Thursday July 1st 2010 ~ Presidents Fall From Grace

Knowing that Grahame Bessey would more than likely have some fots of the new Presidents, upon request he came up trumps with these two pictures, especially for us in the west of X1 land who have yet to see them. Above is 32208 at Hemsby on the 1a and below 32207 at Norwich yesterday on the X2. For the moment paper route numbers are sufficing !

Well we all got excited about the entry into service of 32207 on the X2 yesterday, but today it was out again and not only that 32212 worked the 11.38 from Lowestoft as well. Only problem was, it didn't come back and Michael says there was a 30 minute gap before the return of the 12.08 appeared with Gemini 37156. So may be a failure for 32212 ?

For the first time since the partial closure of Nene Quay in Wisbech, there were three consecutive westbound X1s passing my window this afternoon. Firstly 34108 running 9 late on K16, then 37573 on K17 just 1 minute late and finally 37157 which was 8 late on K18. The next two took the A1101 route with 37578 and 37572 (K1) which ran 11 late.

Proof that even 34108 can negotiate Nene Quay without incident ! Could this be the final appearance of the Royale on the X1 for a while ?

20109 continued to deputise for a B9 today working K3 and I am told by my man in the know that work is progressing well with The Beast and 20107 should be back with us shortly.

Now here's a bit of non X1 related fun. Cheryl sent this pic of a coach trying to deliver its load of passengers directly into Wisbech Post Office to collect their pensions. This week is the Wisbech Rose Fair and hoards of coaches descend on the Fenland town, many getting a bit lost in the process. We loved the legend on the side of this vehicle, very appropriate !

Wednesday 30th June 2010 ~ X2 Obama Moment

Yes sorry about the awful pun, but President 32207 made its debut on the X2 today with Michael seeing it on the 11.38 from Lowestoft.

On the X1 some services suffered delays due to Royal Norfolk Show traffic. Worst was K17 with 37562. Peter & Angela were waiting for it on the 15.05 from Peterborough rail station and were disappointed to finally leave Peterborough almost an hour late. 562 was still 55 minutes down at Walpole Highway and hardly surprisingly was slotted into K18 diagram after this, taking it empty to Yarmouth. K18 never reached Peterborough at all and 34108 was instead diverted on to the Fairstead 42s. Tonight it was in Lynn garage. Lowestoft found 37568 to work the last leg of K17 back to Lynn.

There was more fun with Y6 today, it was 37157 first thing, but somewhere along the line 37575 on Y7 overtook it and the two turns ended up reversed with 37575 going through to Lowestoft on Y6 tonight. Similarly this morning John W reports that Y9 with 37572 did not leave as the 09.45 Lynn to Peterborough and instead 572 was held over departing at 10.15 as L10 on which it replaced 37577. The latter was sent empty (to either Wisbech or Peterborough) and then ran on time as Y9.

Yesterday 20109 was out on long turn K19 and today it had a service before doing K3, this due to 37576 being on MOT prep.

King's Lynn were able to get rid of troublesome 37156 today on K14 and 37566 took over this turn after its lazy day yesterday.

Tuesday 29th June 2010 ~ The Wind Of Change

37566 busy doing nothing in Lowestoft this afternoon. Photo DS

Two separate reports came to me today saying that all the remaining B10Ms at King's Lynn are due to be removed from duties here by the end of July. The three Hunstanton schools contracts which have been the mainstay of the work for the type, are from September, due to become double deckers with some routes being combined.

Apart from the frequent use as X1 substitutes, scarcely a day goes by without at least one B10M appearing on local services and after 16.30 quite often two are utilised in this way. This gives rise to the obvious question, what will be used in future ? The arrival of 20115 has a sting in the tail, 20121 which passed its MOT last week has departed and some are saying that it could well be destined for future use as a driver trainer. More news as we get it.

37566 continued working on the X2 today and was seen by MB on the 08.08 from Lowestoft. K3 had B7 37160 to begin with, but at some point (either at 09.32 or more likely 16.15), repaired 37156 was given a test run and took over.

Thanks to one of our regular correspondents for the news that 37563 suffered a broken top deck front window en route to Lowestoft on K1 and 37157 replaced it for the 11.55 to Peterborough. 563 was repaired at Lowestoft then made its first foray onto the Bernard Mathews contracts in the afternoon. It was then used on the 1810 and 2110 service 1 to Martham...but failed in Gorleston on the second trip with an air problem. Amazingly it was replaced with 37573 (Gt Yarmouth Engineers may have thought it was on X1s) which continued to Martham and then back to Lowestoft, before being collected by the Engineers and running back to Caister Road light. Meanwhile 37563 was towed back to Lowestoft where its bad luck continued and it sustained collision damage.

Another B9 off the road now is 37576, this one is at King's Lynn for MOT.

Monday 28th June 2010 ~ We All Love 127 !

Here is the grand old lady fresh off another MOT waiting to operate the 16.34 from Broadland Business Park to Norwich this afternoon. Photo by Des.

and bless me, here she is again. Des says "about to operate the 17.10 ~ X1 Norwich to Gorleston, James Paget Hospital. After that the driver went home to sit in the garden with his 'Aunty Stella (Artois)!". I don't blame him do you ?

There were a few surprises today, not least of which was B10M 20109 being used on K3 to counter the unavailability of B7 37156. K18 was also an exception to a low floor service with 34108 still earning its keep. At the Lowestoft end there was more interest, firstly 37566 on K1 was changed for 37564 and this then allowed 37566 to work the 14.08 X2 to Norwich. An hour later Michael Bryant phoned to say that the 15.08 X2 also had a B9 with 37565 doing the honours. He also saw President 32207 on a Beccles school contract operated by Lowestoft garage.
Peter sent a text earlier to say that yet another alternative route into Wisbech was in use with 37567 on K4 taking Elm Low Road instead of Churchill Road. A few X1s ran via the correct route down Nene Quay on their way to Peterborough and seen were 37577 on L10 10.18, 37159 on L12 11.48, 37570 on K16 13.48 and later 37578 on L10 20.22.
Sam says he's heard that Gemini 37571 should be returning to the fleet shortly, following its fatal accident at Thorney last year.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed lately, especially Bruce, who is X1 observer in chief again tomorrow as I am over at Long Sutton.

Sunday 27th June 2010 ~ Dog Blog

A very straightforward day today, all B9s and nothing too delayed despite the hot weather. For the record, in use were 37565-567, 37570/2/4-9. 37565 was changed at Lowestoft for 37566 which is why eleven vehicles were used instead of the 10 rostered.

Rob Brooks sent in this great picture of his dog who is clearly an X1 fan ! The picture of 37577 depicts it about to turn right into Weasenham Lane at Wisbech on the unnecessary diversion which many drivers are taking.

Saturday 26th June 2010 ~ Getting Hotter

37579 running 17 late into Walpole on L8 this morning. 37159 replaced it at Lynn.

A scorcher today with 34108 reappearing from Lowestoft on L11 (it worked K16 yesterday), in preference to 37563/4. Tony reports it heading back to King's Lynn late this afternoon having viewed it at Yarmouth. This was the exception to a low floor service today though. 37579 on L8 was taken off at Lynn at midday for servicing and 37159 went forward. 37576 came back after a few days off on L9 today, it has lost three quarters of its Letters To Juliet advert !

Most surprising sight at Rowan Road this evening was B10M 20115. Absent was 20121, but it may have been out on Hunstanton services.

Friday 25th June 2010 ~ Allergic Reaction ?

37567 was allocated to Y13 today, nothing unusual in that you might think, but on a couple of recent occasions, when it has tried to work this turn, it has been involved in incidents. Firstly it had an upstairs windscreen smash, then last Saturday it was replaced at Lynn by 37159. Today it was again in trouble - possibly due to late running - and B10M 20118 ran from Lynn to Peterborough instead of the B9. Bruce saw it 25 late at Walpole Highway returning from Peterborough. 37157 was 32 late on K18 this afternoon
Today only one service was seen on the Nene Quay route out of Wisbech, this being 37569 on L12 which was 10 minutes late when seen at midday. Tonight 37579 on K15 was removed at Lowestoft and replaced by 37566. John W reports 20121 on Hunstanton schools this morning, with 20123 on the X40 and 20109 also on a Hunstanton service.
Thanks also to Bruce and Rob Brooks for their help today.

Thursday 24th June 2010 ~ 562 Is Miles Better

Rob Brooks sent in this picture of 37562, back on its regular turn, K17, today. It is departing Wisbech on the 14.18 to Peterborough. It has travelled a colossal 70,000 miles since arriving on November 23rd 2009.

Syd recently commented on the use of a Triaxle Olympian on one of the X1 shorts and Des has enlarged on this : " This is actually fairly common, a Triaxle leaves Yarmouth Depot at 15.10 to operate the 15.20 6B, it then travels light to East Norfolk Sixth Form College to Operate the 881 to Carlton Colville, followed by light to Lowestoft for the 17.25 to Yarmouth. 30105 was the vehicle involved yesterday". Thanks to Des for that and details of diagrams which involve the X1 and other routes are always welcome.

