Monday 16th July 1012 - Sunday 22nd July 2012 ~ Goodbye Rain

37578 approaches Tilney All Saints on a diverted X1

One unusual event which I failed to mention in the last blog, was the diversion of evening buses via Tilney All Saints for three nights up to 13th July. Closure for resurfacing of the A47 Tilney High End Roundabout saw services westbound from Lynn taking the A17 to the Tilney turn and then the road through the village past Glebe Estate and the Church. The diversion continued on to the school where a right turn was taken past the Eagles golf course to rejoin the normal route at what was at the stop once known as Tilney All Saints (New Inn). This added around ten minutes to schedules and I travelled the diversion on the Friday night. The journey to Lynn was spoiled by idiots on the upstairs back seat who were threatening to urinate and worse - if you are of a nervous disposition, I strongly recommend you travel downstairs on a Friday evening. Coming home though, the 21.50 service was unusually full thanks to punters from the King's Lynn Festival and I'm pleased to say all were impeccably behaved.

Over the past week services have run very well with no major incidents noted. Monday saw an unusual evening bus swap when K1-XL07with 37568 arrived at Great Yarmouth at the end of its booked turn , but was then called on to work the last leg of K17-XL04 to Lynn instead of 37576.
On Tuesday K2 -XL08was in trouble at Norwich with a transmission fault on 37579. 37564 was summoned from King's Lynn and worked the remainder of the turn from Dereham. A serious accident on the A146 at Stockton caused delays to the X2 and 32651 & 30887 were seen arriving at Lowestoft in quick succession before departing as the 11.38 & 12.08 to Norwich.  Back on the X1 37158 was 7 late out of Lynn with K18-XL05 and had lost a further 10 minutes by arrival in Yarmouth.

At lunchtime today 37573 nearest the camera replaced 37563 on XL01 -K14 12.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough.
Photo from  Richard Delahay via Des Speed.

On Wednesday 37157 had to be removed from K18-XL05 and a repaired 37579 replaced it. 

Seat damage on 37157 - these seats are pretty rugged, so how did this happen ?

37571 had its MOT on Thursday and 37573 was taken off K5-XL11 at 10.30 for repairs to be carried out. 37565 worked forward. K3-XL09 arrived at Lynn with 37158 which had its steering pulling and this was taken out of service for investigation. Palatine 34155 arrived in Lowestoft 30 late on the 14.10 X2 from Norwich and then left 20 late on the 15.48 return. 
Friday saw K2-XL08 in trouble at Norwich with 37569 having to have its oil pressure switch replaced by a Volvo technician. The bus was repaired without too much delay and was able to continue the turn. 37564 which had been 11 late into Lowestoft on L8-XL14 then suffered a water leak at Dereham at 17.50. 37574 which had arrived at Lynn on Y7-XL13 was then used to work L8 forward from Lynn to Peterborough at 18.50. 34156 was another Palatine deputising on the X2 and Malcolm saw it departing with the 15.03 to Norwich. 37577 was progressively delayed on Y13 13.05 from Peterborough (XL19), 22 late from Wisbech, 27 late from Lynn and 29 down at Dereham. Time was regained however and it was 23 late at Norwich but just 13 late into Yarmouth. 
Saturday was uneventful with all buses behaving. I had a couple of trips to Wisbech, firstly with 37576 on L12-XL18 and returning with a still noisy 37575 on L9-XL15. Then K17-XL04 returning on K15-XL02 with Frank who hasn't had his picture in the blog lately. well what do you know, Dave Hodkinson was at Peterborough later and snapped 37566 on K5-XL11, with - yes you've guessed it - Frank doing his paperwork.

Both 37572 and 37568 were quite comfortable, though in the latter's case I sat on the back seat downstairs and the reversed seats facing me had clearly been abused by backseat passengers putting their feet on them. The woman opposite me proving the point. 
37576 was swapped on Sunday with a splintered windscreen and Y7 continued with 37567.

New Buses ? - The Truth

Following the recent blog entries mentioning new buses and there possible whereabouts, I am pleased to say that I now have word from the man in the know.

He says "Just to let you know that there are no replacement X1 vehicles in the Olympic fleet, at West Ham or anywhere else ! A discussion on replacing the vehicles in next years vehicle allocation is about to take place ". So there we are, false alarms all round and the existing Geminis will continue for the foreseeable future. More details as and when I receive them.

