12th September 2012 - 15th September 2012 ~ Fans, demisters and adblu !

On  Wednesday a minor water main leak at Walpole Highway which had first surfaced last Thursday was attended to and three way traffic lights were installed adding a few minutes to some X1 journeys. 37156 was used on K5-XL11 for the third consecutive day for some reason. Punctuality was good except for K18-XL05 which is getting a bit of a reputation for delays in the afternoon. This time 37568 was running 12 late through Wisbech in each direction. It was followed by 37160 on K19-XL06 which passed me going to Peterborough at 15.19, a minute early and with only three passengers due to its proximity to the preceding service. K19 had begun the day with 37576 but 37160 took over at 14.45.
At teatime 37564 on K4-XL10 westbound was 15 late largely due to congestion into Wisbech and later 37570 on L8-XL14 staggered into Lynn from Swaffham at much reduced speed because of engine derate caused by a lack of adblue. 37569 which had arrived in Lynn on Y7-XL13, the first terminator, replaced it on the 18.50 to Peterborough. L12-XL18 20.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough was seen departing from the Pullover roundabout 10 late this evening with 37564 being driven at a surprisingly leisurely pace.
Thursday seemed to be the quietest day of the week. L8-XL14 09.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough managed to evade the collective stares of Bruce and myself, but was noted coming back on time. It may have run slightly early or travelled light to Peterborough. Either way Y9-XL15 09.45 ex King's Lynn had every seat taken when it departed Wisbech, mind you this is always a popular service. L11-XL17 with 37577 was 7 late from Wisbech on the 11.18 to Peterborough, but it was later seen at Guyhirn returning empty 'not in service' running about 20 minutes late. 37575 joined 37571 (demisters) and 37563 (MOT) off the road today. May be it will have the noisy fan fixed. Several of the B7s are now running quieter, although 37157 seems to be noisy most of the time, may be because it is always in service, or so it seems.
At last a Friday where the timetable could be believed. After a couple of weeks where heavy traffic had made running to time impossible, today was much better. Only two diagrams ran over 10 minutes late, L11-XL17 with 37159 was 6 late to Peterborough but 19 late coming back and K15-XL02 had 37570 23 minutes later than its 13.18 advertised departure westbound from Wisbech, but a slightly better 19 late returning to Lowestoft.
Bruce saw 37573 on Y13-XL19 being followed into King's Lynn from the Hardwick by 37563 which had passed its MOT. Later 37563 was back on the road replacing 37578 on K4-XL10 and another swap was Y6-XL12 having 37564 replaced by 37579 after the latter had completed K5-XL11.
Michael reports a Palatine standing in on the X2 on three consecutive days this week, it was 34156 on at least one occasion, while 20115 was standing in on a Bernard Matthews contract last night.
I enjoyed a little trip out to Wisbech on Saturday using the X1. A look at the handy Southgates webcam showed me that my bus, the 11.33 from Walpole Highway (L12-XL18) was 20 minutes late arriving in King's Lynn. Congestion meant that by the time 37579 arrived to pick me up it was 23 late. I did notice though that driver John had managed to cut this to 17 minutes on arrival back in Lynn. I came back with 37157 on Y10-XL16 driven by long time X1 chauffeur Bill Evans. This was 8 late into Wisbech from Peterborough and by the time we had loaded and then stopped for some more passengers at Walsoken, we were 11 late. After this Bill really wound 157 up to a fine tune and by the time he dropped me off at Walpole a minute had been gained on what is a very tight schedule. As we have often mentioned before, making up lost time with a B7 is almost impossible. By this evening though, 37157 was on time into Lynn to work the 19.50 to Peterborough. Malcolm had seen it arriving in Lowestoft 11 late and departing 5 late.

37157 ready to depart from King's Lynn Southgates for Peterborough tonight.

Other lunchtime services seen included 37568 on Y13-XL19 running almost on time and K14-XL01 with 37576 which was 16 late westbound. Des Speed was back on the route today after return from Australia. 37159 was his bus on K5-XL11 13.55 out of Lowestoft, this was late arriving at 13.50 and then delayed departing with a ticket machine problem until 14.09. At King's Lynn 37159 was removed and replaced by 37571 which was having its first trip of the week following its demister problem. 37572 on L9-XL15 15.00 Yarmouth - Lowestoft ended up stopping at all points to cover for 32210 which had expired on a Service 1. This evening 37577 on L8-XL14 18.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough was changed for 37563 which had come in to Lynn on Y7-XL13.