Another B10M, 20121, passed its MOT successfully today, so all being well should be with us for a while yet. Today the X1 managed to get by without the aid of these trusty coaches, but L12 produced the Royale, 34108, instead of the expected 37156 which was stopped for a service. Y6 began with 37569 but this was also due a maintenance check and 37156 replaced it for the 14.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough.

In Wisbech, many westbound services continued to take the unnecessary diversion up the A1101. Seen on the Nene Quay route were 37157 on Y9, 37565 on L10, 37562 on K17 running 15 late, 37567 on K18 and 37160 on K3. This is presumably dependent on driver rosters and it is thought for example, that Y9 and K18 are probably booked for the same driver.

The current bout of warm weather does not seem to be affecting the availability of the B9s on the same scale as last year, but 37576 which worked the 10.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft (Y7) on Tuesday has not been seen since, so it may be the exception. It was on this same turn on May 28th when it sustained accident damage and it had only been back on the road for 3 days before it disappeared again. Mileage wise 576 is the lowest of the King's Lynn B9s at approx 176,700. At the top end, 37572/5/7 are all very close at around 192,500. This means that for this trio, the 200k milestone is fast approaching.

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 ~ Route Confusion

With services having settled down yesterday teatime using the normal route westbound out of Wisbech, it was a surprise today to find that few drivers were using the normal route out of Wisbech.
For the record, noted were Y7 with 37572, L11 with 37160, K17 11 late with 37574, K19 37579 and K2 with 37570. Diagrams 6, 8-10, 12 - 14, 18 & 1 all took the A1101 out of Wisbech westbound.
A full low floor service was in operation again today. I am told that Great Yarmouth currently have a queue of vehicles awaiting MOT and that 20107 is currently dumped in with the withdrawn vehicles awaiting attention. Mike F reports that 20115 was out on service 20 to Taverham this afternoon and 20121 was absent from Vancouver Avenue this afternoon, so may have gone to the MOT testing station.
One thing which I omitted from yesterday's report was an unusual working for 37575 reported by John W. It worked KL 7110 diagram and was seen on th 08.20 43 to North Wootton. This is thought to have been because it was required for non-routine maintenance. It was again absent from the X1 today. John adds "The 08.40 41 was 20109. If it had arrived back from schools it must have got a move on. 20123 was in about 9ish which is the usual time of arrival back of the schools coaches.

Tuesday 22nd June 2010 ~ When Is A Diversion Not A Diversion ?

.....Answer : When a road is only closed in one direction ! On the way to work I discovered that Nene Quay in Wisbech, i.e. the route used by the X1 on leaving Wisbech for Peterborough, is now closed for flood defence work, BUT only eastbound. In other words buses coming in from Peterborough have to divert down Weasenham Lane & Churchill Road in the same way they have done on previous occasions in the past 12 months, but services to Peterborough are unaffected, or at least should be !
It soon became apparent this morning that all services were using the diversion, even though this was unnecessary on westbound X1s. The first service seen using the normal route was this afternoon when K17 made an appearance with 37577 dead on time. The next bus seen was particularly noteworthy as it was 37562 on the returning K16, which took the sharp left turn at Town Bridge to gain access to the Old Market and then via Freedom Bridge to regain the usual route. This incidentally, is the signposted diversion, but the sharp turn means it is unlikely to be used regularly by the X1 I would have thought. It was very unusual also for 562 to be on K16 (a Lowestoft terminator) rather than its regular turn K17.
K18 & K19 failed to appear on Nene Quay, but K1 was a minute early with 37565, K2 with 37567 was 2 late and 20109 on K3 a minute early. So the word seems to have spread that the usual route is OK westbound !
Further to the above, a convoluted move this afternoon saw 37562 come off K16 at Lynn and 37160 which had just arrived on K3 being used to go straight back to Lowestoft instead of 562. K3 was then taken forward by 20109. 37576 did the first part of Y7 but 37568 came back this evening.

Monday 21st June 2010 ~ The Beast Lives On....

Syd says : "The welding on 20107 HAS been undertaken, so it looks like a return to service is now certain. It should now sail through the MOT at Gt Yarmouth in a few days time. The short reign of 60863 on X1s closed Saturday evening on arrival at Lowestoft. After an overnight stay it was used on 102 reliefs Sunday Morning, then light to Gt Yarmouth Market Gates to work the 1330 and 1430 service 6s, then light to Caister Road for exchange with a B9TL which returned light to Lowestoft for Monday morning use.......isn't life complicated and it gets worse the more you know !".
Gosh, sounds like great news for 107 then and against all the odds too. There was even more good news on the B10M front today, as 20121 is a third example undergoing MOT prep, this time at King's Lynn. The blog will endeavour to keep you posted on developments with 107, 121 & 127.
Bruce carried on the stirling work today but was rewarded with an entirely low floor service. Afternoon services from Peterborough encountered delays due to a diversion in Wisbech (Oh No ! Not again). Y9 with 37578 was 14 late and L12 with 37567 15 late.

Sunday 20th June 2010 ~ Blog Catch Up 3

Bruce was sidelined with friends today, but still managed to report the following :

Early time keeping was good, 37579 wandered by to Lynn sometime. BUT the 14.10 to Lynn passed at 14.45 and the 14.10 to PB passed at 14.53. The 15.10 to PB passed at 15.53 and the 16.10 to PB passed at 16.59.
The 19.10 to PB passed at 19.38 and what I believe was the 19.10 to Lynn passed at 20.04 with 37562.
The 22.10 to Lynn was only a couple of minutes late but the 22.10 to PB passed at 22.32

What is interesting here is that the roadworks at Lynn seemed to affect the Sunday service more than Saturdays.

Saturday 19th June 2010 ~ Blog Catch Up 2

Bruce's log :
08.34 Y6 with 37574
08.40 K2 6 late with 37578
09.04 K3 with 37577,Y7 with 37160
09.32 K4 with a B9 2 mins early
09.34 L8 with 37575
10.04 K5 with 37576 (boo) Y9 with 37564
10.34 L10 with 37569, Y6 with 37574
11.04 Y7 with 37160
11.06 L11 with 37566
L12 - missed the little blighter
12.12 Y9 with 37564 8 late
12.14 Y13 with 37159 10 late
12.36 K14 with 60863 2 late
14.06 K17 with 37562 2 late
15.06 K15 with 37572
15.08 K19 with 37570
15.36 K16 with a B9
16.40 K18 with 37572 6 late

37159 had 'not in service' on the front, but was conveying passengers and I guess had replaced 37567 or the like at King's Lynn.
Elsewhere one of our loyal band reports 20126 back on the road and 20127 now undergoing MOT work, so good news there.

Friday 18th June 2010 ~ Blog Catch Up 1

Bruce Reports :

FRIDAY 18TH - TIMETABLE ABANDONED - OBSERVATORY IN MELTDOWN!

08.31 K2 with 37564
08.40 Y6 with 37575 6 late
09.06 K3 with 37159 2 late
09.25 Y7 with 37568 21 late
Missed K4/L8 or did I?
10.04 K5 with 37562
10.07 Y9 with 37569 3 late - or was it?
Missed Y6 and L10
11.05 L11 with 60863 only 1 late - text Gerard - but was it?
11.17 travelling to Tesco hoping to meet L12 but met 37156 in Tilney all Saints on the real L11.
11.50 returned to Walpole without any shopping due to problems at home and met 37569, Sorry Not in Service and empty, heading for Lynn at the pullover roundabout - on time to pick up L8 from Lynn???
11.57 followed L12 leaving village 23 late with a B9.
12.23 saw Y13 from down our fields with a B7 19 late
13.53 returning to Tesco met 37579 at Tilney All Saints on K16 or 17 - take your pick
16.06 back at home with shopping met 37579 showing Lowestoft on K17 (?) only 2 late
16.14 I don't believe it - another B9 heads to Lynn at a fair rate of knots following 579 as well - K16 or K17? - I give up!
17.05 travelling to Walton Highway met 37160 (Gt Yarmouth) with 37578 (Lowestoft) immediately behind it!. (K18/19?)
19.18 out front cutting grass to restore sanity and saw K4 with 37574 but nothing from Lynn in 45 minute.

Steven confirmed some of Bruce's suspicions/fears : K1 37567, K4 37574, Y6 37575, L8 was 37569 with 60863 on L10. K14 37157, K15 37577, K16 37579, K17 37573, K18 37160 and K19 37578.

Syd says "More movement on 20107. It has been taken over to Gt Yarmouth for MOT assesment work, which looks likely to include the extensive chassis repairs at Perfects. It is certainly more promising than sitting in the corner at Lowestoft. On the X1 front another tri-axle made an appearance yesterday (17th)...30105 worked the 1725 Lowestoft to Gt Yarmouth. We know its an extra, but I wonder if the public realise it hasnt just arrived from Peterborough ! ".

