I was recently asked to provide a timeline of the evolution of the XL bus route. As far as I can recall, I've never done this before but I've managed to piece together the basics and thought you might like to see the results. I'm not claiming it is 100% accurate and any amendments/ comments are welcome. I am particularly grateful to Interurban Bus for using their timeline as a blueprint.

So here goes .....

XL service evolution timeline

1959 – The former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, then part of British Railways is closed, removing the link between Great Yarmouth and Peterborough via North Walsham, Fakenham, South Lynn  and Wisbech.

1963 – The Beeching Report does not recommend closure of railway lines from King’s Lynn to Wisbech, March, Dereham and Hunstanton. It stresses the importance of King’s Lynn – Dereham – Norwich as a freight route.

 1968 September – The Government authorise Kings Lynn to Dereham and King’s Lynn to Wisbech passenger train services to cease, with Hunstanton to King’s Lynn following in May 1969. A short-lived and infrequent March – Wisbech -King’s Lynn bus service no. 415 lasts just a couple of years before it too is withdrawn.

1971 – Link between Norwich and Kings Lynn via Dereham and Swaffham is provided by the 34/34B bus service. Buses run roughly every one and a half hours, with a limited evening and Sunday service. The journey takes about two hours for the full route. The 336 bus links Kings Lynn to Peterborough via Wisbech, with a more frequent service than the 34/34B. Both services are provided by the Eastern Counties subsidiary of the National Bus Company (NBC).

1974 – Norwich-Kings Lynn is re-numbered 434/435/436. The service remains patchy, with a greater frequency of buses on the Dereham-Kings Lynn section of the route.

1979 – Introduction of additional services between Dereham and Norwich on routes 834/835/836 with a half hourly frequency at peak times. The morning frequency of the full Norwich-Kings Lynn route falls. The 336/337 continues to link Kings Lynn to Peterborough, with a frequent morning and afternoon service.

1982 – Considerable improvement in the 434 service. Weekday frequency is upgraded to hourly, with little evening and weekend change. A Rail Link (bus) service is introduced by British Rail between Hunstanton, Kings Lynn and Peterborough, operating via Wisbech, with four services per day in each direction. The service is eventually taken over by Birds of Hunstanton in May 1983.

1983 – The Eastline branded 794 service is introduced between Peterborough and Norwich, running five buses per weekday. Service on 434 between Kings Lynn and Norwich is reduced to just three buses per day.

1993 – Improvements are made to the 794 following the removal of the Rail Link service operated by Birds in October. Two extra journeys added in each direction Monday – Saturday, and one on Sunday. Kings Lynn and Peterborough Stations also included as stopping points.

1994 – Eastern Counties is sold to GRT Group.

1995 – GRT Group merges with Badgerline to form First Group. Appearance of First branding on the 794 timetables which accompanies a slight improvement in weekday service.

1996 – From June 2^nd, the 794 is renumbered the X94, and increased to two-hourly. New Volvo B10M coaches introduced. Four are required on weekdays and three on Sundays. 434 service withdrawn between Norwich and Swaffham.

1997 –   The X94 route is significantly improved, with an hourly weekday service between Peterborough and Norwich . Journey time between Kings Lynn and Norwich cut down to an hour and a half. (Note that it currently takes an hour and 48 minutes).

1998 May - Half of the X94 services are extended to run through to Great Yarmouth.

1999 – Extension of the service to Gorleston. Improvements such as more comprehensive evening service and railway station ticketing (multi-modal integration).

2000 July -  X94 daytime services extended to Lowestoft on weekdays. (Evening and Sunday journeys extended to Lowestoft in 2007).

2001 – New hourly Excel service X95 is introduced (Lowestoft – Yarmouth – Norwich – Dereham – Shipdham – Watton), increasing combined frequency to half hourly over the common section with the X94.

2002 – Route is rebranded as a coach service, with ten new Volvo B12 coaches despite offering the same vehicle spec as before. The X94 offers ‘luxury travel’ and continues the hourly frequency.

