Saturday 22nd June 2013 : Lothian Loathing and other stories

Well it's been a quiet period on the X1 route since my last report on 14th. Firstly here's a quick look back at how the service has fared.
Saturday 15th was a day of incident with 37563 in trouble on L8-XL14. Dashboard warnings were showing, but although 37574 was despatched from King's Lynn eastbound to replace 37563, in the event this was unnecessary and 37563 was able to continue, being seen on time working the 20.15 from Peterborough. An hour earlier 37566 had failed on the 19.15 ex Peterborough with a fractured water pipe and 37159 which had arrived in King's Lynn at just after 18.00 on the terminating Y7-XL13 was utilised to work the 20.33 to Lowestoft. This left just 37158 of the B7's at Lynn on Sunday, usually there are up to 4 in evidence.

20514 at Norwich on an X1 short on the afternoon of Saturday 15th. Photo : Matthew Holland.

Sunday 16th saw some examples of late running with 37576 passing Walpole 15 late on the 12.50 from King's Lynn westbound, but it had recouped most of this by the time it returned being just 2 minutes late. 37571 was seen arriving at the Southgates from Lowestoft at 13.51 - this service is now scheduled to depart the bus station for Peterborough at 13.54. Finally, the 16.54 King's Lynn - Peterborough was seen at Walsoken at 17.28 (9 late) with 37156 having earlier replaced 37568 eastbound at Yarmouth for reasons unknown. 37572 was taken off XL04 this evening with a shattered window and 37574 worked forward.

34113 earning its keep on an X1 short seen near the Blofield roundabout on Monday. Photo : Joe Watson/NBP.

It was my Mum's funeral on Monday and a contingent from Scotland came down to Peterborough on the train taking the X1 forward to Wisbech. Here is Stuart's report which should not be taken too seriously - my comments follow afterwards :

"The City of Edinburgh Council's Transport Convenor Lesley Hynds recently said that Lothian Buses was "not just the best bus company in Britain but the best bus company in the world". This was to launch Lothian's new state-of-the-art hybrid single deckers in April at a cost of £2.5 million. It is therefore perhaps unlikely that a contingent of Scottish transport enthusiasts coming south of the border would be enchanted with what was on offer on the 120 mile diagram between Peterborough and Lowestoft - a service operated by, shall we say for fun, the less successful company 'First' on 6 year old rather grubby and unserviced Volvo Wright Gemini deckers. 

In a lightning strike yesterday, joining fleet number 37157 between Peterborough and Wisbech, the four bus critiques - one of which is the current Chairman of the Scottish Tramway Society and another an official photographer for the year-on-year award winning Lothian Buses, endured a journey of around 45 minutes to Wisbech bus station in what can only be described as not the best in the world.

The funeral party board 37157 at Peterborough rail station. Photo copyright : Stuart Montgomery's L****an Buses

On boarding the late arriving Gemini at Peterborough railway station (First's real-time tracker display leaves much to be desired) the driver was not shall we say awfully pleased to see four men in formal dark suits presenting Scottish sterling notes as an offering for the £4.50 fare. "What's this"? This was followed by "and another"....you wouldn't get this at Lothian! What ever happened to 'Hello and welcome'?

So off we go and the upper saloon did seem at first quite smart....we took our seats. Immediately the fan of the vehicle roared at an almost soprano pitch - this was complimented throughout the journey by intense vibrating when the bus stopped, indicating poor timing within the engine area. The bus was sluggish and lacked rhythmic vitality - the intensity of the vibrating and screeching of the fan scared one of our party so much that he was forced to grip the vertical hand rail for fear of being thrown onto the aisle. 

Grim faced Frank Mitchell, the Chairman of the STS holds on for dear life (allegedly !)

The photo of this grim faced man demonstrates clearly his anguish. At Lothian buses a vehicle performing like this would be removed immediately and taken in for servicing. 

Quite by chance we had located ourselves at a seat which had lost it's handle - the broken off top had been painted over in a vulgar manner,  most unsightly. The photograph demonstrates that passengers sitting in this seat have nothing to hold on to and could easily be propelled on to the floor at any moment. 

It was a pleasurable experience to alight at Wisbech to the safety of the road surface - in thanking our driver for the journey I received no response - something unheard of at Lothian.  

