Another anomaly is that Yarmouth use an Enviro on a Sunday X1 short. It works the 12.47 to Norwich, returning at 13.50 and on arrival back at Yarmouth runs light to Lowestoft to work the 15.30 to Peterborough and 20.05 return to James Paget Hospital. I was reminded of this today when Zak Nelson (of Norwich Bus Page) kindly sent me a couple of pictures :
.jpg) |
| 33807 was on the 13.50 Norwich - Yarmouth today (Sunday). Photo copyright : Zak Nelson /NBP |
.jpg) |
Looking like new, 37575 was also out on the X1 shorts today along with another former X1 Gemini, 37562.
Photo copyright : Zak Nelson /NBP.
|
The weekday diagrams are not vastly different, but there have been some changes to the evening services. Whereas before, K14-XL01 & K16-XL03 finished at Lowestoft, both turns now come back to Lynn. Y13-XL19 does the opposite and is now a Yarmouth out and home turn, which could be very convenient as we will mention again shortly. K19-XL06 now terminates at Lowestoft instead of Lynn and the order of the last three buses into Lynn from the Coast which was formerly K15, K17 & K19 is now K16, K15 & K17. Note that K15 now has a longer layover in Lowestoft.
K14-XL01 is now an incredibly long diagram. It is booked off Vancouver Avenue garage at 05.20 to work the first eastbound service, the 05.30 to Lowestoft and comes back into Lynn on the last Peterborough, finally getting back to the garage at 00.34 ! That's over 19 hours with a maximum break of just 18 minutes.
Now though let's look at how things have gone over the weekend. Saturday passed off fairly well, although sadly reports of the first vandalism to a rear seat upstairs on an Enviro have surfaced. 33803 had a minor skirmish today, but not enough to take it off the road fortunately. Geminis 37566 & 37571 had their final day in traffic on Y7-XL13 and K3-XL09 respectively. The reason for them coming off the route is that 33820 & 33821 are due to replace them on Monday. 33819 has some minor issues, but will follow shortly. Some of the newer Geminis will be going straight into service with adverts fitted. 33819 & 33821 are amongst several which have been adorned with boards advertising Coke Zero and others have already received Subway ads like 33806 seen below.
On a more ominous note, the list of Enviro casualties increased on Sunday. 33814 had to be taken off XL04 at Great Yarmouth with an oil leak and 37574 replaced it. 33805 is still awaiting materials after Thursday's breakdown and 33813 requires an alternator belt. The tally of buses yet to be delivered is 33817, 33822-24. Depending on whether 33814 is repaired in time to do Y13-XL19 tomorrow or a replacement arrives from Lynn for the duty, it is just possible that a Gemini in the Yarmouth fleet (currently 37562, 37575/8) may be pressed into frontline service again As we have said Y13-XL19 is now a Yarmouth 'internal' carline and this is convenient if another vehicle has to be used. To finish off Sunday then, 37573 & 37577 were in service, together with 37574 as mentioned above. These three plus 37572 (spare at Lowestoft today) are now the only four B9s officially remaining available for the X1. Not previously reported here is that after an MOT last Thursday, 37565 was sent to Full Circle for repainting.
In the last blog, you may have noticed I touched on the registration LKD explaining its connection with buses from years ago. Well, I made a mistake, a great big boob actually, because I said that the LKD preserved by the ETC was OVF228 and it is of course OVF229 !
Syd says "Now fancy you getting a number wrong! It is LKD229 that is preserved by the Eastern Transport Collection in Norwich, and it is often out and about. I was lucky enough to be driving it at the North Norfolks 40 weekend, with my enthusiastic young conductor Daniel Peart (below)
I passed my PSV driving test on sister LKD227, and actually conducted on 229 in service during the summer of 1970 when she was a temporary transfer to Lowestoft". Well blow me Syd, 227 was a Lynn bus for several years and a great favourite of mine - I think she went to Yarmouth before withdrawal. Syd continues "I just found this photo I took of LKD229 outside Lowestoft Railway Station in January 1971, with Driver Pascoe Rudd and Conductor Cyril Saunders, a bit more history.
She did spend most of her life in the west of the region allocated to Peterborough, only coming over to the east at the end of her working life.
Terrific stuff there Syd and you were not the only one to spot my error, an old friend of the X1 blog, John Wilson, says "Yes I am still about, and a regular reader of the X1 Blog. I expect you will have had many keen eyed readers telling you about the preserved LKD 229! As an older fella, I wonder why they did not give us LKH as a reg". Yes a real shame that John. The two new ones tomorrow are LKK (820) and LKL (821).
Final word this evening goes to Peter who says "Hi G, Some great features on the new buses (I haven't been on one yet but hope to put that right on Friday). Loads of very good photos of the exteriors, but how about a feature article on the interiors? This is the most important bit for passengers, after all!
My Mother-in-Law, Doreen, travelled back from Peterborough on the 1515 on Saturday and was "outraged" to see a teenager with her feet on the new leather seats. She said "I was so angry about this that when I got off I said to her "do you do this at home?". She says she didn't get an answer as she was "plugged into one of those music things" so probably didn't hear her. Probably just as well, as the average teenager isn't above giving an 88 year old a mouthful or worse!"
Finally tonight, get well wishes to Des Speed who has been struck down with a nasty tummy bug at the end of his holiday. Hope to have you back on board with the new buses soon Des.
1 comment:
Hi Gerard top blogging as usual was just wondering if you had pdf's of the new diagrams yet. Just trying to get my minibrain lol to take it in. Just saw a gemini in beccles but couldn't get the phone out quick enough but as it will pass by the shop here again you never know.
Post a Comment