2004 August – Route rebranded as the X1. Peak weekday service upgraded to half hourly, with a considerable improvement in evening and Sunday frequency (hourly). Frequency varies somewhat depending on the section of the route, but peak frequency is maintained on the main trunk route (Great Yarmouth/Norwich-Kings Lynn). X95 service is withdrawn. Eighteen coaches are required on weekdays and eight on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

2008 July – The X1 Blog goes live !

2008 October – A new fleet of Volvo Gemini double deckers enter service replacing the coaches, capacity increases but comfort declines.

2011 June – First Group give up their local operations in King’s Lynn and area, leaving just the X1 under their jurisdiction.

2013 April – The last appearance of a coach on the X1

2013 October – First introduces 22 new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 buses, fitted with leather seats, air conditioning and Wi-Fi.

2014 July – The X1 Peterborough to Norwich and Norwich to Lowestoft revert to separate bus services.

2016 April – Reduced evening service between Norwich and Peterborough and last buses run earlier.

2020 February – New £5.3m fleet of nineteen Scania /ADL Enviro 400 buses enter service between Norwich and Peterborough with leather seats, tables, wi-fi but no air conditioning. The X1 service remains with older vehicles between Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft, but Norwich – Peterborough is rebranded XL with route options A,B,C & D

2020 March – June. Heavily reduced timetable due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

2026. The current timetable utilises 15 buses on weekdays and 7 on Sundays. The Scania Enviro 400s are expected to be replaced around 2028. Wear and tear is taking its toll now and whilst very comfortable, the lack of heating operating in the winter has been unsatisfactory.

 

 

Farewell Bruce old friend

 11th March 2026

Well today we said goodbye to Bruce Billingham. A magnificent effort from all at First Buses for providing an XL vehicle to convey him to his funeral and a compliment of drivers too. Special thanks to Maggie, Lee & Co.

Here are a few pictures from the funeral. R.I.P. Bruce

 

Another blog post – so soon after the last one, it must be important and it is.

Those of you who have subscribed to my blog through thick and thin over the years will no doubt be acquainted with my friend (and fellow Walpole lookout) Bruce Billingham. I’ve known Bruce for nearly 20 years through our enthusiasm for all things Excel and a great friendship has developed over this time. He was an essential part of this blog over the years.

Bruce became well known for his cheery wave to Excel drivers as they passed his bungalow -for years it was easy to spot the two Leyland Nationals in his back garden too, though latterly he had sold one on and the expanding undergrowth around his property had made it pretty hard to see the other LN.

Sadly, Bruce’s health declined over the years and even until a month or so ago, he would manage to get out the front to see his favourite buses and drivers. I took him to a couple of hospital and Doctor’s appointments in January and it was clear that things were not good. On January 28^th Bruce discovered he had inoperable cancer and he told me he had months, or even weeks to live. I visited him on February 4^th for the last time and sadly he passed away on the night of 6^th/7^th aged 78. He will be sadly missed by his family, myself and all the drivers who used to enjoy acknowledging him as they passed by on their daily grind. I will give an update on arrangements for his funeral in due course at which there will be a definite XL presence.  RIP Brucey.

 Tuesday January 13th 2026

I was thinking about the XL blog the other day and decided I should really update it after all !!

The current buses have done really well, but as with all fleets, wear and tear is taking its toll a bit. 

The best way of illustrating this is probably to look at the number of days for each vehicle when they were not on the road in 2025, in other words not in traffic. This doesn't necessarily mean they were unavailable, as on Sundays for example, only seven out of the nineteen are used. Here are the 2025 stats.

Naturally when a vehicle has been involved in an accident, this means a considerable time out of traffic. 36902 last worked on 31st May 2025 at which point it had only had 16 days off the road. 36909/13/19 all had extended periods out of traffic awaiting parts/repairs. 

The revamped timetable from 1st September has seen the 'D' shorts from Norwich to Dereham scrapped and all Excel services now call at Dereham. The weekday vehicle requirement has dropped from 16 to 15, meaning four vehicles can be off the road at any one time without affecting the service. The flip side of this, is that if a substitute B9 Gemini has to be used it now runs through to Peterborough or King's Lynn rather than hitherto when it would have been turned out on the D services to Dereham only. 

An anomaly of the restructured diagrams is that four Excel buses end up at Norwich on a Friday evening, but five are required for Saturday morning. This usually means that a B9 has to work one of the Saturday turns, sometimes just from Norwich to Lynn, but just as often it covers a whole days work with two trips to Peterborough. 

