The End of an Era

'The Beast'

Very quietly, without any ceremony or fuss, an era ended this week when, after 17 years,  the very last two B10M Premiere coaches remaining in revenue earning service with First in East Anglia were withdrawn from service. With a long history of use on the X1 route and before that the X94, it is only right that we should pay tribute in the blog to their longevity and comfort.
Ironically, the last two coaches in use, 20102 and 20115 were amongst the rarest on the route over the years. 20102 had relatively recently arrived from Ipswich and was in white livery, while 20115 remained in Excel livery. Both have left Great Yarmouth, 20115 is believed to have been bought privately while 20102's fate is not definitively known - it had been out of use for a short time and whilst some reports say it has also been sold on for service, others state that it has gone for scrap.
For the record, the last use of a Premiere on the main X1 (rather than shuttles) was on April 20th when 20102 worked L12 from Lowestoft to Peterborough and back to King's Lynn where a Gemini replaced it. 20115 had worked L12 throughout on Saturday February 25th and earlier on 6th had again appeared west of Norwich. This trio of workings were the only ones reported on the Peterborough - Norwich section in 2012.
Here's a quick look at some of the B10Ms which served the route so well :

On 12th June 2007, 20105 gives way to 20101 to work the 20.42 King's Lynn - Lowestoft. 20101 new in 1995 was only pressed into use on the X1 in times of shortage as it had a faulty oil warning light and was usually to be found on the X2.

20126 after its repaint in an unorthodox version of the Excel livery - it had previously carried Barbie pink. 126 lasted into 2012 before withdrawal. March 17th 2008

20140 (left) passing 20114 at Fence Bank on August 23rd 2005

On March 2 2009, Malcolm W is at the wheel of 20118 as she approaches Walpole Highway.

April 2009 and 20127 is near Walsoken - she lasted in this livery until the end which came in August 2010. The side advertising was a recent addition.

On July 27th 2007, two Barbie liveried Premieres stand outside King's Lynn garage. In a matter of weeks 20128 was to be relegated to be a driver trainer and 20126 was soon to get a repaint into Excel livery.

20130 with 20126 behind in Wisbech Bus Station. Note the slightly different styles of repaint and logo application. 19th October 2007

July 29th 2007 and a trio of B10Ms await their next duties at King's Lynn. 20105 was withdrawn whilst at Lynn, but 20114 went to Scotland and was later sold. 20121 - an original Eastern Counties vehicle in September 1996 - also went to Scotland but was sent back and performed more useful X1 work until a car ploughed into the back of it causing its final demise.

On June 4th 2007 20141 was photographed with some temporary bumper panels in place. This vehicle has recently been back in service with Emblings of Guyhirn.

1st March 2008 and locally registered 20120 gets away from Hardwick roundabout on its first journey following a period out of service. It lasted until the end of August 2008 when it was withdrawn following crankshaft failure.

The comfortable interior of 20118. 

23rd October - 30th October 2012 ~ Positive Signs

Peter writes : "Hi Gerard, I read recently that your friend Victor Meldrew had complained to Peterborough City Council on a number of occasions about the lack of bus information at Peterborough Railway Station following the multi-million pound refurbishment.

At the time I did think "What a moaning old geezer" but it seems like he's had some success. I think a poster in the (still empty) poster case would have sufficed, but the Council and/or East Coast have gone completely overboard and provided a 32" LCD screen exclusively for X1 !

It's not "real time" though, as the 1635 departure disappeared from the screen at 1636 despite the bus not appearing until 1645 (oh dear, I'm beginning to sound like Mr Meldrew!) 

Peter

Hmmm , well it had all gone fairly quiet lately, so I had wondered if our old friend (surely not ?) Victor had may be passed on to another planet where all public transport ran like a dream, when along comes another missive :

Dear Mr Fletcher

I was about to write to write to you to tell you how happy I was (there's a change - Ed) that a new information screen has now been provided at Peterborough railway station, when I tried printing the new X1 timetable. Please see my attachments - the first page printed fine, but every page after that was printed in some sort of hieroglyphic code!

 I thought that perhaps it was my printer or computer so I tried it on a different printer and computer but with the same result. Do you realise how much it costs to print 16 colour pages with the price of ink these days?! Please have a word with your friends at First Group and get them to sort out their website.

Yours

Victor Meldrew

Oh well you can't please all the people all the time and you can't please Victor at any time ! Now the first reported appearance of one of the new Paragons on an X1 shuttle occurred on the 22nd when Kieran Smith saw 20515 in service along with veteran B10M 20115. Kieran adds " These shuttles arrive in Norwich bus station from the Queens Road end and depart via Surrey Street exit to reach Bracondale".

On Tuesday 23rd, alll went well until L11-XL17 10.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough which appeared 30 minutes late through Wisbech  with 37158. The services either side ran on time, so the reason for the delay to L11 was not clear. K15-XL02 with 37565 had an adblu sensor fault and was replaced by 37576. At Lowestoft 37570 on K16-XL03was seen arriving 15 late this morning by Malcolm, but this had all been regained by the time it passed me at 13.50. On Wednesday 37564 was taken out of traffic for attention to its injector sleeves and with 37579 still awaiting MOT, this left just one spare bus. First change of vehicle was on K5-XL11 when at 10.32 37160 was relieved by 37156. 37570 on L12-XL18 was unable to continue from King's Lynn to Peterborough at 11.15, so 37160 was summoned to do the Peterborough leg and 37570 was fit again to work to Lowestoft at 14.02. 37563 on K14-XL01 was removed at 15.00 and 37160 then continued its day as the 15.02 to Lowestoft. Most services were a few minutes late, but nothing in excess of 10 minutes was recorded. Remarkably 37157 on Y9-XL15 left Wisbech 4 late on the 10.18 to Peterborough, but returned a few seconds early just before 11.50. On Thursday, morning services in the west suffered minor delays. Temporary traffic lights at the entrance to Wisbech Horsefair bus station and also on Nene Quay didn't help matters. By the afternoon things had improved although an accident at North Tuddenham caused tailbacks for westbound services. 37575 on K5-XL11 was halted at Eau Brink at 17.30 with a snapped alternator belt, so 37576 went out to replace it. After completing K5, 37576 then replaced 37571 on Y6-XL12, the 20.35 to Great Yarmouth. 37579 was back on the road after a morning MOT replacing 37565 on  K15-XL02 12.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough etc. At Lowestoft 37159 was seen on Y7-XL13 and L8-XL14 was also, most unusually, a B7 with 37158 and this arrived 17 late.37157 on K18-XL05 departed Lynn 5 late on the 17.02 to Yarmouth and arrived here 14 late due to traffic conditions.

Friday 26th saw 37574 on L8-XL14 in trouble at Peterborough with a water leak. 37565 took the 10.35 to Lowestoft forward, starting at either Wisbech or Lynn. Punctuality was average with a poor spell at lunchtime when K15-XL02 (37566) was 15 late in both directions through Wisbech and Y13-XL19 13.05 ex Peterborough (37567) passed through eastbound 19  late. 37571/8 were undergoing safety services at Vancouver Avenue. 37158 was losing time again, this time on Y9-XL15 - it was 20 late arriving at Lowestoft and 10 late departing westbound. 37157 on Y7-XL13 was also an offender today, 19 late into King's Lynn from Lowestoft at 18.26, not helped by an 8 minute delay waiting to exit Hockering back onto the A47.  Three Enviro 200 single deckers with Lowestoft branding entered service here today on locals. Noted were 45117/8/9.