All in all it was an interesting experience and our trip on 37157 will be remembered for all sorts of reasons".

37157 roars out of Wisbech bus station on its merry jaunt to Lowestoft. Photo : Stuart Montgomery.

Well now, it would appear our guests were less than impressed, but let's put a few things straight shall we ? The part I take exception to the most is that 37157 is described as unserviced. Regular readers will know that safety services are made at very strict intervals and the mechanical attention lavished on these buses is second to none, One only has to look at the almost entirely failure free stats for the B7s to realise that the standards of maintenance must be very high indeed. 37157 itself has accumulated 39,500 miles in the five months since mid January - a figure which I doubt is ever achieved by any single bus in the Lothian fleet over a whole year. Monday was its 134th day in service this year and the number of breakdowns in service for 37157 in this period ? You've guessed it, precisely zero ! As we have discussed numerous times, the B7s do suffer a bit on the punctuality front due to their 48mph max speed setting and I suggest that the sluggish performance was down to this. I particularly recall Stuart being very impressed by the top speed of 37570 a couple of years back, something he'd never experienced with the suburban services operated by Lothian. It is unfair in my opinion to describe 'First' as less successful than the Edinburgh based operator. Compared to the huge fleet of buses at 'First', Lothian's can best be described as a drop in the ocean, however, to be fair, I have always been impressed by the smaller companies vehicles cleanliness. I also recall a Lothian 'Gemini' with a screeching fan on one of my visits to the City, I think Stuart was looking the other way at the time ! I will just add that the Lothian drivers had better be on their best behaviour next time I am up there, because I will be listening out for my big welcome. Oh and just to mention that we have a certain amount of investment (already related in this blog) in the next couple of months !

Elsewhere during the day 37575 was 15 late into Lowestoft on L8-XL14 before continuing on the 15.25 to Peterborough and Des had a trip to the city on K16-XL03 with 37566. All went well until delays were encountered in Wisbech after a Venni lorry broke down near De Havilland Road which meant a 7 minute late departure, however, Peterborough was reached on time - marvellous things these new timings ! His return trip was dogged by the perennial A47 problem, three tractors between Thorney and Guyhirn ! Des says "I got past one and then had to stop at Thorney Toll where it overtook me again ! I was 7 late from Wisbech, but a good run saw us into Lynn just 2 minutes late".

On Tuesday 18th 37563 began the day on K4, but 37568 took over at King's Lynn at 10.00, here she is arriving in Norwich at 11.40. 568 seems to like working K4-XL10 and this was its seventh appearance on the turn in the last month. Photo : Joe Watson / NBP

So on we move to Tuesday 18th and a good day for punctuality in the west  with the exception of L11-XL17 which was 37573 running 10 late for its 11.19 departure from Wisbech to Peterborough. Incidentally it had only been 4 late on Monday with our friends on 37157 ! A notable working on this date was made by 37575 on Y13-XL19 13.08 Peterborough - Lowestoft which made history by passing my window at 13.47, three minutes early and the earliest I have ever seen a bus arriving from Peterborough in almost nine years of observing the X1 !! Further east, Malcolm reports less success at Lowestoft where single lane traffic outside Great Yarmouth Asda due to line painting caused 37578 on Y6-XL12 to depart 10 late on the 14.25 to Peterborough. Y7 then arrived 34 late with 37577, departing 24 late westbound. Des was around shortly afterwards driving Y9-XL15 which was 37571 and this left Yarmouth 25 late on its way to Lowestoft. 

 Wednesday was a good day with just Y13-XL19 running notably late, 37570 was 15 late at Walpole on the 12.03 to Peterborough. Y7-XL13 and K15-XL02 both swapped vehicles at Lynn to fit in maintenance requirements. Des reports a frustrating journey with 37156 on Y7-XL13 : " Arrived Norwich on time. Could not get onto stand A or B, both blocked by Konnect. Konnect 8 departed 16.24, I loaded on stand A and departed -4 (16.29), slow A47, arrived Dereham 1st stop at 17.06, slow in Dereham and stopped most stops, departed last Dereham stop at 17.37 (31 minutes to negotiate Dereham!)". Gorleston High Street reopened to buses today.

