(08 Apr 2023, 12:02 am)mb134 wrote ADC need new deckers much much more than Ashington need 6 year old MMCs replacing...I would like to see some new deckers at Durham County but I can't see it any time soon, think best we can hope for is yet more cascades from Northumbria.
The allocation of the E400s is, much like the Blyth/Walkergate situation, nowhere near that strict either. All decker boards are E400, on paper there's literally no differentiation between the 14 plates, 64 plates, 15 plate, 17 plates and 72 plates in an allocation sense. The MMCs will be allocated to the Morpeth express routes ahead of the older E400s, which are more likely to find themselves on the 35, but that's about it.
To some extents, a decker order may be better for the Blyth to Newcastle routes and the like as they'd likely be used all day, every day whilst Durham County (subject to allocations on the day) generally don't put deckers out on an evening or on Sundays, certainly Darlington at least, X93/X94 is about the only decker service that does. I also question more and more if Belmont services really need as many deckers as they do and wonder if most journeys on the likes of the X46 could cope with Pulsar's, naturally still need deckers for the morning peak from Stanhope to Framwellgate Moor (X46 may be a case of being like the Langley Park 20's and X5/X15 where it has light loadings off peak but gets rammed with schools/peak traffic?)