King's Lynn Roadworks This Weekend

The South Gates roundabout at King's Lynn is being completely closed from Saturday until 06.00 Monday and this will entail X1 services being diverted via the bypass and Gaywood to gain access to King's Lynn bus station. This will obviously add a fair bit of time to schedules. Vancouver Avenue garage will be situated at a dead end during this time with no direct access to Rowan Road, vehicles having to travel via Tennyson Avenue and the Bypass to reach the compound.
I am away now until Monday and will conveniently miss all the chaos. This does mean though that I am putting out an extra plea for sightings during this period. Please email them to gerardtcc@aol.com stating vehicle number and direction of travel. If sufficient info is received, I will do a summary blog when I return. This gives me another opportunity to thank all our regular contributors, those mentioned and those who wish to have their identities hidden for obvious reasons. Have a good weekend all of you. Gerard

Thursday 17th June 2010 ~ Thank You 109

Sam Wickham sent this picture of two identical buses at Lowestoft today. 37160 has arrived on Y6 and 37156 is ready to take over and form the 14.25 back to Peterborough. Incidentally note the two variations of the AXA Insurance ad on the rear.

This lady chauffeur (discretion prevents me revealing her name) was obviously so frightened at the prospect of being captured on film by Sam, that she pulled down her sunvisor a bit too far when bringing 37575 on K1 into Lowestoft bus station today. Says Sam "The sun was very bright at the time !"

A couple of beasts photographed at Yarmouth Caister Road garage last week. 20128 was a one time X1 regular, but has latterly been downgraded to a Driver Trainer. Photo by Anonymous.

20109 again, this time out in the sunshine on K15 today, near Walsoken.

20121 is a proper Eastern Counties vehicle with Norfolk registration (even if NVG does stand for 'not very good'). It was therefore nice to see it carrying an advert proclaiming 'Best In Norfolk' this week ! Seen here after arrival at King's Lynn on K5 on Tuesday.

The current spell with B10M 20109 pretending to be a B9 Gemini looks to have ended this evening, not that 109 did anything wrong of course. Unless you count yesterday when it was on the final westbound service (K19) and a wheelchair passenger needed to board. It was probably because of this that today 109 was entrusted with the top B9 turn, K15. On average, this turn gets a B10M once a year.

Tonight though, the situation looks to have been remedied with both 37573 (Volvo) and 37576 (Accident Repairs) back at King's Lynn. On the minus side, it is confirmed that 37158's absence this week is also due to accident damage.

60863 was sent out on K14 today, it was 25 minutes late on the 12.48 Wisbech - Peterborough and was not seen at all returning probably indicating it travelled empty back to Lynn. This was pretty much the worst example of late running which was prevalent today. 37567 equalled this feat by also being 25 late on the 13.05 from Peterborough (Y13) but that had been reduced to just 5 minutes this evening.

There were some diagram swaps at the Lowestoft end today. Firstly K18 arrived with 37156 and 37565 took over, then Y6 with 37160 was swapped for 37156 and completing the trio 37566 on Y9 was changed for 37160. These moves meant 37160 finished at home at Lynn and 37156 likewise at Lowestoft.

Wednesday 16th June 2010 ~ Juggling Resources

Smart is the word ! Jim Long kindly sent this picture of 20102 which had arrived at Ipswich today fresh from repainting for use on Ipswich schools work. It would be nice to see the other B10Ms given a coat of paint too wouldn't it ?

The ranks of sidelined King's Lynn Geminis increased today with the non-appearance of 37572 out of Great Yarmouth. Instead, Y13 was provided with the delights of 60863. This had last appeared on the mainstream X1 on February 9th. As this bus has previously run out of fuel on Y13 diagram, arrangements were made to refuel it before departure from Lowestoft on the 18.48 to Peterborough.

37562 returned to its normal roster on K17 today, but the top B10M at King's Lynn, 20109, was once again back on top link duty working K19, the turn which commences with the 07.21 Wisbech to Lowestoft. It was 13 late through Walpole this afternoon and 23 late when departing Wisbech due to congestion. 37565 working K2 was swapped at Lowestoft for 37157 today.

37574 on K15 was 17 late into Wisbech for the 13.18 to Peterborough, 37567 15 late on the 15.48 and 37157 14 late on the 16.18. Morning delays were all less than ten minutes.

Tuesday 15th June 2010 ~ One, Two, Three School Buses

One of those enigmas which the X1 sometimes throws up occurred today. What was expected today was that after an extremely rare overnight at Yarmouth, 20109 would return home to King's Lynn.
Standing at Wisbech waiting for an X1 this morning however, you would firstly have seen 20123 on Y7 09.18 to Peterborough, followed by 20121 on K5 09.56 to Lowestoft and then (the one that was expected) 20109 on Y9 10.18 to Peterborough ! This also explained why John W only saw 20118 in Lynn bus station off the Hunstanton school runs, it's not known what worked the other two turns.
20123 came on Y7 at Lynn replacing 37570 which was unable to continue, so it may have actually had time to do its school run first. Y7 is off King's Lynn at 08.45 and 20123 was 8 late westbound at Wisbech and 9 late returning. It came off at King's Lynn and it is not known what worked forward to Lowestoft, although 37158 was absent this evening.
20121 was out on K5 as 37573/6 were still unavailable.
K18 began the day with 37159, but this returned from Lowestoft on Y7 and K18 was seen at Wisbech 22 late this afternoon with a revived 37570. So another mystery - what worked K18 from Lowestoft to Lynn ?
In general afternoon punctuality was poor. Noted at Wisbech were K16 with 37568, 13 late on the 13.48 westbound and 29 late returning, K17 with 37575 10 late on the 15.05 from Peterborough. K19 37578 21 x 16 late then later 37579 21 late on the 16.48 westbound (K3) and K4 with 37572 23 late.
At Beccles, 37156 was seen by Michael on the 13.38 Lowestoft - Norwich X2. Meanwhile John W says "In case anyone is perplexed by a strange Plaxton with First swirls, a visitor in Lynn and around is Trurorian 20475 (Y5 TRU) seen today on Austin Fields, and afterwards loading its party at Tuesday Market Place. A bribe might have sent the driver through Walpole Highway which could have caused a little confusion!". Well with today's goings on John, I'm quite surprised that it wasn't snapped up for the X1 !

Monday 14th June 2010 ~ From Good To Bad

20109 with a driver looking pleased to be photographed on K3 in King's Lynn this morning. Rob Brooks.

The morning went quite well today with only one exception to a low floor service, this being B10M 20109 which worked K3 as 37573 was required in Norwich (presumably at Volvo) and 37576 is still absent. Delays were minimal and most services ran nicely to time.

Problems began after lunch when 37567 suffered a broken upstairs front window while working Y13. Not sure where it happened but it certainly didn't run as the 13.56 Wisbech to King's Lynn much to the disappointment of a sizeable contingent waiting at Walpole Highway and Andy james reports it arriving at King's Lynn at 14.13 'not in service'. What happened next is uncertain, but 567 may have worked through to Lowestoft anyway as K14, a turn which terminates at Lowestoft while 37568 which was on K14 looks to have completed Y13.

There was a fatal accident near Acle at around teatime which threw the service into chaos. L8 18.50 Lynn - Peterborough departed with 20109 which had just arrived on K3 and the coach worked all the way back to Lowestoft, then as booked going to Yarmouth to stay the night. Meanwhile 37577 on the incoming L8 arrived in time to form L10 the 19.50 westbound from Lynn. L10 came in with 37566 which retired to the garage.

Sunday June 13th 2010 ~ Technological Boost

That man Des was in touch today, he obviously feels sorry for me having read about my failure to transfer mobile phone pictures to my PC ! Speaking of mobiles Des says

"I don't know if you've noticed but many people now access the internet on their mobile phone. The X1 Blog doesn't particularly render too well on a mobile, but, I've being playing around and have come up with this link.

3.ly/x1blog

If the above address is typed into a browser address bar on either a phone or a home computer, it renders the X1 Blog for mobile viewing. If you find this useful, then just add the link to your blog page".

Clever stuff hey, Des continues : "What do you think of having a mobile friendly page that links to many blogs and bus sites? Blogs are best as they tend to contain far less images than the photo sites, here's an example :"

3.ly/transdex

Well I hope some of you will find that useful, fascinating stuff.

Today was a Gemini operated service with departures eastbound from Lynn commencing with the 06.50 producing 37564, 37578, 37562, 37566, 37563, 37565, 37568, 37569, 37570 & 37574.

37564 had a problem though this evening and the 19.35 King's Lynn to Lowestoft was given 37160 as a replacement.

Not the best photo I've ever taken. 37564 against a stormy sky at around 17.10 tonight, but it does show the 'Good Luck England' poster above the bodyside 'X1'. 37160 later replaced 564 on this turn.

