I was recently asked to provide a timeline of the evolution of the XL bus route. As far as I can recall, I've never done this before but I've managed to piece together the basics and thought you might like to see the results. I'm not claiming it is 100% accurate and any amendments/ comments are welcome. I am particularly grateful to Interurban Bus for using their timeline as a blueprint.

So here goes .....

XL service evolution timeline

1959 – The former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, then part of British Railways is closed, removing the link between Great Yarmouth and Peterborough via North Walsham, Fakenham, South Lynn  and Wisbech.

1963 – The Beeching Report does not recommend closure of railway lines from King’s Lynn to Wisbech, March, Dereham and Hunstanton. It stresses the importance of King’s Lynn – Dereham – Norwich as a freight route.

 1968 September – The Government authorise Kings Lynn to Dereham and King’s Lynn to Wisbech passenger train services to cease, with Hunstanton to King’s Lynn following in May 1969. A short-lived and infrequent March – Wisbech -King’s Lynn bus service no. 415 lasts just a couple of years before it too is withdrawn.

1971 – Link between Norwich and Kings Lynn via Dereham and Swaffham is provided by the 34/34B bus service. Buses run roughly every one and a half hours, with a limited evening and Sunday service. The journey takes about two hours for the full route. The 336 bus links Kings Lynn to Peterborough via Wisbech, with a more frequent service than the 34/34B. Both services are provided by the Eastern Counties subsidiary of the National Bus Company (NBC).

1974 – Norwich-Kings Lynn is re-numbered 434/435/436. The service remains patchy, with a greater frequency of buses on the Dereham-Kings Lynn section of the route.

1979 – Introduction of additional services between Dereham and Norwich on routes 834/835/836 with a half hourly frequency at peak times. The morning frequency of the full Norwich-Kings Lynn route falls. The 336/337 continues to link Kings Lynn to Peterborough, with a frequent morning and afternoon service.

1982 – Considerable improvement in the 434 service. Weekday frequency is upgraded to hourly, with little evening and weekend change. A Rail Link (bus) service is introduced by British Rail between Hunstanton, Kings Lynn and Peterborough, operating via Wisbech, with four services per day in each direction. The service is eventually taken over by Birds of Hunstanton in May 1983.

1983 – The Eastline branded 794 service is introduced between Peterborough and Norwich, running five buses per weekday. Service on 434 between Kings Lynn and Norwich is reduced to just three buses per day.

1993 – Improvements are made to the 794 following the removal of the Rail Link service operated by Birds in October. Two extra journeys added in each direction Monday – Saturday, and one on Sunday. Kings Lynn and Peterborough Stations also included as stopping points.

1994 – Eastern Counties is sold to GRT Group.

1995 – GRT Group merges with Badgerline to form First Group. Appearance of First branding on the 794 timetables which accompanies a slight improvement in weekday service.

1996 – From June 2^nd, the 794 is renumbered the X94, and increased to two-hourly. New Volvo B10M coaches introduced. Four are required on weekdays and three on Sundays. 434 service withdrawn between Norwich and Swaffham.

1997 –   The X94 route is significantly improved, with an hourly weekday service between Peterborough and Norwich . Journey time between Kings Lynn and Norwich cut down to an hour and a half. (Note that it currently takes an hour and 48 minutes).

1998 May - Half of the X94 services are extended to run through to Great Yarmouth.

1999 – Extension of the service to Gorleston. Improvements such as more comprehensive evening service and railway station ticketing (multi-modal integration).

2000 July -  X94 daytime services extended to Lowestoft on weekdays. (Evening and Sunday journeys extended to Lowestoft in 2007).

2001 – New hourly Excel service X95 is introduced (Lowestoft – Yarmouth – Norwich – Dereham – Shipdham – Watton), increasing combined frequency to half hourly over the common section with the X94.

2002 – Route is rebranded as a coach service, with ten new Volvo B12 coaches despite offering the same vehicle spec as before. The X94 offers ‘luxury travel’ and continues the hourly frequency.

2004 August – Route rebranded as the X1. Peak weekday service upgraded to half hourly, with a considerable improvement in evening and Sunday frequency (hourly). Frequency varies somewhat depending on the section of the route, but peak frequency is maintained on the main trunk route (Great Yarmouth/Norwich-Kings Lynn). X95 service is withdrawn. Eighteen coaches are required on weekdays and eight on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

2008 July – The X1 Blog goes live !

2008 October – A new fleet of Volvo Gemini double deckers enter service replacing the coaches, capacity increases but comfort declines.

2011 June – First Group give up their local operations in King’s Lynn and area, leaving just the X1 under their jurisdiction.

2013 April – The last appearance of a coach on the X1

2013 October – First introduces 22 new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 buses, fitted with leather seats, air conditioning and Wi-Fi.

