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31/01/2012

Wednesday 25th January - Monday 30th January 2012 ~ Bruce's Blog

Wednesday saw 37571 out on the Wisbech bypass / Elm High Road diversion . Photo : Rob Brooks.
Well as you have probably read, this blog is now relying more on you the readers for a few months, with me seeing very few X1 services. Thanks very much to Bruce who has worked very hard to give a complete report of each day so far. I have been further handicapped by a bout of the dreaded norovirus, which I picked up in hospital while visiting my Mum ! Anyway read on for the latest happenings - not that there is a great deal to get excited about !
Wednesday 25th : Reliability of the Geminis is exceptional and it was quite unusual today to find 37578 having a problem with its disabled ramp, it was working L11 and sat at Walpole Highway (due 13.06) from 13.10 until 13.26 while the fault was cured. A few services got behind schedule today and Bruce saw 37574 on K3 running 15 late and 37160 16 late on L10, both heading east at 09.20 and 12.52. The latter was changed at Lynn for 37573. There was also a swap later on K18 and 37159 came off for 37160 forward.
37157 comes off Elme Hall Roundabout and on to the Wisbech Bypass on 25th January. Thanks to Rob Brooks for the picture.

Thursday 26th : Bruce managed to view everything and only 37568, 37575 and 37158 were absent, the latter on MOT. No sign of 37156 returning to traffic yet, although Tony says the court case for the offending car driver is coming up soon.

Friday 27th : Michael Bryant reports three Palatines in use on the X2 today, 34155/6/8. One of those surreal moments for Bruce today when 37567 went eastbound on L8 at 11.35, only to reappear westbound on K19 at 15.04 ! 37158 had its MOT today and looks to have relieved 37572 on K1 after the B9 suffered a windscreen crack. What started out on K19 is a mystery and we don't get many of those these days.
Des says, thought you'd like to see the latest fitting to 37574. No newspapers as yet though.


Saturday 28th : 37572 & 37577 were both requiring new windows this morning, so were kept in along with 37569.  K17 had 36180 - the loanee had spent all week on K15, but today that turn had 37570. 37157 was in the garage with a puncture tonight, so it may not have completed L11. I have a suspicion that 37569 may have replaced it at lunchtime.

Sunday 29th : Feeling a bit better today, but still confined to the house. My lethargy was relieved by tuning in to the Southgates webcam at 40 minutes past the hour. Incoming services from the coast were on time except for a blip at lunchtime. L10 rolled up with 37578 at 12.56 (16 late) and K1 with 37576 at 13.45 (5 late). At both these times, traffic was exceptionally heavy and it was more like a weekday at 17.00.
The Iron Lady herself would probably be impressed that she is having such a long reign on the sides of our buses ! 36180 under gloomy skies on the Wisbech diversion. Photo : Rob Brooks
Monday 30th : Punctuality was pretty poor today. Bruce kept note of workings from King's Lynn westbound and almost all were 6 minutes late due to the Southgates driver change.  Exceptions were L8 with 37575 8 late, L10 with 37567 13 late and K15 with 36180 8 late (see below). Unusual was 37157 on K18 which bucked the trend by being just 3 minutes down. Earlier 37572 on K4 had passed through to Peterborough at 07.42 (8 late) returning at 09.49 (14 late). This evening it was just 2 late at 19.12 when dropping Mr. Robinson off : "Another bus with no heat" he said. The delays seemed to filter through to the eastern end too, Malcolm reports 36180 on K15 09.25 ex Lowestoft having a 25 minute late start and on the X2 32655 arrived 22 late on the 08.40 ex Norwich meaning it was already 16 late leaving on the 10.08 return.
Des says "I travelled on the 06.10 ex Yarmouth this morning which was 37568. There were about 15 copies of the EDP West Norfolk & Fens edition available to passengers".

