Very helpful!Yep you're right - the 0602 9A was a yellow B10BLE, most likely the one you saw at about 8am if it's around a two-hour round trip.
Wanted to get the X3 tonight for a change. I was hoping to catch the 16:35 from Eldon Square, but couldn't have made it there or to Gateshead in time, but the Metro managed to "catch up" at Heworth.
What a palava at Heworth though. Been a couple of years since I've been at Heworth to catch a bus, and didn't even know which side to come out of when I climbed up from the Metro. Got outside, it was dark and I didn't have a clue which stand was mine and by the looks of it all the stands have been changed and refurbished. There was an almighty queue just to the left at Stand D, so I asked a guy at the end if the X3 stopped here (I didn't fancy or have time to check all the stands). He said it used to but couldn't say for certain now. An M1 pulled in and the queue went down a fair bit. Turns out the X3 does stop there, but I just couldn't believe how many people were queuing at this stand, when Stand C just further up was completely empty. It was just chaos.
I was rather chuffed when a Vyking came, can't remember the fleet number for the life of me though. Already fully-seated downstairs and by the time we left Heworth there was around 12 of us upstairs. Glad to see there's no immediate plans for it's withdrawal, but I don't think it can be guaranteed like what GNE have said there in Openline - cheers cbma06!