Saturday June 12th 2010 ~ Setting A President ?

Syd writes : "The recent arrival of the President bodied B7TLs at Gt Yarmouth are not actually for the summer service 3. All told 7 are due there for work/servicing before moving to Lowestoft. This should then release the 7 Royale Olympians assuming the B7TLs are ready, the Palatines remaining at Lowestoft for the time being. The eventual transfer of all the Royale and Palatine Olympians to Gt Yarmouth for Contracts and Schools only should then see off the tri-axles.
This brings me to the latest plan hatched up for the X1......Two of the B7s are to be tacho fitted for X1 back-up to replace 34108s involvement. This grand plan is due for implementation at the end of the month. This is already in trouble as 32212, which was put into service when still restricted to 32mph yesterday, has today been re-calibrated to 50mph upon which it promptly expired. 32212 has now been inspected and a new engine isnt needed, just a quantity of replacement bits. No other B7TL has turned a wheel yet, 32208 and 32210 were both towed to Caister Road and have yet to see a pit. The end of June date for X1 use may therefore seem a little optimistic. The other casualties of this are of course due to be 34333 and 34921.
Good news about 20107 is that it spent some time on the Gasworks Road pits Friday, so it isnt a lost cause yet, but is back outside at the moment".
Well it's nice to know what may be in the pipeline and thanks very much to Syd for that. That uncommon phenomenon - an all low floor day was achieved today. All the Geminis were out except 37576 (accident repairs), 37156 & 37158.
Punctuality was good today and the most delayed service seen was only 7 late, this being 37567 on the 11.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough (L12). In contrast 37575 was seen arriving at Walpole 4 minutes early on the 13.06 to Lowestoft.

Friday June 11th 2010 ~ Observation Post Blog

My first day out for a while, but didn't see an X1 all day as I was off at an early hour to the BBC Archives. This meant Bruce was on duty and he reports :

Well our little mate is absent from his post again so out comes the Walpole Highway B10M again

07.34 K4 passed with a B9 but missed K19, due 07.31
08.01 K1 on time with 37566
08.08 K5 with 37159
08.34 K2 with 37567, Y6 with 37569
09.04 Y7 with 37573, K3 with 37158
09.38 L8 with 20121- 4L , K4 ????
10.04 37570 on Y9, 37159 on K5
10.34 a B7 on time on L10
11.08 going to Tesco met 37563 on L11 a bit late
11.12 37569 on Y6 leaving Lynn and seen from Tesco car park
12.12 saw L8 leaving Lynn from Tesco car park with 375x4 (574 or 564?)
13.45 met 37565 on L12 near to home. Rather a lot of passengers waiting early in the villages for 37562 on K17!!!!
14.12 Y13 with 37578 - 8L
14.14 K17 with 37562 - 10L
14.38 K18 with 37156 - 4L
14.51 K14 with 37568 - 17L
15.22 K19 with 20109 - 18L
15.38 K1 now has 37577
15.46 K15 with 37575 - 42L
16.10 K2 with 37567
16.16 K17 with 37562

Now I sat outside in the car from 15.03 to 16.16, not wishing to miss K19. K15 had Lowestoft on the front - the absent K16 is the Gorleston. No Gorleston bus passed me - which might explain why there were so many people waiting for K17 to Wisbech at 13.45. K17 had an unusual well filled load on. But it is Friday and I only get to see a little snapshot of what goes on. Now can I get K4 when it returns?".

Fancy 20121 getting yet another run out and as for 20109 ? Well defies belief really. With 37575 on K15 running excessively late, 37572 off the invisible K16 came back late tonight.

Thursday 10th June 2010 ~ Lowestoft Locals

The wanderings of 37565, seen in Lowestoft today but on a local service.

Peter writes "Saw an unknown Gemini go past Lowestoft station on an X2 today and thought "I could get the X1 back to Wisbech from here" but then came to my senses and caught the Oulton-Broad-North-only to Norwich !".

Michael Bryant enlarges on this : 37565 on the 10.08 X2 here, Sam confirms it too. Another source says "Surprising thing was that it then proceeded to work on strange things all day. It did a trip or two on town service 102 followed by some Bernard Mathews contracts then topped it off by working on service 1/1A to Martham until midnight !"

Variety is the spice of life it would seem. Well now, if you'd told me this time last week that K19 would be getting B10M 20109 for the third consecutive day today, I'd have told you to wake up. Nevertheless, this is exactly what happened. It was 20 late through Walpole this afternoon due to the King's Lynn South Gates pandemonium. At one stage, Norfolk Green announced that its services would be avoiding the area altogether such was the havoc.

Bruce was on observation post duty today once more. Highlight (apart from 109) was 34108 on K14 which managed to convert a 14 minute late run westbound into being just 3 late coming back.

37575 passed its MOT today and should be available again now.

Wednesday June 9th 2010 ~ Bruce Does The Business

Yes because I am still confined to barracks as it were, the man in his observatory was again on duty today. Timekeeping was even worse than yesterday but there was a Brucey bonus as 34108 was in action on L12 replacing 37568 which was due a safety service. 568's day was not completely idle however, as it was seen by MIchael Bryant on the 13.35 Lowestoft - Norwich X2.
Y6 which started the day with 37566 was changed at Lowestoft for recent absentee 37157. This didn't actually get to Peterborough though as events conspired against it.

Peter enlarges on the situation with a tale of his own : " On my way back from Derby this afternoon, starting with the 16.34 to St. Pancras, which today was HST worked and goes via Corby. This meant I had to change at Oakham ! Whatever next, Oakham Interchange ? I hope the other six passengers on board enjoyed the views from Harringworth viaduct.
This was then supposed to lead me into a minus five for the 18.10 X1 (K4) to Wisbech. Arrived at 18.15 just in time to see the rear of a Gemini departing, so legged it over to Queensgate to find that the bus I'd just 'missed' at the station was in fact the 17.40 departure (K3) with 37158. This was now in the bus station simultaneously with 37574 on K4 and it was decided after some banter between the drivers that 37158 would go empty to Walpole (?!) and that the passengers would go on 574. We followed 158 as far as Thorney, where we took the village route and 158 made haste down the bypass. On approaching Guyhirn, we caught up 37158 and it then became apparent - due to the fleets of police and emergency vehicles - that there had been an A47 'incident' somewhere between Wisbech and Guyhirn. This meant we then went via Wisbech St. Mary in convoy with 37158. We stopped 'unofficially' in Wisbech Old Market where through passengers to destinations beyond Lynn then transferred to 37158. On arrival at Wisbech, 37157 was sat in the Horsefair with 'X1 Lowestoft' on the front, seemingly going nowhere."

Now I have to confess that Peter sent me a couple of pix to my mobile which I thought I could just bluetooth to my Pc. Wrong ! My PC does not have bluettoth, so I guess I will have to work on that one. The sight of a pair of Geminis in Wisbech St. Mary would have been quite something. In the event, neither 37158 or 37574 went through to Lowestoft and 37573 off a service inspection looks to have gone instead. 37157 on Y6 was terminated at Wisbech and then resumed its turn as the 20.00 to Lowestoft. Meanwhile there was more mayhem on the A47 this evening, both east and west of King's Lynn. 37159 on Y9 did not appear to have arrived at Lynn by 21.15 (due around 19.10), but it may have come in and gone straight back out on K4 rather than 37573 I suppose. Wisbech bypass was closed this evening and most traffic seemed to be taking a diversion via Friday Bridge.

Tuesday 8th June 2010 ~ Vandals Strike

20109 on Gemini turn K19 this afternoon passing Walpole Highway

I suppose considering the length of the route, the X1 doesn't suffer greatly from vandalism, however, a driver reports that today 37563 was heading down Brasenose Avenue in Gorleston heading for Lowestoft on K4 when a youth threw a missile which broke the offside lower deck window behind the stairs. Somehow, it looks as if 563 remained in service, unless you know different.

There was a problem of a different kind later with 37570, which had overnight been adorned with a new advert for the film 'Killers'. Whilst travelling down the Norwich bypass on Y7 14.55 ex Lowestoft, part of said ad started flapping about in the wind only for it to become completely detached on the Dereham bypass. Here it is on arrival at Lynn, thanks to Andy and our man in the know :

Looks pretty silly now doesn't it - divine intervention may be with an advert for a film called 'Killers' depicting guns being in rather bad taste in view of recent events ?

On the road today, timekeeping was pretty dismal with the South Gates roundabout roadworks again being largely responsible. By mid afternoon, most services were in the region of 20/25 late. There don't appear to have been any swaps to the morning allocation of X1 vehicles which is quite rare. Even rarer was the vehicle allocated to K19 - after yesterday's B7, today it had B10M 20109 ! I'm pretty certain this turn has never been worked entirely by a B10M before. Bruce adds - guess who was driving it this afternoon ? You might just be able to make it out from the picture...