25/01/2012

Saturday 21st January - Tuesday 24th January 2012 ~ Bye Bye Buses

36180 out in the Fens. Photo : Rob Brooks
Saturday 21st January

I was not expecting to see any X1s from my window today, but the service had not completely transferred to the A1101 and I saw L8 with 37569 at 09.54 (4 late), Y10 with 37565 at 10.51 and finally this afternoon 37575 on K18 at 14.54 (also 4 late). These were all westbound services and none of them were seen returning. Ironically, the Weasenham Lane temporary lights were not in operation today. Just one swap today when 36180 on K3 was changed for 37159, believed to have been at 10.00 this morning. 37571 was spare bus at Lynn and 37158 was also undergoing attention as it is being prepared for MOT this coming week. 32651/4/5 were all viewed on X2s by Malcolm. Thanks to Graham Latimer for supplying a full list of Friday's workings

Sunday 22nd January

The usual B9 worked service. 37577 on the 14.00 Wisbech to Lowestoft for some reason departed almost five late despite having arrived in good time. X1 vehicles have had notices affixed explaining that the Wisbech Weasenham Lane stops are being omitted until further notice.

Monday 23rd January

Nene Quay in Wisbech was closed to eastbound traffic at 09.25 this morning. It remains open for westbound traffic. The temporary lights at Weasenham Lane appear to be a precursor to permanent traffic lights being installed at this location. Bruce was 'on duty' today and copped the whole 19 turns.
Services ran pretty near to time with only 37157 on K3 and 37159 on K18 being seen around 10 minutes behind schedule. a problem with 37575 saw it taken off K4 and replaced by 37566. Another swap saw L8 worked by three different B9s, initially 37563, this was replaced by 37571 for the 09.15 Lynn to Peterborough. Later 37578 took the 21.35 to Lowestoft driven by Des. he says "I was on ttime until Norwich then 2 minutes late from Acle with the Acle Straight closed. After the diversion I was eleven late to our destination, Gorleston JPH".
At Lowestoft, Malcolm writes " I don't know what was going on with the X2 this morning as 32651 and 32656 came in together about 10.30 with the latter departing not in service a few minutes later. 32651 did the 10.38 to Norwich and then it was a case of deja vu with 32654 & 32652 both arriving close together and 32654 then did the 11.08 departure".

Tuesday 24th January

New adverts for 'Chunky Kit Kat' are proving very persuasive - well at least with me, I keep wanting to go and buy one ! Perhaps just as well the buses are no longer passing my window. One bus which evaded the new ads was 37578 still advertising 'Puss In Boots' and seen 10 late on Y6 this morning. 37575 was tried on K4 again for the second day running but was taken out of traffic and is now awaiting injector sleeves. 37563 off repairs was its replacement. K5 began with 37572 but it needed a safety service, so the 10.32 to Lowestoft was worked by 37157 which had just received the same treatment. 572 was out again later though as K14's 37567 was also due for servicing and this came off at 15.00 as it had an oil sensor fault anyway. Y9 with 37566 was 15 late past Bruce on the 09.45 Lynn - Peterborough this morning. but strangely spot on time going back east.

21/01/2012

Friday 20th January 2012 ~ What Buses ?

Something odd happened today. I saw 37566 departing Wisbech a few minutes late on the 08.48 to Peterborough (Y6), it negotiated the Horsefair Roundabout and left via the A1101 Churchill Road. This was a bit surprising as Nene Quay was traversable in both directions. It then transpired that Mrs. P had decreed that all X1s should take this route both in and out of Wisbech to avoid the temporary lights at Weasenham Lane. This was all the more unusual as delays have been pretty minimal up to now. It will be interesting to see if any X1s escape and use the usual route over the next few weeks.
Nene Quay will be closed to eastbound traffic from this coming Monday until 29th June. It is possible to use the normal route as far as Wisbech town bridge and then turn left, but few drivers have attempted this in the past. Westbound, Nene Quay remains open until 23rd February.
So today I saw the 308 Great Yarmouth to Birmingham and several school buses along with a Holmeswood tourer but that was all.
On the X1, 37563 returned to traffic taking over K5 from 37572 at 10.32 to Lowestoft. 37572 was then seen in the garage by Bruce before it took to the road again at 12.45 replacing 36180 on K15. 37571 on K16 was taken off for servicing and 37160 which had suffered a cracked windscreen took over after repair at 13.15.
The map below shows Nene Quay highlighted and the alternative route via Old Market and North Street, which if used would mean the Weasenham Lane stop could still be served.