There, I can probably forget about this blog now for another few years ! Thanks to everyone who has mourned the blogs loss - far more than I could have ever imagined. I will try and update it again when time permits.

Wednesday 19th April 2023 - Burying the Blog

 It will have been quite obvious to all of you that the last 3 years have been a particularly fraught time for me with no updates year on year. 

This was not what I had intended but work pressures sometimes come to the fore and hobbies have to take a backseat. 

Fortunately, in the grand scheme of things, not much has happened since the introduction of the new 'red buses' and the relaxation of Covid restrictions.  

There have been rare occasions where substitute buses based in Norwich have made emergency appearances on the XL services, indeed this happened as recently as last week, but overall such substitutions are very rare.

So the time has come to retire from the blog, in much the same way that I retired from my working life last month. I can't complain about the help I have received from First Group over the years as they have been most appeciative of my efforts at reporting the service and I've made a lot of good friends. Too many to mention all in fact, but I must say Chris Speed has been influential and Zak Nelson has always been an inspiration to me with his enthusiasm for all things First.

Time for someone else to take up the baton maybe ? Well we will see, but in the meantime, you can still follow the fortunes of the Xl service by joining the First Eastern Counties group on Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/20829445950351

August 2021 Update

 

Well a year has passed since I last wrote an entry here. The fleet of Scanias continue to provide a comfortable and reliable service through the XL corridor and you would struggle to find a breakdown which is good news for consumers. Timetable alterations because of the pandemic meant a slightly reduced service operating at various times, notably between 1st February and 12th April when one of the Norwich - Dereham short turns was dropped from the schedule due to lower passenger numbers. Thankfully since the full service resumed, loadings have recovered greatly. 

The Scanias have generally performed excellently (no pun intended). Geminis have made occasional appearances on the Dereham shorts. The remainder of 2020 saw 36168 on September 7th, 36171 on October 3rd, 36184 on 24th and 37571 on 26th & 27th, on the former date it actually operated a Peterborough service. November was a completely substitute free month and the last appearance of a Gemini in 2020 was on 5th December when 36269 finished a three day stint on the Derehams.

Before the temporary cancellation of one of the short diagrams, a few Geminis appeared during January : 36272 on 18th, 36270 & 36167 on 19th and 36171 on 25th. Between 26th January and 15th April the XL service was 100% Scania operated. Late April saw Geminis 36172 & 36267 helping out and also notably Wright StreetDecks 35150 on 24th April and 35200 on 26th. 

Since May 21st, one of the Dereham turns has often been a Gemini. This is a reaction to 36902 being involved in a collision on the evening of 19th May which will see it off the road quite probably until at least November. 

Since June 9th, a replacement vehicle has been sourced from Ensignbus and this has done much useful work on the Dereham services. It is an Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC and has been given fleet number 34432. More often than not, it can be found on diagram 23 which commences with the 07.30 Dereham - Norwich, finishing the day as the 17.20 Norwich - Dereham. With MOTs now taking place on the XL fleet, it is not uncommon for only one Scania to be available for the three 'D' diagrams and Geminis continue to deputise. Most interesting example noted has been Yarmouth's 37150 which briefly replaced 36168 on 15th June. as I write the loan Enviro has come over to King's Lynn for its own MOT, so a Gemini will now be deputising again.

Monday 17th August 2020 ~ Overdue Update !

 

Many moons ago, I wrote one of my very occasional blog entries about the new red Scania buses brought in to operate the XL service from Norwich to Peterborough. That's all a very long time ago now, in fact almost 6 months and hasn't a lot happened since ? Or to be more accurate, not a lot has happened since !

Going back to March 27th then and a much reduced service was introduced in response to the pandemic situation. From Sunday 5th April, King's Lynn depot temporarily closed and staff were furloughed while a skeleton service was operated by Norwich. This prevailed until 30th May after which King's Lynn resumed their role in running the service. From 7th June the full timetable was restored. Initially only 18 seats were available on each service to allow for social distancing, but this has been relaxed slightly recently.

Despite the situation, there have been some unusual sights on the route which I will briefly summarise here.

