The Poolie Bunker

It seems to be on the number 6/7 service and seems to attract people to ride it. The recent Stagecoach livery change does look cheap with its washed out colours.
There was a green "Transit" bus the other day on the 36 and it looked great.
You would have thought that a bright or classy colour would have been chosen?

old bus liveries were something to be proud of unlike the ones today that look s if banksy has been involved in them. you can add some train liveries to that as well. some where always better than others but the bad faded looking ones like bradford city transport are better than todays.

Just as you thought this thread had run its course............a further update!

Newcastle to/from Middlesbrough expresses still getting cancelled.

Reason given include;
1. lack of train crew.
2. lack of rolling stock.
3. high sickness levels at Darlington depot.
4. higher than expected breakdowns or servicing.
etc etc

Maybe Northern want to save money by not running them.............more likley. Twats like them are strangling this town.

What really annoys me over this is we’ve had this crap service for years and when will it ever get better.
This line could be a real asset to the region with a service from Newcastle to Redcar with decent rolling stock every 20 minutes.

Yes I agree. More people complain the more likelyhood of it improving but it's only political pressure will succeed.

Stagecoach’s livery looks like a ladies feminine hygiene product box on wheels.
Bloody awful.

its obvious they look like that when its owners can be described as the part of a females body that would use them.

Expresses from Boro to Toon still getting cancelled on a regular basis.
I hope the twat who is the CEO gets a £1000 deduction in his salary for each one cancelled.
If this keeps up its going to be carnage over xmas.

once it was regular for a train to be late but i cannot remember them being cancelled. now all they talk about is punctuality but missing ones rarely get as much publicity. so what if you are 10 minutes late on any form of public transport. if it causes you some grief then catch an earlier one if possible. its not as if they see you bang on time at a hospital appointment even if you are first on the list.

Feature on the news this morning when a letter from a rail user in Hartlepool was quoted, complaining about local train services in the North East.

Which channel was this?
I have heard there is now some politicians kicking off about it.

Wait for it, GB News…the wife told me when I came home from my morning walk.

GB news ? I wonder how they got hold of the story?

Well, I’m assuming this, the two local TV stations are overwhelmingly Tynecentric.
Local news is brief and big play is made of some folksy, appealing story, which is more soap than regional news.
Apparently GB actually are accessible and welcome input from viewers….which our supposedly local stations don’t give a fig about in all honesty.

Which busiest train stations in your nation or region had the worst cancellation rates?
Percentage of cancelled stops, January to November 2024
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgnl7j1kglo
Hartlepool Station top of the league.

Hi Clive thanks but i cannot see any reference to Hartlepool in this article.
Have i missed it?

Sorry, click on arrow beneath this headline towards bottom of the article
Percentage of cancelled stops, January to November 2024
Choose your region or nation below

Thanks.
Here it is,


North East

4.6% of all scheduled stops have been cancelled here since January 2024.

Hartlepool, Newcastle and Metro Centre were the three busiest stations in this region with the worst cancellation rates.

Does anyone on here know what the issue is for not running a train from Hartlepool to Darlo on a regular basis? It would be good for connectivity up the north east coast line to all areas in Scotland / North West /Midlands and London without the need of being reliant on Grand Central to York.
I have heard all sorts of reasons like needing a platform 3 at Boro and a few others.
I recall someone on here who seemed knowledgeable on such issues.

Would help if the also got some new rolling stock and more capacity…not very good at selling themselves are they.

What kind of feeble excuse is 'needing a platform 3 at Boro'?? Direct trains from Hartlepool to Darlo don't need to go anywhere near the Boro - the intermediate stops would presumably be Seaton Carew, Billingham, Stockton, Eaglescliffe, Allen's West, Dinsdale and Darlington Bank Top.

