If, as is expected, all 22 town buses are transferred away from King's Lynn when the NG takeover occurs next month, there will be no repeat of today's fun when two Lynn Scanias were deputising on the X1. This is a bit ironic as coach 20352 was sent to cover for the absent 37577 and still hasn't turned a wheel in service since its arrival.
Today saw in effect a repeat of the events of April 27th, also a Wednesday. This morning 37572 was - as expected - unavailable to begin with, as it required a new front windscreen, so with 37574 on MOT preparation, Scania 65540 was sent out to Peterborough on K3 at 06.45. On arrival back at Lynn at 09.24 it was replaced by 37578 which had come in from Lowestoft on L8 at 09.07. L8 itself left for Peterborough at 09.15 with 65532. So somewhere in the vicinity of the Southgates, the two Scanias must have passed each other ! Two weeks ago I pondered as to why the same Scania hadn't been used, not realising that this wasn't possible at the same time as keeping to timetable. Doh !
You'll probably have already guessed that the screen on 37572 was fitted in time for it to work L8 forward from Lynn to Lowestoft at 12.02. Malcolm reports one other change today which saw 37567 on K2 changed for 37158 at Lowestoft.
Punctuality was average today, Des says "My day started with 37579 at 10.12 from Yarmouth to King's Lynn on K15. We departed 8 late (10.20) - Arrival at Lynn was 4 late (12.41). After a break I had
37571 on K17 13.45 Lynn to Peterborough on which I left 7 late (13.51) - in Wisbech the traffic was queueing from Mount Pleasant, so arrival at Peterborough rail station was 12 late at 15.11. This meant the 15.05 departure eastbound was 7 late at 15.12, but quick work at Queensgate saw me get away at 15.16. Back into Lynn at 16.28, 4 late. Finally my last turn today was with 37565 on K1 18.02 Lynn to Yarmouth, on time throughout".
It appears that King's Lynn garage will only lose three cleaning and no engineering staff from next month, one reason being that it is planned to allocate all X1 servicing requirements here, presumably meaning all the Geminis will be based here.
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 .
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