Well not such a big blog really ! There has been little of note to report, so this report is quite brief. Continuing resurfacing work both inside and outside King's Lynn garage has led to some unorthodox overnight parking of vehicles. The work is expected to last another week. It has been a desperate week for drivers at Lynn, with holidays, illness and paternity leave meaning that supervisors have had to stand in when required. The week passed with both 37576 and 37156 still out of traffic at Full Circle receiving accident repairs.
Monday 13th February
On the X2 route, Malcolm saw 32651 & 32656 in service while the standby Palatines 34155/7/8 were all at Gasworks Road garage. Only change on the X1 was 36180 being swapped for 37564 at lunchtime.
Tuesday 14th February
Chaos in Great Yarmouth today after Haven Bridge was closed from 12.50 to 16.45 after a lorry fatally hit a pedestrian and a four vehicle pile up on Breydon Bridge at 14.30 added to the congestion. Malcolm reports Y7 with 37157 running 58 minutes late and L8 with 37572 49 late, while the X2 saw 34155 arrive in Lowestoft followed a couple of minutes later by 32562, so clearly some disruption there too. Over here in the west, 37574 on K2 15.45 westbound from Lynn was 24 late at Walpole Highway. K4 and K5 swapped vehicles, beginning the day with 36180 and 37159 and tonight 37563 replaced 37577 on Y6. 37158 spent the day undergoing bodywork repairs after Saturday's minor accident.
Des says "Temporary lights have sprung up in many places this week including a single lane at East Winch caused by a water main burst last week and where there has been a distinct lack of interest since. There are also temporary lights at Tilney and another four way set at Terrington which can take an age to change".
Wednesday 15th February
The same set of vehicles on the X1 as yesterday, with 37565 on Y13 being changed for 37568 and K4 and K15 also being involved in swaps. The X2 had Presidents 32211 on the 12.08 ex Lowestoft and 32210 on the 14.38 departure. 37577 on K4 was on time from Lynn at 10.02 but 9 late departing Lowestoft on the 13.25 to Peterborough seen by Jenny. It was later changed for 37578.
Thursday 16th February
Late running was once again a theme. Des writes "36180 on K15 09.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough, on time till queueing from East Winch church to Middleton. Openreach were laying cables with timed lights. What was normally a 3 minute journey took 24 minutes. I was 19 late into Lynn and 13 late outward to Peterborough. 37160 on K18 14.15 Lynn - Peterborough was the first westbound service to run on time following removal of the Middleton lights".
Bruce reported a series of delayed buses from Peterborough : L11 with 37570 12 late, L12 37569 7 late, Y13 37574 20 late and K14 with 37566 28 late. At the Lowestoft end Malcolm saw Y6 with 37579 15 x 5 late and 37157 arriving 17 late on Y7. Y9 changed 37578 for 37565 at lunchtime.
Friday 17th February
A quieter day with all buses sticking to their turns for a change. 37159 and 37578 were the two spare buses at King's Lynn. The service degenerated this afternoon, Lance was heading east by car and became stuck in almost 1.5 miles of queueing traffic into Thorney Toll delaying him by 20 minutes and all because someone had parked a self-drive van diagonally blocking one lane of the road. Bruce noted eastbound services as follows : Y13 with 37573 33 late, K14 37564 34 late, K15 36180 20 late, K16 37574 16 late, K17 37570 22 late then a long gap until K18 with 37575 went past at 17.16, 41 minutes late. Later I saw 37563 on Nar Ouse Way working Y6 17.45 Lynn to Peterborough at 18.08, so about 13 late.
X2s seen by Malcolm today included 32211 on the 12.08 and 34156 on the 12.38 departures to Norwich, while arriving in Lowestoft was 32654 on the 11.40 from the city.
Saturday 18th February
Not much of note today. I saw K14 13.35 ex Peterborough 10 late at Walpole with 37572, but K18 coming the other way was at least 20 late so I missed it (37158 apparently).
Peterborough bus station has resumed normal working at last, but Yarmouth's Haven Bridge is now closed at weekends which is unusual.
Sunday 19th February
37563/4/7/8, 37571/2/4/7/8/9 were the ten vehicles involved today with no reported incidents. Thanks to Cheryl, Bruce, Malcolm and Des amongst others for keeping me informed this week.
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 .
No comments:
Post a Comment