Monday 16th - Thursday 19th January 2012 ~ Last Week of Work Buses

Wisbech seems to be swimming in roadworks at the moment and it is set to get worse. Temporary three way lights at Weasenham Lane, the same on Leverington Road and next week the final phase of the flood barrier scheme is being started meaning that Nene Quay will be unavailable for buses coming in from Peterborough and from my point of view mean my sightings will be considerably restricted,
Des says "A glut of roadworks at the moment : Peterborough Bus Station affected from January 16th for 35 days. The west side is currently closed and many buses are using the adjacent bus park for passengers to alight and load. X1 is using Bay 16 to alight and Bay 17 to load. Bus park traffic flow has reversed : enter via The Brewery Tap and exit into Bright Street so heavy traffic on Bourges Boulevard. the Wisbech Weasenham Lane lights are in operation from January 9th for 12 weeks and in addition the Acle straight has night closures from 20.00 to 06.00 from 16th January for nine nights.
Konect Service 8 has changed pick up bays in Norwich bus station. It now loads from Bay 1 towards Dereham and is always sitting there as we pull in to the bay for westbound services",
The X1 service seems to have been running fairly smoothly and completely Gemini operated. Here are a few notes from this week :
Monday 16th : Marion & John were waiting for L10 this morning at Wisbech, due off to Peterborough at 10.48. It didn't appear and instead a string of Lowestoft bound buses passed through before 37160 turned up on L11. This didn't deter them from enjoying an X1 day out though, after Peterborough they travelled through to Lynn for a wander before returning on K3 with 37159.
This afternoon I went to visit my Mum who is in hospital, I expected to pass K17 neat Terrington and it duly appeared about 4 minutes late at Tilney :
Now knowing 37568's unfortunate reputation for late running, I should have been suspicious and lo and behold it turned out to be K16 running 34 late !
I saw the real K17 on my way home which was 37563 driven by Mr. Speed which I passed on Nar Ouse way. Buses spare at King's Lynn today were 37158, 37564 & 37565.
Malcolm had to travel to Norwich and seen on the X2 were 32651/5/6 as well as President 32210

Tuesday 17th : An accident in Peterborough near Boongate caused a few delays this morning. 37573 on K4 08.35 from Peterborough ran into Wisbech 20 late, but this was the only service badly affected. All other services seen were less than 10 minutes late. K1 had 37570 swapped for 37565 at some point. 37563 and 37159 had a day off. Later yet another accident at Boongate caused delay to Des driving 37579 on K16 14.35 ex Peterborough, this was 12 late into Wisbech.

Wednesday 18th : Most buses were not on the road for long today before they gained an unsightly coating of grime. Early delays saw k2 with 37578 10 late and 37570 on K4 14 late. After this things settled down with K16 and 37157 12 late being the worst delayed. 37563 and 36180 were stopped for servicing today and tonight K2 swapped 37578 for 37160 which took the 18.35 Lynn - Lowestoft.

Thursday 19th : 37563 is having some panels repainted, so had another day off today. Timekeeping was good today with both the 11.18 & 11.48 Wisbech to Peterborough passing me slightly early.
L11 with 37565 had this taken off for 37576 at 13.32 and similarly K15 with 36180 changed for 37575 at 15.32. Malcolm saw 34156 getting a run out on the 11.38 X2.

