Friday 10th July 2009 ~ Out of the Country

20353 recently had a 'First' logo transfer applied. It is in the same position as those which were on the B12 Paragons, but differs in that it is red. The other two B7s have the First branding above the numberplate. This is 353 after arrival at King's Lynn this evening on K5.

Those adverts for Easyjet applied wholesale to the Geminis must be working, I reckon everyone's abroad as traffic was incredibly light for a Friday today. Regular readers will know that by Friday afternoon, the X1 timetable often becomes a work of fiction and hence my abbreviation often seen, FST meaning Friday Standard Time. Today the heaviest delay was to K15 12.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough which was running 15 late when seen with 37576. Mid afternoon is always a bad time, but not today as 20123 working K18 10.55 Lowestoft - Peterborough was bang on time departing Wisbech and earlier several services were seen slightly early ! 20104 was another B10M which did well being just 3 late on K4 13.25 ex Lowestoft when I passed it at 17.10. I tend to avoid lists of numbers in this blog as I know this can make for tedious reading, but as we haven't had a complete days log for sometime, here is a list of today's X1 duties and vehicles working them.

K1 37568

K2 37569 changed at Lowestoft and 37564 did the 12.25 to Peterborough

K3 37577 removed at Lynn for servicing and 20107 worked forward at 16.15 to P'bo

K4 20104

K5 37573

Y6 37578

Y7 37566

L8 37565

Y9 37574

L10 34108

L11 20353

L12 37575

Y13 37567

K14 37563

K15 37576

K16 20352

K17 20105

K18 20123

K19 37572

So just when we expected 34108 to be rested, it was out again on L10 and indeed it worked the full turn arriving at King's Lynn at 22.28 tonight. 37564 which had been expected to reappear did the second bit of K2 with 37569 retiring, presumably for servicing. The problem with 20107 the last few days has been its throttle cable and this was fixed at Lynn today. Indeed Bruce saw it being road tested before it took over K3 this afternoon and Rob Brooks reports it returning from Peterborough on K3 still with 'X1 Peterborough' on the blinds ! 20351 was off the road again today despite passing its MOT yesterday and the reason was a malfunctioning disabled ramp, which is scarcely if ever used in practice. Gemini 37579 returned to King's Lynn from warranty repairs at Volvo today and is now at Rowan Road awaiting seatbelts (sound familiar ??). Michael Bryant says the latest FEC fleet list shows 20115/123 as being Lowestoft allocated, 37571 as delicensed and 20130 has apparently been sold for scrap. Driver trainer 20125 has also been delicensed.