On to Saturday and I had a journey to the Midlands to watch Aston Villa v. Norwich. I passed K4-XL10 in both directions with 37578, as well as a few others. Services ran reasonably and the only swap was on K18-XL05 which exchanged 37156 for 37159 this afternoon. 37567 & 37159 required replacement windscreens. 

Kieran Smith has kindly provided us with some pictures taken today :

37158 at Norwich on K1-XL07. This diagram is only allocated a B7 on Saturdays when it terminates at Lowestoft. [K.Smith]

37572, still with 'Savages' advert heads for Peterborough on K14-XL01 08.55 from Lowestoft [K. Smith]

Remember these ? Well 60814 was one of the vehicles in use on X1 shuttles today. Many thanks to Kieran for the photographs. 

On Sunday 37579 once again had water problems and 37571 replaced it. The half term week began with lighter traffic and 37565 on Y6-XL12 09.35 from Peterborough came into Wisbech at 10.18 (2 minutes early) which is possibly a record. A trio of B7s mid morning saw 37157/9/8 appearing on Y9-XL15, L10-XL16 & L11-XL17. Y9 was 21 late going east, while L10 was just 3 late and L11 14 late westbound. These were the worst delays I noted but Des adds "An RTA at Guyhirn caused problems and the Acle Straight was closed by a similar incident from 14.00 - 22.00, I was supposed to drive 37159 on L10-XL16, but this was 30 late, so instead when 37158 came in empty to Vancouver Avenue at 13.55 having been on L11-XL17, I took this instead going light to Norwich arriving at 15.05. Here Y9-XL15 was just departing, so after consultation with Lynn control I went light via the A146 to Lowestoft to form Y9's return working at 15.55. 37157 meanwhile was seen in Gorleston by now running a whopping 95 late !"

To bring us up to date, Tuesday October 30th was an A47 day with broken down vehicles at Guyhirn and Blofield causing delays. 37158 on K5-XL11 09.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft came into Wisbech 17 late and was 24 late from Lynn eastbound  Y6-XL12 may have travelled via Wisbech St. Mary as it was not noted on the usual route. There was quite a business this morning when 37159 failed en route on K16-XL03 - it is believed to have had a faulty drivers seatbelt. 37157 and 37565 were despatched from King's Lynn and 37159 was seen in a layby near the Mattishal turn by Nick Youngman. 37565 eventually took over K16 and was seen by Malcolm departing Lowestoft 17 late on the 09.55 to Peterborough. 37159's ailment was sufficiently trivial to enable it to resume working K16 at 13.15 from King's Lynn. 37565 was later seen on K3-XL09 having relieved 37567. Malcolm also reports Y7-XL13 with 37576 arriving at Lowestoft 22 late, having been only 6 late when seen at Wisbech. X2s were also delayed today typified by Palatine 34156 arriving 22 late on the 13.10 from Norwich. The following service was only 5 late, remarkably with another veteran, 34155. Another smart new arrival 44928 was seen on town services today.

16th - 22nd October 2012 ~ Piling on the Miles

The very first advert to be fitted to an X1 Gemini was for the 22nd Bond film Quantum of Solace back on November 13th 2008. Now four years on it's time for  the 23rd title seen adorning 37566 here.

With X1 vehicles due for replacement next year, it will be interesting to see if any of the present fleet notch up half a million miles. This will depend on when the new buses arrive - when the 17 X1 liveried Geminis arrived, it wasn't until October and if this is replicated, several will easily pass this mileage.
As it stands the mileage table is headed by 37572 which has amassed over 470,000 miles. Several of its original King's Lynn stablemates are hot on its heels, closest being 37579 on almost 469k. This is followed by : 37575 464k, 37578 & 37574 463k and 37573 462k. Next comes the highest mileage of the former Lowestoft allocation, this honour belonging to 37567 which has done 458k. The remainder are as follows :

37570 458k
37565 449k
37568 448k
37576 447k
37569 444k
37563 436k
37564 434k
37577 423k
37566 420k
37157 398k
37160 390k
37158 374k
37159 366k
37156 362k
37571 318k

These are thousands in miles, not kilometres. For those of you not quite as obsessed by figures as me, I ought to point out that 37572 has travelled 756k kilometres ! 37571 was the bus involved in the Thorney accident hence its low mileage - it was off the road for 15 months and was given a new cab already fitted with a speedo reading 31,000 more than that actually travelled by 37571, so this adjustment of subtracting 31,000 from the actual reading has to be made to obtain an accurate figure. It is also quite amazing that 37572 has now run 50,000 miles more than 37566. The latter has always been unlucky and on its first day in service failed (24.10.08). It was on the road three weeks before 37572.
It is hardly surprising perhaps that minor ailments at last seem to be on the increase with the B9s. On the evening of Tuesday 16th 37563 failed at Thorney with a burst water pipe whilst on L8 (XL14). The turn resumed at 21.35 from King's Lynn to Gorleston JPH with 37568 which had come off K5 (XL11). 37572 & 37573 were serviced today and K1 (XL07) began with 37578 but this only managed a trip from Lynn to Peterborough and back before being replaced by 37157. At 12.15, 37579 had to be taken off K14 (XL01) with a water system fault and 37578 was fit to take over. Timekeeping was very good with only minor delays, despite roadworks with temporary lights at Necton.

Wednesday 17th was not so good for punctuality. Y6 (XL12) is normally good for timekeeping, but the last few weeks have seen a marked deterioration, presumably due to morning peak traffic in King's Lynn and Wisbech. 37568 departed 12 late from Wisbech westbound this morning at 09.00 and going east at this time was K3 (XL09) with 37574 also 10 late. By this evening a change had occurred and 37567 was on this turn. This was delayed at Walsoken by an ill passenger on the 16.15 from King's Lynn to Peterborough. Back to the morning and Y9 (XL15) with 37157 contrived to be 19 late from Wisbech on the 10.18 to Peterborough. things then reverted to timetable until K15 (XL02) 13.18 departure which left 15 late with 37577. There were a lot of swaps today. 37566 had an adblu problem whilst working K17 (XL04) and at 13.45 was replaced by Tuesday night's poorly bus 37563. K5 (XL11) had 37569 taken off at teatime for a rejuvenated 37566 to run from Lynn to Peterborough and back at 17.15. Finally Y6 (XL12) had 37568 taken off at 20.30 and 37156 went forward at 20.35 to Lowestoft.
Thursday 18th saw some services delayed, but others run on time or even slightly early ! Again Y6 (XL12) was delayed this morning and the 08.48 to Peterborough didn't get away from Wisbech until almost 09.00 with 37565. Mid morning saw a trio of B7 workings heading west. Y9 (XL15) with 37159 was 8 late, L10 (XL16) had 37158 and L11 (XL17) with 37156 passed me at 11.37, 17 late. Of the other B7s, 37157 on K16 (XL03) managed a rare on time appearance, but 37160 on K18 (XL05) came through 15 late. Traffic on the Peterborough section must have been light, 37570 on K17 (XL04) was 7 late departing Wisbech on the 14.18 westbound, but came back a minute early. Today's A47 roadworks with traffic light control were at Little Fransham.  The water system fault on 37579 saw it  being stripped down at Vancouver Avenue while 37574 joined it over the pits with an adblu fault.
Punctuality was better than the average on Friday 19th and it was not until late afternoon that delays began to build. About the worst of these was 37158 on K3 (XL09) which was 11 late into Lynn from Lowestoft to form the 16.15 to Peterborough. It was noted leaving Wisbech 15 late. 37160 had air pressure problems at Yarmouth first thing and it was eventually able to work Y9 (XL15). An accident near Thorney apparently caused delays in the early evening and 37568 on K4 (XL10) needed cleaning on arrival at Lynn, so 37567 worked forward to Lowestoft at 19.35. Christine spotted old friend coach 20115 still earning its keep on an X1 short today, seen in Norwich at 08.20.
On Saturday early morning services were on the dot. I nearly fainted with shock when K5 (XL11) 09.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft (37160) and L8 (XL14) 09.48 Wisbech - Peterborough (37567) both passed each other at the Clarkson memorial both running a minute early. Overall things seemed to run fairly well. Once again Christine noted 20115 in use on the shorts - doubtful if it will get another MOT ? 37579 will be getting an extended break from service as it is now on MOT prep. Sunday saw nothing noteworthy and Monday 22nd saw another bad start to the week for Y6 (XL12)  05.50 ex Great Yarmouth with 37569 crawling in a queue into Wisbech 15 late. K3 (XL09) going east was similarly 14 late with 37159. This was as bad as it got though and the rest of the day went quite well. 37569 had to be removed from Y6 (XL12)  tonight and 37158 off K5 (XL11) was its replacement.
Many thanks to Malcolm and Cheryl for their help this week.

