They SWAPPED the Yellow and Green Lines

Let's take a look at that weird time where, for the span of a few years, the lines of the Tyne and Wear Metro were swapped over from how they can be found today, a time when you could take the yellow line straight to... Sunderland?

[@MarkHewitt1978]

Shows how long since I've regularly used the Metro. As far as I knew the 2002 configuration was still in place!

[@simonbone]

Chicago did something similar in 1993, swapping line ends around to create the Lake-Englewood-Jackson Park and Howard-Dan Ryan lines. IIRC, this had much to do with balancing ridership, as the two ends of what became the Ho-DaR line were more popular.

[@lummatravel]

People from Sunderland didn't really want to get on a train that said St. James on the front too

[@edificity]

Ha, fair play

[@T4U_NE]

There is still a station with this map being used on platform 1 (Or atleast there was last month) Pretty sure it was Millfield

[@tetriform]

Things like this would be great for an iceberg video about the Metro, have you considered doing one of those?

[@MichaelGraham21]

I thought it was done because the Sunderland extension didn't really get the numbers they'd hoped and they wanted to improve the frequency of services on the loop which contained the stations that were used the most so they switched it and altered the timetable

[@justcomments335]

As somebody who recently wanted to travel directly from Newcastle Airport to South Shields, I can't help wishing they had kept it as it was, but as ever, I enjoyed your exploration.

[@lummatravel]

It's still easier to travel from South Shields to the Airport than say Byker or Whitley Bay where you'd have to change platforms somewhere

[@raxsavvage]

didn't even notice

[@TWMfan]

Another thing I would like to mention that has been configured is how Meadow Well used to be named Smith’s park. Is there any reason for it being changed?

[@edificity]

I believe the area was redeveloped after the riots in the early 90s, and that's when Royal Quays was built. The name was changed then to reflect the development as far as I'm aware...

[@TWMfan]

@@edificity Thanks! I think it would be a good video idea to talk about the various Stations added and how names were changed. 👍

[@edificity]

@@TWMfan Oh that's somewhere on my list... Like Gateshead Stadium being planned as Old Fold of course. I'll have a look at proposed stations that were never built as well.

[@simonbone]

@@edificity They were planning to call it "Old Fold" because the name "900 Metres from Gateshead Stadium" didn't fit.

[@TheUntypicals]

​@@edificitythe Royal Quays is under new ownership as of last week :)

[@Tez_Thorn1405]

Yes back in 2005 they swapped the lines, no idea why, Simonside opened in 2008

[@FozzQuaker]

Im wondering, is there anywhere in the country where you can get a direct train from a station associated with a Football Club to another Station associated with a football club who also each claim to be each others no.1 rivalry... I am of course referring to Stadium of Light to St James

[@edificity]

Oooh that's interesting, I'll have to look into that

[@caramelldansen2204]

:)