(03 Aug 2014, 8:30 am)Greg in Weardale wrote G16/G18 WMS, short Alexander bodied Olympians, came from Northern where they were G376/377 TCN - G16 had been a Sunderland vehicle and possibly in Wear Buses livery once, don't know about G18. G18 stayed in Northern red/blue whilst at Weardale and was a heap of s**t; I had it up dale on the Cowshill run in winter 2009/10 because they said it was tatty and didn't matter if it got battered in the ice and snow. G16, in Weardale colours, which I had for two years was a lovely bus, my favourite vehicle ever, but then they sent it to Consett. But that's now been scrapped .... I should have bought it for preservation.
Used to ride them regularly when they were new on the Gateshead Durham Road services.
They were swapped with Metrobuses and ended up on the West Gateshead services, regularly doing cross Gateshead (hills, hills and more hill) runs, which possibly lead to them being knackered.
I knew they had disappeared, but wasn't aware until fairly recently that it was a depot swap.
Can't ever remember them at Sunderland, but that isn't to say they weren't there.