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.