much killed the Renowns that it had, and its' been spot on since the Citaros arrived.

(26 Apr 2014, 9:56 pm)aureolin wrote Personally think that taking the Citaros from the Diamond would be a mistake. That route pretty much killed the Renowns that it had, and its' been spot on since the Citaros arrived.

I'm not convinced, every time I go up there's tons of yellow action due to missing Citaros! Can't deny it killed the B10s though, but I'm not sure its improved now the Citaros have been run in a bit...

(26 Apr 2014, 9:56 pm)aureolin wrote Personally think that taking the Citaros from the Diamond would be a mistake. That route pretty much killed the Renowns that it had, and its' been spot on since the Citaros arrived.

To be honest though in recent months how many times have we seen a Renown/President/Lolyne/Olympian or more Recently Venture Solo SR's to appear on the 43/44/44A, Plus with the Addition of Citaros 5337/5338 would indicate Reliability Issues on the Diamond Services, Although the Red Kite 45/46 is Arguably just as Bad as the Diamond.

(26 Apr 2014, 10:03 pm)tyresmoke wrote I'm not convinced, every time I go up there's tons of yellow action due to missing Citaros! Can't deny it killed the B10s though, but I'm not sure its improved now the Citaros have been run in a bit...

Maybe time to split the route in two again.
Its a hard, punishing route with vehicles being pushed by drivers trying to stick to the timetables.
Vehicles are obviously suffering as a result.

(26 Apr 2014, 10:07 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote To be honest though in recent months how many times have we seen a Renown/President/Lolyne/Olympian or more Recently Venture Solo SR's to appear on the 43/44/44A, Plus with the Addition of Citaros 5337/5338 would indicate Reliability Issues on the Diamond Services, Although the Red Kite 45/46 is Arguably just as Bad as the Diamond.

No depot is perfect with every depot having an 'issue' that can be picked out (whether it is allocations, engineering, etc). To me it suggests that the 'issue' lies with Stanley's engineering department.

Stanley is a good example of how a depot should be run. With the exception of the "Venture" Solo SR allocations, Stanley are pretty good when it comes to allocating branded vehicles to the correct services (just compare Stanley to Riverside).

Despite this, you'll find they have almost every vehicle of their spare vehicle allocation out in action on a daily basis, while the branded vehicles are repaired.

Part of their spare vehicle allocation (on weekends/school holidays) is made up by the "Yellow Bus" branded Olympians, and you'll find that branded vehicles are often substitued for these vehicles - much to the annoyance of higher management. I'd argue that Stanley are applying 'quick fixes' to get the branded vehicles out straight away (thereby keeping GNE management's faces straight!) and not actually fixing the issues properly with the vehicles.

With this in mind, things SHOULD improve by the end of the year - once the Olympians have departed the fleet. For now I think the current allocation works well.

(26 Apr 2014, 9:56 pm)aureolin wrote Personally think that taking the Citaros from the Diamond would be a mistake. That route pretty much killed the Renowns that it had, and its' been spot on since the Citaros arrived.

Going back a few months, gne had a red versa on the diamond network before it went onto the 58. Thinking back i'm of the opinion that the vehicle was "liked" by drivers & passengers alike. I think part of the 80 bus order will go to optare for diamond upgrade if not for the lime & toon link aswell.

(27 Apr 2014, 5:56 am)Dan wrote No depot is perfect with every depot having an 'issue' that can be picked out (whether it is allocations, engineering, etc). To me it suggests that the 'issue' lies with Stanley's engineering department.

Stanley is a good example of how a depot should be run. With the exception of the "Venture" Solo SR allocations, Stanley are pretty good when it comes to allocating branded vehicles to the correct services (just compare Stanley to Riverside).

Despite this, you'll find they have almost every vehicle of their spare vehicle allocation out in action on a daily basis, while the branded vehicles are repaired.

Part of their spare vehicle allocation (on weekends/school holidays) is made up by the "Yellow Bus" branded Olympians, and you'll find that branded vehicles are often substitued for these vehicles - much to the annoyance of higher management. I'd argue that Stanley are applying 'quick fixes' to get the branded vehicles out straight away (thereby keeping GNE management's faces straight!) and not actually fixing the issues properly with the vehicles.

With this in mind, things SHOULD improve by the end of the year - once the Olympians have departed the fleet. For now I think the current allocation works well.

Picking up from here I thought it would be a good time to ask this but who controls the operations of the Venture SRs? Does somebody from Stanley do it or is somebody appointed to do it that lives near Consett so they don't lose fuel going up and down every night?

[quote'nk55' pid='40603' dateline='1398589318']

Going back a few months, gne had a red versa on the diamond network before it went onto the 58. Thinking back i'm of the opinion that the vehicle was "liked" by drivers & passengers alike. I think part of the 80 bus order will go to optare for diamond upgrade if not for the lime & toon link aswell.
[/quote]

There really isn't any need for a Diamond upgrade just yet as the Citaros cope very well on the Diamond services. Its just the maintenance side of things that isn't as suggested before by Dan. The Lime and Toon Link however, because of the buses they currently use (or most of them in the Toon Link case) are very unreliable and its the buses that are the problem and not the Maintenance.

With the lime I have to say that 4850-4855 are the worst. I don't know whether to include 4896 in that as I don't know which Lime a Chester-le-Street spare is replacing so I just assume its the older 6 buses on the route.

