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Your longest time spent on a bus or coach?

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Pat1105

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Strange because i'm the other way round. I prefer the 63 going north and 60 going south! Depends when it was but the 271/272 were/are normally a coach or Enviro400 as they interwork with some school duties. Buchans E200s tend to be on the 69 or 270 whereas Macduff's are normally on the 301. The 273 (only operates to Fraserburgh on Saturdays) is normally a Solo. Regarding the E200s however it's not the 2007/8 models that are bad (actually Buchans 36049/50 are fantastic), it's the 3 speed 63 plates (36957-59) you need to watch out for!
Yeah, I knew that E200’s were normally on the 270 and sometimes 69. I actually quite like the 63 plate E200’s, not as boring as the older allison models. I think the 63 plates are usually on the 76/77/78A&C. I know these routes are operated by Buchan depot, but are the drivers based at Peterhead or Fraserburgh as I thought the depot on Barrasgate Road is only for parking buses up overnight? Is there an actual Fraserburgh rota at Peterhead depot if there are no drivers based at Fraserburgh?
 

Jordan Adam

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Yeah, I knew that E200’s were normally on the 270 and sometimes 69. I actually quite like the 63 plate E200’s, not as boring as the older allison models. I think the 63 plates are usually on the 76/77/78A&C. I know these routes are operated by Buchan depot, but are the drivers based at Peterhead or Fraserburgh as I thought the depot on Barrasgate Road is only for parking buses up overnight? Is there an actual Fraserburgh rota at Peterhead depot if there are no drivers based at Fraserburgh?

The 63 plates are pretty gutless. One of them was on the 68 today and had to be replaced by a Solo! Peterhead is the depot with Fraserburgh as an outstation, each have their own boards. Likewise Fyvie, Banchory and Ballater are technically all outstations of Aberdeen.

In full Bluebird is split in to three areas.
Aberdeenshire.... Depots in Aberdeen (Tullos), Stonehaven & Insch (Outstations Banchory, Ballater & Fyvie)
Buchan... One depot in Peterhead (Outstation in Fraserburgh.)
Moray... Depots are Elgin and Macduff. (Outstation in Macduff).

*Macduff have an outstation in the carpark for Annie's Cakery used to park 3 coaches overnight and at weekends, however as it's just up the hill from the main depot it's not listed as an outstation.
 
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Statto

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Longest i've done on a normal bus is the 685 Carlisle-Newcastle last summer, the scheduled Stagecoach enviro 300 had to be replaced at Carlisle after that vehicle developed a fault & we were 30 late as a result by the time the replacement vehicle came & set off, quite a nice trip though.

Also taken 3 hours on the X2 Preston-Liverpool a couple of times[normally scheduled to take 2 hours 15 to 2 hours 30 for most of the day], mostly due to traffic congestion & the bus arrived in Liverpool 30 late.
 

PaulMc7

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Done 2 trips to Alton Towers from Glasgow on coaches with my old school when I was younger so 6/7 hours each but outside of that my longest isn't actually as bad as some although I used to get quite travel sick so 2 hrs 40 mins on the X26 Stagecoach operate was harder than it would be for others. Having great grandparents that lived in Leven was good for the seaside but not for the journey
 

route101

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Yeah, I knew that E200’s were normally on the 270 and sometimes 69. I actually quite like the 63 plate E200’s, not as boring as the older allison models. I think the 63 plates are usually on the 76/77/78A&C. I know these routes are operated by Buchan depot, but are the drivers based at Peterhead or Fraserburgh as I thought the depot on Barrasgate Road is only for parking buses up overnight? Is there an actual Fraserburgh rota at Peterhead depot if there are no drivers based at Fraserburgh?

The ones i find uncomfortable are the 59 plates , e300s i think . seats jammed with them plastic covers . Had one on 727 service and 7 in Fife.
 

route101

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Done 2 trips to Alton Towers from Glasgow on coaches with my old school when I was younger so 6/7 hours each but outside of that my longest isn't actually as bad as some although I used to get quite travel sick so 2 hrs 40 mins on the X26 Stagecoach operate was harder than it would be for others. Having great grandparents that lived in Leven was good for the seaside but not for the journey

Once took that x26 from St Andrews to Glasgow ! Dosent do that anymore .Also more recently took it from Dundee as i had a east of scotland explorer.
 

