Tuesday December 24th 2013 ~ First Christmas for the Enviros

The build up to Christmas is always a busy time, but the X1 escaped relatively unscathed by the heavy traffic this year apart from on Monday 23rd.
Going back firstly though to Thursday last, which was quite a good day, although an accident at Honigham in the morning delayed Y11 07.15 from Lowestoft which left Wisbech westbound 22 late with 33817. I was away on Friday, but from some point K5-XL11 was taken over by 33423. I had an evening journey from King's Lynn to Walpole on Saturday with 33810 which was slightly late, but nicely warm and comfortable on the 19.53 to Peterborough.
Monday was the worst day by far due to excessive traffic. Peterborough was badly affected from the times the shops opened. L8-XL14 09.50 Wisbech to Peterborough with 33823 left just 4 late , but eventually returned 23 late. Y9-XL15 was 7 late with 33818 and 15 late coming back, but then things deteriorated. 33810 on L10-XL16 was 15 late to Peterborough and 46 late returning. Later L12-XL18 and Y13-XL19 both passed Bruce within 5 minutes of each other heading east at 14.50 & 14.55, 74 and 49 minutes late respectively. Not surprisingly there were numerous vehicle swaps at King's Lynn to maintain timings on the eastern section. 33809 was involved in a slight accident at Dereham in the afternoon which resulted in some small damage to the passenger side rear. This may mean a trip to Full Circle for repair. Up until this point, 33809 had been the highest mileage Enviro 400 having run just over 29,000 miles.
Today, Christmas Eve, 33423 appeared on L12-XL18 07.45 from Lowestoft and it seems it may have travelled east last night following the disruption, rather than having come on to the turn at Lynn this morning. Traffic levels today were light with no instances of late running noted.
37571 is now the only Gemini remaining at Full Circle for repainting and Malcolm noted 37565 at work on the X2 today.
Best wishes to you all for a happy and peaceful Christmas.