(2 hours ago)PH - BQA wrote I'm assuming the 6 "brand new" to Ashington extras you're referring to are the same as the ones I've heard, in which case I worry the 35 might see yet another decline in service reliability given how often those things are VOR. 

7401-06 I take it?

Whilst they've had more than a hard shift on the X93/X94 (arguably worse than 7453-56 on the 518/X18 and 6043-48 on the X9/X10) - GNE still use 6043-48 on the hilly 47 despite them previously getting hammered on the X9/X10, doing the 10/10A/10B and still having to cover for the gutless 5 litre tinpot hairdryers that GNE thought would be a good idea on the X9/X10

The 35 whilst having a few fast sections and the climb out of Morpeth, is quite a local route. No worse than the X5/X15 or 16/16A which are running on ex London / Lothian / GAG rubbish and have the hill climbs to contend with around Durham & Derwentside