Thursday was uneventful on the X1, but in Lowestoft the 14.48 X2 had to be cancelled after Malcolm reports 34155 faling. Incidentally, Zak Nelson of the Norwich bus page has commendably revived the idea of an X2 blog, here is the link :

 www.firstx2.blogspot.com

Two services ran late on Friday, L11-XL17 again, this time running 17 late with 37571 after 37156 was taken off (and later put back on) at Lynn. 37571 was seen near Walton Highway on the way back  now 18 late. Then the 12.45 from Lynn to Peterborough (K15-XL02) passed through also 17 late with 37563. This made up some time and came back 14 late. 

Saturday 22nd saw me take a trip on the X1 to Peterborough. We travelled on the 12.03 from Walpole Highway, diagram no, XL19 -Y13. Our bus was 37566 which is one I've not travelled on before. This really was a most pleasant surprise, very comfortable suspension, absolutely no rattles and a credit to 'First'. Bernie was our chauffeur for this, possibly my smoothest X1 journey ever. I ought to add that 37566 is really the black sheep of the fleet, having spent more time out of service than all the other B9s excepting Thorney crash victim 37571. 37566 has currently travelled 499,000 miles so has almost reached the landmark half million miles. We sat upstairs about half way down and enjoyed the journey. We were six late from Walpole, 2 late from Wisbech and after loading at Queensgate, dead on time at the rail station at 13.12 and this despite heavy traffic on the A47 at Thorney and queues leading up to Eye Green.

37563 arrives at Queensgate on Saturday afternoon.

Coming home, we took K17-XL04 with 37563. Departing from Queensgate and the Rail Station almost 3 late, driver Wayne C took the route out back past the bus station via the passport office. By this time it had become apparent that 37563 was greatly different in terms of comfort to 37566. Rattles, bumpy suspension and to be honest, showing signs of its age. This was particularly felt over the stretch near Pasture House Farm where the A47 badly needs resurfacing. Nevertheless, our driver was determined to try and keep time. The section from Guyhirn to Wisbech Cromwell Road roundabout was covered in just 4 minutes 11 seconds which must be a record. The congestion out of Peterborough had lost us time though and we were seven minutes late into Wisbech at 15.58. We left the service at Walpole just 5 late with our driver heading for a break at Lynn before a further trip to Lowestoft and back. His shift finishing at Lynn at 00.44 !

We passed several other services of course, but only L9-XL15 11.08 ex Peterborough was markedly late seen running 15 down with 37570.

37158 negotiates the roundabout with Parnwell Way and Paston Parkway as it approaches Peterborough on K18-XL05 on Saturday afternoon.

Now for all those of you who think the blog is becoming a little less anoraky, (surely not ??) here's a chart with the adverts currently worn by the X1 vehicles - many of these will be changed tonight.

Friday 14th June 2013 ~ Theres' a hole in my road !

20514 at Caister Road. Photo : Joe Watson /NBP

Not much time of late with my personal circumstances outlined previously, so a quick bulletin of recent events. On Thursday 6th I used the X1 for a brief visit to Peterborough - I can recommend the Oakham Ales in the Brewery Tap, which is very handily situated for the bus station. I travelled outward on the 11.19 from Wisbech with 37156 and departure was at 11.22. A stop at Weasenham Lane meant our lateness had increased to 5 minutes by Guyhirn and this was the same at Thorney, however, the new timings meant we were just 2 late into Peterborough bus station. After loading we were away on time at 11.08 and arrival at the railway station was at just after 11.10 which was a minute or so early. On the way home on the 16.08 from Queensgate the bus was 37572 but with the same driver (John Frangou). Departure was to the second and although earlier we had arrived via Boongate, this time we left from the rail station via Dogsthorpe. Arrival in Thorney was dead on time at 16.29, but we had lost 2 minutes by Guyhirn. A good drive meant Wisbech was reached just a minute late and departure was on time, something this particular service rarely manages. Likewise my arrival at Walpole.
On Sunday 9th, 37160 working XL06 10.10 from Peterborough to Lowestoft was in trouble at Norwich being unable to start. Dart 42929 was noted by Malcolm arriving at Lowestoft in its place. 37160 was repaired and back in traffic on Monday, but Cheryl reports 37578 which has been a bit dodgy lately in trouble on K5-XL11 17.42 from Peterborough losing power at Thorney, Guyhirn and approaching Wisbech before finally expiring at Tilney. Monday also saw another casualty when 37576 suffered a water leak in Norwich bus station while working K1-XL07. It was taken to Rowntree Way and 37570 took over the turn later.