Correct, the North East has some of the oldest units in the UK - fact. Most of the fleet of clapped out Sprinters are over 40 years old. No other region would accept these units, some of which go back to Live Aid Day! I occasionally purchase one of the modern railway magazines which are not cheap but provide an insight into which regions are receiving new rolling stock and also those receiving reasonably acceptable used stock cascaded from other regions. Unsurprisingly, the likes of Scotland, Wales, Merseyside, Manchester and Southern regions are regularly allocated new stock with regions like Devon, Cornwall etc benefitting from good quality cascaded stock

Northern Rail recently announced - via the usual hoo-ha - the restoration of direct trains from the Boro to Carlisle via the coast line. The implementation of these simply beggars belief when Northern are still unable to even fulfil their existing timetable commitments as a result of the cringeworthy list of excuses listed in an post above. Back the early years of privatisation the regulator held underperforming franchises to account. Unfortunately, Northern is currently managed by the Govt so its unrealistic to expect anything in the way of positive moves to improve the current fiasco anytime soon.

The trouble with Middlesbrough is they’re up a junction, a dead end, because they’re not a through line….trying to accommodate them causes most of the problems.

Perhaps it's just me but I fail to understand why Hartlepool - Darlo trains need to go out of their way to accommodate the Boro. There is already a good, regular service between Bishop Auckland -Darlington-Boro-Saltburn so why the necessity to divert Pools- Darlo trains via Boro which is actually not a 'dead end' as in addition to the Saltburn service, trains to Whitby also call (or start) there plus the Trans Pennine units. Perhaps someone could enlighten me?

all i know is back in the 50,s and 60,s farlo trains never went through boro. done it loads of times when there was no direct train southbound.

Thanks Smoking Joe for your comments which i think all would agree with.
As regard this linkage to Platform 3 at Middlesbrough, i thought so knowing a reasonable amount about the system.
Why is Middlesbrough station given any prominence when no one lives near it nor is there any buses/parking etc near to it. Its as easy for many to go to Nunthorpe/Thornaby/Stockton or Eaglescliffe.
We are being lied to again and given what the rest of the country would not put up with.

As regarding to Smokings comments regarding the Sprinter trains dating back to "Live Aid" i noticed the other day that the driver was Midge Ure,the conductor Bono and Freddie Mercury was the cleaner.

you could add new services to that as they always seem involved. know its the back end of nowhere but many other towns stations are just as bad.

Because they think they’re the centre of the world…sadly, there’s nowt to go to the Boro for.

we used to enjoy going there once but have not been there since everything started to get closed down. far more depressing than stockton has become with its bulldozers and vanity projects.

I suspect that its not because of anyone wanting to visit Boro, more like the citizens of the Boro being keen to visit their relatives in Hartlepool?

[quote="accrington fan"][quote="Snowy"][quote="Smokin Joe"]Perhaps it's just me but I fail to understand why Hartlepool - Darlo trains need to go out of their way to accommodate the Boro. There is already a good, regular service between Bishop Auckland -Darlington-Boro-Saltburn so why the necessity to divert Pools- Darlo trains via Boro which is actually not a 'dead end' as in addition to the Saltburn service, trains to Whitby also call (or start) there plus the Trans Pennine units. Perhaps someone could enlighten me?[/quote]
Because they think they’re the centre of the world…sadly, there’s nowt to go to the Boro for.[/quote]
we used to enjoy going there once but have not been there since everything started to get closed down. far more depressing than stockton has become with its bulldozers and vanity projects.[/quote]

To be honest having recently visited both Stockton and Boro town centres for the first time in several years, I think the Boro - apart from the big, empty department stores (that exist in the majority of big towns/ cities these days) - still has some decent shops and is worth the occasional visit. However, Stockton centre could readily be utilised as a set for a post-apoplyptic fillum - without the need of a backdrop.

Apart from the essential (for some) vape, mobile phone, charity shops etc and the customary Turkish barber saloon, the whole area is desolate apart from a few scroats and druggies wandering around. I appreciate that there are some major works ongoing around the Riverside in order to create some kind of public park to replace what was the lively Castlegate shopping centre - but did they really need to devastate the whole area, forcing many established shops to shutdown in the process? Having witnessed the current state of a once popular market town centre I can readily understand why the local populace are up in arms.