Monday 9th July 2012 - Sunday 15th July 2012 ~ Up the Hammers ?

No I haven't changed alllegiance - I still support NCFC. Apparently the 17 new buses - along with nearly 200 others for elsewhere - are parked up at West Ham of all places. Thanks to all who have been in touch and provided info.

Quiet times during the period under review. 37567 was out of action until Thursday for MOT work and on Saturday evening 37571 was stopped for the same purpose. No less than four turns had vehicle swaps on Monday, though I'm not sure why. All services resumed using the Churchill Road and either Wisbech Bypass or Weasenham Lane and the old route is not due to reopen now until 1st September.

On Monday afternoon, K1-XL07 15.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough passes Walpole with 37575 and a wave from Adrian. The NG Service 46 is in pursuit,

  Tuesday passed without any changes. Malcolm noted 37571 on K16-XL03 arriving 13 late and departing 7 down. Both 32651 and 32654 were noted on the 101s which is probably unprecedented. Incidentally Richard A says that the info regarding the transfer of ALX400s to Yarmouth was erroneous and this was never the intention. 34156 was on the 10.38 X2 to Norwich this morning.
On Wednesday 37563 expired at Blofield on L10-XL16 with a broken hose and consequent loss of coolant, 37571 was pinched off L12-XL18 and took over the turn, while L12 later continued from Lynn at 11.15 with 37573. Meanwhile, Rachel was not amused as she was waiting at Lowestoft for L12 to transport her to work on her first day in her new job. Fortunately she managed to get there on time by other means after the X1 failed to appear.
Des had a nightmare run to Peterborough with 37159 on Y9-XL15. "Tractor from Emneth bypass roundabout to Guyhirn, then followed a Tesco lorry to Thorney. Next was an 8 wheeled crane from Thorney to the A15 retail park, so an on time departure deteriorated to a 15 minute late arrival at Peterborough rail station. Departed 10 late then 6 late from Queensgate  and 4 late into and out of Lynn". 34156 was seen by Malcolm on the 10.38 X2 out of Lowestoft.
37563 was checked out at Lynn on Thursday and 37567 returned to traffic taking over K17-XL04 in the afternoon from 37579. I had a day out to Peterborough for beers with Peter, so was able to have a few short X1 runs before the main event, taking L12-XL18 on time with Karen F at the helm.

37570 about to leave Peterborough Rail station for Lowestoft at 12.35. The only indication that buses run from here is the old 'Railinks stop' sign.

The bus stop with no timetables - I assume it is the Council's responsibility to provide them ?

 During our session in the Brewery Tap, I nipped out to the nearby bus station to photograph K16-XL03 with 37576 and Mr. Speed driving (below). Talk about consciencous ? He was so busy concentrating on the road, he missed seeing me completely which I guess was a good thing.

37576 gets away from Peterborough Queensgate Bus Station on K16 -XL03 

We came back to Wisbech on 37573 on K2-XL08 which like almost all services seen was on time. In the morning four of the five B7s passed through Wisbech within an hour, these being 37157 on Y7-XL13, 37160 on L8-XL14, 37156 on Y9-XL15 and 37158 with L11-XL17. Of these the only black mark was 37157 running about 15 late, due almost entirely I think to the large number of passengers boarding at Wisbech heading eastbound. I had intended to have a fill in move with it, but it was so full, I didn't fancy fighting for a seat or missing 37570 on L12. At the eastern end , Malcolm reports X2 departures at 10.08 & 10.38 with 30887 & 32652 and 37159 11 late in on K18-XL05. By the time Des was driving 37159 from the Southgates at 17.07, it was on almost running to time, however, the schedule was lost eventually as the 30 minutes allocated from Norwich to Yarmouth is just not possible with a B7 and 5 minutes were lost on this section.

