(31 Jul 2023, 11:23 pm)Rapidsnap wrote There used to be a similar through service, the X4/X14 from Saltburn - Maske - Redcar - Middlesbrough - Darlington - Shildon - Bishop Auckland, however the route suffered reliability issues due to the distance and the service was split at Middlesbrough rather than through works. Then the X14 was axed to bits before being replaced by the X66 between Darlington and Stockton. Only when Go North East came along with the OK1, Arriva decided to improve the X66 between Middlesbrough and Darlington.Most of the improvements to the X66 occurred before and after the brief period the OK1 ran to Boro, increased to a half hourly frequency around 2010 when coaches were put on the service then X67 came along in 2015 after the MAX upgrade a year prior. Only thing that really changed around the time of the OK1 was the allocation from coaches to Omni's which the OK1 may have had an affect on but was also likely down to complaints and legal challenges surrounding the poor accessibility of the coaches on the service.
Here is one of the DAF SB3000 / Plaxton Prima that were used on the service - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...9948527713
As the service got chopped up, it was reduced to using buses, usually a mix of Optare Delta and Optare Prismas, even Leyland Lynxes appeared, managed a Lynx between Bishop Auckland and Darlington, my regret was that I wish I had the time to go to Middlesbrough on it, wouldn't have minded a bit of Lynx thrash along the A66. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...9710740792
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