7th - 15th October 2012 ~ A Service to be Proud Of

Several people have contacted me recently in praise of the X1. Steve says "Can't praise the X1 enough, I can't drive now due to a health condition and as I'd always been a car driver, I'd failed to realise what a great service the X1 gives. I'm now a regular user and suddenly, losing my ability to drive no longer seems like the end of my world". Vicky is also impressed by the service, she says " Am I the only person who has travelled all the way from Wisbech to Lowestoft ?" - well no as we have seen recently, she continues "it's a brilliant service and if they had a fan club I'd be a member". Can't be bad Vicky. Just lately punctuality and reliability has not made for an exciting blog, but at least it has been good for the passengers.

Sunday 7th
On the evening of 6th, 37157 was failed at Peterborough on Y10 (XL16) with an electrical fault. It had to be towed in by a recovery team in the early hours of Sunday. 37158 saw unusual use on Sunday - it worked Y8 (XL08 Sun) until it ws removed at King's Lynn as it required a Monday morning examination. 37566 worked the turn forward. 37564 was stopped for MOT today.

Monday 8th

37158 was released off maintenance to work K5(XL11) and it then had an extended day by replacing 37570 on L8(XL14). The reason for this change was to enable the all over rear ad (or what remained of it) to be removed. Y7(XL13) had a change of vehicle after 37573 failed at Swaffham with loss of power - a turbo intercooler pipe needed replacing. 37567 is thought to have been used to replace it. 37157 was given a clean bill of health after repairs.

Tuesday 9th

37157 was back on the road working K3(XL09) today. K18(XL05) had 37160 swapped for 37563 for servicing requirements. 37577 on K2(XL08) suffered a water leak at Wisbech just after 18.00 and 37573 worked forward from Lynn at at 18.35. Y6(XL12) with 37565 was the most delayed service noted, 12 late from Wisbech on the 08.48 to Peterborough, but just 5 late returning.

Wednesday 10th

King's Lynn garage have taken delivery of this smart dedicated fleet support van for those odd occasions when the X1 misbehaves.

Not a bad day and only one vehicle swap,  37576 coming off Y13(XL19) at 21.45 for a sister to do the final leg to Peterborough and back. Over at Lowestoft things weren't quite as good with K16(XL03) arriving 19 late and departing 10 late on the 09.55 to Peterborough, but by the time it reached me it was down to 6 late. The bus was 37158. Most services seen at Lowestoft were slightly late, 37568 on K17(XL04) was 6 late in and 37160(XL05) on K18 8 late. 37563 on Y6(XL12) this afternoon managed to be on time, but 37159 was 18 late in on Y7(XL13) and 10 late going back to King's Lynn.

Thursday 11th

37564 had its MOT this morning and was then fit to replace 37571 on K15(XL02). The other rested buses today were 37565 & 37576 for servicing. Last week Dennis Trident 33165 spent a week on the X2 on loan and today Malcolm reports 33057 in Lowestoft bus station, believed to be a new reallocation  from Norwich to replace two Darts which have gone the other way.

Friday 12th

By Friday standards, not a bad day for timekeeping. Passing Wisbech  K18(XL05) and 37159 was 14 late westbound and had made up a minute returning east to do the 16.26 to Yarmouth. K1(XL07) with 37573 was 17 late on the 15.48 to Peterborough, but everything else ran fairly well. 37576, 37578 and 37157 were the spare buses today. At Lowestoft, Malcolm viewed several services but only 37564 on K17(XL04) was behind time to the tune of 9 minutes. Des says "It was me on K18(XL05) and the catalogue of woe is as follows : 37159 departed Southgates 7 late, congestion into Wisbech departed -14, Arrived Peterborough 15.41 and explained to rail station passengers we would be going there after loading. Departed to rail station at 15.49 and left there at 15.53. 14 late from Wisbech at 16.40. Departed Lynn bus station at 17.10, just 8 late but then took 14 minutes to reach Southgates due to Friday peak traffic. My journey home was with 37573 on K1(XL07) on which we departed Southgates 14 late and never regained much time. 9 late into Great Yarmouth as a result".

Saturday 13th

I admit to seeing very little today, but my correspondents kept me posted. 37565 and 37569 swapped turns at some point today with them ending up on K14(XL01) and Y13(XL19).

Sunday 14th

A nice all B9 worked day : 37563/4/7/8/9. 37571/2/5/7/8 were in use. Brasenose Avenue in Gorleston was shut today necessitating a diversion via Middleton Road. The new X1 timetable headings all show Peterborough - Lowestoft and no westbound service, fortunately the times themselves are correct.

Monday 15th

Driver illness forced the cancellation of L12(XL18) 07.45 Lowestoft - Peterborough as far as Norwich where one of the King's Lynn controllers came to the rescue with 37157. This was later taken off the duty and was seen lurking in Vancouver Avenue at 15.30. Later passengers waiting for Y6(XL12) 17.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough were boarding 37568 when it was decided to replace it with 37566. Howard Street in Yarmouth closed for resurfacing meant more diversions and the Hardwick roundabout is once again closed to evening traffic from 20.00 until 26th.

New X1 Timetable with enhanced frequency in the East !

In addition to the daytime half hourly Lowestoft - Peterborough service, there are of course the so called X1 shorts linking Gorleston, Great Yarmouth and Norwich at peak times. Well from 14th October, these additional services are being augmented into a regular frequency timetable which will mean extra services from Yarmouth at 27 & 57 minutes past the hour and eastbound from Norwich at 10 & 40 minutes past the hour.