Friday saw K15 -XL02 with 37564 running 12 late at JPH after an accident on the Acle Straight and other services noted delayed at Lowestoft were 37574 departing 16 late on K16 -XL03 and 37567 10 late in on K17 - XL04. Town services were double deckers again with 32656 on the 101 and 34156 on the 103. The trials of 37564 were not over, it was further delayed at Lowestoft after some twirlies tried to board without paying - senior citizens free travel commences at 09.30 and K15-XL02 is due away at 09.25. A panto situation developed where the driver was the villain and by the time the awkward passengers gave up, it was after 09.30 anyway. Honestly some people are never happy ! Departure was 22 late from Norwich after reopening of the Acle Straight but futher delays en route. At Little Fransham this service became XL03-K16 and 37574 overtook to become K15-XL02 forward from Lynn. L8-XL14 had 37579 replace 37576 during the day.
K18-XL05 encountered trying conditions westbound from Lynn, 37156 left Lynn 5 late but heavy rain, a slow A47 crawl and queueing into Wisbech saw the bus into Peterborough bus station 16 late. Even though it departed just 2 late on the return by serving the rail station next, conditions made it 23 late at Southgates driver change. Similarly K1-XL07 18.02 Lynn - Yarmouth with 37578 departed 17 late and was 15 late at its destination.
Saturday saw 37571 sidelined for its MOT work and 37576 had a faulty adblue sensor, however, it was fit  to take over from 37573 on K1 at some point and another swap occurred with 37160 on K18-XL05 being replaced by 37569.
Sunday seemed a normal day although by evening two consecutive services were seen marginally early with traffic appearing to be very light.

I Don't Believe It !

I am told by a reliable source that the new buses for the X1 are currently parked in a location north of London labelled for Olympic use but with X1 branding. The livery is different from the current one and I believe the lower bodysides are burgundy. The seventeen buses (not 22 as we'd hoped) have leather seats and and are rumoured to have more powerful engines than the current fleet. True or false ? We will see.

Panther Travel in Harwich who run Plaxton Premiere B10M N611APU, the former X1 coach are thought to have acquired another of the fleet. I was quoted the former 20101 and 20107 but the former was in very poor condition when sent to Erith Commercials, so may be this is a typo for 20111. As for 20107 which was the most reliable coach in its latter years, it was also thought to have been crushed - again more waiting and seeing !

Wednesday 4th July - Sunday 8th July 2012 ~ Working Buses

By working buses, I actually mean buses seen from work ! Yes today (Wednesday) most X1 services ran via the booked route from Wisbech Horsefair via Nene Quay, along South Brink and onto Cromwell Road. Delays were inevitable though, as the Olympic Torch arrived in King's Lynn just after 11.00 and this meant that for a while, London Road in Lynn was closed with X1s travelling via Vancouver/Tennyson Avenues to get in and out of the bus station. 37565 on K5 (XL11) was 2 late into Wisbech from Peterborough and was later seen emerging from the diversionary route at the Southgates roundabout at 10.48 on the 10.32 King's Lynn - Lowestoft, so only running about 10 late.
Traffic into King's Lynn was almost at a standstill between 08.30 & 09.30 due to the heavy traffic and progress for the X1 s was slow. 37572 on L8 (XL14) was seen departing the Southgates at 09.35 (about 14 late) and was 16 late from Wisbech, although the driver had managed to reduce the deficiency to 12 minutes on its return eastbound. Peterborough bound services from Wisbech then ran as follows : Y9 (XL15) 37157 21 late, L10 (XL16) 37573 10 late, L11 (XL17) 37159 11 late and  L12 (XL18) 37571 9 late. Charting the progress of 37157 it arrived in Lowestoft 17 late while 37159 was 10 late in and Des then took it as the 16.55 to Lynn departing 12 late with a full load and passengers standing as the 16.40 service 1 to Yarmouth had not appeared. Slow traffic into Yarmouth, a bendybus depositing Olympic Torch park and riders blocking the bay in Norwich and an RTA at Honingham with single file traffic all contributed to a 14 minute late arrival in Lynn.
Later Bruce saw K18 (XL05) with 37158 coming off the Wisbech bypass having taken the diversionary route running 8 late. 37569 on K19 (XL06) ran via Nene Quay and was right time with 37569. In Lowestoft the 101 town service had 30886 yesterday and 30889 today.

