After a day of uncertainty, it transpires that the first new double decker Volvo/Wright Geminis for the X1 have arrived in East Anglia. They apparently came down on Friday morning and were spotted by various bus enthusiasts at Long Sutton, then later near Dereham and on Norwich southern bypass. There would seem to be 4 at present, with 2 more possibly arriving in the UK tomorrow. The new arrivals are at present at Norwich Volvo, which I believe is on the Sweet Briar Road Industrial Estate. Thanks to Grahame Bessey and members of the Yahoo EABG for this information.
Meanwhile today, one could be forgiven for thinking that we needed any new vehicles at all. There was only one swap and that was 20506 coming off J10 10.48 Peterborough - Lowestoft for a scheduled service and its place being taken by 20109. Michael saw 20118 at Lowestoft depot this morning where it had been stopped for a tyre change. Once again 20501 remained at Lynn garage all day and 20509 was also in for maintenance. 20351/2 spent the day at Rowan Road along with 20106, 20131 and of course 20120. It would appear from reports that 20353 was used by Yarmouth today - I'm guessing on X1 shuttles between Gorleston and Norwich.
20141 returned to X1 duties today for the first time since its engine blew on August 27th. It did the early bath turn, K4 07.29 Lynn - Peterborough etc.
20508 continues to have a problem with its destination screen, today it was once again heading for Peterborough, this time on K17, but with Great Yarmouth on the front which seems to be the default on 508.
This is the unofficial blog for the Peterborough - Norwich XL bus service operated by First Group. Originally reporting the introduction of the 'Gemini' double deckers and the phasing out of coaches, the blog is now incredibly in its twelfth year and in 2021 the new fleet of state of the art double deckers enter their second year in traffic. To contact me with your observations/experiences on the XL, email gerardtcc@gmail.com .
4 comments:
Fully confirmed as, soon as me and my 2 smaller brothers got out of The Barbershop in Gorleston highstreet, I saw WAO5 UNF (20353) returning to the main highstreet bus stop, supposidly Lowestoft bound, with the matrix destination display clearly stating Norwich.
Serious information originally given by Andrew Cook (owner of Bristol VR VEX 287X - which is being sold, anyone interested in buying it, let me know and it'll be swiftly passed on to the seller in question), - 4, of the 17, brand *spanking* new Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL Double Decker X1 replacement buses have arrived at the Volvo Truck & Bus Limited workshop centre on 24-28 Frensham Road in Norwich (Postcode NR3 2BT - if anyone is interested in going up the site and prepared to take some pictures of the new arrival) and are confirmed as 37571/2 - AU58 ECY/A and un-fleetnumbered AU58 ECJ/V (probably 37573/4 or vice versa).
Pictures of what they will look like can be found below:-
http://grant-thomson-buses.fotopic.net/p31916940.html
http://grant-thomson-buses.fotopic.net/p33265341.html
http://grant-thomson-buses.fotopic.net/p36159159.html
And this is what they will look like:
http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v333/188/87/1219664129/n1219664129_136646_5889.jpg
Thanks for your post Terence but I ought to stress that this blog in no way condones interested parties visiting the Volvo centre where I'm sure they would be considered a nuisance !
G
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