33817 on its final journey to Peterborough on 10th March. Photo : Dan High

Back on 10th March, 33817 became the final (at least for the moment) blue liveried Enviro 400 to reach Peterborough. Things then settled down until April 7th when yellow line 36269 worked diagram 4 - there were only 8 turns at this time, so this was something of a shock.

On April 5th, King's Lynn's allocation were moved to Norwich and Great Yarmouth and during the lockdown timetables, the Scanias put in much useful work on both the X1 and X2 routes east of Norwich. 

36918 (top) in High Street, Gorleston on the X1 on May 1st and (above) 36913 on an X21 in Gordon Road, Lowestoft on May 19th. Photos : Roy Northcott / East Norfolk Bus Blog

36914 passes 36912 in Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft on May 20th. Photo : Matthew Holland

The Peterborough service was operated by Scanias 36901 - 36909 & 36911. 36910 had suffered an unfortunate accident near King's Lynn on March 25th and was at Full Circle being repaired, hence its omission.

Right at the end of the emergency timetable on 29th May, the blue skies of lockdown find 36906 heading east near Walpole Highway

On the same day, 29th May, 36908 is on a Peterborough bound XL passing Boskoop Farm 

On Wednesday 22nd April, Gemini 36266 appeared on the aforementioned diagram 4 and then 36184 worked diagram 6 on Monday 27th. From Monday 4th May, 36904 was replaced by 36917, also that day 36184 again did diagram 6 and a yellow line Gemini (possibly 36266 or 36270) worked the first part of diagram 4 before being replaced by 36901. Diagram 6 again dropped on May 7th (36184) and May 11th (36270). Most of these substitutions were down to 36907 being temporarily out of traffic.

Once the full timetable returned at the beginning of June, all the Scanias loaned to Great Yarmouth returned to King's Lynn and any shortfall was met by using a Gemini on one of the three Dereham 'D' turns. 36904 which had also been at Full Circle for repairs returned on June 4th just after the return of 36910.

16th June saw possibly the most outrageous working of the last decade when the bus scheduled to work the 19.40 Norwich - Peterborough had to be taken out of traffic at the last minute. In order to provide the service, Volvo B7 Plaxton President of 2002 vintage 32214 was commandeered to work in the place of 36916. It got as far as King's Lynn where 36914 relieved it and the old timer promptly returned empty to Norwich.

32214 photographed on a less auspicious occasion, but looking very smart on Charcoal Line service 41 at Woodton en route to Norwich via Poringland, 5/2/19. Photo : Zak Nelson

In the last fortnight of July, Gemini substitutions on The Dereham 'D' services once again became commonplace.

August though has been a better month so far, however, it was a case of deja vu today (Monday 17th) when Gemini 37579 put in an unexpected appearance working turn 6022 which involves two round trips from Norwich to Peterborough and the 21.40 Norwich - Dereham. For the record, the last time 37579 worked to Peterborough was almost 7 years ago when it was in white X1 livery on 5th October 2013 !

37579 returned to its old stamping ground today after a 7 year absence. Seen here working the 10.10 Peterborough - Norwich at Wisbech Nene Quay.

Overall the new Scanias have given very little cause for concern. Main hiccups have revolved around faulty destination displays and windscreen replacements taking longer to bond than on the previous fleet. Timekeeping has been excellent, although the current timetable is certainly generous in its allowances. Hopefully I will provide a further update in less than six months. Thanks to all who have continued to supply me with pictures and information. Special thanks as always to Bruce Billingham for keeping an eye on things.

Sunday 23rd February 2020 ~ The First Week

36917 near Hockering on Friday. Photo : Zak Nelson

So the first week of operation using the new fleet of Excel Scanias has passed relatively uneventfully. From what I can gather, Saturday was the first day where there were no Enviro substitutions. During the week 33805/811/817/818 were all used at various points. Of the new vehicles, all have been used on the route apart from 36901 which has had a few minor issues. 

36908 on a Dereham - Norwich service near Hockering.
Photo : Zak Nelson

On the main route on Mondays to Fridays, King's Lynn send out ten buses and Norwich seven. Three of the latter are used purely between Norwich and Dereham, meaning in total 14 are used on the Peterborough service.