It's all diversions at the moment and due to a water main burst last month in Great Yarmouth, services have been taking a left in King Street before turning into Yarmouth Way and Hall Quay while permanent  repairs are carried out. 37156 takes the diversion with K5 - XL11 on Tuesday of this week. Photo : Roy, East Norfolk Bus Blog
More photos here :  http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastnorfolkbus/sets/72157630416222522/

On Thursday 37576 went to Bexwell for its MOT and the service ran well. K17-XL04 had a servicing swap with 37575 replacing 37579 at 13.45. Only two services were noted running late, the 09.56 Wisbech - Lowestoft (K5 - XL11) which was 11 late arriving from Peterborough with 37160 and later in the afternoon 37573 was 13 late on K19 - XL06 14.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough. Most surprising of all was K16 - XL03 which was spot on time westbound with 37159 and likewise departing east from Wisbech to Lowestoft at 15.26.
This evening there was a late vehicle swap when 37566 on L8 - XL14 20.05 Peterborough - Gorleston JPH came off at Lynn to be replaced by 37567. Malcolm saw two consecutive X2s with substitute buses, the 12.08 to Norwich was 34156 and the 12.38 30887.  32651 which is normally on the X2 was running about on the 101 !
With all but three of the X1 services between 9 & 5 using the route past me today, it was a good opportunity to review timekeeping on a Friday, a day when it is notoriously poor due to traffic volumes.
5 - 7 minute delays were the norm until lunchtime. After that westbound services from Wisbech were : K15-XL02 37572 15 late, K16-XL03 37563 3 late, K17-XL04 37573 13 late. K18-XL05 37158 14 late, K19-XL06 37565 12 late. Earlier K3-XL09 with 37571 was seen by Cheryl arriving at Wisbech 22 late eastbound and 37570 replaced it at Lynn. Evening peak traffic saw Y7 -XL13 arrive in Lynn with 37157 15 late having lost 9 minutes en route due to congestion. Malcolm reports Dart 42446 on the 15.03 X2 to Norwich this afternoon.
On Saturday it was the Lord Mayors Parade in Norwich and Wisbech Rose Fair Parade. Surprisingly, there were no major delays noted. Between 11.00 & 11.30 and again from 14.00 - 14.30 Nene Quay was closed so services in and out of Wisbech took the Churchill Road, as they will do again from tomorrow until the end of August. K19 with 37574 was seen departing Wisbech on time this afternoon as the 15.18  to Peterborough via Nene Quay. L8 & L9 (XL14/15) swapped buses during the day, presumably  due to late running and starting the day with 37568 & 37564, tonight these diagrams were reversed.  At the eastern end K1-XL07 with 37159 was 17 late into Lowestoft but only 4 late departing on the 11.55 to Peterborough. Later 37579 on Y7-XL13 was 14 late arriving (due 14.40).

37579 seen in Great Yarmouth just after 14.00 this afternoon on Y7-XL13. Photo Dave Hodkinson

Sunday was a fairly normal day it would seem. Traffic was quiet as the masses stayed in to watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon. The service was operated by B9s with 37576 being replaced by 37579 at some point on XL09.

Monday / Tuesday 2nd/3rd July 2012 Bits & Pieces

Firstly I'm pleased to say that one of our trusty readers managed to capture 37567's little holiday in Norwich with his camera and kindly sent it in for use in the blog ....

37567 captured on the 24a by one of our Norwich correspondents

Now a few days ago I remarked on the proposed reopening of Nene Quay in Wisbech from Monday. WRONG - due to the contractors lethargy, the route is now closed until 31st August ! Well not quite, it has actually reopened in both directions today (Tuesday) and will remain so until after Saturday's Wisbech Rose Fair Parade, so may be a rare chance to get an X1 on the correct route if anybody realises it is possible. Meanwhile, Kings Street in Yarmouth is closed for emergency repairs - see the ENBB for details, link here :
http://eastnorfolkbus.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/bus-lane-closed.html

Monday 
37572 was kept in to get its starter motor sorted and 37564 was on a scheduled safety service. 37576 was on MOT prep. The service seemed to run well with no recorded changes, but Y6 (XL12) and 37574 did almost catch up K5 (XL11) with 37158 in Norwich. As a result the 13.55 ex Lowestoft ran empty to Norwich to get back in diagram . Normally when this happens passengers transfer to the following service at Norwich so that the K5 bus can then go directly to Lowestoft to work the 13.55.

