(22 Aug 2013, 6:59 pm)cbma06 wrote If you turn to the previous page of the booklet you would see that the 602 was extended from Newcastle to (Longbenton?) on dreg day and Newcastle to Long Benton was cancelled Feb 87, I think the 602/604 it was replaced with a service 355/356 or something similar, cant remember the service number otherwise I would have to dig through my papers where ive got the press list of the service changes from Feb 87, Feb 87 was the first time the bus companies were able to change bus services after dereg Oct 86.
The 601/2 ran from Hexham to Killingworth upon the commencement of de-regulation (26/10/86). The Killy extension lasted until the end of January when it was replaced by the 357 between Blaydon and Killy.
Apparently, the reason Blaydon was used as a termini was because Metrocentre wasn't fully established as an interchange yet. Given the time-frame, buses were either using temporary bus station outside of Marks and Spencer or the stops on the A1 approach road outside of Carrefour.