(12 Jan 2023, 1:07 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Interesting. Thanks.The 1968 United timetable shows the Newcastle - Carlisle service (at that time the 334, previously the 34) as operated by United only. United had a depot at Carlisle and operated several services to the east of the city around Brampton and they also ran a service from Carlisle to Alston.
Amazing how the 685 has continued to be operated by 2 operators for so long. End of an era.
Disappointing there hasn't been a farewell event to mark the occasion. Quite a long history. Sure it was the 1930s it started, and so many years of shared operation.
The 1971 United timetable shows the 334 operated jointly between United and Ribble; obviously Ribble vehicles operating out of Carlisle and United out of Hexham or Newcastle. Sometime between those years United had closed its Carlisle depot and the Brampton and Alston services transferred to Ribble.
Later there was a further transfer of services from Ribble to Cumberland and the United timetable issued immediately before deregulation in 1986 shows the Newcastle - Carlisle service, by then the 685 and variations, as operated by United and Cumberland. Cumberland also operated the Carlisle - Alston and Haltwhistle - Alston services (The Haltwhistle service had been introduced in 1976 following the closure of the Alston railway line and was originally operated by Ribble). and presumably the other services around Brampton.
It's worth keeping an eye on the Timetable World website. Currently there's nothing there to add to what I've already written but new additions are made from time to time.