16/01/2012

Thursday 12th - Sunday 15th January 2012 ~ Fair Fares

One thing I didn't mention in the blog was the recent fare increases. Cheryl's return from Wisbech to Thorney has gone up by 30p for example. Nevertheless, the X1 still provides good value for money and (to me at least) seems far cheaper than taking the car. I sometimes wonder if many of the people who complain about public transport costs have ever tried owning a car - a sobering experience I can tell you, with the high cost of fuel, as well as tax and servicing, oh and not forgetting the MOT and tyres,then there are parking fees,  hang on - I think I'll stick to the bus where I can !
It's been a rather quiet few days on the X1 it would seem, so nothing unusual to report. Thursday saw 37572 doing odd things. It did L8 to Lynn coming off at 09.08 and then went for servicing before taking over K16 13.15 to Peterborough. 37567 took L8 forward and I'm pretty certain it was 37568 which came off K16, again all to do with maintenance requirements. 37574 remained in Lynn garage today.
Friday was a little hit and miss with timekeeping, but nothing seemed to run too out of course. 37157 had its MOT carried out after having had some panels repainted, 37569 & 37577 were the other two buses not used. It may have been Friday 13th, but Grahame Bessey managed to get some good shots while out in Dereham today

36180 still standing in for 37156 and working K15 as usual, ready to depart Dereham at 11.35 for Peterborough. GB
Taken from the top of a Konect Enviro, 37159 and 37576 are seen at Dereham on the 13.05 and 13.07 departures for Peterborough and Lowestoft (K18 and L8). GB
37568 in the Dereham sunshine prior to departing as the 11.37 to Lowestoft (Grahame Bessey)
About a month ago we featured a picture of 37579 still with its narrow font destination. Here it is today with the standard large lettering ready to leave Dereham at 12.35 westbound. GB

Saturday saw 36180 have a change from working K15 which it had done from Tuesday to Friday, instead it was on K17 running around 10 late when seen this afternoon. 37157 was back on the road on K5 and this left 37569, 37578 & 37579 all spare at Lynn. 37578 had been stopped due to a cracked windscreen.
On Sunday everything seen was pretty near to time, the service was all B9s and 36180 at last had a day off. Our man at Yarmouth garage says Yarmouth trainer 20109 needs some work doing on it and it will be out of service until April, meanwhile 20115 & 20126 continue to perform ably and are still classed as X1 spares.
Thanks also to Bruce, Malcolm and Matthew for all their recent reports.

12/01/2012

Saturday 7th - Wednesday 11th January 2012 ~ Five In One

A very uneventful five days have passed with the main X1 service entirely Gemini operated. 36180 has been standing in for the accident damaged 37156 for a while now and this week 37157 has been stopped for MOT prep work.
On Saturday and Sunday the service managed to run without any swaps, although 36180 'escaped' from Lynn on Sunday, working K5 which until now on Sundays had terminated at Yarmouth, however, as it came out of Lowestoft on L12 on Monday, it looks as if K5 now finishes there. 37578 on Sunday's Y7 did the opposite and it came out on Monday's Y9 from Yarmouth instead of appearing from Lowestoft.

Punctuality on Monday was quite good and only 37569 on K2 16.18 Wisbech to Peterborough was notably adrift leaving 14 minutes late. 37571/7 were rested at King's Lynn.

Tuesday began with delays following an accident near Guyhirn, 37563 on K2 08.21 Wisbech to Lowestoft passed me 18 late, but K3 and K4 had only lost 7 minutes and then services reverted to time. There were a couple of swaps with Y9 and Y13 exchanging 37566 & 37573 for 37577 & 37568.

Wednesday saw 37160 needing attention from the Volvo man, but it still managed to do K5 from Lynn to Peterborough and back before being stopped and replaced by 37566. Later it was out again though replacing 37564 for the 18.02 to Lowestoft. A maintenance swap saw 37567 come off K16 at 16.00 with 37572 working forward to Lowestoft. Once again Malcolm Hicks reports three different types of double decker on the X2, the 10.38 departure from Lowestoft was 32652, 32211 was on the 11.08 and this afternoon the 14.38 had Palatine 34157.

Richard Alger took some pictures in Dereham on Tuesday which he has kindly sent. He managed to get some X1s together with the Konect service 8.





10/01/2012

Friday January 6th 2012 ~ Bruce Reports

Thanks to Bruce for standing in while I was at the BBC today. Here is his list of sightings (well, we haven't had a list for a long time have we ?)

