(12 Nov 2023, 12:07 am)Storx wrote Shame to see up there, to be honest. Used always to be quite ahead especially for the size of the city.

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Yeah totally agreed, investing in some singles for the X4/5/5A at Stockton and Redcar would go a long way in getting arid of most of the Temsa's as they're desperate for something better, then a batch of deckers and/or singles - probably a mix for Darlington to replace their Streetlites on the 1/5 and 6 at Durham and move the Streetlite's to Ashington to replace the Pulsars then upgrade other routes such as the 2 at Darlington, 63 at Redcar, 8/9 at Stockton, 15 at Stockton to pick a few that could be done. They all definitely deserve an upgrade with the Pulsars going onto the X2/X3/64 at Redcar.

Would make a good innings at getting arid of everything for a few year and give a few flagship routes some much needed investment which they desperately need. Could start making inroads on the 09 Pulsars which some are looking extremely tired aswell and would give everyone a share for some investment.

At risk of getting massively off topic and somehow getting onto a Coast Road suggestion, and I'm aware it's fantasy land, but just to show what you could do with an order of bang on 100 vehicles over the next couple of years and spreading the investment over (nearly) all the depots:

Redcar/Whitby: 
21x B8RLE Evora:

• 21 for the 18 X3/X4 boards. 
  
• The 14 Streetlites at Redcar currently would be moved to the 63 for the 13 boards on there. 
  
• 1584-1589 from Darlington, for the 62 and 81. 
  
• This would allow for the withdrawal of all Temsas and Pulsars currently at Redcar, and give an allocation of 41 single decks for a PVR of 37. 
  
• The 5x Redcar Pulsars would move to Durham, replacing the remaining E200s there. 
  

3x 8.9m E200 MMC: 

• To replace the remaining Solo's at Whitby.  
  

7x E400 MMC:

• To replace 7401-6 on the X93. 
  
• The 2 spares over the winter would allow for greater rotation, but also would mean that there is still 1 spare MMC in the summer vs the PVR. 
  
• 7401-6 would be retained for the X94 and P1/2, as 7424-6 and 7609/10 are now, and spread across Redcar/Darlington/Durham over the winter as required to cover for repaints/refurbishments/long term VORs. 
  
• 7424-6 withdrawn, 7609/10 sent to Durham. 
  

Stockton: 
20x B8RLE Evora: 

• For the 5, and their X12/X22/X66 boards (total PVR of 18)
  
• Allows for withdrawal of all of their 09 plate Pulsars, and 1441-3 into reserve. 
  

Darlington:
12x B8RLE Evora:

• To replace their remaining 6x 09 plate Pulsars, and allow 1584-9 to transfer to Redcar. 
  
• This would fully cover their 11x single decker X26/66/75 boards (believe they currently have one X26 decker board).
  

Durham:
16x E400MMC:

• Withdrawal of remaining 6 B7TLs, 7510/11/12/4-7/21. 
  
• Allows 7523/39 to go to Darlington to replace 7518/9.
  

7609/10 coming in allows for the withdrawal of 1412/3 as the last two 09 plate Pulsars at Durham, and increasing the amount of deckers.

Blyth: 
21x E400MMC:

• Withdrawal of 7501-7/9.
  
• Transfer of 7556 to Darlington to replace 7520.
  
• Transfer of 1500-1505 to Ashington for the 57/57A.
  
• Transfer of 7522/4-6 to Ashington to replace 7557/8/60/62, for withdrawal. 
  
• 1463/1543 into reserve. 
  

In summary:

• All 09 plate Pulsars gone. 
  
• All 57/58/09 plate E400s gone (+7510).
  
• All B7TLs gone. 
  
• All Solos gone. 
  
• All non-MMC E200s gone. 
  
• Heavy duty single deckers onto the demanding routes at Redcar, and the 'X' routes at Stockton (plus the 5) and Darlington. 
  
• Increase in decker capacity at Durham. 
  
• Better X93/4 and P1/2 allocation. 
  

I think that shows the scale of investment needed to get the fleet into a decent condition, but also how it's absolutely going to need to be spread out rather than focusing just on one depot.