Wednesday 30th October 2013 ~ Scarborough Fair

Back on the first day of Enviro operation, this stunning photo of 33804 was captured by Russell Young near Swaffham. Photo Copyright : Russell Young

I had expected ADL staff to attend to 33819 on Monday, but what I didn't expect was that it would return to Scarborough for attention. The reason is water ingress in the bodywork. This has meant a reprieve of sorts for ex demonstrator 33423, details to follow,

Niggly faults have been the order of the week so far, beginning on Monday morning with 33804 losing its gears at Swaffham while working Y7-XL13 05.41 from Gorleston, 33814 was provided to work forward and this continued to Peterborough and back to Lynn where a revived 33804 was given the all clear to resume the duty. 33804 then had an extended day and instead of finishing at King's Lynn just after 18.00, it was called upon to take over from 33813 on L8-XL14 19.01 King's Lynn to Peterborough believed to be because the latter required cleaning.

 The DDA Interlock fault which seems to have affected a few Enviros occurred with 33807 at Norwich at lunchtime and this was temporarily fixed so it could continue to Lynn. Here 33814 went forward. Punctuality was fairly good, but Y9-XL15 had 33808 which arrived back in Wisbech from Peterborough at 12.18, 27 minutes late. On the other hand 33823 on K15-XL02 came in from the west at 14.56 which was 5 minutes early.

Wi-Fi problems with 33804/23/24 were fixed on Tuesday. 33803 was allowed out on the road, it took over from 33817 on Y7-XL13 11.31 King's Lynn - Lowestoft but only reached Toftwood before it suffered a complete loss of power. 33815 was sent out to replace it. At teatime 33807 had to be taken off K1-XL07 and with 33817 undergoing a safety service, 33423 was used to work the 15.20 to Peterborough and back.

K5-XL11 09.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft came bounding into Wisbech 5 minutes early at 09.46 with 33824 this morning and timekeeping was pretty good save early afternoon when K14-XL01 was seen by Bruce with 33818 passing Walpole at 15.09, 24 late.

33804 spinning along nicely on Wednesday morning's 07.33 Swaffham - Peterborough

On to Wednesday then to bring the blog up to date. Following its latest hiccup, 33803 was kept in Vancouver Avenue all day and with 33819 still at Scarborough, this just left one spare bus. K3-XL09 08.05 from Peterborough had 33820, but this came off at Lynn for 33818 to go forward. The fresh bus was in trouble near Dereham however with loss of drive and this once again meant it was the 'stealth bus', 33423 to the rescue and this completed the turn. The day was marred by a number of A47 accidents, beginning with an accident between Acle and West Caister which resulted in a morning peak closure and subsequent diversions, simultaneously there were problems further west at Brundall due to another accident. This meant some services were on time, but others delayed.

Here in the west my day began with encountering the 07.33 from Swaffham and the 07.30 eastbound ex Peterborough, both due at Walpole Highway at 08.31 and both passing each other in the village exactly as timetabled at that time. Y9-XL15 with 33816 was clearly affected by the incidents further east as it was seen departing Wisbech 21 late on the 10.18 to Peterborough. The early morning delays combined with those caused by the temporary lights on Lynn Road in Wisbech (these are only in operation between about 09.30 & 16.00) saw lunchtime services well behind time. K15-XL02 turned up passing my window at 13.56 , 27 minutes late still at the time with 33824 though this came off later with 33820 going forward as the 15.41 Lynn - Lowestoft. K14-XL01 fared even worse returning past me on the 13.45 from Peterborough with 33822 running 31 late. A further accident at Rings End on the A141 at about 14.30 saw traffic backing up to beyond Guyhirn affecting the A47.

Tonight 33823 had to visit Lowestoft garage for a replacement ticket machine before continuing to Yarmouth and forming the 20.35 to King's Lynn, it was on time on arrival.

Just before I sign off this one, I ought to add that there are encouraging signs that the Enviros may well end up giving the Geminis a run for their money. 33809 has now completed 31 continuous days in traffic on the route - yes it has been on the road daily since day one (30/9/13). Its accumulated mileage is now 11,417 !