Sunday September 28th 2014 ~ On with the show.

I was able to attend the Showbus rally at Duxford last Sunday (21st) and it was nice to catch up with fellow enthusiasts and see some of the 'First' crowd. Here are a few pictures from the event :

The two First X1 Enviro 400s at Showbus. 33813 (left) with one of King's Lynn's drivers and 33818 (right) which had travelled from Lowestoft.

33423 the pride of First Great Yarmouth was also in attendance.

When 66957 was a Great Yarmouth vehicle, it occasionally  had a trip out to Peterborough on the X1. Here she is looking smart after a fresh repaint in the new First Ipswich colours.

36180 which has had several stints on the X1 was exhibited by First Norwich at Duxford.

Away from the excitement of Britain's biggest gathering of buses and coaches, the X1 has been enjoying a settled spell. Only  hiccup of note was a breakdown involving 33810 on Friday 19th September when it was a failure at Swaffham due to a ramp interlock system fault. This was soon rectified and the bus was back in service immediately afterwards. 

Malcolm reports from Lowestoft that the old order continue to appear on the Martham services in particular, on Saturday 20th 34114 was on the 10.40 and 34186 on the 15.10 departures. Our old friend 34108 was on the 10.40 on 24th and the following day 42358  was all that could be found for the 14.00 X2 service to Norwich. 34108 repeated its journey on the 10.40 Martham on 26th and that morning Enviro 33824 arrived with the 09.25 from Yarmouth but was then taken out of service causing the cancellation of the 10.20 service. 

Hope to provide a further blog this week with a look at the Enviro mileages.

Thursday September 18th 2014 ~ Forgotten Blog ?

Forgotten ? Well not at all, but in common with many bus blogs of late there has not been a huge amount to report. That's good news for 'First' of course as it means things are largely running smoothly. Timekeeping on the western leg of the route has improved dramatically following the route split. From September 2nd the X1 resumed its normal route in Wisbech traversing Nene Quay once more in both directions and punctuality has been excellent.
I was left red faced last week when I learned of the £26 weekly ticket giving unlimited X1 route travel - my embarrassment was caused because one of my  lodgers uses the X1 at least three times a week to get from Walpole Highway to Peterborough at a tenner a time. I'd like to thank the driver who recently pointed out the availability of these tickets. As long in the tooth readers will know, ticketing is not my strong point (along with the mechanics of buses etc etc !). " I thought you knew everything about the X1" Jamie said, to which I replied " No, but I know a man who does". I am referring to the man who once said "Nobody understands me apart from Gerard" - your secret is safe with me Mr T.
Our X1 drivers are really doing a good job at the moment, I've had several reports praising their politeness and for being generally helpful, which is always good to hear.
Showbus at Duxford takes place on Sunday 20th and as I previously reported, one of the King's Lynn based Enviro 400s will be making the journey there. It is unclear which example will be sent at the moment (earlier 33813 had been quoted).
Thanks must go to Roy at the East Norfolk Bus Blog http://eastnorfolkbus.blogspot.co.uk/
for the information on the Geminis which are to receive the X1 Enviro livery. 37578 and 37579 will be joined in the new colours by 33423, I also ought to add that 33818-824 are actually allocated to Lowestoft depot and not Yarmouth as I originally reported. All the Enviro 400s are currently available for traffic, so a nice bonus for the operators. Many of the fleet have now exceeded 100,000 miles and we will have a closer look at mileages when the anniversary of the Enviros entry into service occurs at the end of the month.
Please keep your reports coming in and a note to you drivers, Bruce is back from holiday on Monday having been starved of X1 action while enjoying the sun in Greece, so no doubt there will be lots of friendly waving going on !