(27 Jan 2026, 9:01 pm)PH - BQA wrote I think I'd be going with something like the below, purely because the Streetlites are completely incapable of doing any of the express work in this part of the region but can handle the town work further south. Fully aligned on what needs to be baked bean tins by the end of the year though.
Ashington:
X18 (16 boards): 16x new E400s
X20/30 (6 boards): 7563-7568
X21/22 (15 boards): 7541-7552, 7569-7571
35 (5 boards): 7401-7405
1/2 (8 boards): 1512-1519
57/A (5 boards): 1500-1504
434 (1 board): 3052
Spare (7): 1505, 3051, 7406, 7572-7575
Blyth:
X7/8/10/11 (18 boards): 7616/7/20-25/28-37
306/308 (14 boards): 9x new E400s, 7576/7, 7522/4/5
X9 (5 boards): 7529-33
553 (1 board): 1499
43/44/45 (14 boards): 14x BYD
Spare (6): 7526-8, 7553/4/6.
Out:
1574-83 (excl. 1579/80) to replace Pulsars in ADC - indirectly swapped for 1514-9.
57/58-plate E400s - Withdrawn
59-plate DB300s - Withdrawn
09/59/10-plate Pulsars - Withdrawn
Functional (I'd honestly limit this to 1479 and the Blyth ones - the Ashington interurban ones are dogs) 61-plate Pulsars to ADC to replace any outstanding 09/59/10-plates.
Then look to replace the 61-plate DB300s within the next couple of years, I'd think you could possibly replace the X7-11 allocation with electrics?
Aye not too dissimilar, just the Streetlite's for me I'm not sure I agree. Think they'd actually be useful for the 1/2/57/57A as they're pretty piss easy routes really. The short base ones are a complete headache aswell and would be suited for the 57/57A - I'd assume they'd be able to scrape around the 434 aswell if a decker can do it when the Solo SR's break (as usual). They can always do the 35 aswell when 7401-6 are off the road as there's not a cat hell in chance they'll be in service for more than a week.
Not many places down South where there's going to be town work free really; since the electrics and I'd assume some of the new singles at Stockton are going to take a fair chunk of it out and they'd be horrid on the likes of the 28/29 or X25/X26 or what not. The newer Pulsar's would be decent little workers for those for a few years though and replacements for the X12 aswell since there's nothing due for Durham bar the electrics - as far as I'm aware.