Over on the X2, Lowestoft were due to lose a couple of its Volvo B7TL /ALX400s to Yarmouth, but has decided to keep them after all. This is probably because they are proving so useful. Today Malcolm Hicks saw 30889 on the 101 town service, 30887 on the 11.08  and later 30886 on the 14.38 X2s to Norwich.
Des explains more on the Southgates stopping situation following my comments last time : "The Southgates is an official X1 stop. Outward is the usual place to change drivers as five minutes from the bus station is a lot easier to judge than 10/15 minutes from Terrington. Shorter turn rounds at weekends mean that some turns do swap drivers on the inward, but getting across the busy road can be a problem.

Tuesday
37572 was back on the road on K2 (XL08) but 37564 wasn't ready for K4 (XL10) first thing, so 37159 took the turn to Peterborough and back and 37564 went forward to Lowestoft at 10.02. Services seemed to run very much to time today apart from K14 (XL01), this passed Bruce at Walpole at 12.42, so about 9 late. Looking out for it returning, it didn't appear and K15 (XL02) sauntered by with 37565 at 15.06 with just a couple of people on board, then at 15.12 37158 reappeared with a full load, now running 37 late ! King's Lynn control acted quickly and sent freshly serviced 37159 down to the bus station to work the 15.02 to Lowestoft and 37158 on arrival then retired to the garage.

Monday 25th June - Sunday 1st July 2012 ~ Sampling the Delights (a long blog !)

I've been able to use my VIP Pass recently for a few shorter trips as my Mum is now a little better. I've made 8 trips and been driven by nine drivers. The odd figure occurs because on Y10 on Saturday, we started out from Lynn bus station and changed chauffeurs at the South Gates. This is a bit odd from a drivers point of view too as the driver taking over doesn't actually know which passengers are on board (unless he uses the CCTV cameras) and is also unaware of which stops he is likely to have to make.
 One of the most infuriating things (I would imagine) is the number of times passengers inadvertantly press the bell pushes which are easily caught by bags etc. On one trip we came to a halt at the South Gates coming into Lynn after somebody had rung the bell, the doors opened and closed again without anyone leaving the vehicle - it was almost like we'd stopped for a ghost to get off ! I'm not sure if South Gates is regarded as an X1 stop, but I know that many drivers are willing to stop there to let passengers disembark. My journeys have all been comfortable, though the lack of legroom on a B9 compared to a B7 is noticeable. The first higher level seat downstairs seems particularly tight for someone of average height and build such as myself and it is necessary to constantly readjust seating position to avoid your knees rubbing against the seatback. The main problem though is definitely the lack of air conditioning - something which passengers often mention to me. The windows when open tend to give excessive draughts, especially in the Fens, so come on chaps, let's have some air con when we get a new fleet. Carol says " I used the X1 this week and it was just so hot, we also had one of the slower buses (37158) which didn't help, but the driver did make a sterling effort to make up time after the bus had been delayed by the Royal Norfolk Show".

All the drivers I have travelled with have been courteous and in some cases jovial, I've only had one bad experience where the driver on seeing my pass said "Yes ??? Well where are you going ? I need to know where you are going"  - turned out this was so that he could issue me a ticket, don't know if he was in the right or wrong but none of the other drivers have ever issued me a ticket. I wonder if he asks all the passengers where they are going when he takes over a bus at the Southgates ? Anyway, I think his customer service skills could do with brushing up - apparently he is a recent arrival from a rival company.

The driver needn't have worried - I was only going to sunny Wisbech !

The buses themselves have been clean and tidy, though the excessive amount of rubbish that the public leave behind is disappointing. Noisiest vehicle was 37575 which didn't sound very well at all, but the others have been quite good. Pick of the bunch was probably 37579. 

Finally I must add that the drivers have a heck of a lot to put up with. On one occasion, we were about to leave Wisbech 5 late when two lads boarded with scooters asking "Do you go to King's Lynn, near the centre". "I'm 13" said the bolder of the two, "how much is it". No word of thanks to the driver which these days is probably not surprising. The same driver then had to put up with three girls - the oldest being about ten - boarding en route and scrambling together enough change for their fares to Lynn - this took a couple of minutes making us even later. On another occasion the same driver again had an interrogation before departure from Lynn by a chap who was very persistent. "Are you taking us to Peterborough ?" The driver explained that he was actually getting off at the Southgates as his hours were up, this led to a very lengthy conversation to the point where he was asked what would happen if he carried on driving. The driver explained that a relief supervisor would have to come out and rescue the bus ! The point here is that at no time did the driver seem exasperated or flustered by any of these events, instead he was calm, pleasant and a credit to the X1.

and now Part 2 ! What has been happening......