1st - 6th October 2012 ~ Standby Coaches

Such is the reliablilty of the X1 fleet of Geminis, coach substitutions are now almost unknown. The last one recorded on a Peterborough run was on Friday April 20th and this only reached King's Lynn from the East before being removed. and you have to go back to December 6th 2011 to find the last time a coach worked the entire route.
20102 & 20115 based at Great Yarmouth have been regulars on the X1 short runs to Norwich, but this week, the first signs of change appeared with the arrival of Paragons 20514 & 20515 from Worcester. The former was actually loaned to the X1 route in 2010 when it worked during August filling in the period between the departure of loan Gemini 37562 and the return to service of 37571 after major repairs following the Thorney accident of May 2009.
It would seem likely that the newer coaches will join the remaining B10Ms at Great Yarmouth on the shuttles. Nevertheless, the likelihood of them appearing on the X1 is minimal as has been the case with coaches all year as outlined above.
Gemini 37579 worked on 35 consecutive days up to Saturday, but such long spells in service are rare nowadays.
This week has been fairly uneventful, so another nice easy blog to write.
Monday 1st October.
This was the only day of the week where there was any significant disruption. A serious accident on the Pullover Road between Eau Brink and the Pullover (Freebridge) roundabout at around 07.50 saw the A47 closed and diversions set up, presumably through Tilney All Saints. This threw the X1 into chaos of course and the first through service from the coast, Y6-XL12 finally managed to get away from Wisbech westbound 29 minutes late with 37564 which had left Yarmouth on Y7-XL13 ! Following it were Y7 with 37577 (off Y6) 31 late, L8-XL14 with 37578 25 late, Y9-XL15 with 37160 21 late, L10-XL16 37567 14 late and L11-XL17 37158 20 late before normality returned with L12-XL18 and 37568 running on time.
Early eastbound delays included 37571/9/0 which were all observed heading east within half a mile of each other at 09.23, the first two 'not in service'. These were K1-XL07, K19-XL06 & K2-XL08 respectively.
37157 was on time on K3-XL09 from Wisbech but had lost 25 minutes by the time it passed the Southgates inbound at 09.49. K4-XL10 with 37565 similarly lost 26 minutes over the same section. Des adds "At 10.50 37566 pulled into the garage with a handful of passengers. Though this was the K5-XL11 10.32 ex Lynn, the driver had managed to get to Lynn and load. I then spoke to the passengers, explaining that we were going back to Lynn in order to operate my turn, the 11.02 (Y6-XL12) as an on time service. Not one complaint from them. Left on time"
By the time the delayed westbound services began to reappear eastbound, the earlier delays were still in evidence. Eastbound from Wisbech were Y6-XL12 31 late, Y7-XL13 24 late, L8-XL14 16 late, Y9-XL15 16 late, L10-XL16 6 late and L11-XL17 12 late.
Whilst all this was going on, K2-XL08 had 37575 which was running late replaced by 37570 for the 09.02 to Lowestoft, unfortunately this only got as far as Swaffham where it was failed with a brake fault. 37572 went out to the rescue and later this was itself replaced by 37160 for the 15.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough. So four buses worked K2 today !
As one might expect 37575 off late running K2-XL08 became K3-XL09 and 37157 off K3-XL09 became K4-XL10 until replaced by 37579 at teatime. 37565 switched from K4-XL10 to become K5-XL11 and this layover procedure continued until L10-XL16 which ran through as booked. 37160 off Y9-XL15 then became spare until used on K2-XL08 later.There wasn't much wrong with 37570 as later it replaced 37579 on K19-XL06.
37159 was kept in all day for a gearbox hose to be replaced and when 37572 came off K2-XL08 this afternoon it was diagnosed with a ring gear problem.
From 1st - 12th October, Hardwick Roundabout is closed from 20.00 - 06.00 with services using Nar Ouse Way to get to the A47, while from 1st for five nights, the Norwich Southern Bypass is closed between Postwick and the A146. X1s diverted via Thorpe Road.
Tuesday 2nd October
Peter writes " Out early this morning for K3-XL09 with 37567, departed Walsoken on time but sat in Wisbech bus station until leaving at 07.22. Full credit to our driver, he was waiting connections as several people boarded just before we left - coming from the rail industry I find this concept bizarre - waiting for connections, whatever next ?"

Well it makes a change from all those films ! This striking advertising campaign was originally used by Stonewall to counteract bullying in schools and is now being used to promote the campaign for gay marriage legislation. It now adorns ten X1 Geminis and has turned a few heads.

All services ran to within 5 minutes of time today after yesterday's disruption. Only 37160 on L11-XL17 failed this target being 7 late to Peterborough, but only 3 late coming back. L8-XL14 arrived in Lynn with 37569 this morning, but 37572 then took over for the leg to Peterborough before 37569 returned to the diagram. 37572 was then booked to go to Volvo for attention.

37571 arrives at Wisbech with Y6-XL12 05.50 from Great Yarmouth today.

Wednesday 3rd October
A quieter day with just a few swaps. 37575 was one of these and started on Y7-XL13 then took over K15-XL02. 37573 off maintenance took Y7-XL13 forward and K15-XL02 had 37568 taken off for the same purpose. Tonight 37566 was in trouble with a suspected puncture at Toftwood on K2-XL08 and fitters attended. Mid afternoon, K5-XL11 with 37159 was seen leaving Yarmouth 15 late with temporary lights on the west side of Haven Bridge causing delays into the town. 37564 on L8-XL14 was diverted out of Norwich as mentioned above and was 10 late arriving at its destination, the JPH.

Thursday 4th October
Punctuality was very good in the west today and even late departures from Lowestoft, K16-XL03 with 37159 which left 15 late and K18-XL05 with 37158 which was 10 late made up time. 37579 came off K14-XL01 for 37574 but there were no other changes. Y7-XL13 with 37576 took 9 minutes to load in Norwich and left 5 late with congestion making a slightly late arrival in King's Lynn.

Friday 5th October
37572 returned from repairs at Volvo today and requires a full inspection before returning to service. Timekeeping was good today with a few late morning delays, but then things ran smoothly until an accident on the Pullover roundabout caused delays at teatime. K19-XL06 with 37575 finished at the coast and 37563 off K2-XL08 came back on the last Lowestoft - King's Lynn.
L8-XL14 had 37567 taken off duty tonight with a cracked screen, 37566 off Y7-XL13 went forward. At Lowestoft there were two late running B7s, the worst being L11-XL17 with 37159 arriving 15 late and departing 9 late.

Saturday 6th October
Pretty good timekeeping today with only a morning swap on L8-XL14, 37575 coming off for 37567.

23rd - 30th September 2012 ~ Nicely Thankyou

The last week of September was pretty uneventful, so a quick blog to keep you up to date ...

Sunday 23rd September : For some reason, 37566 was not used by Great Yarmouth today and instead B7 37157 was turned out for the diagram which finishes early at King's Lynn at 20.44. It is quite a while since a B7 worked on a Sunday. Syd returned 66346 from Lowestoft to Norwich after its holiday. 42450 came back from Yarmouth to Lowestoft to compensate.

Monday 24th September : Things went very well today and were monitored by Bruce. 37565 is having MOT work done this week, while 37158 and 37564 were kept in for exams. No swaps were recorded.

Tuesday 25th September : 37576 had to be taken out of traffic today (it was working K19-XL06) when it's propshaft failed. 37572 replaced it. 37563 was required for servicing and this meant after lunch 37159 ended up on K15-XL02 which is unusual. Timekeeping was excellent today with no delays noted on any of the 19 turns.

Wednesday 26th September : An extremely rare occurence today was 37158 on Y9-XL15 terminating at Lowestoft due to a driver shortage, I'm pretty certain that in order to balance things, the 19.10 Peterborough - Lowestoft terminated at King's Lynn with 37571. Once again punctuality was exceptional and only K19-XL06 with 37578 ran late through Wisbech - it was 12 late on th 15.18 to Peterborough, but just 7 late coming back.

Thursday 27th September : Another good day for the timetable summed up by K18-XL05 with 37160 which was marginally early past me this afternoon on the 14.48 Wisbech - Peterborough. 37572/6/9 are all scheduled to have tachograph calibration over the next few days. Malcolm reports Lowestoft's sole remaining Palatine, 34155, on the 101 town service today.