2014 July – The X1 Peterborough to Norwich and Norwich to Lowestoft revert to separate bus services.

2016 April – Reduced evening service between Norwich and Peterborough and last buses run earlier.

2020 February – New £5.3m fleet of nineteen Scania /ADL Enviro 400 buses enter service between Norwich and Peterborough with leather seats, tables, wi-fi but no air conditioning. The X1 service remains with older vehicles between Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft, but Norwich – Peterborough is rebranded XL with route options A,B,C & D

2020 March – June. Heavily reduced timetable due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

2026. The current timetable utilises 15 buses on weekdays and 7 on Sundays. The Scania Enviro 400s are expected to be replaced around 2028. Wear and tear is taking its toll now and whilst very comfortable, the lack of heating operating in the winter has been unsatisfactory.

 

 

Farewell Bruce old friend

 11th March 2026

Well today we said goodbye to Bruce Billingham. A magnificent effort from all at First Buses for providing an XL vehicle to convey him to his funeral and a compliment of drivers too. Special thanks to Maggie, Lee & Co.

Here are a few pictures from the funeral. R.I.P. Bruce

 

Another blog post – so soon after the last one, it must be important and it is.

Those of you who have subscribed to my blog through thick and thin over the years will no doubt be acquainted with my friend (and fellow Walpole lookout) Bruce Billingham. I’ve known Bruce for nearly 20 years through our enthusiasm for all things Excel and a great friendship has developed over this time. He was an essential part of this blog over the years.

Bruce became well known for his cheery wave to Excel drivers as they passed his bungalow -for years it was easy to spot the two Leyland Nationals in his back garden too, though latterly he had sold one on and the expanding undergrowth around his property had made it pretty hard to see the other LN.

Sadly, Bruce’s health declined over the years and even until a month or so ago, he would manage to get out the front to see his favourite buses and drivers. I took him to a couple of hospital and Doctor’s appointments in January and it was clear that things were not good. On January 28^th Bruce discovered he had inoperable cancer and he told me he had months, or even weeks to live. I visited him on February 4^th for the last time and sadly he passed away on the night of 6^th/7^th aged 78. He will be sadly missed by his family, myself and all the drivers who used to enjoy acknowledging him as they passed by on their daily grind. I will give an update on arrangements for his funeral in due course at which there will be a definite XL presence.  RIP Brucey.

 Tuesday January 13th 2026

I was thinking about the XL blog the other day and decided I should really update it after all !!

The current buses have done really well, but as with all fleets, wear and tear is taking its toll a bit. 

The best way of illustrating this is probably to look at the number of days for each vehicle when they were not on the road in 2025, in other words not in traffic. This doesn't necessarily mean they were unavailable, as on Sundays for example, only seven out of the nineteen are used. Here are the 2025 stats.

Naturally when a vehicle has been involved in an accident, this means a considerable time out of traffic. 36902 last worked on 31st May 2025 at which point it had only had 16 days off the road. 36909/13/19 all had extended periods out of traffic awaiting parts/repairs. 

The revamped timetable from 1st September has seen the 'D' shorts from Norwich to Dereham scrapped and all Excel services now call at Dereham. The weekday vehicle requirement has dropped from 16 to 15, meaning four vehicles can be off the road at any one time without affecting the service. The flip side of this, is that if a substitute B9 Gemini has to be used it now runs through to Peterborough or King's Lynn rather than hitherto when it would have been turned out on the D services to Dereham only. 

An anomaly of the restructured diagrams is that four Excel buses end up at Norwich on a Friday evening, but five are required for Saturday morning. This usually means that a B9 has to work one of the Saturday turns, sometimes just from Norwich to Lynn, but just as often it covers a whole days work with two trips to Peterborough. 

There, I can probably forget about this blog now for another few years ! Thanks to everyone who has mourned the blogs loss - far more than I could have ever imagined. I will try and update it again when time permits.

Wednesday 19th April 2023 - Burying the Blog

 It will have been quite obvious to all of you that the last 3 years have been a particularly fraught time for me with no updates year on year. 

This was not what I had intended but work pressures sometimes come to the fore and hobbies have to take a backseat. 

Fortunately, in the grand scheme of things, not much has happened since the introduction of the new 'red buses' and the relaxation of Covid restrictions.  

There have been rare occasions where substitute buses based in Norwich have made emergency appearances on the XL services, indeed this happened as recently as last week, but overall such substitutions are very rare.

So the time has come to retire from the blog, in much the same way that I retired from my working life last month. I can't complain about the help I have received from First Group over the years as they have been most appeciative of my efforts at reporting the service and I've made a lot of good friends. Too many to mention all in fact, but I must say Chris Speed has been influential and Zak Nelson has always been an inspiration to me with his enthusiasm for all things First.

Time for someone else to take up the baton maybe ? Well we will see, but in the meantime, you can still follow the fortunes of the Xl service by joining the First Eastern Counties group on Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/20829445950351