(17 Feb 2025, 8:55 pm)Storx wrote Obviously it's about time to talk about it since it's been open long enough.

Does anyone know how the Ashington expresses are fairing at the Ashington end since the opening?

I don't tend to see them often at the Ashington end, but my observations of them at the Gosforth/Newcastle end are largely unchanged from beforehand. I see the 0601 X21 daily, and it is always carrying a healthy load by Regent Centre. Equally the 0705 X21 from Newcastle is always fairly healthy. 

On Thursday afternoon I saw the 16:40 X22 leaving Newcastle with a very healthy load, equal to what I'd have expected to see. 

As with the remarks beforehand, those services are designed to serve a far larger set of journeys than Ashington to Newcastle, inclusive of many local hops which the train is simply unable to serve, and inclusive of settlements which are nowhere near a train line which only goes to the centre of one of the four Northumbrian towns which it serves.