Friday 28th September : A few services were delayed by up to 10 minutes today, but again considering it was a Friday things ran acceptably well. 37570 on L11-XL17 was 12 late through Wisbech on the 11.18 to Peterborough.  37576 was repaired very quickly and was out again today initially on K1-XL07 but by this afternoon it had dropped down to K2-XL08. 37575 started the day on K5-XL11 but was replaced by 37572 at 10.32 after its tachograph check. 37575 later appeared on K1-XL07 28 late, the only timekeeping casualty of the day. 37565 off MOT appeared on K4-XL10. Des reports K18-XL05 with 37157 running 15 late from King's Lynn on the 17.02 to Great Yarmouth where it arrived 19 late due to the Friday traffic.

37567 at Peterborough Queensgate this afternoon on K14-XL01 13.35 Peterborough - Lowestoft.
Photo courtesy of Ian Hignett

Saturday 29th September. There were a few delays today, but all seemed to run fairly well except K17-XL04 with 37569 which departed Wisbech at 14.40 on the 14.18 to Peterborough. A morning incident on the Acle Straight didn't seem to affect services much. Des writes "37567 for me on K14-XL01 08..55 Lowestoft - Peterborough. we were on time until Dereham where traffic was heavy, then at Swaffham an influx of around 15 youngsters all with £5 or£10 notes for a £4.40 fare - it all takes time. After this exiting fromNarborough onto the A47 was delayed by a 40mph Tesco lorry and trailing traffic. We were 6 late from King's Lynn bus station at 12.21. Later my booked service of K18-XL05 17.02 Lynn - Great Yarmouth ended up taking K17 (XL04)s passengers as this went non-stop to Norwich. Its passengers joined me at the Southgates and K18-XL05 departed here 5 minutes late with around 30 pasengers having joined. Arrival at Great Yarmouth was 12 late.

Another of Ian's Saturday sightings : 37568 working K16-XL03 09.55 from Lowestoft on arrival at Peterborough.
[I Hignett]

Sunday 30th September. An uneventful day with an all B9 worked service and no swaps. Work has been ongoing this week on checking the heaters on the fleet in preparation for the colder weather.

16th September 2012 - 22nd September 2012 ~ New Liveries and Old Friends

Sunday 16th September.

It all ran well today with no vehicle swaps. I paid a visit to Showbus with Bruce courtesy of Norfolk Green.
The 'First' contingent at Great Yarmouth borrowed Gemini 36166 from Norwich and it is seen (left) before departure from the garage. Thanks to Des for the picture.
Today the X1 buses were located as follows : 37563/4/5/7/8/9, 37571/2/3/9 in service. Garaged : 37566/570/5/7/8, 37156/7/9 King's Lynn ; 37158 Great Yarmouth and 37574/6, 37160 at Lowestoft.
The X1 was behaving at Lowestoft, but Malcolm says the Martham service due to form the 14.10  service arrived 22 late and left 24 late with 32209, all other buses were on time.

Norfolk Green have just begun to repaint their fleet in new colours as seen here on our Spectra which brought us to Duxford. Many thanks to the NG staff for their hospitality.

The new general  'First' livery is shown on this entrant from First in Ipswich.

Monday 17th September

New advertising campaigns mean that you are quite likely to see your X1 arriving with 'Savages' or 'Sinister' emblazoned on the side - at least some have another Milk advert which is a refreshing change from all the violence and gore. On the road it was a nice simple day with the maximum lateness at Wisbech being 10 minutes. K4-XL10 swapped 37569 for 37564 and L8-XL14 37565 for 37573 (off Y7-XL13). As neither 565 or 569 were due maintenance, this must have been for some other reason. At Lowestoft, the 101 town service now seems to get double deckers on a daily basis, today Malcolm viewed 34155, 30886 & 30889 all on this duty at various times.

Tuesday 18th September

An exceptional day for punctuality with many services bang on time. K16-XL03 with 37160 managed to lose 9 minutes on the 13.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough but otherwise things ran like clockwork. Add to this all buses sticking to their turns and it must have been the best day on the route for some months.
All X1 buses now require a 'running board' which is used in conjunction with the new ticket machines. There have been a few teething troubles with the new system and occasionally a bus is left without a running board, meaning the driver has to go on a hunt for  it. This situation led to 37567 departing Lowestoft 14 late this afternoon on L8-XL14, the 15.25 to Peterborough.

Wednesday 19th September

Here's a nice shot of our old friend 34108 which was chased down Bracondale by Dave who took this picture of it on one of the X1 shorts this morning. [D. Hodkinson]

Another relatively good day for timekeeping, however 37160 on L11-XL17 came into Lynn 26 late from the coast only a couple of minutes ahead of 37568 on L12-XL18. It looks like 37568 went fast from Wisbech to Peterborough and returned as L11 coming back into Wisbech 12 late. 37160 meanwhile slipped a turn to become L12. This apart, things went well, although I somehow missed seeing K14-XL01 & K18-XL05. Bruce spotted the latter running 19 late returning to Lowestoft on the 15.35 ex Peterborough with 37159. In Lowestoft all the X1s seen by Malcolm were running to time except K16-XL03 which had 37156 arriving 19 late and departing 12 late.

Thursday 20th September

Well what a nice easy week to report, Thursday continued this trend with only K16-XL03 running appreciably late through Wisbech,due to depart to Peterborough at 13.48, 37158 got away at 14.00. Elsewhere, Cheryl reports 37578 on Y6-XL12 08.48 to Peterborough waiting for departure time which is almost unheard of. Tonight after a visit to Elgoods beer festival, I was walking back to my sisters when we were passed on North Brink at 22.57 by L12-XL18 with 37566 having for some reason run via Wisbech St. Mary. 37564 was noted running today without advertising on its passenger side revealing the white panel and X1 route destinations.
Interesting sights on the X2 were Palatine 34156 on the 15.03 to Norwich and 66346 with new green line branding on the 13.40 from Norwich. This was after Dart 43435 had broken down on an X2 in Bracondale on Wednesday evening. Syd adds that it even worked the 21.00 X2 to Norwich tonight and came back with the return working !

66346 in Lowestoft this evening. Photograph by kind permission of James Race.

More pictures at :
http://eastnorfolkbus.blogspot.co.uk/

Friday 21st September

Y6-XL12 with 37570 at Norwich at lunchtime.  I wonder how the passengers on the top deck like being referred to as Savages ! [Dave Hodkinson]

and there were savages going to Peterborough too ! 37573 working K19-XL06 takes on passengers at Norwich bus station. Thanks to Dave for providing the photographs.

Surely Friday would provide some more incident ? Well naturally punctuality suffered a bit as always seems to be the case on Fridays. Y9-XL15 with 37157 left Wisbech westbound 12 late and was 13 late returning, L10-XL16 & L11-XL17 were near enough on time and L12-XL18 with 37563 was 15 late westbound and 11 late coming back. K14-XL01 did well though and was only 8 late in to Wisbech for the 14.26 to Lowestoft with 37567, K15-XL02 (37569) went west 14 late but then got held up returning at Weasenham Lane where a two vehicle accident caused long queues. It eventually got through and passed me 28 late. 37569 had replaced 37579 at King's Lynn at 12.45 but was so late returning that Lynn garage sent out 37575 to do the 15.32 to Lowestoft with 37569 retiring on arrival. Not for long though as K2-XL08 with 37566 which was 18 late to Peterborough was then taken out of service and 37569 came out again to do the 18.35 King's Lynn - Lowestoft. K17-XL04 which was 10 late to Peterborough with 37564 also became mixed up in the delay and was exactly 30 late returning when seen by Bruce at Walpole Highway. finally 37574 had a fault and had to be taken off K5-XL11 in favour of 37565 this morning.
66346 continued its holiday in Lowestoft and was operating the 101 service.