Monday 7th June 2010 ~ Turning Back The Clock

Rolling back the years, 20121 heads back home tonight on K5 18.40 from Peterborough, seen passing Tilney All Saints in very poor lighting conditions.

With the schools contracts running again today, King's Lynn sent out 20109 on number 2, 20118 on number 4 and 20123 on number 5 to Hunstanton. This left 20121 spare and because of the absence of any Paragons, it was allocated X1 duty K5. The shortfall being because of MOT work on B9 37575.
I was absent from the scene today with a nasty rash and Bruce held the fort, phoning to report the unusual appearance of 121. In the end it did the complete diagram and for the record, the last time it completed a full X1 duty was on April 20th 2009 !!
Apart from a mid morning blip the timetable held up pretty well. Rejuvenated 37567 appeared on L10 and managed to reduce a westbound defecit of around 17 minutes to about 4 returning.
Both Ian and Peter were in the vicinity of Wisbech bus station at 17.00 to report 37159 on K19 and 37160 on K3 simultaneously. K19 is normally a solid B9 turn and this may well be the first time it has worked with a B7.

Sunday 6th June 2010 ~ Beware Tornados

Today was enlivened by that good old English tradition, the weather. I ventured out just after 2pm and en route to Walpole Highway was engulfed by the entire contents of the sky, then as I neared the main road the deluge was added to with halestones and the entire road was awash with about 6 inches of water. Nearby Marshland St. James had a mini tornado with the roof being ripped off a bungalow and local structural damage. For a short time visibility was similar to being in thick fog.
The X1 ran very well all things considered and 37160 forming the 14.10 to Lowestoft was just 3 minutes late (about normal for a B7 !) and 37572 heading west on the 14.08 to Peterborough was 18 late. Other services today ran pretty much to time. 37156 was another B7 in action, but everything else was B9s with 37577 on the 15.10 to Lowestoft running a minute early.
Paragon 20501 is reported to have rejoined 20500 in Essex and may well be doing the Stansted to Clacton run again.

Saturday June 5th 2010 ~ Fingers Crossed for 20107.

There was some good news on the B10M front today. 20126 has returned to Great Yarmouth after engine repairs where it joins 20127. The latest I hear is that 20107 may have had a stay of execution and is likely to be repaired after all. Time will tell and I wont stake my reputation on it, but thanks to our man for the info. 20109 was yet again turned out from King's Lynn on Excel today. It did K5, but only a trip to Peterborough and back, as by that time 37578 was ready off maintenance to work forward. Royale 34108 was not used on the X1 today, but all the B7s except 37159 were. 37575 is due to be stopped for its MOT tonight. This is the highest mileage X1 Gemini and has clocked up over 191k on its odometer. After yesterday's delays, services seen today were pretty much to time.


Tonight's blog includes our first video (if it works) showing 37567 when it was noisy recently

Friday June 4th 2010 ~ Now Get Out Of That !

Tonight I was expecting 34108 on Y6, instead I got 109 - 20109 as seen here passing Tilney.

37562 had a safety service this morning, so was put out on K4 instead of K17 today. The warm weather saw plenty of A47 traffic with slow moving queues on the coastbound carriageway up to the Pullover Roundabout at Lynn. Bruce decided to take a detour via Saddlebow to get to Lynn to save time.
An 'incident' involving the emergency services between the Mount Pleasant roundabout and Clarkson Avenue coming into Wisbech caused chaos for a couple of hours from 13.00.
With the alternative route via the dockside also closed, X1s either took the bypass or went through Walsoken into Norwich Road. Having failed to get through, I turned round and met 37570 on K17 queueing on Lynn Road, so did my public duty and stopped to inform the appreciative driver that he'd have to turn round. This was at 14.24. 570 was next seen passing the town bridge westbound at 14.52, having taken almost half an hour to travel about a mile !
Naturally this all made for heavy delays and viewed were K14 with 37575, 18 late before encountering the blockage on its way back to Lowestoft, 37577 23 late likewise on K15, K17 which as we've said was 32 late going to Peterborough was exactly the same lateness returning. K18 with 37160 was 24 late from Wisbech westbound and 22 late coming back. K16 was not seen in either direction, but was allocated 37157. Similarly K19 with 37573 was not seen going to Peterborough, but was only 4 late when seen coming back.
Partly as a result of the accumulative delays, there were several changes of diagram. K3 started with 37158, but Lowestoft provided 37578 as a replacement. K5 had B10M 20109, but this was changed at Lowestoft for 37566 which sounded quieter today. Y6 was 34108 this morning, but 20109 was sent back. This would in theory have seen it spend the night at Lowestoft, but a windscreen crack saw it taken off at Lynn at 20.30 with 37566 off K5 going forward.
More stepping up saw 37568 on Y7 then handed over to 37158 (off K3) and 37564 on L8 was then swapped for 568. L11 with 37156 (out after an absence) was changed for 37564 BUT somehow 37156 managed to get back to Lynn anyway, possibly empty to alleviate a shortage of power.
Later this evening, the last legs from Lowestoft to Lynn of K15 and K19 were changed with 37577 giving way to 37157 and K19 with 37573 being swapped for 37160.

Thursday June 3rd 2010 ~ Disintegrating Fans

So far 37563/7/70 have all had the loud fan fault which makes one think that this could end up being a malady which will affect the whole fleet. This afternoon 37566 went by on K16 making the loud noise indicating it is the latest to be afflicted.
20109 was again in frontline action on K3 and 34108 was K18. punctuality was hit and miss. 37568 kept its reputation by being on time heading to Peterborough on L8, but being 21 late coming back. 37159 following on Y9 was 7 x 20 late west and eastbound respectively. At lunchtime 37572 was 28 late on K14 with 37574 just 1 minute late close behind westbound. 34108 was worst performer mid afternoon being 15 late on the 14.48 to Peterborough. 37575 was taken off K19 for a service this afternoon and replaced by 37158, while 37567 made its way to Volvo at Norwich for repairs today.
Back in the UK after three weeks in the States, Peter says " Been waiting at Peterborough rail station for the 18.10 to Lowestoft (K4), it has just turned up at 18.33 with 37569 and 37160 is right behind. Driver has told me he is going empty to Lynn and I've got to do 37160 on the 18.40, so its hard luck if you wanted to travel beyond Lynn as this is where the 18.40 terminates !"

Wednesday June 2nd 2010 ~ All Quiet on the X1 Front

Not only has 37567 been cured of its deafening fan, 37563 has too returned to normal - possibly the reason why it was late on the road yesterday.
37567 spent a second day out of service at King's Lynn and 37565 was rested at Lowestoft. 37576 is off the road with accident damage as previously reported and 37156 may well be on MOT as it has not appeared for almost a week now. Royale 34108 was out again on L11 and B10M 20109 enjoyed a full day out on K5.
Timekeeping was much better than yesterday with everything viewed within 10 minutes of time except K1 with 37564 which was 15 late departing on the 15.48 Wisbech to Peterborough, 37160 a similar 14 late on the 16.48 (K3), while earlier 37575 was the black sheep on K15 being 18 late for the 13.18 westbound, but with arrears reduced to 10 minutes heading back east.
Late tonight K19 returned to Lynn from Lowestoft with 37572 instead of 37578 which was in diagram.

Tuesday June 1st 2010 ~ Half Term Havoc

The school holiday has given the green light to a series of roadworks which today badly affected X1 punctuality. Particularly bad was a new phase in the King's Lynn South Gates roundabout scheme and in Wisbech, the closure of Weasenham Lane for resurfacing. The latter although not on the route resulted in tailbacks onto Cromwell Road affecting the X1.
Peterborough bound services from Wisbech were initially only slightly delayed. 34108 was 10 late on Y6, but the rest of the morning was relatively OK. Going east, things were much poorer though. I try to avoid lists where possible, but here are today's sightings westbound / eastbound at Wisbech.
Y7 37565 RT / 2 late
L8 37566 RT / 5 late
Y9 37578 7 late / 15 late
L10 37572 7 late / 24 late
L11 37573 5 late / 10 late
L12 37568 13 late / 10 late
Y13 37577 19 late / 21 late
K14 37579 10 late / not seen
K15 37575 not seen / 41  late
K16 37157 27 late / 25 late
K17 37562 not seen
K18 37563 20 late both ways
K19 20501 17 late / 21 late

The day began with K2 being 37574, just 4 late passing Walpole but this had increased to 18 late this afternoon. K3 had 37160 only 2 late this morning but 35 late for the 16.48 Wisbech to Peterborough.
K4 went from Lynn to Peterborough and back with B10M 20109 this morning before 37569 was resurrected. 37158 started on K18 before 37563 was revived and this is even more surprising because 37567 was also unavailable and was tonight still over the pits at Vancouver Avenue. K5 was 37159 and later Y7 had 37565 swapped for 37564 at Lowestoft.  To complete the day 37570 was K1.
A few B9s have had 'Good Luck England' stickers fitted on the nearside. 37565/72 have been noted so far.

