Thursday 13th February 2014 ~ Lazy Blogger

Well not really, on the contrary I have been extremely busy. Fortunately the X1 seems to be behaving quite well, so this gives me an easy time from the blogging point of view. Here is a summary of recent events :

Photographed in Priory Plain, Gorleston. Zak Nelson captured 33423 working an X1 short on Monday 3rd.

Monday 3rd February. Not at work today so didn't see much. No swaps with 33814/5 off the road for services and 33820 spare. 33821 working L8-XL14 had a problem with its VIX display - it froze at 14.12 hrs displaying next stop Acle, The Street and remained that way until it finished the turn. Temporary Norwich bus station closure again this evening.

Tuesday 4th February. Malcolm reports 34187 making a rare appearance in Lowestoft on the 10.40 service 1a to Martham. 33813's mileage tonight was 34187 - spooky or what ? Now that Y13-XL19 begins and finishes at Yarmouth, the turn often changes vehicles at King's Lynn for maintenance purposes. Today 33808 was replaced by freshly serviced 33817.

Wednesday 5th February. A quiet day, nothing to report !!!

33423 before working the 14.05 Yarmouth - Norwich on Thursday (see below). Photo copyright : Sheldon Rees.

Thursday 6th February. 33809 had a tacho fault today, so stayed off the road . There was a nice story on the X1 twitter feed about a chap who had lost his wallet on the bus and it had turned up intact at King's Lynn garage. Yarmouth's 33423 had its destination re-programmed to cover X1 shorts today as seen here :

Friday 7th February, 33822/3/4 were all due safety services today and during inspection, 33822 was diagnosed with a line sensor fault. A few services around 09.00 travelled via Wisbech St. Mary due to an accident on the A47. Villagers here have now engaged the services of MP Steven Barclay in their attempts to get the X1 diverted this way permanently. How about a compromise, with one journey an hour going that route ? Mind you, there are some very tight bends on Barton Road and overall the route is unsuitable I would say.

Saturday 8th February. Timekeeping was once again very good today. Maximum lateness through Wisbech was just 7 minutes.

It's that bus again ! Nice one in the sunshine at Acle on Sunday. Photo copyright : Grahame Bessey.

Sunday 9th February. 33814 suffered a 'door collapse' tonight and had to be replaced by 33820 at King's Lynn. 33809 remained off the road with its tacho problem, as did 33822 with the line sensor problem.

Monday 10th February. An accident in the morning rush on the Pullover Roundabout resulted in delays to the 08.40 & 09.10 King's Lynn - Peterborough. The 09.40 with 33816 was on time however. Coach 20515 popped up in Lowestoft today 'not in service'.

Tuesday 11th February. Double deckers on the Lowestoft 101 town service are a daily sight at the moment, but the sight of Yarmouth's 37575 today was very unusual. 33822 was back in service today on K4-XL10. 33818 had an Almex ticket machine fault tonight and 33810 replaced it on the 21.38 Lynn - Lowestoft.

Wednesday 12th February. 37575 found itself on the X2 today, the first time a Yarmouth liveried example has appeared to date. Very high winds brought power cables down onto the A47 near Thorney Toll this afternoon and some services were diverted via Whittlesea,. K15 12.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough was on time with 33824, but the 14.15 return working was seen by Bruce running 42 late as K16. K16 itself didn't go all the way through to Peterborough and came back as K15 running 17 late on those timings. The road was cleared again by 15.50. 33809 had its tacho fault sorted today.

Thursday 13th February : 33808/11/12/19/21 have all been out now every day since the last blog. 33812 has been on the road daily since January 20th.  Temporary route diversions at Thickthorn and in Dereham are scheduled for Monday.

Following the feature on the old rail link coaches in the last blog, Andy James has been in touch to say he also did a similar thing some time ago - the buses seem the same but the pictures are different, here's the link http://andysbusblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/looking-back-1980s-railcoach-link-in.html?m=0

Some pictures taken by Des Speed for us now. 33808 is seen in Great Yarmouth garage on February 2nd.

Former X1 Geminis in Caister Road garage sporting their new livery.

Here's one for Bruce : 34108 still hanging on

Finally congratulations to friends of the blog Chris Speed and Mark Reynolds for their recent promotions within First. I am away in Scotland for a few days now, so any sightings welcome at the usual address. Next blog on Friday 21st.