Saturday 22nd September

This morning I saw 37569 at Walpole Highway running 14 late on L8-XL14, but other services were pretty near time. L9-XL15 came along with 37567 just 4 late and going westbound Y13-XL19 with 37578 was about 6 late. Somehow L9 ended up overtaking L8 and so the two turns had swapped duties when seen by Malcolm late this afternoon.

12th September 2012 - 15th September 2012 ~ Fans, demisters and adblu !

On  Wednesday a minor water main leak at Walpole Highway which had first surfaced last Thursday was attended to and three way traffic lights were installed adding a few minutes to some X1 journeys. 37156 was used on K5-XL11 for the third consecutive day for some reason. Punctuality was good except for K18-XL05 which is getting a bit of a reputation for delays in the afternoon. This time 37568 was running 12 late through Wisbech in each direction. It was followed by 37160 on K19-XL06 which passed me going to Peterborough at 15.19, a minute early and with only three passengers due to its proximity to the preceding service. K19 had begun the day with 37576 but 37160 took over at 14.45.
At teatime 37564 on K4-XL10 westbound was 15 late largely due to congestion into Wisbech and later 37570 on L8-XL14 staggered into Lynn from Swaffham at much reduced speed because of engine derate caused by a lack of adblue. 37569 which had arrived in Lynn on Y7-XL13, the first terminator, replaced it on the 18.50 to Peterborough. L12-XL18 20.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough was seen departing from the Pullover roundabout 10 late this evening with 37564 being driven at a surprisingly leisurely pace.
Thursday seemed to be the quietest day of the week. L8-XL14 09.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough managed to evade the collective stares of Bruce and myself, but was noted coming back on time. It may have run slightly early or travelled light to Peterborough. Either way Y9-XL15 09.45 ex King's Lynn had every seat taken when it departed Wisbech, mind you this is always a popular service. L11-XL17 with 37577 was 7 late from Wisbech on the 11.18 to Peterborough, but it was later seen at Guyhirn returning empty 'not in service' running about 20 minutes late. 37575 joined 37571 (demisters) and 37563 (MOT) off the road today. May be it will have the noisy fan fixed. Several of the B7s are now running quieter, although 37157 seems to be noisy most of the time, may be because it is always in service, or so it seems.
At last a Friday where the timetable could be believed. After a couple of weeks where heavy traffic had made running to time impossible, today was much better. Only two diagrams ran over 10 minutes late, L11-XL17 with 37159 was 6 late to Peterborough but 19 late coming back and K15-XL02 had 37570 23 minutes later than its 13.18 advertised departure westbound from Wisbech, but a slightly better 19 late returning to Lowestoft.
Bruce saw 37573 on Y13-XL19 being followed into King's Lynn from the Hardwick by 37563 which had passed its MOT. Later 37563 was back on the road replacing 37578 on K4-XL10 and another swap was Y6-XL12 having 37564 replaced by 37579 after the latter had completed K5-XL11.
Michael reports a Palatine standing in on the X2 on three consecutive days this week, it was 34156 on at least one occasion, while 20115 was standing in on a Bernard Matthews contract last night.
I enjoyed a little trip out to Wisbech on Saturday using the X1. A look at the handy Southgates webcam showed me that my bus, the 11.33 from Walpole Highway (L12-XL18) was 20 minutes late arriving in King's Lynn. Congestion meant that by the time 37579 arrived to pick me up it was 23 late. I did notice though that driver John had managed to cut this to 17 minutes on arrival back in Lynn. I came back with 37157 on Y10-XL16 driven by long time X1 chauffeur Bill Evans. This was 8 late into Wisbech from Peterborough and by the time we had loaded and then stopped for some more passengers at Walsoken, we were 11 late. After this Bill really wound 157 up to a fine tune and by the time he dropped me off at Walpole a minute had been gained on what is a very tight schedule. As we have often mentioned before, making up lost time with a B7 is almost impossible. By this evening though, 37157 was on time into Lynn to work the 19.50 to Peterborough. Malcolm had seen it arriving in Lowestoft 11 late and departing 5 late.

37157 ready to depart from King's Lynn Southgates for Peterborough tonight.

Other lunchtime services seen included 37568 on Y13-XL19 running almost on time and K14-XL01 with 37576 which was 16 late westbound. Des Speed was back on the route today after return from Australia. 37159 was his bus on K5-XL11 13.55 out of Lowestoft, this was late arriving at 13.50 and then delayed departing with a ticket machine problem until 14.09. At King's Lynn 37159 was removed and replaced by 37571 which was having its first trip of the week following its demister problem. 37572 on L9-XL15 15.00 Yarmouth - Lowestoft ended up stopping at all points to cover for 32210 which had expired on a Service 1. This evening 37577 on L8-XL14 18.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough was changed for 37563 which had come in to Lynn on Y7-XL13.

9th September - 11th September 2012 ~ Intrepid Travellers

The sudden heatwave saw Saturday's heavy traffic repeated on Sunday with consequent delays to X1 services. Mid afternoon the 14.10 Peterborough - Lowestoft with 37565 was running 16 late although the 11.48 from Lowestoft which should pass it at Walpole came through first only 5 late with 37577 (below) which had replaced 37574 at King's Lynn.

The bulk of the traffic was returning westbound and 37573 was seen twice, firstly arriving at King's Lynn 17 late as the 14.48 from Lowestoft and later coming into Lynn on the 19.10 from Peterborough 13 late. 37579 on the 16.48 from Lowestoft was seen at the Pullover roundabout 14 late in a queue of slow moving westbound traffic and 37569 on the 20.10 from Peterborough was 15 late at Walton Highway. Evening services on Sundays are rarely late.
Monday dawned with various Geminis sporting rather disturbing looking adverts for the film 'Savages' ! 37575 was the first X1 I saw and with a very noisy fan (unusual for a B9) this was working K3-XL09 which was 8 late into Wisbech. The corresponding westbound service, Y6-XL12, was 11 late with 37568, but only 3 late returning. Indeed several services were a few minutes late to Peterborough, but almost all had regained the lost time when passing me eastbound. The only mystery involved L11-XL17 10.45 King's Lynn to Peterborough which was booked to be 37160. Instead the service wasn't seen by Bruce or myself westbound and then came back east about 4 late with 37158. I think there must have been a problem with 37160 as it was seen arriving at the Southgates from the east at 12.47 (over 2 hours late), though this may have been a test run from the garage ?
Now something else unusual happened on Monday so I will let Chris take up the story :

 My friend Robin and I (known to ourselves alone as 'Them Two Old Geezers' or 'The Last of the Summer Beer') decided on Monday to undertake what we have christened The X1 Challenge. 

Starting in Dereham on the 9.37am we headed east to Lowestoft arriving some 5 minutes late, giving us just enough time to go to the bus station loo - a major worry for blokes of our age. A day of possible loo-deprivation also involved us strictly limiting our intake of liquid refreshment for most of the day, resulting in near dehydration by the time we got home.