Monday saw 37566 & 37570 kept in for servicing as scheduled and 37568 joined them in King's Lynn garage on MOT prep. 37574 had attention to an adblue sensor before it was released to work K19 (XL06). Timekeeping was fair but highlight was Y6 (XL12) 08.48 Wisbech to Peterborough & 37576 which actually departed bang on time which with traffic at this time of the morning is extremely rare.
L8 (XL14) which is normally solid B9 had 37159 today meaning a refuelling was required. Joe says "At 16.30 a Plaxton President broke down at Trowse causing delays to the X1, here's a couple of  pictures I took of 37577 on Y7 (XL13) stuck in the queue"

Tuesday began with two accidents on the Acle Straight, but X1 services didn't seem to suffer too badly as a result. L8 (XL14) with 37157 which due to late running had replaced 37575 at Lynn was seen passing Walpole by Bruce at 09.46, 8 late. 37158 on Y9 (XL15) was similarly late so 37575 off L8 (XL14) took this forward instead and was through Walpole at 10.26 (23 late), however, returning the delay had been reduced to just 14 minutes. Bruce didn't see L10 (XL16)  at all, but L11 (XL17) turned up with 37564 19 late reduced to 7 late coming back from Peterborough. After this things settled down but later 37158 replaced 37573 on Y6 (XL12) so that the latter could make its servicing slot.

Wednesday. The first day of the Royal Norfolk Show brought out the crowds and the delays !! At King's Lynn, the first westbound service affected by the event was Y9 (XL15) which was spotted arriving at Lynn Southgates 16 late with 37160. Des says "That was me driving, in fact we were 23 late at Easton - the outside lane is always the best way through, caught up a little time and departed Lynn 8 late at 09.53".
L10 (XL16) had 37158 and this was due to refuel at 13.05 being on one of the long turns, however, instead a clever bit of juggling saw 37578 on K16 (XL03) arrive from Lowestoft and then take over L10 (XL16) returning eastbound as the 13.02. Whether K16 (XL03) got through to Peterborough with 37158 is unknown, but the B7 was seen emerging from Vancouver Avenue after fuelling at 13.51 so at that point it would have been in excess of 30 late. 37156 on L11 (XL17) was seen returning from Peterborough 22 late but had recouped all this lost time by the evening when it was into Lynn on time at 19.58
XL18 (L12) with 37565 was seen at the Southgates inbound at 11.36, so 34 late and likewise Y13 (XL19) was seen at 12.08 (36 late). The latter with 37570 was then seen at Walsoken heading to Peterborough running 32 late. Of the eastbound morning services it was K1, K2 & K3 (XL07-09) which fared worst and these all swapped vehicles at some point.
Highlight of the month though was the unexpected borrowing by Norwich of 37567. This was spare at Lynn and was required at Norwich to cover for shortages caused by running the Norfolk Show shuttles.
Michael from Cringleford says " I could hardly believe my eyes this afternoon when I saw 37567 working the 16.14 local service 24a from the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital to Thorpe St. Andrew". Well thanks for the confirmation Michael, at least we know it was used on something ! Out on the X2 were 30887 on the 15.03  ex Lowestoft and 34155 on the 16.48 Lowestoft College to Norwich, thanks to Malcolm H for this.

