Tuesday April 12th 2011 ~ Tales Of The Unexpected



Well bless me if it aint 65540 ? It had just arrived at King's Lynn on the 19.10 from Peterborough this evening, but didn't in the end work the 20.35 to Lowestoft, see story below.

 Bruce uttered the immortal words this morning : "It's become really boring". This was the cue for assorted Geminis to expire with their wheels in the air !
K19 was ailing as early as 08.45 when 37570 was failed at Swaffham with a faulty oil pressure switch. 37572 which had just been serviced was hastily despatched to take over. A period of stability then occurred but with services returning from Peterborough losing time viz : Y9 with 37568 9 minutes late, L10 with 37579 11 late and L11 with 37159 6 late. Meanwhile a chain of events began with 37575 suffering adblue problems on L8. To get it back to Lynn it was switched to Y7 14.55 from Lowestoft which is the first service to terminate there and this then left Y7s original vehicle, 37564,  spare at Lowestoft. L8 then continued with 37158 which  had come in on the late running K5 (see below).
 The first eastbound service from Lynn, K14 began with 37563 but so that it could receive maintenance it was taken off at Lowestoft with the 08.55 to Peterborough getting 37565 from the depot. Next 37158 was in trouble at Dereham where it lost a wing mirror and fitters had to attend causing a lengthy delay. As a result the return leg of K5 , the 13.55 ex Lowestoft saw 37563 swiftly return from the depot to deputise. 
When I went home for lunch I viewed K15 running 8 late on the 12.45 from Lynn to Peterborough and on my way back to Wisbech found myself being tailed by 37157 on K16 running 15 late. K17 with the expected 37571 was just 2 late, but then things fell apart with no sign of K18, then a fully loaded K19 appearing with 37572 4 minutes late. I was then very surprised to see 37156 on K18 just 2 minutes behind K19 with 'not in service' on the blinds, this was departing Wisbech at 15.25, 35 minutes late. It returned - still empty at 16.22, by now just 2 late having, it would appear, turned round at Thorney.
As if all this wasn't enough, ill passengers added to the chaos with Y13 14.32 Lynn to Lowestoft reaching (sorry about that !) Swaffham with 37160, but eventually going forward with a rejuvenated 37570 while 37160 returned to Lynn for cleaning.
However, this was just a prelude to a hectic evening which saw 37571 on K17  unable to proceed beyond Lynn on the 16.32 to Lowestoft because of a intercooler pipe fracture and freshly cleaned 37160  quickly being sent to replace it. Surely there can't be any more incidents I hear you ask ? Well, next 37569 was in trouble on Y6 at Swaffham at around a quarter past five with a water leak. By this time King's Lynn had run out of suitable options, so Scania 65540 was despatched as replacement on the 17.45 to Peterborough. Bruce alerted me to this with a phone call to say 'A Scania's just gone over the flyover !'.

All this, after what seems like weeks without a Gemini failure. 65540 was bang on time into Lynn this evening and 37159 was taken out of the middle at the bus station - it had just come in on L11 - to work forward at 20.35 to Lowestoft. There was a further delay though because 37159 needed refuelling and at this time Vancouver Avenue was quite congested. Certainly a day which the operators couldn't have expected and one on which they improvised admirably I feel.
Norfolk Green have taken over evening King's Lynn town services this week and now most town buses are retired by 20.30.