08.31 K2 37569,

08.33 Y6 37574,

09.03 Y7 37157,  K3 not seen

09.36 K4 37577,

09.43 L8 a B9 coincided with sausage sandwich breakfast,

10.10 K5 37575 passed Y9 37160.

10.40 L10 37565, Y6 not seen.

11.10 Y7 37157,

11.11 L11 37567

11.39 L12 37159

11.40 L8 37572

12.38 K14 37158

13.08 K15 36180

13.10 L11 37567

13.35 K16 37579

14.06 K17 37570

14.08 Y13 37573

14.38 K18 a B9 slipped by

15.06 K19 37566

15.39 K1 37563 simultaneously with K16 and 37579

16.40 K18 37576

16.41 K3 37564

20115,20126 and 34108 were not noted west of Kings Lynn on this day either, however RML2480 appeared to be the only available spare bus at Richard's garage
 
Malcolm adds :This afternoon Jenny and Rachel saw 37574 leaving the bus station working Y6, I saw 32656 working the 14.38 X2 service to Norwich, 37578 worked Y7, 34155 worked the 15.03 X2 to Norwich, 37572 worked L8 and 37160 was on Y9. 
You will see from this that 37157 was swapped at Lynn for 37578 to work the 11.32 Lynn to Lowestoft and later this evening 37574 had a headlight out on Y6, so 37565 took over for the 17.45 Lynn - Peterborough. 37565 started the day on L10, but 37571 was substituted at Lynn at 10.15. Punctuality looks to have been good for a Friday.
 
 

07/01/2012

Thursday January 5th 2012 ~ X1 Fans

When I was in Edinburgh last weekend I managed to spend a morning with Stuart Montgomery. He took me on one of the new Enviros and we then spent a couple of hours in George Street watching the goings on. Princes Street is of course closed for the installation of the Tramway, so all buses are having to be diverted from this stretch.
 Anyway, Stuart is always (justifiably) proud of Lothian Buses and the immaculate condition in which they keep their fleet. I remember a year or so back I saw one of First's B7 Geminis up there with the fan making a horrendous racket and I asked Stuart if Lothian ever have this problem, as they run a very large Gemini fleet, to which he responded " Och No ! Never, it would be taken straight off the road ". I had to smile then, when last weekend Lothian Gemini 702 I think it was, rounded the corner sounding like a roadsweeper. Stuart swiftly changed the subject !
One of Lothian's Lady Victoria liveried Geminis, one of which had a faulty fan during my visit.
For several months now, our X1 fleet have been silent in this respect, then last night I passed 37160 on K4. I had my stereo turned up quite loud, but the bus seemed to momentarily drown it out. Surely not ? Then today 37160 worked Y7, it being heard before it was viewed, confirming that its fan is playing up. Oh well never mind !
At this point I thought I would go 'off subject' a little and show some other buses seen during my Edinburgh visit. I know some drivers read this blog and they might be surprised to learn that although Lothian's fleet is very new (and completely low floor), indeed Stuart told me that their oldest vehicle is a Y reg Dart, in contrast, the First fleet are quite elderly and certainly older than anything we have apart from 20115/126.


So some pretty ancient stuff there then, but isn't it lovely to still see the Royales in use. Finally on this topic, it's not all low floor with Stagecoach either :

For a better idea of the Lothian fleet, you couldn't do better than to take a look at Stuart's Flickr site :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_montgomery/