Monday 31st May 2010 ~ The Bus Hasn't Turned Up Babe !

Now we are quite accustomed to seeing errant B9s taking the A47 bypass to make up time on weekdays, but not so when the service is hourly. Everything seemed to run well today except mid afternoon.
37570 came storming through Walpole Highway at 14.05 heading for Peterborough. It took the teenager standing at the bus stop quite by surprise and as he failed to move from his relaxed pose leaning against the school wall the driver of 570 did, what I myself would have done, i.e. slowed down and then not being haled, continued on his way, even though he was running 3 minutes early - which incidentally is a record for a westbound service at Walpole. Said teenager was subsequently seen trudging towards Wisbech !

Had you been another teenage person waiting at Walpole Highway for the 15.10 to Lowestoft, then possibly your disappointment would have been even greater, as this service failed to appear at all - well it hadn't done so by 15.40 anyway, meaning it was running in excess of 30 minutes late. What was seen however, was 37570 - yes the one which had been running so enthusiastically through Walpole westbound at 14.05 -  travelling along the Wisbech bypass eastbound at 15.39 and then avoiding the villages also. Given that it was seen on the 22.22 Wisbech - Peterborough this evening, it must have taken up the diagram of the missing 15.10 to Lowestoft. Still very mystifying though and not much good if you were a). The guy at Walton Highway who it seemed retired to the pub and b) aforementioned teenage person at Walpole.

Sunday 30th May 2010 ~ Brief and To The Point !

37563 has the fan problem and is making a lot of noise currently. Here it passes Walpole on the 11.10 from Peterborough eastbound today.

All B9s today, viz 37563/3/4/5/7, 37574/5/7/8/9. Almost all services seemed to run on time which probably reflects today's disappointing weather. At least today's picture was taken in the sun.
Harry sent me an email and says "Hi, just in case you want to know I saw coach 20115 at Salhouse near Wroxham today at about 3pm. It had no destination displayed and was driving through Salhouse with lights on  empty. This didn't surprise me though because First do not run a Sunday Service through Salhouse. Just wondered if anyone knew why it was here? ".
Well over to you readers ......

Saturday May 29th 2010 ~ Delays and Destinations

Saturdays are very hit and miss for punctuality these days. Within 5 minutes of schedule is pretty much X1 standard time and thankfully delays in excess of this are rare for such a frequent and demanding service.
I saw several services today, but it was around lunchtime at Wisbech where things seem to have gone wrong.
37565 on L12 was seen 9 late heading to Peterborough, I missed Y13 but was then surprised to see K14 departing the Horsefair 29 late with 37573. A little further down the B198 I passed K15, itself 15 late with 37579. I did see Y13 returning into Wisbech bound for Lowestoft with 37567 running 17 late. After this the timetable seemed to right itself.
Yesterday's accident victim 37576 was of course absent today and a total low floor scenario was avoided by the welcome appearance of Royale 34108 on K18. The trend towards Geminis converting to large style destination displays continues, all the B7s carry this style and noted newly amended today was 37572. Originally only 37575/6/8/9 were programmed with the large font, but now the only survivors with narrow font displays are 37564/8/9, 37570/7/9. Of these 37579 is the odd one out as it was originally large font, but was altered during a visit to Volvo.
There were a couple of swaps today with 37568 on K1 being changed at Lowestoft for the noisy 37563 and L9 with 37569 and Y10 with 37157 had their vehicles reversed this evening, indicating either a spot of overtaking or alternatively a problem this evening with the B7.

Friday 28th May 2010 ~ The Second Test

No, not cricket, but the second Friday before a Bank Holiday this month. This guaranteed the timetable was only loosely adhered to eastbound, but Peterborough bound X1s viewed departing from Wisbech were as follows
Y7 37576 2 late, L8 37567 on time and at last QUIET !, Y9 34108 9 late, L10 37579 on time, L11 37568 2 late, L12 37577 12 late, Y13 37578 4 late, K14 37564 6 late, K15 37574 11 late, K16 37569 16 late, K17 37562 8 late, K18 37157 24 late, K19 37573 3 late, K1 37566 6 late, K2 37572 10 late and K3 37160 7 late.
This doesn't tell the whole story of course, but overall it was a big improvement on the last FBBH.
Going to Lowestoft, the worst delays seemed to be K15 19 late and K16 26 late. Around midday 37576 was involved in an accident in Swaffham but it is not known what replaced it. Earlier Paragon 20501 had worked L10 to King's Lynn where a freshly serviced 37579 took over. 37565/575 were not seen in service today.

Thursday 27th May 2010 ~ Wave The Magic Wand

Alright, we know it is their job, but today was a good example of how that as soon as a Gemini collapses, another (as if by magic - a bit like the shopkeeper, for those of a certain age) is sure to appear for the powers that be.
Chatting to Bruce this morning at just after 08.30 we awaited the first through westbound service from the coast as usual, expecting to see a B9. Instead about 11 late along came dear old 20118. It had come to the rescue of 37575 which had been unable to proceed beyond King's Lynn for some reason. Unfortunately traffic conspired to make 118 20 late coming back from Peterborough, however, here enters the magic wand and on arrival at Lynn the 11.02 to Lowestoft departed with a hastily produced 37577 which had been absent since arriving at Lynn on Monday night. A visit to Volvo would seem to account for this.
L10 ran with 37156 this morning, it being swapped for 37572 at Lowestoft this afternoon.

Syd sends rather distressing news :   Gerard, your favorite coach 20107 has been removed from service for its Pre MOT Inspection and as expected many faults were listed, some serious. It has been taken off the pit and parked nose-in at the rear of Gasworks Road with the report in the cab. Its fate now rests on the decision to authorise the expenditure or withdraw it. Fingers crossed, but it cannot now re-enter service until recitification takes place despite still being in ticket. The Tri-axles are still making guest appearances on the X1 shorts, 30101 being seen tonight on the 1725 Lowestoft to Gt Yarmouth. I think it is wonderful these superb machines ( as long as you dont have to drive one ) still get a thrash on an Express Service at their age". 
 I suppose the news on 107 was predictable, so now we have to wait and see. Speaking of Tri-axles, it reminds me that a few years ago one Saturday evening, following an A47 riot, two of the monsters turned up at Lynn on incoming X1s, both being promptly sent packing on the Sunday morning first thing.
One of our regular Yarmouth correspondents adds "20126 is away being repaired at the moment - possibly a new engine. Withdrawn Olympian 34872 has gone to Erith Commercials scrap dealer and we have only 2 remaining in service here 34921 and 34333. Other condemned stuff includes Darts 46725 and 46726 47215 47217 46807 and Tri-axle 30100 which are all to follow,  not much left of them now, one even has windows removed !"
Noisy 37567 was taken off the road today for attention to its malfunctioning fan and 37574 was successfully given its MOT, being back at Vancouver Avenue tonight. Royale 34108 was allocated to K18 today which is normally a B7 turn which ends at Great Yarmouth. Finally 20501 worked K19, but was unable to work the final leg this evening and Syd reports it at Lowestoft garage overnight. 37564 worked back to Lynn instead having come in to Lowestoft on K2.
Services through Wisbech averaged around 6 late from lunchtime, but K3 with 37159 was 13 late departing as the 16.48 to Peterborough.

Wednesday 26th May 2010 ~ Beware of Low Flying Easy Jets !

The advertising campaigns for 'Easy Jet' are usually long drawn out affairs, but not so this time. I am reliably informed that the current crop of ads have been a flop - not because of ash clouds or industrial action, but because they have been falling off buses !
37573 has, as we previously mentioned, lost part of its advert and eagle eyed travellers will have spotted a few crumpled examples alongside various points of the A47. Nobody seems quite sure why this has happened, but it explains why new ads for 'Letters to Juliet' have largely replaced the Easy Jet ones. Tonight 37565 was about to become the final recipient of the new ad.
37577 was again absent today and with 37574 on MOT and 37562 only returning from repairs at Volvo this afternoon, the shortfall had to be met by using 20109 on K3 and Paragon 501 on K5. From the coast, 34108 worked Y7, while noisy 37567 worked K16 from Lynn to Lowestoft and was then replaced by 37157. Again 37158 was the only B7 not in X1 use today.
For the second day running, delays befell K16 and today it was 25 late on its scheduled Wisbech departure time of 13.48 to Peterborough. Lack of trade saw the following K17 with 37576 just 4 minutes behind running slightly early.
 Mid afternoon services were slightly behind time, but an incident with remarkable similarities to yesterdays saw things grind to a halt in King's Lynn around 16.15. I am informed that a lady pedestrian was fatally injured by a dustcart on Railway Road/London Road in King's Lynn which brought traffic to a stand for quite some time. K2 15.45 to Peterborough with 37578 was just 5 late, but there was then a long gap before 20109 appeared on K3 very late indeed. B10M sister 20118 is thought to have done a relief to Peterborough, with K4 and 37572 following and arriving at Peterborough sufficiently late to jump an hour and then form Y6 19.05 to Lowestoft.
 Paragon 20501 did K5 as booked, but Y6 with 37570 was seen by Bruce entering Wisbech at 18.47, 30 late and with 'not in service' showing, although with punters on board. The decision had already been made for 570 to terminate at Wisbech and return east as K4.
Meanwhile in King's Lynn. London Road inbound was closed by the police and most X1s ran via Tennyson Avenue and Gaywood Road to reach the bus station. One service which bucked the trend was L11, the terminating 16.55 from Lowestoft, with 37565. This passed me on London Road and would then have been diverted into Millfleet - for us older chaps, Millfleet was the site of the old Lynn bus station closed in 1973. I have in my minds eye a picture of 37565 turning back the clock some 37 years and depositing its passengers on Millfleet with the driver giving directions to the present bus station ! Whether this happened would be interesting to discover as would be the route taken after this, which would presumably have been via the quayside and Tuesday Market Place, possible new territory for a B9.
Rob Brooks reports things returning to normal this evening with 37564 on time on L10 20.22 Wisbech to Peterborough as was the 20.05 ex Peterborough with 37566.

