Thursday 24th December 2009 ~ Christmas Eve Coaches

Christmas will be far from happy for poor old 20109 shown here, a blown engine means it is unlikely to return to traffic. Thanks to Jamie V for the seasonal adjustments !

Probably the last Christmas Eve where coach travel will be possible on the X1. Today 20126 continued to deputise on Y7 and it's been mentioned before I'm sure, but it is interesting how this coach has always been unique in some way. When it was repainted a couple of years back, the Barbie pink gave way to the normal Excel livery, but in this case the white area at the front was much larger than on the other B10Ms treated, thus making it easily identifiable from a distance. 20126 is spending Christmas at King's Lynn following its arrival tonight.

37563 deigned to put in an appearance last night when it worked the last part of K17. This morning it was despatched from Lynn on K18, but adblu problems saw it replaced at Lowestoft by our old friend 20107. This did the afternoon trip to Peterborough and should end up at Yarmouth tonight. No signs of 20102 or 20500/1 at Lynn yet, although they are supposed to be allocated here. X1 work seems unlikely to feature in their future though as rumours are that they will be strictly kept for rail replacement work. What a waste !!

Sam and Michael have been keeping an eye on the X2 as usual and report 37569 doing the 12.08 ex Lowestoft on Tuesday. It has not been seen subsequently on either X1 or X2s. Yesterday there was a debut for a B7 when 37157 was reported by Sam in the afternoon.

With all five B7s now on the road (37156 made its debut in last Friday's snow) they are now a regular sight on the X1. Minus points though are there smaller fuel tanks and apparently poor heating which has resulted in passenger complaints. Today 37156 was Y13, 37157 was L11, 37158 didn't appear but was last seen at Lowestoft, 37159 was L8 and 37160 was at King's Lynn.

It is interesting that 20107 was used on K18 this afternoon when in theory, 34108, 37158 and 37569 should all have been candidates.

To balance an early shutdown this evening, K17 and K19 terminated at Lowestoft and Y6 and L8 at King's Lynn. Thick fog around Wisbech was an added hazard this evening and 37568 on L10 was 8 late, a slight improvement on its 15 late at lunchtime. Otherwise timekeeping today seemed very good.

Chance now to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and thanks for your continued support. Gerard