(27 Apr 2014, 9:27 am)Robert wrote [quote'nk55' pid='40603' dateline='1398589318']

Going back a few months, gne had a red versa on the diamond network before it went onto the 58. Thinking back i'm of the opinion that the vehicle was "liked" by drivers & passengers alike. I think part of the 80 bus order will go to optare for diamond upgrade if not for the lime & toon link aswell.

There really isn't any need for a Diamond upgrade just yet as the Citaros cope very well on the Diamond services. Its just the maintenance side of things that isn't as suggested before by Dan. The Lime and Toon Link however, because of the buses they currently use (or most of them in the Toon Link case) are very unreliable and its the buses that are the problem and not the Maintenance.

With the lime I have to say that 4850-4855 are the worst. I don't know whether to include 4896 in that as I don't know which Lime a Chester-le-Street spare is replacing so I just assume its the older 6 buses on the route.
[/quote]


4850 is terrible. 4852 is my favourite, 4855 is alright, 4853 seems to be a bit dodgy like 4851. 4854 seems to have recovered well after it's accident a few years back. 4896 is one of the better ones. All 7 are used on the route, so 13 buses altogether PVR. It's hard to explain the timings without cocking it up, but here it sort of goes;

Consett & Back - 2 hours 9 minutes
Stanley & Back - 57 minutes
(78) Sunderland & Back - 1 hour 41 minutes
(8) Sunderland & Back - 1 hour 41 minutes

(that's including that 78 & 8 inter work at Sunderland)

That would come to (for a full round trip on one vehicle) nearly 6 and a half hours. Split that into the timings and you need 13 vehicles. I'm not sure if you didn't already know that, it's just your post didn't look clear. If what you're trying to say is that 4896 might not get withdrawn because of it being younger than the R reg vehicles, it probably will be, and I would think all 13 limes would be withdrawn when their replacements arrive.

All the Lime B10's will be withdrawn.

It will gain 13 new branded buses and 2 spare (1 each at chester/stanley)

Sure this was confirmed ages ago by a few people on here..

(27 Apr 2014, 10:43 am)Michael wrote All the Lime B10's will be withdrawn.

It will gain 13 new branded buses and 2 spare (1 each at chester/stanley)

Sure this was confirmed ages ago by a few people on here..

Yes, we know what is going to happen with the new buses and what will happen to the Renowns, we were just talking about the Renowns and looking at possibly what is making them so unreliable...

(27 Apr 2014, 11:22 am)Robert wrote Yes, we know what is going to happen with the new buses and what will happen to the Renowns, we were just talking about the Renowns and looking at possibly what is making them so unreliable...

When you think about it, they've survived nearly 8 years on probably one of GNE's most demanding routes (and if I'm not mistaken they were already used on it as the 778) I'm honestly surprised they haven't fallen apart yet. I know they'll be withdrawn and sold, but they would make excellent driver training vehicles. I'd love to train in a Renown if I was to become a driver (I think there's that 15 meter law or something like that though). Hats off to whoever at Volvo that built those 13 buses.

(27 Apr 2014, 11:35 am)Marcus wrote When you think about it, they've survived nearly 8 years on probably one of GNE's most demanding routes (and if I'm not mistaken they were already used on it as the 778) I'm honestly surprised they haven't fallen apart yet. I know they'll be withdrawn and sold, but they would make excellent driver training vehicles. I'd love to train in a Renown if I was to become a driver (I think there's that 15 meter law or something like that though). Hats off to whoever at Volvo that built those 13 buses.

775/778 and 194/294 before then.
Said a few months ago, they're the modern version of the National.

Although some models look tatty, the bodywork looks to have lasted too.

If you think back, the amount of b10 vehicles up and down the country, going back to step entrance Alexander versions from early L/M reg examples, have lasted and performed well. Well beyond anything else.

(27 Apr 2014, 11:45 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote 775/778 and 194/294 before then.
Said a few months ago, they're the modern version of the National.

Although some models look tatty, the bodywork looks to have lasted too.

If you think back, the amount of b10 vehicles up and down the country, going back to step entrance Alexander versions from early L/M reg examples, have lasted and performed well. Well beyond anything else.

I've heard one or two of the older driver's who have started in the 90s that have compared the B10s to the Nationals. If you check out the NNRG Facebook page they are using their 4710 on a rerun of the 724 on 31 August starting at South Burns and going to Bishop.

(27 Apr 2014, 11:35 am)Marcus wrote When you think about it, they've survived nearly 8 years on probably one of GNE's most demanding routes (and if I'm not mistaken they were already used on it as the 778) I'm honestly surprised they haven't fallen apart yet. I know they'll be withdrawn and sold, but they would make excellent driver training vehicles. I'd love to train in a Renown if I was to become a driver (I think there's that 15 meter law or something like that though). Hats off to whoever at Volvo that built those 13 buses.

They currently my fav buses in the GNE fleet, Volvo built good buses there.. will miss them when they are withdrawn

(27 Apr 2014, 11:58 am)Michael wrote They currently my fav buses in the GNE fleet, Volvo built good buses there.. will miss them when they are withdrawn

They certainly are revolutionary buses. I will miss 4855 the most, it was my late grandad's favorite, albeit my own favorite is 4852.