PaulMc7

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Once took that x26 from St Andrews to Glasgow ! Dosent do that anymore .Also more recently took it from Dundee as i had a east of scotland explorer.

Not too bad. Only got Dundee and Aberdeen left to go to and I will have been in every Scottish city
 

Pat1105

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The ones i find uncomfortable are the 59 plates , e300s i think . seats jammed with them plastic covers . Had one on 727 service and 7 in Fife.
The 59 plates were quite gutless. They’ve got leather seats but you keep sliding off them whenever the bus moves!
 

Tetchytyke

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Really? I'm originally from Ferryhill and did many explorer tickets, I cannot ever remember it being in excess of 2hrs.

I could be misremembering it as feeling that long after being stuck in peak traffic in Low Fell and it being an Optare Delta :lol:

I was partly going off modern running times, but the modern route does 27 laps of Aycliffe now.
 

F Great Eastern

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16 hours, Berlin SXF to Warsaw 8 years ago after a flight diversion.

During the middle of winter at -10c during arctic road conditions and heavy snow, stopping at services a few times on the way, came across a number of jacknifed lorries on the way and broken down vehicles, some of the journey was on roads with only a single lane in each direction as well, about 4 times we got stuck for 20-30 minutes plus and once for an hour.

The only upside that the vehicle was an almost brand new BVB Setra 431DT fitted out to a very high standard, with three hot drinks machines and a decent toilet and a few other things. Also a movie was played on the screens there which was nice. Few people were worried about such a trip in such cold and terrible conditions but driver said in a German accent that this kind of conditions the coach would show it's German quality and to be more worried about the people from another flight on a 20 year old knackered looking VanHoll!

Same spec vehicle here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/skill...rS-29EtyX8-QDPZnH-QDPZ7c-9jaQ6b-9xLQKv-zs8j6i

Amusingly, about 3 years later I saw the same coach in Dublin and one of the drivers who told me it took even longer getting back to base!
 

Darandio

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I could be misremembering it as feeling that long after being stuck in peak traffic in Low Fell and it being an Optare Delta :lol:

I was partly going off modern running times, but the modern route does 27 laps of Aycliffe now.

Possibly. :lol:

I seem to remember the Darlington to Ferryhill stretch back then was about 30 minutes but it was a pretty straightforward run through Aycliffe compared to the equivalent service as you rightly point out. It's at least 45 minutes now once it's taken in every corner of Aycliffe that nobody wants to go to.
 

ATW Alex 101

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Manila (Pasay and Cubao terminals) to Baguio in The Philippines. One time took not much more than 4-hours, one time took 10-hours. Stopping twice, once in Urdaneta and once in Sison.

Going the other way, stopped at Sison, then Urdaneta, then Caloocan and then Cubao onto Pasay. But between Caloocan to Pasay, it seemed to stop at every lamppost to let a solitary passenger on! At the time, I was rushing to Manila Airport to catch a flight to Bicol. Actually made it reasonably comfortably. The reason I was getting a flight, was in order to avoid the 11+ hour coach ride! Only 25 mins in the plane! Happy days!
 

shopbford

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Possibly. :lol:

I seem to remember the Darlington to Ferryhill stretch back then was about 30 minutes but it was a pretty straightforward run through Aycliffe compared to the equivalent service as you rightly point out. It's at least 45 minutes now once it's taken in every corner of Aycliffe that nobody wants to go to.

I used to do the 722/723 service back in the 80's mostly done then with Bristols. Popular shift if I remember rightly was 2 x Newcastle & 1 Darlington. Another was Darlington & back, then bait time picking the bus back up to go back to a round trip to Darlington.
 

Ant158

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My longest coach trip would be a school history trip from Lancashire to the WW1 battlefields in France and Belgium.
 