So what about the X1 then ? Well it was a good day for punctuality overall, certainly at the west end of the route. This afternoon 37573 on K1 passed Bruce 13 late on the 15.15 King's Lynn to Peterborough, but smart working reduced this to just 7 minutes by the time it left Wisbech. Everything else seen was within 8 minutes of the timetable.
Having said that, there was an element of disruption caused in the east due to today's high winds as Des reports :
"I was waiting to work Y7 15.42 Yarmouth - King's Lynn, due in at 15.37. Breydon Bridge had been closed to northbound traffic only, while curiously traffic continued to use it southbound. This resulted in long queues of traffic on all other routes into the town. By 16.00, a Lynn driver who has his meal break at Yarmouth had turned up to work L8 16.12 to Peterborough. we decided that as he had to have a further break  at Lynn before operating the 19.50 thence to Peterborough (L10), he should take the next bus that arrived and operate it as L8 (the 16.12). Y7 arrived at 16.18, 41 late with 37160, this loaded and then departed at 16.21 now running as L8. This would need refuelling at Lynn at 18.55 as it had originally been on Y7 which terminates there, but would now be required to work through to Peterborough and back to Yarmouth.
At 16.28 the original L8 arrived with 37579, 16 late and less delayed as Breydon Bridge had been reopened to northbound traffic. I ran forward as Y7 dropping passengers at Acle, Norwich and Easton with 'not in service' on the screen. I then ran light to Little Fransham where I resumed 'in service' now just 23 minutes late".
37564 in King's Lynn Vancouver Avenue garage this evening after arrival on L11. Along with 37563, 37567, 37573 & 37574, it is currently running without adverts on the passenger side reminding us of how these vehicles were intended to look.
A nice line up of 37575, 37579, 37576 & 37577 at King's Lynn tonight
Elsewhere L12 had 37577 with a gear fault replaced by sister 37578 for the 11.15 Lynn to Peterborough and there was a swap an hour later on K14 too with 37576 coming off for a scheduled service and 37565 working forward as the 12.15 to Peterborough

Wednesday January 4th 2012 ~ Back To Work

A number of people who use Blogger have been having problems with the masthead photo on their blogs. The last two I have used, the Christmas one and this one of 37157, appear blurred as if in low resolution. Hopefully they will get this fixed soon in view of the glitch affecting so many people.

I went back to work today and didn't get a lot of time at my desk. At first several services failed to appear, but I then put this down to them running dead on time or marginally early and that I'd missed them, rather than them using an alternative route.
Grahame Bessey says "Whilst going through some old photos, I came across 37579 pictured in Acle back on 16th December 2008 with a large font destination which suggests it was reprogrammed at some point but then returned to the original settings!"
Yes Grahame this is exactly what happened. I mentioned it at the time and it came back from Volvo with the narrow font after attention there. Anyway, isn't it strange when coincidences happen ? Just as Grahame's email arrives, I see 37579 on K2 this morning having sometime over the last few days reverted to the large font style as seen above !! This is the first time since all 17 B9 Geminis have been in service, that they have all carried this bolder style of destination display. A shame really, as you could always identify 37579 from a distance as long as it was unique in this respect.

Unusual happenings today included 36180 starting out on K4 for a journey from Lynn to Peterborough and back where it was swapped for 37160 to work the 10.02 to Lowestoft. 37567 on L12 was 9 late on the 11.48 Wisbech to Peterborough, but returned dead on time, suggesting a short cut somewhere. Eleven minutes was the maximum lateness recorded today by 37569 on L10.

Malcolm noted three different types of bus on the X2 today, President 32211 was on the 10.38 Lowestoft - Norwich, Palatine 34156 arrived on the 09.40 from Norwich and 32651 worked the 11.08 departure from Lowestoft. Later 32654 was on the 14.38 with 32210 spare in the bus station.
Des writes "Yesterday (Tuesday), saw the timetable revisions commence with the evening X1s being curtailed at Grat Yarmouth and then becoming Service 1 all stops to Lowestoft. Some buses are able to display X1 Lowestoft and scrolling underneath ... for 1 to Lowestoft and for 1 to Gorleston. Through X1 fares are available to the additional stopping points on the 1 route.

05/01/2012

Tuesday January 3rd 2012 ~ Delays & Obstructions ...but the X1 was OK !

Leaving my accommodation in Edinburgh this morning to head for Waverley station, it was a bit breezy, but nothing out of the ordinary. Later in the day wind speeds in excess of 100 mph were recorded here. Fortunately I was away early for the 06.55 train before things deteriorated. My journey was unhindered until I reached Retford where we ground to an unscheduled halt and sat for three hours ! At least it meant passengers got their money refunded, but this must have been little consolation to those heading for connecting services and Eurostar. The reason for our delay ? Well you've probably guessed - it was cable theft at Carlton-on-Trent. All this meant that my idea of catching Y9 11.05 Peterborough to Lowestoft had evaporated and I just came out of the station at 13.39 to see 37567 drawing off with K14 13.35 departure. Returning to the concourse I watched the ever increasing list of cancelled trains become longer. Most passengers were resigned to the disruption, but as ever there were a couple of people 'creating'.
 The 14.05 bus to Dereham appeared to be on time - it always makes me smile to see that the railway refuse to list the correct destination of the X1, allegedly because the train to the more far flung destinations is quicker.
Peter had sent me a text telling me that if I caught K15 14.05 departure, it would be loan Gemini 36180. At about 13.50 two coaches belonging to Smiths of Blofield arrived on what appeared to be rail replacement services........