Now here's something unusual , Zak photographed Norwich branded 33007 on an X1 short on 12th June. Photo : Zak Nelson /NBP.

 Diversions in Gorleston are reported by Des and Roy. Roy says "You may have heard that a hole appeared in Gorleston High Street on 7th following the collapse of a mains sewer in the middle of the road with all buses diverted from the High Street as a result. The X1 is being diverted along Beccles Road and Church Road before rejoining the normal route on Church Lane. I witnessed some bus activity on Church Road earlier this afternoon (9th) and saw buses stopping outside the Gorleston Parish Church (southbound) and on the opposite side of the road opposite the junction with Lovewell Road (northbound)". 

37569 on the 14.48 Lowestoft - Peterborough (XL05) passing the Kevill Arms in Gorleston with St. Andrew's Church in the background. Photo : Roy/ENBB.

The road closure in Gorleston. Photo : Roy /ENBB.

Roy continues "The location of the bus stops appear to be quite arbitrary as there are no temporary flags in place denoting where the 'official' stops are. Anglian Water says repairs are likely to take seven days to complete". 

More diversion pics from Des. The High Street reopened to cars only on 14th. Here is 37566 on the XL07-K1 07.03 Peterborough - Lowestoft on the diversion in Gorleston.

37572 wends its way westbound through Gorleston as the 10.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough (K17-XL04). Photo : Des Speed

 The remainder of the week in the west was uneventful though, with delays limited to Thursday when tree cutting on Guyhirn Bank meant some services in the middle of the day used the route via Wisbech St.Mary.

37566 was out of use from 9th to 13th for MOT work and as mentioned earlier 37578 has been troublesome with a data link fault. 37564 re-entered traffic on June 7th after bodywork repairs at Full Circle.
Over on the X2 ten buses are now required to run the service, so appearances by the Lowestoft based Palatines continue unabated. My thanks as ever to our regular correspondents, especially Cheryl, Malcolm, Bruce and Des.

Photo copyright : Joe Watson/NBP

Tuesday 4th June 2013 ~ More Time

37574 in the sunshine at Walpole on Saturday May 25th

I ought to explain the reason for the long time since I last posted. I have been caring for my Mum at home and she passed away on Monday, so this will probably allow me to make more frequent blog entries from now on. Thanks to those of you who have been in touch with your sympathies, much appreciated.
I won't make this a very long posting for obvious reasons and the best way to show what the buses have been up to is to show a chart in this respect. Click on this for an enlarged version.

All in all things have been behaving well and the only surprise was on Sunday last when 37575 suffered a water pump failure and Norwich Gemini 36168 came into King's Lynn on the late 00.44 arrival. The Norwich bus was taken back on Monday and exchanged for 37575 which had been repaired at Vulcan Road. 37566 has returned from a tidying up of bodywork at Full Circle and 37564 is also expected to return shortly from the same treatment. On Spring Bank Holiday Monday, 37576 failed at Blofield and 37158 was sent out from King's Lynn to replace it on the 09.50 from Lowestoft.

37160 on Southtown Road, Great Yarmouth on Thursday 23rd. Photo : Joe Leathers /NBP.

You can't win them all as they say and on Friday 24th, 37565 on the first westbound service from Yarmouth (XL12) was taken off at Lynn and replaced by 37575. This then came to a halt at Walton Highway with a fault and passengers waiting at Wisbech for the 08.48 to Peterborough had to wait around 50 minutes for the next bus which was very busy. My friend Kim and her family decided to use the X1 to travel to Peterborough station and then catch the train for a weekend in York. They missed three trains due to the incident with 37575 and I had to assure her that this type of event is quite uncommon.
The same day XL02-K15 was not seen west of Wisbech and 37160 was noted on XL03-K16 carrying a double load in both directions. Friday 31st was the only other day with heavy delays, culminating in XL05-K18 running 28 late from Wisbech with 37156. XL06-K19 following was 37574, running 17 late and things then got back to normal.
Finally I have been sent some pictures of the ex Ensign buses stored at Dagenham awaiting repainting etc

Paragon on Parade and THAT Gemini again !

