Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help with a few things. I've been thinking a lot about the Bygone Era lately, particularly the Go-Ahead Northern era which was by far my favourite. I've been watching a few videos on the Busflix Films channel on YouTube which has brought back a few memories and got me thinking about some of the old Washington bus services that I used to travel on or see as a kid.

Does anyone have any Timetables for the following services that ran in the early 90s please: -

1) Services 177/8. I'm sure these ran on Evenings and Sundays around the whole of Washington including Barmston where I live,although I'm not sure of the full route. I'm sure these services were replaced by the "Orange Mini-Link Route" usually with the number 602, which is now more or less the current 83/4 route. They were usually operated by the Dodge/Renault and or Iveco minibuses

2) Service X83 Sunderland - Washington - MetroCentre?

3) Service X89 - Brady Sq - Washington - Heworth - Newcastle

4) Calvary Coaches service 380 as seen here on Busflix: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxrchFqjats&list=PLH8KK8FsudUjn3f7Tl6Qj8S0K-r60WXSC&index=10 at around 6:57 Don't think I ever used this service but I remember seeing it.

5) Service 594 as seen here in the White/Blue/Red National on the same video as above at 3:26. I don't seem to recall this service at all

Finally this is probably a daft question as you can't see the fleet or reg nos but does anyone recognise the Leyland National (In same video in link above) at around 1:19/1:20? I didn't look for fleet numbers when I was a kid but I recognise it by its adverts on the side and on the back. I'm sure no other Nationals in Washington had the side adverts at the time and I'm pretty sure this had a white front bumper at the time too. I'm certain it was a FTN XXXW reg. This was my favourite National and it was regularly on the 291/2 in around 1990/1. Used to get on this one a few times and I always thought it was the smartest in the fleet.

Thanks a lot! 

(06 Jun 2020, 7:11 pm)Washingtonian wrote Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help with a few things. I've been thinking a lot about the Bygone Era lately, particularly the Go-Ahead Northern era which was by far my favourite. I've been watching a few videos on the Busflix Films channel on YouTube which has brought back a few memories and got me thinking about some of the old Washington bus services that I used to travel on or see as a kid.

Does anyone have any Timetables for the following services that ran in the early 90s please: -

1) Services 177/8. I'm sure these ran on Evenings and Sundays around the whole of Washington including Barmston where I live,although I'm not sure of the full route. I'm sure these services were replaced by the "Orange Mini-Link Route" usually with the number 602, which is now more or less the current 83/4 route. They were usually operated by the Dodge/Renault and or Iveco minibuses

2) Service X83 Sunderland - Washington - MetroCentre?

3) Service X89 - Brady Sq - Washington - Heworth - Newcastle

4) Calvary Coaches service 380 as seen here on Busflix: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxrchFqjats&list=PLH8KK8FsudUjn3f7Tl6Qj8S0K-r60WXSC&index=10 at around 6:57 Don't think I ever used this service but I remember seeing it.

5) Service 594 as seen here in the White/Blue/Red National on the same video as above at 3:26. I don't seem to recall this service at all

Finally this is probably a daft question as you can't see the fleet or reg nos but does anyone recognise the Leyland National (In same video in link above) at around 1:19/1:20? I didn't look for fleet numbers when I was a kid but I recognise it by its adverts on the side and on the back. I'm sure no other Nationals in Washington had the side adverts at the time and I'm pretty sure this had a white front bumper at the time too. I'm certain it was a FTN XXXW reg. This was my favourite National and it was regularly on the 291/2 in around 1990/1. Used to get on this one a few times and I always thought it was the smartest in the fleet.

Thanks a lot! 

Wasn’t service 177/178 operated by Ok Travel in the late 80’s with minibuses , Washington-Chester-Houghton-Hall lane estate.

X83 went Sunderland-Houghton-Washington-Metrocentre Saturday Only , if I remember correctly it was either 2 or 3 journeys


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(07 Jun 2020, 7:28 am)cbma06 wrote Wasn’t service 177/178 operated by Ok Travel in the late 80’s with minibuses , Washington-Chester-Houghton-Hall lane estate.

