(18 May 2022, 8:19 pm)Andreos1 wrote From memory, there was a shift in the vehicle allocation elsewhere due to withdrawals.Wasnt there a 22 to kibblesworth when they had the pink angel buses?
With those withdrawals, the vehicles allocated to the Durham Road locals were sent elsewhere.
That coupled with the obsession with the 21 series saw the real end to them all.
Not sure if you know the routes or not, but in their classic guise, they all went along Durham Road and then diverted off at various points en route when heading away from Gateshead.
The 27 turned left off Durham Road on to Dryden Road.
The 24 turned right down towards Chowdene and then came back on to Durham Road at Harlow Green.
The 25 turned left at Harlow Green towards Wrekenton.
The 28 turned right at the same point and continued down past what is now Sainsburys.
The 26 continued all the way along through Birtley and turned left at Barley Mow shops, navigated its way through and emerged on to Vigo Lane, turning right opposite Maxwells and heading back towards Birtley.
But history wise, the 24 to Allerdene was amalgamated and combined with the 25 to Wrekenton and persisted on and off for a while - prior to them tacking it on to the 1 and now the 25 and soon to the be the 1 again. They used pink fronted Presidents at one point!
The 26 ended up being replaced in part by the 721 (which already existed and by diverting the 777 which had terminated in Chester, before being altered completely and sent to Newcastle).
They ended up avoiding Dorset Avenue completely in the end. Too many parked cars apparently. Quite why residents would buy cars instead of using public transport is beyond me. Maybe it was the price? Maybe it's because the buses didn't take them to the places they needed to be!
The original 27 was replaced by merging it with the 51/52 (removing some links which existed and were unique to the the 51/52 and have still to be replaced). That revised 51/52 eventually merged in to the Q1/Q2 and then ended up being the 51/52 again.
The original 28 has kicked around under various guises since it went.
Think it was included as a variation of the 1 at one stage. The current 29 is possibly the closest to what was the 28.
RE: Go North East: Major Service Changes July 2022