Wednesday 28th September 2011 ~ All Going Well

My notes under my X1 observations which usually have something to talk about, said today simply 'Nothing Much Going On'. Oh Dear - all going so well that I will have to look elsewhere then ?

Here's a nice bit of X1 trivia, when the B9 Geminis were new they all had the First logo on the back lower deck window as seen above on 37579.
Now though 37563, 37567, 37573, 37575 & 37578 have lost the branding (see below)

This then prompts the question, has the logo simply worn away or fallen off or have all these buses had their back window replaced since new ? Whatever, replacement glass, particularly for the large front windows on Geminis is very expensive.

Peter wrote to me recently about the new vehicles bought by Stagecoach for the Cambridge to St. Ives (mis) guided busway. It is only a very short distance compared to the X1 route and yet Peter says "

To operate their services, Stagecoach ordered ten Eclipse/B7RLE single decker buses, to be manufactured by Wrightbus and Volvo, and ten Alexander Dennis Enviro400/Scania N230UD double deckers for the guided busway network. All of the new specially-branded vehicles are equipped with leather seats, air chill or air conditioning, real time information, and free Wi-Fi".

Some ideas for future X1 vehicles there then. In Summer you tend to either get the greenhouse effect upstairs on a Gemini or get blown away when the windows are open.

Another subject Peter mentions is the X1 route (or routes) into Peterborough "I know each driver probably has a preferred route,  but it seems to me that about 90% go in via the A47 and Bourges Boulevard and about 50% go out that way, the other 50% using the Boongate route".

Today the only X1 seen appreciably late was L10 with 37158, due westbound from Wisbech at 10.48, it was 11.02 by the time it left. Other services ran near to time. There was a bit of a mystery regarding turns 15 & 16 though. I was told K15 had started the day with 37573 and K16 with 37157, however, at lunchtime K15 had 37157 and K16 37572, which doesn't really make sense as 37157 seems to have jumped from K15 to K16 which should be impossible ! 
Des reports that X1 driver changes are now taking place at the Southgates stop, five minutes after departure from the bus station. In charge of L8 15.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough, he says " I was on time until queueing traffic at Yarmouth - both bridges up and temporary lights on Yarmouth side of Haven Bridge. 12 late in and then my relieving driver had about 50 passengers to load and negotiate the queue. Noted today by the way, 37156 departing Norwich at 12.44 on an X2.