(11 hours ago)Storx wrote Yeah honestly that's pretty much what I'd expect aswell.
Hopefully they see sense and keep some of the E200's for the Solo SR's aswell which at no surprise are as junk as the rest of the Solo's that have ended up at Ashington.
If any E200MMCs are retained, they are intended to remain at Darlington primarily for use on the Dalesbus work (plus the 16 and 18 if they are retained beyond the end of March next year - the 18 can't got electric due to the railway bridge in Albert Hill, same reason the Gas Buses couldn't be used on anything up North Road if they had to divert that way). I believe the cascade plan sees them move to Yorkshire for Wakefield to replace their short E200s - which are knackered (and have the shitty ZF AS Tronic Semi-Automatic Gearbox fitted).
Ashington will be fine once proper engineers have been sourced and trained - they currently have engineers from various depots on-loan to sort out the mess.