Sunday 20 June 2021, Father’s Day, saw the first North East bus rally in well over a year. The event saw a whole host of vehicles, from large local operators and independent operators to private preserved vehicles. The star of the show was Go North East’s 6101 which has been smartly repainted into a heritage livery for the company’s operations in Tynemouth and has the three different logos (front, side and rear) to commemorate each different operating period. It’s also good to note the ‘Shop at Binns’ style advert on the destination glass.
For the first time in quite a while, Arriva sent a collection of vehicles from Darlington, Durham and Stockton depots to show a variety of liveries which are used across the region, including VDL DB250/East Lancs Lowlander 7455 which has spent most of the last year undergoing major maintenance to get it up to a good standard and it seems to look very good for its age.
JH Coaches were in attendance showcasing their very smartly turned out bus and coach fleet, along with a Volvo B9R/Caetano Levante from Weardale Motor Services. On the preservation scene, former Northumbria Optare Delta 251 was in attendance along with Martijn Gilbert’s recently preserved Leyland Olympian/ECW in a Northumbria livery also.
Go North East very kindly provided a free shuttle bus from Durham City Centre using their preserved Routemasters which went down a treat. All in all, the feedback seems to be that a very enjoyable day was had by all.