Thursday. Mid morning Y6 (XL12) with Des driving 37575 caught up K5 (XL11) with 37579 at Dereham. The Easton & Hockering passengers transferred to 37575 and then at Norwich 37579 went light to Lowestoft to regain time, all passengers boarding Y6. Over in Lowestoft Malcolm saw 34155 on the 101 town service, but by the afternoon it had been replaced by Dart 43465, so may be the availability of these is improving.
The inability of the B7s to regain lost time was evident today. The delays caused by the Royal Norfolk Show were minimal  compared to yesterday and it wasn't until L11 (XL17) that things began to go wrong. This was 37159 and it was seen departing the Southgates for Peterborough at 11.09, about 14 late. It was past Bruce at 11.25 (now 22 late). Next was another B7, 37158 which was on L12 (XL18), this arrived from the east at 11.25 - 23 late but this had been cut to 18 late due to a smart driver change at Southgates by the time it passed Bruce. Y13 (XL19) in contrast was on time in from the east and remained so throughout its duty with 37563. K14 (XL01) was the first service going west which had to cope with Show delays in both directions and as a consequence, 37156 was 23 late into Lynn, cut to 15 late departing Southgates but back to being 23 late past Bruce. The timings for the X1 from Lynn to Walton Highway are extremely tight when the roads are busy and both 37156 & 37159 lost eight minutes on this section today.
37156 went back to Lowestoft on the 15.02 from Lynn and was 15 late departing. Another B7 which had lost time was 37160 on K16 (XL03), this was 25 late past Bruce heading to Peterborough with 37566 on K17 (XL04) close behind it.
Peter & Angela saw a succession of X1s in close proximity as they drove over to Peterborough, 37159 on L11 (XL17) was showing  'not in service' when passed near Guyhirn and just a few minutes behind was 37158 on L12 (XL18), itself closely followed by 37563 on Y13 (XL19)  which was on time. L12 (XL18) somehow managed to be just 3 late by the time it reached Walpole, but if you knew who was driving you wouldn't be surprised, well done that man ! Whilst all this was going on Y7 (XL13) swapped 37574 for 37577 at 11.30 for servicing requirements and 37568 had its MOT.

37569 on the outskirts of Norwich today (Thursday) with a healthy load. It was working K3 (XL09) this morning (Kieran Smith)

Friday. 37156 which has been a well behaved bus since its repaint was taken off L12 (XL18) with an oil leak today and it was replaced by 37568 back on the road after MOT. This left 37579 as spare bus. 37567 was due back from Norwich but never arrived ! 
After the last few days, timekeeping was good today, although late afternoon saw a couple of delays, notably K3 (XL09) with 37158 on the 16.15 Lynn - Peterborough which according to Peter was noisy, hot and very slow ! It was 21 late arriving into Wisbech and the following service, K4 (XL10) with 37574 was 13 late at Walpole. Another B7 37159 was on K18 (XL05), this ran 18 late from Lynn but was only 11 late into Yarmouth. Des says "We entered Norwich via the A140 as Newmarket Road was blocked". Whilst the X1 at Lowestoft seemed to be punctual, this afternoon Malcolm saw 32654 arrive on the 14.10 X2 from Norwich 22 late.

Saturday. 

37574 arrives at Norwich bus station as Y7 (XL13) 10.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft. {K Smith}

Delays of up to ten minutes were the order of the day. I did a trip to Wisbech on 37564 on XL04 (K17) and this was 9 late at Walpole. Returning I took 37565 on K15 (XL02) and this was 8 late. Later 37579 on K4 (XL10) 16.45 Lynn - Peterborough was 11 late westbound but some smart driving saw it only 3 late returning and it was on time into Lynn.

37157 looking quite tidy on the ramp at Norwich Bus Station exit. It was working K1 (XL07)  11.55 Lowestoft - Peterborough, due off Norwich at 13.25. This turn now garages at Lowestoft on Saturdays so quite often gets a B7. Photo from Kieran Smith.

and a final one from Kieran. Isn't that Wayne C driving 37579 on K4 (XL10)  13.25 ex Lowestoft here ? I will have to ask him why he was 'out of service' with passengers on at this point, though it was 17 late .  37579 certainly caught up any lost time by the time I travelled on it later, see notes above.

 37567 returned from Norwich today and requires cleaning and servicing. 37576 is now the vehicle stopped for MOT work.

Sunday
More tales of an X1 driver this morning. Paul was driving the 10.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough which I caught. A trio of passengers tried to board with their National Express tickets and he had to explain that this was not their bus ! We then left Lynn on time with 37578 and even though we didn't have to stop at Southgates for a driver change (this had happened on the way in), traffic and stops at Tilney and Terrington made us 7 late by Walpole, This was with a B9 and some good driving, so how on earth a B7 is supposed to keep time, Lord knows. 37572 was off the road with a starter motor problem today and the service was B9 worked throughout. The weather forecast today was originally poor, so the work at Norwich bus station has now been postponed until next Sunday.