Sunday November 23rd 2014 ~ A Look at Lowestoft

With such little of note happening at the western end of the route, I thought it opportune to take a look at daytime operations at Lowestoft, thanks largely to Malcolm's observations over the past few weeks. The X1 here continues to be worked by the 7 Enviro 400s transferred from King's Lynn at the July timetable split. These are supplemented by the Geminis which previously worked the full route prior to September 2013 and the unique Enviro 33423.
A look at recent weeks shows all the Enviros appearing regularly and for those who are so inclined to seek it out, 33423 seems to have its own regular diagram which involves the 10.05 Great Yarmouth - Norwich having been noted working this turn on six out of ten days recently.
The X2 seems to be going through a remarkable period of stability with almost 100% Gemini operation. ALX400s do appear occasionally though with 30889 being seen on 4th, 6th, 14th & 17th November and sisters 30886 on 19th, 30900 on 18th and 30901 on 10th, No single deckers were noted on daytime services in this period.
The Martham services 1 and 1a which partly duplicate the X1 route are a little more interesting, the majority find themselves with 320xx or 322xx series double deckers of the Volvo B7 type with Alexander or Plaxton President bodies. The ex Leicester 326XX series with Wright Eclipse bodywork also appear on occasions. That said, the 10.10 Lowestoft - Martham had 37574 on 10th and 37575 on 14th, while the 10.40 1a was more varied with exceptions to 32xxx series being 37577 on 5th November and 34109 on both Saturdays 8th & 15th. The 11.10 service 1 had the comparitively rare sight of a single decker on 15th when 60813 turned up. The 14.40 service 1a had the most unusual bus though when Enviro 33821 found itself working the turn on the 13th, on 18th this service had 37576. The 15.10 service 1 seems to be favourite to get a Volvo single decker though with 60813 on 4th, 60622 on 12th and 60814 on 17th. The only mishap reported was on 18th when 33819 arrived in Lowestoft on the 09.25 X1 from Yarmouth but was unable to continue and the return service at 10.20 was cancelled.
At the western end of the X1 route, things have been quiet, although this last week there were some early morning delays caused by temporary traffic lights near Guyhirn. Thursday was the worst day with some services taking the Wisbech St. Mary alternative route. Going eastbound, XL03 08.05 from Peterborough arrived in Wisbech 22 late with 33813 and this duty was still running 6 late when it once again went eastbound on the 14.45 ex Peterborough. XL04 08.35 from Peterborough with 33806 was 21 late into Wisbech at 09.41 and the 09.05 came in 18 late with 33807. The delays then evaporated though and services resumed running to timetable. On Saturday 22nd services ran well and only one late bus was seen, the 13.05 from Peterborough was 15 late into Wisbech with 33811.