Whistler40145

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Blackpool to London Victoria leaving around 8pm and went via Liverpool, Birkenhead, Chester, Stoke on Trent, Birmingham Digbeth, Birmingham International Airport, Banbury, Oxford and Heathrow Airport arriving around 6am
 

talltim

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About 22 hours from Victoria to Prague. Only got off the coach onto the ferry at Dover. Forget how long that was for and at which point.
Did similar on a school trip, St Albans to Prague. Got off the coach for the ferry although I can’t remember that and once in Germany for a wee break, which I can remember as we all rushed to the loo past an old lady sitting at a table, to find on the way out that the stragglers were queuing to pay her!
 

CBlue

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Several years ago before the service was split I did the full length of the X1, Lowestoft to Peterborough.

Longest coach journey was probably a school trip to Bodmin down in Cornwall...from East Anglia.
 

86247

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I've done the 421 from liverpool to London about 4 or 5 times, never once did I get a wink of sleep. was always glad to stretch my legs at digbeth and have a cig.
 

TurbostarFan

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When I was a young kid at about 8 years old, I remember once travelling to Disneyland Paris and back by coach from Norwich. However I've also done a school trip to Belgium in Year 9 which was even longer, which was all way from Hethersett to Ypres and back by coach.
 
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Statto

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I've done the 421 from liverpool to London about 4 or 5 times, never once did I get a wink of sleep. was always glad to stretch my legs at digbeth and have a cig.

I've done that a million times too, the last couple of hours either side of Birmingham are a right pain in the backside when you're desperate to get off.
 

TFN

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Dar es Salaam to Kampala via Nairobi. Took something like 40 hours (including an hour stop in Nairobi).

My rear has never been the same and I have developed a severe allergic reaction to coaches
 

Bungle158

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Magic Bus, Amsterdam to Athens, 3 days, one of which spent stuck in snowdrifts in what is now North Macedonia
 

embers25

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My longest was Niagara to Toronto and then Toronto to Prince Rupert straight thru on the same Greyhound Canada bus. Then after 2 hours in Prince Rupert straight back to Edmonton on the same bus. Over 3 days.
 

ian1944

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About 20 years ago when the NX 336 ran from Edinburgh to Penzance, they had an offer on, £10 return to/from anywhere. So I went down one overnight, early evening to late afternoon, stayed in a B and B and came back next day, late morning to early morning. More than 20 hours each way, with the coach acting like a local bus in Cornwall. Unsurprisingly, just one other passenger did the complete route in both directions. Each leg was done wholly by two drivers from Camborne, apart from another driving just the Camborne/Penzance extremity.
 

Paulie558

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Have done Norfolk to Rome and Norfolk to Porec,Croatia on overnight Leger holiday trips.Picked up at 7am ,arriving around 4pm next day.
In the UK we did Norwich to London,then overnight London to Aberdeen on £1 National Express funfares.
At the time the Aberdeen route was using 51 plate van hool double deckers.
On the outward trip the engine kept losing water,so the drivers had to pull into garages to top up.
On the return leg ,all was fine until Glasgow,when it developed a gearbox fault,so limped into Parks of Hamiltons yard,.Then we went up on a lift,complete with passengers,when they lumped merry hell underneath.
We finally ground to a halt at around 230am,when everyone and luggage had to decamp in an unlit layby onto a replacement Parks coach!
 
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scotrail158713

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On the outward trip the engine kept losing water,so the drivers had to pull into garages to top up.
On the return leg ,all was fine until Glasgow,when it developed a gearbox fault,so limped into Parks of Hamiltons yard,.Then we went up on a lift,complete with passengers,when they lumped merry hell underneath.
We finally ground to a halt at around 230am,when everyone and luggage had to decamp complete with luggage in an unlit layby onto a replacement Parks coach!
Sounds great fun! :D
 

gage75

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IIRC About 8-9 hours from Hastings to Auckland by Mount Cook Lines in New Zealand in the early '80s
1586555785937.png
 
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