Blimey, all of a sudden it's back to a daily blog ! Well almost, Grahame Bessey kindly sent me the photographs below of 20514 at Caister Road garage this morning, having been spruced up a bit with X1 vinyls at Full Circle, in the same style as on the B9s, but with additional emphasis on the Great Yarmouth - Norwich 'shorts'.

So it looks as though the step entrance Paragons will have something of a future on the short X1 runs for the time being.
Yesterday we mentioned Jim Long's sighting of FJ08FYN back in January and Jim tells me that 37562 has now been acquired from Ensign by First and stored at Dagenham pending entry to service ! My contact at 'First' enlarges on this saying that the full list of vehicles bought is as follows :

Enviro 400 SN60CAA (J57156): 
Enviro 200 AY08EKT : 
Enviro 200 EU60LFS (J52083): 
Enviro 200 FJ58YSL : 
Enviro 200 KX57BWF : 
Volvo B9TL FJ08FYN : 
Dart MX56HYP : 
Dart MX56HYO : 
Dart TBC
Enviro 200 YX08HJF : 
Enviro 400 VT59JPT : 

Most of these vehicles are expected to enter service with First Eastern shortly, although final allocations have not been decided as yet. It will be interesting to see if, as Jim suggests, the two Enviro 400s are kept as back up for the X1.
Thanks to Jim and to our man at 'First' for this information.

Sunday 19th May 2013 ~ Here is the (Late) News

37565 arrives in Lowestoft on the 08.35 from King's Lynn on Sunday 19th May. Photo copyright : Grahame Bessey.

My apologies to those of you who have submitted items of late , which I have then failed to include - things are still pretty much the same for me at home, so time is limited.
To begin with I must say sorry to Michael Bryant who kindly phoned me with the fleet numbers of the new buses a few weeks ago (when the new 'First' handbook was released) and which I failed to mention after writing them on a scrap of paper. Jason says "Hey Gerard, those guys at Norwich Bus Page have beaten you to it, what's going on ?". How embarrassing ! Speaking of NBP, the site is run by a group of young guys who are very keen and who make regular updates. Read all about them here :
http://www.norwichbuspage.com/p/meet-editors.html

Oh and those new numbers, well the Enviro 400s are going to be 33803 - 33824 inclusive. So let's have a look now at some of the features which First South East & Midlands have ordered for the new fleet. The external livery will be in three colours, but the internal scheme will be the corporate one. Interior handrails and poles will be in gold finish and the fleet will carry an updated CCTV system and GPS, while passengers will be able to access wi-fi. Drivers will have air conditioning and passenger communication throughout the buses will be possible through 12 speakers. Seating will be to Esteban Civic V3 specifications in leather. Externally the buses will be fitted with front axle wheel embellishers and offside and nearside advertisement frames. The heating system will be blown air with hopper type opening windows and the buses will have a 500 mile range fuel tank.
First are still optimistic that delivery will commence as previously reported in the late August/September window, but there is a possibility that the additional specifications required may mean a delay until the last week of September /October. My thanks go to my source at First for confirming these details.

Now I mentioned earlier that I had forgotten to include a few things of late and while checking emails, came across one from January when Jim Long wrote to say "I don't get many chances to comment on the X1 living in Ipswich, but Beestons of Hadleigh now have the loanee Volvo FJ08FYN aka  37562. I spotted her bombing along the A1071 towards Ipswich on the old Eastern Counties 205. This is an hourly service these days,usually operated by Scania Deckers, so a pleasant change to see a Gemini in this area, the first I think".
Well better late than never, here is Jim's picture of the former X1 regular :

