Saturday 21st February 2009 ~ Poorly Profiles ?

37575 near the Wheatley Bank turn just before 17.00 tonight on K4. Later it took Y9 forward from Lynn in place of 37568.

The move from First Devon & Cornwall to Norfolk for the B7 Profiles has largely been an unhappy one. Occasions when all three manage to appear in service are these days quite rare. Certainly their availability is inferior to other types and problems with doors and electrical faults seem prevalent. Today for example, 20351 was at Rowan Road after repairs to a door hinge and 20352 was at Vancouver Avenue garage with a battery problem. The only B7 in traffic was 20353 which having ended up at Yarmouth last night and today worked Y8 06.02 to Peterborough followed by the 09.48 Peterborough - Lowestoft. For reasons best known to FEC it was then removed as it was 'Required at Lowestoft Sunday', at least that's what King's Lynn were told. 37566 took over diagram Y8 which ends up at Lynn at 20.07.

Appearances by B10Ms are by no means certain on Saturdays, although L13 07.45 from Lowestoft which ends up on the 23.00 Lynn - Hunstanton is always a good bet to get one. Today was no exception and 20118 did the honours, it left Wisbech 7 late on the 11.31 to Peterborough and tonight was 13 late leaving Lynn on the 19.59 to Peterborough, probably due to Norwich City playing at home. Two of the other 'regular' B10Ms were also out, 20103 on K18 which was 22 late from Wisbech on the 14.01 to Peterborough, it being shadowed by a virtually empty 37577 on the 14.31 departure which was seen running 2 minutes early ! Not to be outdone, 20107 did K5 and was on time this afternoon. So that's three oldies so far then, wonder what the odds were on a fourth ? Well 37570 which took K7 this morning was obviously 'ill' at some point and this afternoon this turn was seen leaving Wisbech with 20127 - a very rare performer in recent times. This turn is booked to finish at Lynn tonight, so it will be interesting to see if Yarmouth reclaim 127 before then.

Other B10Ms in the news today were as follows, 20105 on 41s to Hunstanton, 20106 Rail replacement following MOT this week, 20109 Rowan Road spare, 20121 Vancouver Avenue and 20131 Vancouver Avenue for attention to malfunctioning lights.

Of the B9 Geminis, 37573 - the one with the makeshift destination glass - has now not been seen for about 10 days. Bruce says Y9 11.09 Wisbech - Lowestoft was 37569 this morning, but this was swapped at Lowestoft for 37576. K4 today was 37575 but on arrival at Lynn at 19.07, it was immediately required to relieve 37568 on J11 18.59 to Peterborough. It was seen returning 15 late at Tilney. This one also has the Expedia advert which we mentioned yesterday as being on 37577. The small rear adverts for CO2 emissions seem to have spread - amongst new carriers are 20131 and 37565/72.