Saturday August 28th 2010 ~ Beer Cheer

Almost at the end of a long day, our charming lady chauffeur stops for a photo with 37570 arranged by Stuart Montgomery.

37160 and 37576 pose for the X1 blog at Great Yarmouth Caister Road this morning. DS

Peterborough Beer Festival is always a good excuse for a trip on the X1. Today I found myself with a contingent of friends at Wisbech bus station to board the 10.18 to Peterborough (L9). This arrived slightly late with 37158. There were a large number of passengers to join the already sizeable number on board. To add to the delay the driver had to activate the wheelchair ramp and in this, it must be said, he was very quick and courteous to the man involved. We  eventually departed at 10.26, ten minutes late via Nene Quay and were blessed with an almost clear road all the way to Eye. With no further passengers to pick up we passed Guyhirn in 11 minutes 22 seconds, Thorney Toll in 16 minutes dead and were at Thorney Fish & Chip Shop in 21 minutes 50, the temporary lights outside the village having been disengaged for the weekend. We came to a stand in a queue for the Eye Green roundabout after 27 minutes. Here we lost about 2 minutes due to the crazy rearranged approach to the island which now reserves the left lane for Eye only. This must be frustrating for X1 drivers. We proceeded via Dogsthorpe and Bourges Boulevard and were deposited at the rail station at approximately 11.06 before the service went on to Queensgate. Considering 37158 is limited to 50mph, the driver made a tremendous effort to keep the schedule and deserves high praise for his overall performance in handling the high volume of passengers and the quality of his driving.
Our return was made on the 20.10 to Lowestoft (L8) with 37570. Our lady chauffeur enquired where we had been and we made her aware which she was quite amused about. This was another fine example of driving and the higher maximum speed and superior acceleration of 37570 was immediately obvious. The diversion coming in to Wisbech was taken via Weasenham Lane. So two excellent X1 trips and a credit to the drivers concerned.

37567 at Norwich Bus Station today running as K4 11.50 to Lowestoft. I'm sure that lady driver looks familiar (see above). Photo from Grahame Bessey.

The Norwich sun shines on 37563 as it departs on K16 11.25 to Peterborough. Photo by Grahame.

Bruce kept an eye on things in my absence and although the day began as an all low floor affair, 37160 was taken off Y7 at Lynn and 20514 deputised as the 11.32 to Lowestoft and return. Des who was driving K3 had 37159 in place of the Paragon.