33818 deputising for a Scania on a Dereham short.
Photo : Zak Nelson

There has also been great interest in the fate of the superseded Enviro 400s. 33803/07/08/09/10/13/14/15 have been transferred to Great Yarmouth with all except 33815 having been seen on the X1 group of services. 33811 has also appeared today although apparently still on King's Lynn's books. Biggest news was probably the appearance of 33814 on the X2 as well as 33821 and 33822 this week.

A change of scenery for 33814 seen here on the A146 near Stockton working an X2 service. Photo : Zak Nelson

33821 on the X2 near Stockton on Friday February 21st. Photo : Zak Nelson

Timekeeping with the new Excel vehicles has been variable, most have been seen within 5 minutes of time. Drivers have been asked some interesting questions on the new buses, my favourite is the passenger who boarded one asking the driver "Is this red bus a blue bus ?" !

Monday 17th February 2020 ~ A New Era

 Today saw the introduction of the new XL fleet, which by and large was carried out successfully. The eye catching red liveried buses have brought new standards of comfort and facilities to the route.

Drivers seemed to be taking it very steady with the new charges today and most I saw were a few minutes late, however, 36907 working the 15.40 Peterborough - Norwich was seen entering Wisbech spot on time. The 08.10 Peterborough - Norwich started at Thorney with 33805 after an issue with one of the new buses and 33816 was also out during the day, but small teething troubles are always part of the introduction of any new fleet. A couple of buses were seen in service without working destination screens, something which has been immediately rectified, but having a code letter instead of XL is something which will take a little getting used to.

Here are some pictures from our photographers on the inaugural day. 

Photo : Sam Larke

Photo : Sam Larke

36906 departing King's Lynn as the 13.10 to Norwich. Photo : Mark Pitman

36905 heads east from Thorney as the 10.10 Peterborough - Norwich. Photo : Cheryl Cleary

Interior of 36919 at Peterborough Bus Station : Photo : Sam Larke

Red passing red near East Winch. Photo : Sam Larke

This picture depicts the spacious seating in the upper saloon. Photo : Sam Larke

Photo : Sam Larke

36904 leaving King's Lynn Bus Station as the 08.40 Norwich - Peterborough Photo : Mark Pitman

The 11.40 Norwich - Peterborough with 33805 which had replaced 36908 earlier. Photo : Mark Pitman

36915 running as the 09.00 Norwich - Peterborough pulls in to King's Lynn rail station. Photo : Mark Pitman

Photo : Sam Larke

Photo : Sam Larke

36908 departs King's Lynn for Wisbech. Photo : Mark Pitman

Sunday February 16th 2020 ~ One Chapter Ends, Another Begins

Today was the last day of the 63 Reg Enviro 400s on the XL route. Preparations are complete for the first day of the new Scania vehicles tomorrow. 

High winds did see a substitution late last night and for a time today when single decker 63325 was used. 

63325 at King's Lynn South Gates with 33811 about to take eastbound passengers forward today . Photo : Zak Nelson

The Enviros performed well on their last day on the route, although 33805, 33811 and 33817 are to be kept at King's Lynn for a few days on standby in the event of any problems with the new boys.

33819 never received full route branding for the XL route. It is seen departing King's Lynn Bus Station for Peterborough at 16.20 today. Photo : Sam Larke

It made it to the final day ! 33803 calls at King's Lynn South Gates with a westbound service today.
 Photo : Zak Nelson

33817 has finished work for the day on XL, maybe for the last time and the new fleet are lined up ready for entry into service. Photo : Sam Larke

33805 is one of the buses on standby at King's Lynn in the next few days  Photo :  Zak Nelson

The old and the new, 33818 alongside 36911 at Vancouver Avenue this evening. Photo : Sam Larke

The new fleet ready for entry into service at King's Lynn. Photo : Simon Barker

Photo : Sam Larke

New timetable information at Norwich Bus Station.
Photo : Zak Nelson

The new fleet will operate an intensive service between Norwich and Dereham as well as the Peterborough services. Photo : Zak Nelson :  

A new stop for Dereham Town FC. Photo : Zak Nelson

The new timetables in new display cases at the South Gates . Photo : Zak Nelson

Many thanks to Zak, Sam and Simon for helping me out with photos and the stories from today.