Tuesday 25th May 2010 ~ Letters to Juliet

Most of the Lowestoft and Yarmouth overnight berthed Geminis reappeared today with new nearside adverts for 'Letters to Juliet' replacing various versions of the Easy Jet advert. New rear advert campaigns on the fleet include another for LV. Com and more locally Wests Garage of King's Lynn.
After a comparitively quiet period, things livened up today. K1 started the day with 37568, but this was stopped for a service and Royale 34108 took over, its first X1 duty for over 3 weeks. K2 had 37569 early on, but this afternoon it is thought to have been cancelled west of Lynn as 20501 on K3 was fairly wedged on what is normally a lightly loaded service at 16.48 from Wisbech to Peterborough.
K5 was the day's highlight with B10M 20109 being provided. Sam couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the venerable coach in Norwich. B7s 37156/7/9/60 were all in use, leaving 37158 on King's Lynn local work.
Rob Brooks reports a pedestrian being struck by a lorry near King's Lynn station just after lunch and K16 13.15 to Peterborough with 37157 was consequently delayed by 15 minutes. Otherwise, punctuality was good.
37564 had an exam at Lowestoft today, while 37562 & 37577 were both absent at the western end today.

Monday 24th May 2010 ~ B10Ms, More Gloom

A bonus extra day off before I return to X1 hq tomorrow saw me visiting Bruce early this afternoon. 37573 was the chosen B9 to replace the ailing 37562. Note the butchered Easy Jet advert.

Quite amazing, Bruce and myself are busy chatting away and suddenly realise half an hour has passed and yet another X1 is due, this time under blue skies. K18 & 37160 passes by with a driver conscious of the camera !

One of my Yarmouth correspondents who keeps his ears to the ground was in touch today with more bad news for B10M Premiere fans. Apparently driver trainer 20129 is awaiting a decision as to whether repairs can be authorised and a similar scenario could well be the case for X1 standby 20126. Former X1 babe 20128 is standing in for driver training duties in the meantime.

The prospects of finding ex First Essex 20102 on the X1 are diminishing rapidly. Sam says it is being repainted white for schools (I thought school buses were yellow ??) at Bury St. Edmunds and it is intended to replace 20124 at Ipswich which it would seem is terminally 'blown up'.

Back to the X1 then and today Paragon 20501 was used on K5 to give a little variety from otherwise Gemini saturation. 37574 is on MOT this week and 37562 was not at King's Lynn garage this evening, so may be berthed at Ford & Slaters or possibly at Volvo for its repairs.

Sunday 23rd May 2010 ~ Sunshine All The Way

How can anyone take seriously a bus with an advert for 'Space Chimps 2 in HD' ? I didn't get where I am today by advertising 'Space Chimps 2 in HD' !! 569 heads eastbound on the 09.10 from Peterborough this morning carrying some passengers bemused at having their picture taken.

Another contentious advert borne by 37577 encouraging the masses to travel by Easy Jet to Paris & Madrid. Surely the Costa Del Walpole Highway will suffice in this weather ? This was the 11.08 from the Highway to Peterborough today.

37567 was still being very noisy when seen passing Walton Highway at 11.20, about 10 late. Note also the lack of a nearside advert - rare these days.

37570 heads eastbound on the 16.10 from Peterborough today.

A bit of a picture post this as not much to report. Services in the middle of the day were delayed a little by the extra traffic heading to the coast, but otherwise a quiet day on which the ten turns were worked by Geminis 37563/4/7/8/9, 37570/2/6/7 & B7 37156.

Tonight the last westbound service to Peterborough was about 8 late leaving King's Lynn with 37563 and .......get the earplugs, it has the fan problem too !

Saturday 22nd May 2010 ~ What a Racket

The fine weather which is forecast to fade away in the next few days, again saw the crowd heading to the coast and throwing a spanner into the works of the X1 timetable in the process. At lunchtime K16 with 37575 was 25 late through Terrington heading to Peterborough and Bruce saw K14 with 37157 off route on the Peterborough northern bypass with 'not in service' on the blinds, although passengers were on board. This leads me to last night when Jamie R reports a passenger at Queensgate bemoaning the 'no show' of L8 and having to wait 90 minutes for L10. L8 with 37564 was seen heading into King's Lynn a little late, but with 'not in service' showing at 21.30.
The normally reliable 37562 was taken off the road today needing a new brake caliper, so K17 was worked by 37576 instead.
A complete low floor experience was avoided today by the use of Paragon 20501 on K3, from which it was removed at 16.15 and replaced by 37573. This was to enable 501 to have a thorough clean before working a 'private hire' to London tomorrow.

Finally the racket referred to above belongs to 37567 which was deafening bystanders who witnessed K1 today, the fan problem experienced by 37570 seems to have afflicted 567 also. Now where's that warranty card ?

I ventured up to Walpole Highway at lunchtime in the forlorn hope that the good weather might provide an outing for 'The Beast' on L12, the Saturday short turn which does just a Lowestoft - Peterborough return trip - alas 37565 which had been absent since Monday was battered into shape to work the turn.

X1 Blog w/e 21/5/10

Well I'm back again and in my absence various people have been helping me out, Steven, John W, Michael B, Cheryl, Mr C, Rob Brooks and of course Bruce have all done their bit, so a big thank you to all.
All in all it doesn't seem like I've missed much and here's a brief rundown of the main events :

Friday 14th May

Bruce is hung up at the supermarket, but still manages a few sightings : "Well its alright for some to swan off to the fleshpots of Shropshire (Ludlow) while the rest of us carry on X1 watching. Mind you I think the Blogmeister is still in Firstland so all is not lost. (Indeed Bruce, 67239 was in Ludlow this afternoon !)

Today only managed K3 - 158, Y7 - 576 and L11 - 568 however a visit to Rowan Road for a B10M fix revealed that 20109, now out of MOT, was not present alongside 20131/104/105/106 as expected. It seems to be Richard's favourite, so maybe another MOT is in the offing?  30888 was present also in the middle of the yard imitating a Robin Reliant, having no wheels on the rear offside".
Steven sent me a list of what was reportedly out and it seems to have been a totally low floor affair. Cheryl confirmed 37577 on K5 and all the usual B9s were in use except (possibly) 37569. 37156/7/8 made up the numbers.

Saturday 15th May

Bruce says "K2 - 579, K3 - 158 and Y6 564 . Saw more but B9 blindness and memory loss struck !". Really Bruce, I'm not psychic you know ! However, Mr C says 563 was K4 and 577 K5 to which we can add the same Geminis as yesterday with 37569 returning and 37572 the one which had a day off.

Sunday 16th May

A few gleanings here 37156 & 37563 worked and Bruce adds "567 on the 19.08 to KL, sounding like a tractor and with oil streaks emanating from the engine cover. It passed 568 on the 19.08 to PB". Doesn't sound good for 567 then ?

Monday 17th May

Steven, Bruce and Rob Brooks all came up trumps today. Rob was in Norwich and says "Seen today

37575(Pest!!!) At Norwich Bus Stn on K15 1103 to Peterborough, departed 1105

37576 departed Norwich Bus Station on K3 at 1119 to Lowestoft
37574 departed Norwich Bus Station on K16 at 1128 to Peterborough
37577 left Norwich Bus Station at 1333 on K1 to Peterborough
37569 L10 1450 Norwich - Lowestoft left on time
20107 arrived Norwich going to Peterborough on K4 1453 and here she is :

The Beast in Norwich (Rob Brooks)

37572 departed Norwich on K14 1654 to Lowestoft

Bruce enlarges on this "good day day for washing Leyland Nationals while watching X1s producing :
K1 37577, K2 37579, K3 37576, K4 37565 BUT The Beast had taken over on the 13.25 ex Lowestoft and its return
K5 37158, Y6 37573, Y7 37567!, L8 37570, Y9 37566, L10 37569, L11 37157, L12 37568, Y13 37156, K14 37572, K15 37575, K16 37574, K17 37562 (Yawn), K18 37563 & K19 37578".
Paragon 20501 had a major service and examination at Lynn today.

