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| 33810 gets away from Peterborough Rail Station on 1st May on the 09.40 Peterborough - Norwich. Photo : Ash Hammond |
At last an update for you, things
having been a little busy here so far this Summer. The new buses are
now expected to arrive in November and various rumours are
circulating about them. Livery options considered appear to have
initially been white, but more recently green has been suggested.
Following the announcement that First are to progressively sell off
their bus division, rumours also suggest that the new arrivals will
be simply branded 'Eastern Counties' - now there's a blast from the
past. I am told that buses of this type are currently being used on
the route to Glasgow Airport, but that these are rather sumptuous
inside with tables upstairs, something we don't expect on the XL
batch. Air conditioning, rather than air chill - I'm not sure what
the difference is - will be fitted however, but a change of plan means that once again seatbelts will not.
On the road, the existing fleet have
coped very well with the very hot conditions of late July which is a
blessing, as spare buses have been few and far between. The MOT
programme is now almost completed with just 33819 left to be done.
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| On Sunday 9th June, the hourly XL services pass near Walton Highway with 33813 bound for Norwich and 33818 heading to Peterborough. |
The main vehicle news in the period
under review involves 33812 which was involved in a collision on the
A47 at Necton on Thursday 23rd May. Damage to the front of the bus
was quite severe and once repaired spent a further period out of
action while its MOT was completed. Eventually it returned to traffic
on the afternoon of July 22nd. Coincidentally, 33815 was taken out of
traffic on 22nd requiring a new back axle and it has been undergoing
this at Great Yarmouth, while 33803 seems to have become excessively
noisy in recent weeks and was the only failure in traffic noted
during the period on the evening of July 7th.
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| Gemini 36199 standing in for an Enviro on Saturday 1st June working the 14.10 Norwich - Peterborough on the A47 Terrington bypass. |
In the interim, there was assistance
provided by Norwich Gemini's, firstly 36199 on 1st & 3rd June,
then 36172 which arrived on the evening of June 7th and performed
faultlessly until June 22nd. After a brief return to Norwich, 36172
again deputised from 28th June to 4th July.
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| 36172 was a regular sight from my window at work during June, here it is on 28th working the 08.40 Norwich - Peterborough on which it had replaced 33814 at King's Lynn. |
For the remaining dates,
King's Lynn was left with a single spare Enviro and multiple
changeovers were necessary to keep up with servicing requirements.
It was nice to here from Jamie Vendy
that he has taken former X1 coach 20120 into preservation having
purchased it from Lynx where until recently it had been used for
schools work. It certainly looks splendid.
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| 20120 looking very smart. Photo : Jamie Vendy |
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| Back on 1st March 2008, 20120 was in its last days working on the X1, seen here heading eastbound away from the Hardwick Roundabout. |
