(1 hour ago)PH - BQA wrote To be fair, if looked after properly, they're absolutely fine to be making up the numbers on the X21/22 and X10/11. 7530 is the main issue out of those, an absolute shed. 

Realistically, if Ashington have 19x new E400s and the 15x 72-plates then that covers all X18/20 boards with 12 to spare. If the B9s are on the 35, then you'd only have to wheel out 4 E400s per day for the X21/22 should all MMCs be available. 

On your earlier Blyth comment, I'm wondering if the 59-plate DB300s are now somewhat tactically being retained given GNEs Coast Road agreement withdrawal. Make Blyth fully decker, and keep a small surplus should a PVR increase be on the cards? Then replace the DB300s wholesale once they know the score.

To be fair, one part of me says Arriva could go all out and re-claim. The other, there's a lot of dead mileage involved especially for any run on's / offs in Tynemouth or Newcastle - unless Arriva can reliably form interworking patterns with other Blyth services at the Newcastle end asides from the 308.

I wonder if some BSIP could be involved in a frequency re-increase given that other 'goldmine' routes have benefited from this such as Stagecoach's 1 and GNE's 21.