Since my last report, things have run fairly smoothly. 37573 returned from bodywork repairs at Full Circle and has at last had its 'Hobbit' ad removed and replaced. It was back in traffic on tuesday and now 37566 has gone to Full Circle, again for attention to its bodywork. 37578 at last returned to service on Wednesday, but it was in trouble on Friday with a coolant leak bringing it to a halt at Swaffham while working the Y13-XL19 08.15 Lowestoft - Peterborough. Fitters attended and made a quick repair. Elsewhere, the use of the designated fleet on the X2 hasn't seen the Palatines completely ousted yet. Malcolm reports 34156 operating the 15.08 Lowestoft - Norwich on Monday and next day it was viewed on the 12.40 from Norwich. 34155 was out on Wednesday working the 14.48 to Norwich and on Thursday 34156 was back in action on the 09.48 ex Norwich.
37156 arrived in Lowestoft on Tuesday morning on the 09.05 X1 from Peterborough, but hadn't left as planned on the 13.55 return by the time the following service (Y6-XL12) had arrived.
Wednesday 15th saw roadworks between Wisbech and Guyhirn and almost all daytime servicestook the diversion via North Brink and Wisbech St. Mary. This diversion was also in use briefly on Thursday after an accident blocked the road outside Wisbech Tesco. A few lunchtime services took the diversion westbound, but K15-XL02 with 37579 was not seen in either direction on the usual route. Thursday also saw a higher than average number of bus swaps, K5-XL11 began with 37566, then 37157 worked forward from Lynn to Lowestoft at 10.32 and finally 37574 took over for the 17.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough. There was much evening disruption to the bus service after a car and lorry were involved in a fatal crash near Dereham in the late afternoon.
Friday saw nearly all the X2 services running late and these included 34155 on the 15.28 to Norwich which departed 20 minutes in arrears. On the X1 , 37160 arrived 13 late into Lowestoft on Y9-XL15.
The weekend seemed to pass without incident which is always good to report.

37157 sharing a coke with Laura !

New Weekday Timetable from 28th May 2013

Here is an abbreviated version of the new X1 timetable, excluding the Norwich - Yarmouth /Gorleston 'shorts' for weekdays commencing Tuesday 28th May . The timetable is almost unchanged east of King's Lynn, but the western section has been retimed incorporating  (by coincidence I am sure) some suggestions which were made in this blog.
Services are now booked to run to Peterborough bus station where they unload and load in one visit before stopping at the rail station on the way back eastbound. Click on the timetables to enlarge :

May 10th 2013 ~ Ten Days in May

37159 at Vancouver Avenue on the evening of 6th May.

The title of this blog entry is my way of saying not a lot has been going on - well if it has, I've not heard about it ! Looking back through my X1 diary I have made a few notes though.....
37578 failed as we mentioned in our last report, on the last day of April with loss of gears/data link fault and so far has not been in traffic up to 11th May. On Thursday 2nd, 37567 broke down at Peterborough before working the 21.10 to King's Lynn with a coolant leak, however, this minor ailment cured, it was out again after a day off for repairs.

Photo : Jo Watson NBP

Photo : Jo Watson NBP

Timekeeping had been pretty good to start the month, but a close eye was kept on proceedings on
Friday 3rd, the day when many folks were getting away for the Bank Holiday weekend. Most services ran pretty close to time, but noted running late from my office window were L11-XL17 with 37160 which was 13 late westbound and 21 late returning to Lowestoft. Y13-XL19 was seen westbound, due past me at 12.20, 37574 sidled by at 12.37. K14-XL01 following it was 37573 running just 10 late, but K15-XL02 didn't appear until 13.43, 23 minutes late with 37579. afternoon services then improved with the exception of K17 operated by 37563 which was 13 x 21 late through Wisbech at 14.33 & 16.11. At the east end, 37157 on Y9-XL15 was 15 late arriving at Lowestoft. Both Yarmouth's Paragon coaches were in use on X1 shorts and thanks to Jo for the pictures taken at North Burlingham (20515) and Acle (20514).

Why have one picture of 37159 when you can have two ? Kieran Smith took this nice study at Dereham on Saturday 4th, I think Coca Cola are having a blitz on the X1s. Firstly it was diet coke, then vanilla coke and now coke zero !

