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03/02/2014

Sunday February 2nd 2014 ~ All Quiet on the X1 Front

Well I suppose that is good news for 'First' but not so good for writing a blog ! Enviro 33820 has, as expected, gone to Full Circle for body repairs while ENBB and NBP both report the repainting (at last) of 33423, so the likelihood of it seeing further X1 use has diminished somewhat. 
The X1 has been running very well with no problems with punctuality and no failures in service either. 33810 has been undergoing repairs for most of the week and only managed to appear in service on Monday, Tuesday, Friday  and today (Sunday).
This lull in proceedings would seem a good time to start our look at vehicles which have traversed the X1 route in the past.
We begin with a look at the rail link coach service which I think began in about 1982. Peter says "Do you recognise this fine looking vehicle ? This was (I think) the original Rail Link service operated by Eastern Counties on behalf of BR.   Originally there were just 4 return trips a day from Kings Lynn to Peterborough.   When Birds took over they increased it to 6, with the first starting at Hunstanton, and the last one from Peterborough going through to Hunny". 
Photo courtesy of Mike Hodge

Here is another photo taken in around 1984 of another rail link coach, now with Hunstanton added to the route branding

Photo Courtesy John Law. You can find over 70,000 pictures, mainly of transport related subjects at John's Flickr site :

Finally tonight a slightly later addition to the fleet and in a revised livery and with Wisbech dropped from its branding.. Photo courtesy of Mark Kirk. Here is a link to his UK Transport website :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26024754@N07/
If any of you can add any more detail about the Rail Link service, when it started/finished or the vehicles used or if you have photos I could include etc etc, please contact me and we will do an update.

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