I am critical of Hartlepools shopping centre and other retail offering, but both Stockton and Middlesbrough are in the words of James Cleverly "shitholes" IMO.
The retailers are leaving Boro centre in their droves with Teesside Park (near 100% occupancy) being the destination of choice for anyone with a bit of cash from Boro and Stockton etc. The pedestrian street where M&S was is nearly empty with only a few banks at the end near the rail station and an Ann Summers yet elsewhere there are loads of high end watch/jeweller shops presumably for the Asian community and also for anyone to wash some dirty money. Yet they cling onto the hope of the resurrection of the high street which is delusional.It needs to be rationalised and reduced in size and made to look good with alternative offerings. There is nothing worse than walking past many empty shops.
Hopefully the wrecking ball will get an outing on the Clansman/Post Office corridor in Hartlepool soon.
Indoor market next? But thats another story.

The high street is dead as far as shops for the english is concerned.
They are all slowly being replaced by asian shops, takeaways, vape shops, turkish barbers etc.
And the whole area around the high street and beyond will be populated by these asians who will turn it into their own high street and the place will thrive!

Well, if we don't finish top, I still fancy us for the playoffs

Stockton went down the pan when the Markets was killed of to satisfy poncey road plans and performance areas for visiting troupes of cultural enlightment groups.
Now it’s a regrettable wind swept open concrete tribute to deluded Councillors ambition.

Wasn’t Stockton Market day all day drinking prior to the new alcohol rules the same as Darlington on a Friday which attracted people to the markets ?

Where are you at 1948…. The Market had bugger all to do with booze.

What’s 1948 got to do with it Snowy, all day drinking wasn’t introduced until 1988 in England but it was allowed on Market Days in Stockton on a Wednesday. I remember when I was working offshore, we had days out in the early 80s when we were on leave.
As usual you can’t wait to have a snipe at me, move on, pick on some one else.

plus what smokin joe said about the current lot and 38 million wasted that very few if anybody wanted. nothing was better than parking in castlegate, walking through the centre and back through what was left with the market in a circle. plenty of other towns would love a situation like that where you were not walking about and passing the same shops multiple times.

I never said it did Snowy albeit on our fortnightly trips to Stockton on a Wednesday the market and the bars were very busy, your sniping again.

I have seen another reason given for train delays.
" delayed due to overcrowding on the train"
Lease some train with more carriages...........like 4 car sets!
As Smoking Joe says we are at the bottom of the piles when it comes to cascade train sets.
This Durham Coast line links the major towns & cities of the north east and it seems like when more capacity is provided it gets filled up as people find train travel more attractive.
Surely a business case for new bigger sets would be financially lucrative.

Travel anywhere around the country and see we are bottom of the pile…..back in the summer got stuck at the level crossing at Bolton le Sands…very busy west coast line…and plenty of trains went past……proper trains, smart trains, comfortable trains……while we have Von Ryan’s Express

Like some of the now redundant TPE units?

But, hold on, who now owns and runs Northern Rail? Time for a Starmer 4-6-0? A deeply grey five? (That's for the Ian Allan readers amongst us)

You talk like everyone went to get razzled on market day and because you’re there getting razzled, you applied your twisted logic and assumed everyone was there to get razzled too.
As for ‘sniping’ …it’s a skill….but anyone could take you down , even an asthmatic with a pea shooter….

Yes I can just imagine Starmer's soot-covered black face, thanging out of a good old Black 5 taking the plaudits whilst his fireman does the back breaking donkey work shovelling like fcuk up the gradient.

Yep its effectively controlled by the government so if this labour government wants to be in power it must stuff money (ie new trains etc etc etc etc) down the gob of the now fickle north east voters to avoid the other options.

TVCA have missed audit deadlines too......interesting.

Ian Allan has had quite a few quid off me down the years…….and my book shelves prove it

Still got mine too!

WH Smith selling and their retail outlets (except railway stations and airports) has me worried in case their new owners concentrate on froth.
Was in Richmond and Catterick at the beginning of November and was in the WHS branch…went in again the next day as the wife was at the Green Howard’s Museum to find the signage had been changed overnight