Notice the red Audi parked in front of them ! This was a lady motorist who ignored all the restrictions and parked here to refill her windscreen washer bottle. The next bus to arrive at 14.02 was not my X1, but a Stagecoach Trident which pulled in to the bus stop in front of the Audi blocking the car in. To make matters worse, the tight right turn out of the station approach could only be completed by the Trident by it parking at an angle - all because of that silly lady ......

This also had the knock on effect of blocking the road completely, although I think the driver of the car at the rear was being a little bit over cautious. This happened at 14.02 and the Trident was due to depart at 14.17 !! Both the motorist stuck behind and the guilty woman in the Audi approached the buses driver and asked him to move to no avail. Eventually the Oundle service departed at 14.14 by which time the driver of the car shown here had abandoned it to drop off his passenger. The Smiths coaches pulled away and then traffic had to overtake the abandoned car on the left.
Goodness knows how long the queue was, but it was a good three minutes before 36180 appeared. The driver (Adrian) said he had been tempted to avoid the station when he saw the queue but stuck to his duty and we eventually left at around 14.20. Being the joker he is, he told me he was going empty to King's Lynn ! We picked up at Queensgate where the former 20141 was on a March service operated by Emblings, we then managed to regain some of the lost time. 36180 has the higher maximum speed like the B9s so moved along quite briskly although Adrian said it was a little sluggish pulling away. Bruce kindly picked me up at Walpole Highway and gave me a lift home.
37564 with new adverts in Vancouver Avenue after working K5 today.

Elsewhere on the X1, 37563 was back in traffic on K19 this morning but 37570 took its place at 14.45. Earlier 37570 arrived in King's Lynn on L10 with 37159 taking over for the 10.15 to Peterborough.
37568 is still sidelined at Vancouver Avenue awaiting parts.

04/01/2012

Two Year Blog : Happy New Year.

Thursday December 29th 2011 - Monday January 2nd 2012

Thursday dawned with me taking the X1 to Peterborough in order to catch my train to Scotland. I took K3 06.45 from King's Lynn from Walpole Highway which was 37567. This delivered me to the rail station in plenty of time. The day seemed to pass without incident and the three buses not in use were 37563/8/76. 36180 was back on K15 which seems to be its favourite turn. 34155 was seen by Malcolm operating the 11.08 Lowestoft - Norwich X2.
Friday saw 37576 back in action on K19 and 37572 was rested instead. 36180 was K15 again. 20115 was viewed by Christine at Brundall this morning on an X1 short to Norwich. Des drove B7s 37157 & 37160 but both were running up to 10 minutes late due to heavy loadings.
Saturday (New Year's Eve) saw the usual early close. 37565 had a screen washer failure first thing, so Y10 07.15 ex James Paget Hospital left with coach 20115 in an almost exact repeat of events on Christmas Eve. Its jaunt was halted at King's Lynn with 37158 taking over. In a move designed to get 20115 back home, L12 then had 37578 removed so that the coach could head back east on the 14.02 King's Lynn - Lowestoft and then the 17.25 Lowestoft - Yarmouth. 37563 & 37568 had their third consecutive day in Lynn garage.
There was no service on New Years Day but there was a Sunday service on Monday 2nd. The service was entirely B9 worked with 37566/7/9. 37571/2/4/6/7/8/9 being in use.

Richard Alger says "Thought you might be interested in attached pictures of 20111 now with Panther Travel. It was an entrant in the 1 January running day in Southend. You will see that it was passed by an old friend, 20501 operating the service X30". Interesting stuff Richard and here are those pictures :