Suitably relieved, we clambered aboard the same bus for the journey to Peterborough. Neither of us were looking forward to having to tell the driver we were travelling all the way through and were extremely grateful that we could scan our bus passes, thus avoiding that minor embarrassment. Arriving practically on time in Peterborough, we decided not to stay on the bus and return straight to Dereham, but to give ourselves a half hour break for loos and a drink. It took most of that half hour for us to regain a vertical position and to re-learn to walk in a normal looking fashion as our knees had become locked in sitting mode. I guess the purist would have stayed on the same bus thus undertaking the whole trip on the same vehicle, but by this time we were almost beyond caring about such niceties. Also, we realise that we failed to undertake the Peterborough bus station to rail station and return section, but promise to go back and do the missing link soon, or maybe not. (As it happens my wife thinks I have many missing links).

On the journey between Peterborough and Wisbech we were idly chatting when I casually said I wondered how many buses there were on the route. To our delight and amazement, a very pleasant young woman in the seat in front turned to us and said, 22, but only 19 out at one time. We were staggered that someone who seemed so un-annoracky should have such arcane information at her fingertips. She then, of course, told us about your blog and I promised to email you . We were also pleased to realise that you have friends!  The bus arrived about on time, I think, in Dereham. Had I been previously aware of your blog and the importance placed on running to time I would have taken closer note of precise seconds of lateness or earliness, so excuse my lack of attention to detail.

We were talking at one point en route about how people can focus on a particular facet of life (we all do in some way, I guess) and how this becomes very meaningful to them and can illuminate things for others. Is this a peculiarly British, even English thing, we wondered. I don't know, but thank you for creating the blog as, late on in our trip, just the knowledge of it's existence, brought to us by your friend, added to our enjoyment of the day.

Well, as you can imagine I was highly delighted to get such an email from someone with the same warped sense of humour as myself, so here is my reply :

What a great email - just my sense of humour. My friend Cheryl is pretty much a daily X1 traveller hence her knowledge of the subject and the fact that she spent about 10 years working with me !

Fancy you not knowing about the X1 blog ! We were on Anglia TV and in the national press last year, but then again it probably wasn't because I was considered 'normal'. Never mind, I was delighted to read of your long distance jaunt - now there's dedication for you. You will also be fascinated to learn that your journey from Dereham to Lowestoft and then back to Peterborough - (actually no, I still can't believe you did the whole journey in one go, even the drivers don't do that) - was on Gemini 37566, the rarest of the X1 beasts by virtue of its misfortune to be involved in mishaps and breakdowns more often than the other 21 buses. It is one of three which I've never yet manage to travel on ! Your other steed was 37578 which is common by comparison.

Do keep me informed of any future X1 expeditions and I hope that you'll get that elusive beer next time, loo breaks permitting.

Right there is just time to tell you about Tuesday on the X1. Once again all buses ran to within 10 minutes of the timetable except one. This was L11-XL17 which is due to depart from Wisbech to Peterborough at 11.18. Today 37567 was 15 minutes late, but with the A47 behaving at this point, some smart changeovers resulted in it departing King's Lynn for Lowestoft just 5 late at 13.07. So with all going well, all it needed was a collision between a bus and a lorry at Guyhirn roundabout at about 15.30 to disrupt things. Delays were not too severe, but westbound from Wisbech, at least K1-XL07 & K2-XL08 took the diversionary route via Wisbech St. Mary. Due to gas main roadworks closing the short stretch of road from Freedom Bridge into the Old Market this then entailed a further diversion down Leverington Road past Asda and then left down Harecroft Road to regain the diversion onto South Brink. I spoke to X1 driver Malcolm this evening and he said that K5-XL11 also took the diversion. Tonight 37579 on L8-XL14 was required at Lynn garage for attention to its on board security cameras, so freshly serviced 37159 went forward to Peterborough at 18.50
Finally an update on 37571. The fire damage was not particularly serious, although it did fill the bus with smoke and this was why it came to a sudden halt in Gorleston. The fault was with the demisters and it is thought that it may be something to do with the long period that 571 spent out of service following the accident at Thorney a couple of years back. It is hoped that 37571 will be back on the route in the next few days.

5th -8th September 2012 ~ Back To Normal

Extra X1 services were run in connection with the Sundown Festival at the Norfolk Showground on September 1st. Grahame Bessey kindly sent this picture of Norwich Gemini 36168 on one such service. 

Not quite such a long wait for the blog this time. Firstly apologies to X1 driver Jason D (and any other drivers called Jason) just in case anyone thought that the comments about the drivers' seats were being attributed to him. I should have said Jason Warren to make it clear !
King's Lynn currently have 35 drivers for the X1 which is one less than usual. This combined with drivers being away on Olympic duties plus the usual holidays and occasional sickness has led to supervisors stepping in on odd occasions of late.
Tuesday saw the route return to relative normality after the emergency repairs to the A47 between Wisbech and Guyhirn were completed. 37569 was off the road for MOT work and 37572 for a safety service leaving 37571 undergoing attention for some body repairs.  There don't appear to have been any swaps either and all  buses completed their turns as booked. Punctuality was fair with many services running around 6 minutes late. There was just one bad patch with westbound services from Wisbech early to mid afternoon - these ran as follows : K16-XL03 37156 13 late, K17-XL04 37574 on time, K18-XL05 37159 21 late and K19-XL06 37577 2 late. Once again the B7s letting the side down. 37567 was out on K15-XL02 fitted with one of the new drivers seats.
On to Wednesday and I was absent at Chappel Beer Festival. I drove to Norwich to catch the train and stayed overnight. En route to Norwich I passed several X1s, all running pretty much to time and well loaded, no doubt due to the fine weather. Bruce and Andy B kept an eye on things for me. Only swap was K5-XL11 changing 37574 for 37567 at some point.
Thursday was uneventful except for some vehicle swaps to facilitate servicing requirements and timekeeping was fair.
Friday was remarkable in that everything seemed to run almost on time, despite the heavy traffic and fine weather. Y7-XL13 was seen going to Peterborough 5 late at Terrington at 09.05 and was 13 late returning, but this seemed to be the exception. By afternoon, even bankers for a heavy delay like Y13-XL19, K14-XL01 and K16-XL03 were all punctual. K18-XL05 with 37157 was slightly late but that was about as bad as it got over here. At Lowestoft though, Malcolm noted Y7-XL13 with 37575 15 late in (as seen by me earlier) and 5 late departing westbound, then L8-XL14 came in just 6 late with 37573 followed by some B7 bedlam with 37160 on Y9-XL15 which was 20 late leaving for Peterborough. On the X2 services were on time except the 13.40 ex Norwich with 32655 which was 15 late in.

K17-XL04  passes Bruce's bungalow with 37566 on Friday afternoon. I had the camera at completely the wrong setting - I'm blaming the 2012 weather, I'm just not used to sunny conditions. Apologies to Steve, I thought this was going to be a good shot !

...... and this is what it should have looked like ! I then had half an hour chatting to Bruce and getting the camera on the right setting until K18-XL05 came by with 37157 which seems to get more than its fair share of pictures in this blog. Note another sociable driver :+)

K15-XL02 was in trouble though when 37571 suffered an electrical fire. 37578 which was being serviced was made available to replace it. Again there were several vehicle swaps, K4-XL10 changing 37564 for 37577 and Y6-XL12 37572 for 37579 amongst others. Tonight Cheryl took 37575 on L12-XL18 eastbound which was late into Thorney. Alan who was driving explained that he had been diverted and apologised for the delay which was a nice touch.

