(08 Feb 2025, 5:46 pm)Storx wrote I'm not 100% sure here, but isn't the X18 North of Alnwick subsidised by NCC - I'm sure it is.
Possible they might have forced to move through to give Denwick and Alnwick Gardens a more frequent service possibly and also to run the same route at the 418.
At least some of the X18 north of Alnwick is NCC funded, but there’s nothing about that in anything I’ve seen. Remember that NCC promote the X18 heavily as a way to see Northumberland, I’d be incredibly surprised if they were the reason behind this change.
Realistically Alnwick Gardens are easily accessible from the current stops at the Playhouse.
(08 Feb 2025, 5:51 pm)DeltaMan wrote Possibly, but given Arriva do the bare minimum to publicise such an obvious tourist route, nobody will tell the difference
I’ve actually seen a fair amount of printed Arriva literature for the X18 recently, dotted about various train stations (they were definitely in Morpeth station last time I was there in November). NCC heavily promote it too.