(16 Jan 2016, 7:40 pm)DaveyBowyer wrote Well, knowing Arriva and their mix / match allocations, although not all of the 57 plate Sapphires at Ashington aren't complete and utter wrecks although there are some, I think that Arriva would most likely end up buying a whole new set of deckers for the 7 (10 required) if the 7 went fully double deck anytime soon with:
- 7534 to 7537 alongside 7540 transferring to Ashington meaning that the X21 / X22 would end up running with 7x 14 plate E40Ds, 5x 15 plate E40Ds, 1x 09 plate E40D and 2x 57 plate E40Ds with 2x or 3x 57 plates being kept as spare with the rest either going scrap, being sent around the country or staying in the region but moving to Darlo / Belmont as spares (although the 7 does have some low bridges where the full height E40D might not manage to get through according to Kuyoyo).
I can hardly see Arriva sending roughly 8-yr-old double-deckers, that have also been refurbished, for scrap, when they currently have many double-deckers running around at about 15-yrs-old!