After a quiet Friday, everyone seemed to take to the roads on Saturday for the crawl to the coast. This upset the X1 big time as you might expect. Jamie decided to take Y7-XL13 into work in King's Lynn, so I joined him for a quick spin on my golden ticket ! We arrived at Walpole Highway at 11.01 to find Bruce texting us to say that we'd just missed 37576 on Y6-XL12 which had gone eastbound at 10.59 (23 late). Westbound we saw 37568 on L12-XL18 almost on time which was encouraging. Eventually James turned up with 37577 heavily loaded and running 16 late. With us due into King's Lynn bus station at 11.24, I had planned to return on the 11.45 (Y13-XL19). This was not going to be possible though, as once we rejoined the A47 at Tilney, we tottered along in the traffic up to the Pullover Roundabout where we became embroiled in a queue which stretched all the way up the Bypass to the Hardwick. After a delay we managed to escape the caravans and chaos and joined Nar Ouse Way which was clear. Approaching the South Gates I espied Y13-XL19 just arriving from the coast at 11.45 (14 late). This then stopped at the South Gates for a driver change and we pulled in behind it for the same reason. I took the opportunity to nip off 37577 and join 37573 in front. Only problem was that Y13-XL19 is supposed to change drivers on the outward rather than inward, so our driver hadn't yet appeared not realising the change of arrangements. The Yarmouth man who had brought Y13-XL19 in was getting a reduced break owing to the late running, hence the change of plan.
We set off at around 11.50 and were 16 late departing the bus station. Having said that we fared better than some other services. En route westbound we passed 37569 on L8-XL14 at Eau Brink running 26 late and then 37567 on L9-XL15 just as we came into Walpole Highway 14 late. Our driver, Ray, slowed down to alert the eastbound drivers to travel via West Lynn/South Lynn to avoid the congestion on the A47.
Things got worse before they got better, eastbound services from Peterborough at lunchtime passed Bruce at 13.14 (Y10-XL16 with 37157 running 39 late) and 13.52 (L11-XL17 with 37579 17 late).
 With 37563 now stopped for MOT and 37571 still awaiting inspection following its fire, this just left 37564 spare which was in situ for a safety service on Monday morning. The late running by 37157 meant 37564 had to be extricated from the depths of Vancouver Avenue to work Y10-XL16 forward at 13.02 with 37157 then retiring after its late arrival. After all this things returned to normal very quickly and by mid afternoon everything was on time within a minute or two.
Later 37158 was taken off K5-XL11 and the 17.15 to Peterborough ran with 37157, this was to get 37158 ready for a service on Monday. Depending on the severity of 37571's fire damage and apparently it doesn't seem bad at all, with 37563 stopped for MOT too, there will only be one bus spare for the next few days.

27th August - 4th September 2012 ~ More A47 Woes

Welcome to the blog where our bus service would run perfectly if it were not for the A47 ! I'm sure in years to come people will find it hard to believe that the main road between Norfolk and the Midlands was still chiefly single carriageway in 2012. More of which anon..
Our 22 faithful Geminis seem to be more reliable than ever, in fact it is now well over 4 months since a replacement coach appeared. The new ticket machines have been causing some consternation for drivers as senior citizens are struggling to grasp the concept of scanning their passes into the new equipment. Most common complaints are that they do it too quickly or don't hold their passes in the right place. Oh well, maybe in time.

Time to have a look at the past week or so then and on Monday 27th the usual Bank Holiday hourly timetable was in force. Two turns had to swap vehicles, L10-XL16 started with 37566 but presumably due to heavy traffic this was swapped at Lowestoft for 37569. K5-XL11 also changed 37575 for 37576 at some point. 37574 was given the whole weekend off after arriving in King's Lynn on Thursday evening.
It was back to the normal timetable on Tuesday, The maintenance backlog was swiftly dealt with at King's Lynn. Exams were undertaken on 37564 & 37158 (not completed due to waiting parts), while 37159 was ready in time to do K5-XL11 and 37563 was taken off K15-XL02 at lunchtime to be serviced and was replaced by 37573 which had been in for repairs to a water leak. Considering this was the day after a Bank Holiday with heavy traffic, nothing much ran in excess of ten minutes behind time. Y13-XL19 with 37565 arrived into Lynn 12 late from Lowestoft for the 11.45 to Peterborough and it was noted 14 late returning from there. Only K1-XL07 ran badly out of course and it left Wisbech 22 late on the 15.48 to Peterborough with 37569 and must have run late all day as earlier it had been 13 late into Lowestoft.
Wednesday saw a teatime swap with 37575 being replaced by 37563 for K3-XL09 16.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough. The only late runner in the west was was 37566 on K17-XL04 13.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough which ran 26 late with 37566, surprising as both K16-XL03 & K18-XL05 either side of it ran on time. 37578 on L8-XL14was 13 late arriving in Lowestoft but all other services seen by Malcolm were on time, so overall a good day.
On Thursday 30th only one turn swapped buses, this was L8-XL14 which came into Lynn at 09.07 with 37570. This was then taken off and replaced by 37576, then this evening another change occurred with 576 itself being  replaced by 37564 off Y7-XL13. Another reasonable day for punctuality with only L11-XL17 (37159) and K16-XL03 (37574)  spoiling the log by running 14 late.
Friday saw several changes, 37566 on Y7-XL13 was into King's Lynn at 08.35 but then retired to Vancouver Avenue with 37576 working forward. The next swap was L10-XL16 and 37568 came off for 37571, probably because 37568 had seen a 6 minute delay departing on the 10.15 Lynn - Peterborough increase to 15 minutes on its return., then K19-XL06 saw 37570 changed for 37578 and there was even time for another swap when K3-XL09 had 37569 changed for a repaired 37566 on the 16.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough. We have already mentioned 37568s delay and following it was L11-XL17 with 37579 which was 20 late throughout. Afternoon services eastbound from Wisbech ran as follows : K14-XL01 37157 11 late, K15-XL02 37567 4 late, K16-XL03 37158 22 late, K17-XL04 37565 7 late and then a big gap from 15.59 to 17.03 before K18-XL05 arrived with 37159 about 40 late. At the eastern end punctuality was better and only the Service 1 to Martham was badly affected.

37158, 37159 & 37160 - still in the picture for now,  both 37158 and 37160 have had repainted front panels.

On Saturday 1st September 37565 was unable to complete K15-XL02 and 37160 took over. The day began well but chaos soon ensued with a collapsed manhole between Wisbech and Guyhirn causing heavy delays and the consequent diversion of X1 services via North Brink and Wisbech St. Mary to reach Guyhirn. L9-XL15 ran outward via the normal route departing Wisbech 5 late with 37157 and coming back via the diversion 19 late.The last service seen using the usual route westbound was L11-XL17 at 11.29 (9 late). For much of the afternoon eastbound services arn around 20 late due to the delays caused by the diversion. Work on the manhole problem commenced around 19.30 just as six boy racers decided to have a pile up having been unable to slow down sufficiently for the temporary lights ! A shortage of drivers which had seen supervisors standing in resulted in the 17.15 K5-XL11 King's Lynn - Peterborough being cancelled and 37570 retiring to Vancouver Avenue.
Sunday services mainly took the A47 with lighter traffic, but come Monday morning everything was back to running via Wisbech St. Mary. The day began badly when 37577 which was running empty to Wisbech to work K19-XL06 07.21 to Lowestoft failed en route with a water leak. 37160 was rapidly despatched to replace it. 37569 is on Mot prep this week so this then left only one 37567 spare, however 37577 was soon repaired and was later able to replace 37570 on K5-XL11 at 10.32. Thanks to Bruce for monitoring the service today. There were various other swaps today, chiefly for servicing commitments and as a result of late running.