Saturday 4th was a busy day with rumours of heavy delays, however, I was not around to monitor things and all I can say is that 37579 was removed from L8 - XL14 before departing from King's Lynn to Peterborough at 18.50 due to a brakes issue and 37156 took over, freshly washed and cleaned having come in on Y7-XL13. Des reports an unfortunate incident, when at 15.40 in Great Yarmouth, two Mothers with baby buggies boarded. Later in the queue were two disabled passengers with wheelchairs who were unable to join as they have no priority if the available space has already been filled - "not a pleasant discussion" comments Des.
Going back to the delays mentioned earlier, Tony writes "Bob and myself had an interesting return trip from Peterborough.We were in good time for the 09.44 at Queensgate, but it arrived 15 minutes late with 37564 (This had replaced 37576 at King's Lynn - G). We were then involved in a minor RTA at the Soke Parkway/Paston Parkway intersection with the result that, after details had been exchanged with the other driver, we waited at Thorney Chip Shop for the following 10.14 ex Peterborough to which we were transferred. 37564 then went 'not in service' directly to Vancouver Avenue to have it's minor wounds seen to. The 10.14 was operated by 37568 and was then covering for two services which meant that, by the time we got to Lynn we were both full to the gunwales and about 10 down. Lynn decided to send 37568 forward direct to Norwich and passengers for destinations before then were disembarked and invited to await another bus. What this was I do not know as we had an important engagement to attend and for which we were already late. 

We arrived for our return journey for the 14.15 ex Lynn. This turned up over 20 down with 37157 and, by the time we got to Thorney Chip Shop, we had been caught up by the following 14.45 ex Lynn with 37570  We were all transferred to the latter working to enable 37157 to turn and resume it's eastbound schedule.

The First guys were very good though". Ah well that explains things, thanks to Tony & Bob for the info.

Sunday's 'Great Eastern Run' caused a few morning delays and Bruce reports 37569 on XL07 09.50 King's Lynn to Peterborough passing Walpole 13 late and returning 14 late. 37567 on the 10.10 ex Peterborough was just 11 late at this point, but Malcolm says it was 34 late arriving at Lowestoft. Back at Walpole the 10.50 from Lynn (a rare working by 37156 on a Sunday) was 16 late. A surplus of B7s at the eastern end also saw XL09 operated by 37159.
Bank Holiday Monday evening traffic on the A47 was very slow westbound. An accident near Norwich between a car and a motorbike made things worse. I noted the 18.50 King's Lynn to Peterborough with 37567 in a slow moving queue near Eau Brink at 19.58, running about 57 minutes late. The following 19.50 service was then passed at the Saddlebow roundabout only about 3 minutes late.
It was back to a full timetable on Tuesday and only two services ran appreciably late, L12 with 37576 was 14 late on the 11.48 ex Wisbech westbound and it came back 18 late. K14-XL01 and 37569 was 18 late westbound, but had reduced the arrears to 13 minutes on the 13.35 Peterborough - Lowestoft. Peter and a couple of fellow passengers at Peterborough rail station were not amused by a 'no show' of the 17.35 to King's Lynn (it should have been 37159) and they had to wait a further 30 minutes for 37564 on K4-XL10, which arrived bang on time.

Wednesday 8th saw Bruce checking things out and only L8-XL14 ran late, 37575 passing by at 11.48, 13 minutes behind time. Thursday was a good day for punctuality and some services made up time, 37567 on L12-XL18 for example was 11 late westbound, but only 4 late returning on the 12.35 from Peterborough. A turn up for the books was 37568 on K18-XL05 which was a minute early passing me on the 14.48 Wisbech to Peterborough. Note to Bruce : See, 37568 does run to time, or even early on occasions !
Late in the afternoon, 37158 working L11-XL17 failed at Yarmouth with an air leak. The driver due to take it from Lowestoft back to Lynn travelled by the 16.55 X2 to meet a relief bus, 37156 I think, at Norwich where L11 continued. 37158 was driven back to King's Lynn after being examined by fitters.
To end this round up, another Friday (10th) where timekeeping was considerably better than the previous week. Just two late runners, these being 37579 on L10-XL16 10.15 King's Lynn to Peterborough which was 12 late and then (you've probably already guessed) the usual culprit, L11-XL17 with 37160 (still roaring) 17 late. This then encountered problems at Thorney when it lost some advertisement sections. It was noted later this evening minus the offside advert and is believed to have run light from Peterborough to Norwich to resume its duty. The week ended with 37578 still off the road for repairs and also absent has been 37573 which was sent to Full Circle for scheduled bodywork repairs on Saturday 4th. It is due back on Monday.
Finally there are some timetable revisions from 26th May, more news nearer the time. Thanks to all who have contributed recently.

