RE: Go North East
The 684 is actually pretty well used from my experience. However, much of the customer base are concessionary pass holders so I'm not convinced it'll actually be making much money. Whether the new incarnations survive beyond trial phase is very uncertain - my guess is they will be remerged into one route and will fall back to hourly between Newcastle and Hexham. I certainly don't see how there will be enough passengers to make an express service only calling at Horsley and Heddon en route viable!