Tuesday 18th May
More gen from our intrepid trio. Bruce continues :  "Another good day for washing Leyland Nationals using a ladder to give a full view of the X1 route. So.... K1 37569, K2 evaded me three times!, K3 37575,  K4 37567!, K5 37158, Y6 37577 14 late to PB and 29 1/2 late to Lynn, Y7 20107 2 late to PB and on time and 200 yds behind Y6 on its return complete with discerning passengers.
L8 37579, Y9 apparently evaded me twice but did it run at all?, L10 37572, L11 37564, L12 37573,
Y13 an unidentified B9, K14 37156, K15 37578, K16 37566. K17 K17 37562 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,
K18 37157 and K19 37576".
Rumour hath that K2 was 37568, Y9 37570 and Y13 37563 Bruce, but nice to see the 'Beast' still at large. Michael Bryant says - a B9 on the X2 again after a few weeks break, this time 37574 on the 13.38 ex Lowestoft and then the Beccles school run ".

Wednesday 19th May
Heavens ! The 'First' buses in Hereford are even older than ours, Darts 47003 & 47013 were about this afternoon, anyway I digress...
Bruce says " A good day to build a bonfire of hedge cuttings in sight of the road", but how close were you Bruce ?
"K1 37572 and a conundrum. It passed me in my field 5 late to PB at 15.39 (sitting in wheelbarrow waiting for sheer class on K16!) but I met it again at 18.24 in Guyhirn on its return from PB when it should have passed the observatory at 17.34! K2 and K3 evaded me. K4 37575, K5 37158, Y6 37569, Y7 37574,
L8 37564, Y9 37579, L10 37156, L11 37577, L12 37568, Y13 37157, K14 37563, K15 37576, K16 20107 on time at 13.34 but 18 late on its return from PB, K17 37562 yet again, K18 37570and finally K19 37578".
Problem here as other sources quote 37564 as K1, 37572 as K3, 37574 as L8 and 37567 as Y7, so may be swapping was going on, surely Bruce's binoculars aren't too blame ? Steven confirms K2 as 37573 and |K3 starting the day with 20501 which was reportedly changed at some point for 37572. Far more importantly than all that though is the exit of 20107 on K16 - will we see it again ??

Thursday 20th
The blogathon continues with Bruce "Clearing up yard - when not sitting in chair sunning myself beside the road. (Luxury X1 observations - yes I have a chair in the front garden!!!)

K1 37568, K2 37577, K3 20501 all day, K4 37567! K5 37160, Y6 37564, Y7 37575, L8 37569, Y9 37574, L10 37566, L11 37563, L12 37573, Y13 37570, K14 37157, K15 37578 13 late at 13.17, K16 37156 9 late at 13.43, K17 guesses , anyone ? K18 37572 and K19 37579".

Friday 21st
Bruce's last day at the helm and he says "Well, K4 slipped by before I could focus my eyes, but K19 was already 6 late at 07.37 with 37576. K1 was on time so I missed it but K5 was 12 late at 08.13 to PB but only 1 late on its return with 37575. K2 and Y6 similarly avoided me by running on time (as much of the timetable has been this week) but were both B9s.

I heard 37567 on Y7 long before I saw it and it passed 20501 on K3 at the bungalow. L8 was another B9 I just missed and K4 was 37574. Y9 passed with 37569 and L10 offered 37157 . Y6 on its return proved to be 37568 9 late. L11 was 37578 and I meet 37156 near to the garage on L12. Inside the garage at Lynn was a B10M on No 1 pit (20109?) next to 43472 with 37579 stood on the wash.
Driving to Rowan, I met 20118 with X40 on the blinds performing crew shuttles. Inside were the usual occupants plus 65529 which has been O.O.S for two weeks now, and 30888 which appeared to be devoid of all brake gear on the rear offside as well as the wheels (Same corner as 30902 caught light on!).
Back home met 37156 on L12 again and Y13 was 37572. No guesses about yesterdays K17 - obviously too hard a question - so some clues today : it wasn't 34108 or 34921! K18 is 37160 and K14 came back from PB with 37579 so a swap has taken place at Lynn. K15 is 37570 and I just missed K1 (a B9) cos I was typing this! Normal blog service will resume on Monday. Noted in my new BUSES that 20110 is being prepared for sale - peasants!"
The B10M appreciation Society.
 
Well I can add my sincere thanks to Bruce for his dedication as always and as I returned to the flatlands late this afternoon seen were  K1 with 37563, K2 37566, Y7 37567, L8 37564 and K19 37576. Maintenance swaps touched on by Bruce saw K14 start witth 37578 which was changed for 37579 and K16 which was 37573 received a refreshed 37578 later in the day.

John W writes "Just to let you know where the coaches have got to while you were away - Today  Friday 21st, the 3 from Hunston in the morning were 20109/18/21. 20118 was the X40 coach. I don't know when '09 came back on the scene, but on Tues 18th 20123 was working, and was the X40 service coach. Looks like there are 4 Premieres to choose from again ?". Yes John, the good news is that 20109 was MOTd again yesterday (Thursday) and this will probably mean 20123, which is less reliable will become the standby vehicle.

Thursday 13th May 2010 ~ I'll Be Back

Well hopefully anyway..... this is my last blog for a week as I'm off on holiday. My departure coincides with that of 20107 which worked K1 this morning, but which was replaced at Lowestoft by 37566. So I leave you in the hands of a totally low floor service, but any developments will be monitored by our regular team headed by Bruce. Please send any updates to my usual email address and I will do a combined blogathon when I return.
Today there was a minor blip early on with the two services due past me (just outside Wisbech) at 09.20, both appearing at 09.34, these being K4 with 37576 and Y7 with 37565. after this things were pretty much on time, the exception being K16 14.35 from Peterborough with the perpetually late 568 which contrived to be 14 late.
37562 on K17 once again departed Wisbech a couple of minutes early on the 14.18 to Peterborough. Today saw the return to traffic of B9 37567 which last worked an X1 on Friday 7th. It appeared on L12 but is still without any advertising on the nearside. It may well have been to Volvo for warranty repairs, or possibly an MOT at Yarmouth.

Wednesday 12th May 2010 ~ Fill Me Up

20107 on L10 passing through Walpole at just after 8pm this evening.

As I've mentioned before, scarcely a day goes by now when a Lowestoft bound evening bus doesn't have to make an unscheduled stop at Vancouver Avenue for refuelling. I think the record stands at three such services in one night ! I cannot ever recall this happening when coaches were in use, so presumably the B9s use more fuel and a tankful is often insufficient to last the day. Tonight 37570 was the visitor on Y6 20.35 to Lowestoft.
Paragon 20501 found itself deputising once more today because 37564 failed to appear on Y7. It is not known whether the B9 set out from Yarmouth, but it is confirmed that it visited Volvo at some point in the proceedings. 501 was not seen by Bruce or myself going to Peterborough and it is thought that it made a quick run via the A47 bypasses to regain the turn commencing with the 10.05 from Peterborough.
37567 was again absent but Lowestoft sent out 'The Beast' on L10 instead of 20127. King's Lynn meanwhile unusually used 37568 on internal turn K5.
K1 began the day with 37563 but this was changed for freshly serviced 37569 at Lowestoft. At least punctuality was good with 8 minutes being the biggest defecit westbound.
On the King's Lynn schools front, John W says "Monday morning the three for schools were 20118/21/20501 but on Tuesday morning 20121 and 20123 were seen. I guess the third was not in. as held in traffic while on X40 (that would indicate 20118 was the third). You may see on the Yahoo group that a B10B/Wright 60304 was a visitor (?) at Lynn this morning showing Driver Training on the display. The vehicle was not showing L-plates".

Tuesday 11th March 2010 ~ Going Bananas

I certainly thought I was 'going bananas' this morning when 37572 passed my window with a new bold advert for a movie "Space Chimps 2". I don't know what surprised me more, the inane title or the fact that this was obviously a sequel !!! As the day went on, it became apparent that several of the buses which overnighted at King's Lynn had been similarly adorned.
Last night L10 ran west of Lynn with 37569 (off Y9) with 20127 retiring to Vancouver Avenue. 127 was Ok again today though and worked K16 which ends at Lowestoft. This spoiled (if that is the right word) an otherwise low floor day. Even 37569 on K4 which required a service at Lowestoft was swapped for a sister vehicle in the shape of 37564.
Punctuality was better today with worst performer being 37157 on K18 15.35 from Peterborough and this was only 8 late.
37562 worked Y6 throughout yesterday and today it came out of Lowestoft on L11 paving the way for it to resume its normal duty on K17 tomorrow.