(05 Apr 2018, 4:20 am)Andreos1 I can't remember the 27 operating via Old Durham Road, but can remember the 51/52 going via Sunderland Road. For a period, seemingly operated only by Mk1 Metrobuses.
I can remember the 27 operating along Durham Road between Gateshead and Dryden Road, prior to it shifting to Prince Consort Road. Never quite understood the change and why that was the service picked to go along past the library etc.
The early 2000's was my lost period for public transport, but if I remember right, the 27 had been played about with quite a bit leading up to that period.
An extension to Shields to replace the 527 came about I think and that could have tied in with the period around the Shields depot closure.
I seem to remember there was also a period where the 51/52 stopped operating along Easedale Gardens to/from Wrekenton and I think that was mid/late 90's. May have been slightly earlier.
That was a different version of the 27 - a shortened number of the 527 which probably meant the other version of the 27 had been withdrawn by then. There was no direct lineage between the two routes. The 87 (Fellgate Estate - Jarrow Hebburn - Lukes Lane - Heworth - Q.E. - Newcastle) replaced the route of the 527 via the QE, Deckham and Shipcote which allowed the 27 to operate direct via Sunderland Road to allow a quicker journey time to Newcastle from South Shields, Jarrow and Hebburn. The 87 was replaced partially by the 67 (which also partially replaced the 77, and, in turn, the 777 and 183).
This version of the 27 commenced from around 1982 onwards (when buses were curtailed to terminate at Gateshead due to the Metro). It originally operated from Gateshead Metro, along Durham Road, up Beacon Lough Road and Easedale Gardens, through Wrekenton and Springwell Estate, up Wealcroft to Fewster Square, then down Colegate and High Heworth Lane to Heworth Metro. The 25 originally served Dryden Road but the routes of the 25 and 27 were switched sometime in the 1990s, and the 27 was revised to operate via Dryden Road between Shipcote and Beacon Lough Road. The 27 was eventually withdrawn and the route was partially absorbed by the 51/52.
I have timetables in the house and I'll share them when I get the opportunity.
EDIT: Found this online for the old 27 dated
28th February 2004
Also timetable for the 648 dated
30th January 2005 and 649 dated
5th October 2004.
And the original routes of the 51/52 dated
28th February 2004.
So later than I originally guessed.
