The independent transport videos cameras have returned to the North East of England during 2022 to record the ever-changing bus scene for your enjoyment. This programme, like the 2021 trilogy, covers a large geographic area with an interesting mix of bus types and operators. We begin at the main city of the area, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. Locations include Percy Street, Haymarket Bus Station, Blackett Street, John Dobson Street, Market Street, Grainger Street and Neville Street. The main operators in the area are Go Ahead with their Go North East (GNE) fleet, Arriva North East and Stagecoach with their Stagecoach North East operations. GNE operate a fleet of nine all-electric Yutong E10 single-deckers mostly on the busy 53 & 54 routes linking the city with Gateshead. The first part of our Newcastle coverage is filmed in May 2022 and we see Optare Versa single-deckers operating the Q3 Quaycity service with later scenes filmed in September 2022 featuring new Yutong E12 electric single-deckers on the same service in a yellow version of the Voltra livery.
GATESHEAD is our next stop when our cameras visit the Go North East Depot Open Day. The Riverside Depot was open for a ‘family’ day with buses on display and a service linking the depot with the North East Bus & Coach Show that was taking place at the Metrocentre and is covered in another of our programmes. We take a ride on GNE 6998 (794 EYD), a DAF / Plaxton President open-topper in ‘Toon Tour’ livery to have a detailed look at the buses on show. Further filming takes place at the Metrocentre recording the contemporary buses in service. In September, our cameras visited Heworth Metro Station to film the Go North East buses on rail replacement services whilst the Metro system underwent upgrading. A brief visit to WASHINGTON sees GNE buses in service in and around the bus station.
At CONSETT we begin our coverage at the town’s busy bus station and then later in the year a very early visit to the GNE bus depot sees the buses leaving the depot to take up their duties for the day as the sun rises!
We then go further south and visit DARLINGTON. Our filming locations in the town are at Tubwell Row, Stonebridge and at Feethams. The main operator here is Arriva North East but we also see buses from independent operator, Scarlet Band, which unfortunately since our filming, ceased trading in October 2022.
Our next location is BARNARD CASTLE. Here we film at Galgate, Buttermarket and Market Place. This pretty market town sees independent operators Scarlet Band and Hodgesons of Barnard Castle. Another visitor to the town on Wednesdays is Cumbria Classic Coaches service 572 that operates from Ravenstondale to Barnard Castle. On the day we were filming former Crosville Bristol Lodekka LD, 627 HFM was operating the service. We see it in the town and at the impressive Bowes Museum.
Our final filming location on our 2022 visit is BISHOP AUCKLAND. Here we film at the busy bus station and in Newgate Street. The main operator is Arriva North East with some ‘X-Lines’ GNE services passing through as well as independents Weardale Motor Services and Scarlet Band. To conclude our programme we have some archive video filmed during 1990 in Barnard Castle of a new United Auto Leyland Tiger with Alexander bodywork, 1234 (H278 LEF) and at Bishop Auckland we see some superb ‘classic’ buses from OK Motor Services, Weardale Motor Services and Bond Brothers Coaches. Vehicles include former Southdown ‘Queen Marys’, a former Wigan Corporation Massey-bodied Leyland Titan and a Stockport Corporation Leyland Titan as well as a number of Plaxton-bodied coaches for good measure!
Produced by - Independent Transport Videos
Duration - 85 minutes
Region - 0 (worldwide) PAL
Aspect Ratio - 16:9 Widescreen
DVD only
Released - May 2023