The original order for 20 Geminis for the X1 would have likely as not meant that on some days the service would run entirely B9 operated had things gone according to plan. With the announcement of the reduction to 17 Geminis and the three B7 Profiles providing cover, it might at least be reasonably expected that a full service could often be run using these dedicated vehicles and in fact this still leaves scope for one on maintenance.
Today was a decidedly patched up service then. Twelve of the 17 B9s were used, though two of these didn't complete turns. The excellent 37572 surprisingly came out for a 50th consecutive day on K5, but after a trip to Peterborough and back was taken off for servicing and 37579 went forward from Lynn to Lowestoft. This means that there is a high chance of 572 being used tomorrow and thus further accumulating its consecutive days work.
B7 20351 was in collision with a Muntjac yesterday morning whilst travelling light to Wisbech for K18 near Eau Brink and these small deer are becoming an increasing hazard. New panels are on order from Blackstones and these are expected at the end of the coming week. Today 352 was out on K18 and 20353 started the day on L8 but was about 20 late heading east at lunchtime and so it came as little surprise that Lowestoft held it back to do the second leg of L9. The most remarkable thing today was that no less than five B10Ms were out and also the Alexander Royale bodied Volvo 34108. 20103 made an early start from Yarmouth on Y6 but somehow this ended up on the second leg of K5 indicating that it may have been stopped short at Yarmouth on Y6 and turned round to become K5. This meant it finished at King's Lynn this evening. 20106 was utilised on K1 and did the full turn meaning it will end up at Yarmouth tonight and increase its chances of appearing on the X1 tomorrow. 20107 was K16 and 20109 K3 while 20118 was on Y10 at the beginning of its day but then was spotted by Bruce on L8 tonight meaning it had jumped forward by a whole hour compared to earlier. The Royale was entrusted to Y13 today which means it will end up at King's Lynn tonight, again giving it a good chance of working tomorrow.
37563 was kept at Lowestoft for servicing today and it will be interesting to see if it re-emerges with a working destination display. 37573 is confirmed as being back at Volvo after an injector failure and 37574 is pending delivery there for chassis repairs. 37577 is also currently at Volvo. 20121 remains at Vancouver Avenue awaiting testing gear. Last weekend it was used on a private hire to (of all places) Lowestoft.
The use of Lowestoft B9s on King's Lynn internal diagrams seems to be avoided at all costs - that is except on Sundays when a common user policy seems to be adopted- the last occasion when this happened on a Mon-Sat basis was on 3rd July when 37567 did K5, however, today two turns were given Lowestoft B9s, K17 had 37564 and K19 was given 37569.
A final note comes from Rob Brooks who says he had a text from his Mum to say that Y6 19.15 from Peterborough was 37579, "She's learning" says Rob.
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 .
1 comment:
Covering for 34108 over here was (surprisingly!) 20104 which was on the 15:38 X2 from Lowestoft
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