The XL Blog: Week Ending Sunday 26th February 2012 ~ It's All Happening

A little bit more to report this week, with the X1 fleet getting back up to full strength .............

Monday 20th February 2012

Yet another road closure in Wisbech occurred today, with temporary lights opposite St. Augustines Church causing delays to the X1. There seem to be regular problems here due to collapsing sewers on the busy Lynn Road.
Spare bus today was 37159 and L11 did a maintenance swap with 37157 being replaced by 37566 at 10.45 in King's Lynn. 37572 had problems early on with an oil pressure switch fault. Fitters were sent to Wisbech to sort it out and eventually it was able to continue on K3. It was still running 18 late when it passed Bruce eastbound at 09.23.
An interesting working in Lowestoft seen by Malcolm was 32210 arriving on the 13.40 X2 service from Norwich and then working the 15.10 Service no. 1 to Martham. 32211 which had come in from Martham then worked the 15.03 X2 to Norwich. Whether this is a regular occurrence or merely for operational convenience today is not known.

Here is the official X1 route map as shown in the latest timetable

Tuesday February 21st

The delays in Wisbech were severe today. Jamie took L11 with 37578 from Walpole Highway westbound and was diverted just before the Locomotive pub via Lerowe Road, Kirkgate Street and Norwich Road to gain Churchill Road. This involves negotiating numerous speed humps, but which seemed preferable to being stuck on the usual route.

Early on buses were running on average 10 late eastbound past Bruce, but Y9 with 37577 was 23 late going to Peterborough and 24 late returning. Des says, "37577 was 30 late into Yarmouth at 15.25, then 25 late arriving at Lowestoft before departing westbound again at 16.08 (13 late)".

36180 remains in use and today did its favourite turn again, K15. 37566 had a nox fault while working K1, so it was replaced by freshly serviced 37567 for the 15.15 to Peterborough. 37567 had already been used earlier when it did the first stage of K5 to Peterborough before being replaced by 37157 for the 10.32 to Lowestoft. 37576 arrived back at King's Lynn following accident damage repairs today.

32210 & 32211 did an identical move to yesterday involving the X2 and Service 1 reports Malcolm.

Wednesday February 22nd

Services from the east are due to pass the King's Lynn Southgates inbound at 02 and 32 minutes past the hour. A survey today saw the following

Y9 37563 09.38 -6

L10 37160 10.05 -2

L11 37158 10.44 -12

L12 37565 11.04 -2

Y13 37574 11.37 -5

K14 37578 12.01 +1

K15 37569 12.34 -2

K16 37571 13.07 -5

K17 37579 13.32 RT

K18 37157 14.02 RT

K19 37577 14.32 RT

K1 37564 15.03 -1

K2 37575 15.33 -1

All in all, not a bad day for punctuality and the Wisbech Lynn Road lights were removed too. Two eastbound changes of vehicle occurred with Y9 12.32 to Lowestoft leaving with 37566 having replaced 37563 for some reason then a similar thing happened at 14.32 with Y13 changing 37574 for 37573, though this was a scheduled maintenance swap. . For the record, the services not listed above had : K3 36180, K4 37572, K5 37568, Y6 37567 and L8 37570. 37576 did not re-enter service today as it required a safety service before use.

Thursday 23rd February

Today was quite Spring like with the temperatures in the high teens. 37573 is seen passing Walton Highway on K17 13.45 King's Lynn to Peterborough.

Signs of change today. 36180 was washed and cleaned before departing for Norwich empty at 10.10, its loan spell having finished. It has to be said that it was sent back in much cleaner condition than when it arrived !

37576 returned to traffic working K4, while 37568 had some compressor work carried out at Vancouver Avenue and 37577 was also spare here for servicing. Everything on the X1 seemed to behave with no known swaps for a change. There were some morning delays, but by this afternoon things had settled down. K3 with 37569 was seen passing the Southgates inbound at 09.31 (about 12 late) but thanks to a smart turn round, was back out again on the 09.32 ex bus station to Lowestoft at 09.43 (only 6 late). Malcolm saw 32652 arriving in Lowestoft 18 late on the 08.40 X2 from Norwich and it then departed 15 late on the 10.08 return.

Friday 24th February

King's Lynn garage boss Richard Tucker kindly sent in this picture of the 'new' 37156 for us. Yes I did manage to download it from my mobile this time !

No doubt about the big news today. 37156 returned to King's Lynn this afternoon following completion of its accident repairs sustained last November. It has been completely repainted in Excel livery like the B9s, so is looking very smart. It will not be back in service for about a further week though, as it needs to undergo an MOT.

The return of 37156 brings the X1 fleet back to full strength. Today there was a single bus swap when 37573 was unable to restart at Wisbech at 09.00 on K3 and it was changed for 37579 for the 09.32 Lynn to Lowestoft. Timekeeping was pretty good considering today was a Friday.

37157 on K18 this afternoon being chased by the Norfolk Green 46 at Walpole Highway.

Saturday 25th February

Well well well. You only have to mention the words X1 fleet back to full strength and what happens ? Yes a coach comes out ! Not that the operators can be too unhappy I would have thought, after all running 124 turns this week and only one not being a Gemini must be considered a success.

L12 was the turn covered by 20115 today after 37567 was unable to perform. This is quite a convenient turn when a coach has to be used as the Saturday diagram for L12 covers 07.55 Lowestoft - Peterborough, 12.35 return and then the 17.25 Lowestoft - Yarmouth. This was the first time a coach has penetrated west of King's Lynn on an X1 since December 6th.

20115 on L12 today, Bruce looks like he is taking a photo of the back of 37570 which is going the other way on L8 !

There were other incidents today too when 37568 on K14 was taken out of service after it lost a mirror. It was seen arriving at the Southgates at 12.31 (29 late) 'not in service', but quick emergency repairs saw it continue on the delayed 12.15 to Peterborough which was back through the Southgates at 12.42 (20 late) and noted passing Bruce at 12.57 (23 late).

This evening Jamie says L10 (37574) was almost forced off the road at the Boongate exit to the A1139 while working the 21.10 ex Peterborough. The bus was able to continue after the scare.

Sunday February 26th

Another all B9 worked Sunday with no incidents reported. Many of the B9s retain the nearside adverts for 'Celebrity Big Brother' which have been in situ since the New Year and the remainder have no adverts revealing the route branding. Here are some recent offside campaigns :