Tuesday 19th August 2008 ~ All is Calm

20502 - An example to us all !

The Paragons (or Volvo B12s if you prefer) have now been in service on the route for over 6 years and not surprisingly most have run up some phenomenal mileages. 20501 for example has totted up around 79,000 miles so far this year (127000km). An exact forecast of total mileages since new is difficult since originally they were fitted with conventional speedos but following breakages, most if not all, now have wheel hub devices. 20502 has had an exceptional year but had its speedo changed in July. In the year April 07-08 it acheived 131,000 miles. Today it had a rare day off for attention to its tacho and headlights and Lynn still manged to despatch a full compliment of coaches on the X1 without the need to downgrade and use a Scania. The last Paragon to be repainted was 20509 which re-entered service on February 1st 2007. Only 20500/01/07/09 were dealt with and the rest remain in original condition. Some like 20506 are looking very battered now. When new, all the B12s had route destinations above the windows but today only 20501 retains a full set and the rest look positively untidy. What the future holds for them is unclear, but they have certainly paid for themselves on the Peterborough/Lowestoft route.

Peter said he wished he'd had his camera this morning as he witnessed 20120 on the first turn off Lynn (K5) overtaking Great Western 0-6-2 tank 5643 in a layby near Thorney. That was about the sum of the excitement today, but there was some pretty dire timekeeping. The 16.01 Wisbech - Peterborough (K1) with 20126 was 12 late, the 16.31 near enough time, but then K4 17.01 with 20503 contrived to be exactly 30 late with 20504 on the following K6 17.31 only 3 minutes behind and consequently 3 late ! Earlier 20141 on the 12.48 Peterborough - Lowestoft (Y14) left Wisbech 19 down with surely the unluckiest of the Lynn lady drivers ? - she always seems to get delayed. On the positive side 20121 managed to complete J10 diagram today without incident, this starts with the 06.40 Gorleston - Peterborough and finishes early at King's Lynn at 18.24.