Also not yet mentioned, although strictly not North East based but related, is the conversion of one of the Carlisle 685 turns to double decker operation during school term from today (as reported on various regional Facebook groups). 18326 is working the second of their two turns:

0705, 1215, 1730 from Carlisle
0945, 1445, 1955 from Newcastle

All posting about this has mentioned that, pending the hopeful arrival of a more suitable specification decker next month, the likely allocated decker for the turn will be 19144 - returning it to its original home city on trips.