X83 went Sunderland-Houghton-Washington-Metrocentre Saturday Only , if I remember correctly it was either 2 or 3 journeys


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Thanks for your reply. Yeah there were services 177/8 that ran between Hall Lane Estate - Houghton - Chester le Street, which I'm sure Ok Travel initailly ran but was then taken over by Northern. There is a timetable for that service on this Bygone Era section: - https://www.northeastbuses.co.uk/bygone/...th1997.jpg There definitely was 177/8 services in Washington too though which ran Evenings and Sundays. I've looked for a copy of an old Tyne & Wear bus Map for Washington from 1990 and have seen an image of the front cover on google. The 177/8 are definitely on there as well as the other services I mentioned. However, after doing quite a bit of searching I can only find the image of the front cover and can't seem to find any timetables anywhere.

Yeah I think you are right about the X83. I seem to remember it running only a few journies. I think it was more or less an express version of the 183.

594 was the competition service set up by Go Ahead Northern against the Calvary Coaches service 294. The 594 though for some reason was operated by South Shields depot as opposed to the Washington depot. The Calvary 294 obviously came jnto operation initially when Go Ahead Northern had the major strike which stopped operation at all depots and lots of independent operators came into service on Northern routes so that the public were not left stranded. Another service I can remember from this time would have been OK Travel operating the 194 and Favourite Services operated the old X5 from Newcastle but not sure if went all the way to Hartlepool, but seeing as Favourite operated in Hartlepool it may well have done.

(08 Jun 2020, 7:17 am)ifm001 wrote 594 was the competition service set up by Go Ahead Northern against the Calvary Coaches service 294.  The 594 though for some reason was operated by South Shields depot as opposed to the Washington depot. The Calvary 294 obviously came jnto operation initially when Go Ahead Northern had the major strike which stopped operation at all depots and lots of independent operators came into service on Northern routes so that the public were not left stranded.  Another service I can remember from this time would have been OK Travel operating the 194 and Favourite Services operated the old X5 from Newcastle but not sure if went all the way to Hartlepool, but seeing as Favourite operated in Hartlepool it may well have done.

Thanks very much for the info. Yeah I would have thought the 594 would have been operated by Washington depot, but now knowing it was operated by South Shields explains why they were on the white and blue nationals. Do you know if the 594 ran the exact same route as the Calvary Coaches 294 or did it serve any additional places? I can remember that major strike across the company too, and I seem to remember Busways operating some services too, such as the 185.

Sorry for not responding sooner, but I've found the following for services 177/178 in the October '76 Sunderland District booklet.

(09 Jun 2020, 3:43 pm)Adrian wrote Sorry for not responding sooner, but I've found the following for services 177/178 in the October '76 Sunderland District booklet.

Thanks Adrian . Yes this looks familiar to what I remember and this confirms what I thought about them being circular routes around Washington. For some reason I thought they'd went to Rickleton, Lambton and Ayton too. I think these services must have only ran on the Evenings and Sundays in the 90s as I remember the daytime minilink services being Orange, Blue and Green and numbered between 2 and 6 I think. Later on I believe the 2-6 were renumbered W1-W6 and the 177/8 were renumbered W7 and W8.

Thanks for again for taking the time to help out. Its very much appeciated!

Wasn't sure where to put this.

But decided on this one. 

https://fb.watch/aXjY2FudK5/ 

Calvary Coaches?

Does anybody have a proper GNE X1/X2 timetable circa 2008 in pdf format i could use please?
Preferably before the X3 joined the Red Arrows Brand.

(26 Feb 2022, 9:07 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote Does anybody have a proper GNE X1/X2 timetable circa 2008 in pdf format i could use please?
Preferably before the X3 joined the Red Arrows Brand.

Just seen this message - drop me a message if you're still looking for this.  I've got proper GNE pdfs from Oct 2007 (X1/X2 but pdf doesn't have branding) and Oct 2008 (X1-X2-X3 Red Arrows branded).  Also found a pdf of an Oct 2007 bus briefing with a feature on X1/X2 this time with Red Arrows branding.

(26 Feb 2022, 9:07 pm)ASX_Terranova wrote Does anybody have a proper GNE X1/X2 timetable circa 2008 in pdf format i could use please?
Preferably before the X3 joined the Red Arrows Brand.

X1/X2/X3 from around 2009, I think.

(09 Mar 2022, 7:20 am)MurdnunoC wrote X1/X2/X3 from around 2009, I think.

Unfortunatley i need the one from when the X1 ran to peterlee on a sunday only.