Tuesday 30th April 2013 ~ More Diversions

Since my last report on 22nd April, there seems to have been a particularly large number of A47 incidents/accidents which have involved diverting the X1. A hole appeared in the road in Lowestoft on 20th resulting in a diversion for a few days (thanks to Des and Matthew for the info)

There were also a couple of accidents near Dereham during the period under review and more locally to me, the A47 between Wisbech and Guyhirn has been bedevilled by problems. On Wednesday 24th an overturned lorry began the day :  K4-XL10 08.35 from Peterborough came back through Wisbech on time with 37579, but the next service, K5-XL11 got caught up in the aftermath and 37156 arrived in the town at 10.44, 53 minutes late. Before the situation could return to normal, the same section was snarled up by council tree cutting and so the X1 was diverted via North Brink and Wisbech St.Mary for the rest of the day. This didn't hurt timekeeping too much as at 13.24, 37568 on K15-XL02 passed L12-XL18 eastbound with 37571 in Wisbech Old Market, both only about 4 minutes late.
Monday 29th began with a broken down lorry causing delays at Eau Brink, though this only had a minor effect on punctuality. Mid morning, Y9 - XL15 passed through Wisbech westbound 17 late, but otherwise things ran well. On the afternoon of Tuesday 30th, K18-XL05 with 37160 passed me just one minute late at 14.51 to Peterborough, but it was back at 15.05 having run into an A47 queue at the Cromwell Road roundabout and returned into the town, it was glimpsed again at 15.07 in the Old Market using the North Brink diversion, now 17 minutes late. Coming from Peterborough, K14-XL01 was unaffected with 37576 just 2 minutes late, but K15-XL02 (37567) was delayed by the accident and came in 25 late. The obstruction was soon cleared and K16-XL03 (37158)  also arrived via the normal route just 9 late.

37566 at North Burlingham operating Y6-XL12 09.35 Peterborough - Lowestoft on Friday 26th April.  Photo copyright : Joe at Norwich Bus Page.

Des Speed writes of an eventful shift on Monday 22nd, he was at the helm of 37574 on Y7-XL13 15.42 Yarmouth to King's Lynn, where it is the first evening bus to terminate and be garaged. He says "We were on time until we got to Toftwood Hillcrest Avenue at 17.20, here 37566 on Y6-XL12 which should have been 30 minutes ahead of us was waiting accompanied by a paramedic and a pregnant lady passenger. The other passengers transferred into my bus and several of them needed to travel beyond Lynn. As we carried on, it dawned on me that the driver sitting at Toftwood would then take L8-XL14 18.50 King's Lynn to Peterborough and clearly this was not going to happen. With all my through passengers only requiring Wisbech and stops before, I took advantage of a planned long break at Lynn and took them all through to Wisbech returning to Lynn by 19.00 for my 45 minute break. This would mean I would only be 5 late away from Southgates with the 19.40 back eastbound, however, the best laid plans ?
37579 arrived on the 19.40, but we had to go into Vancouver Avenue garage to have part of the offside advert removed as it had worked loose and was flapping about. That done we set off again, only to pull in to the first layby on the A47 as the remainder of the advert had started to detach itself. Decided I would have to return to Lynn, so turned at the North Runcton turn and headed back. Eventually got away from Lynn at 20.04, 24 minutes late. Final arrival in Lowestoft was 4 minutes late at 22.37". What a day for Des then and just to add that 37567 operated Y6-XL12 beyond King's Lynn to avoid a gap in the service.

37156 departs from its Walton Highway stop on Tuesday 30th April working the 16.15 King's Lynn to Peterborough.

New bus update : The official delivery date is still awaited, but the order for a revised specification has now been made. The original plans for the displaced vehicles are as advertised on the Norwich Bus Page, but are now subject to change following the delay in arrival of the new buses.
Meanwhile, 21 ex Jersey Caetano bodied slimline Darts have been repainted, retrimmed and had assualt screens and Hanover blinds fitted along with additional heating installed. These are due to arrive in the next fortnight for final transfers to be applied, with 11 destined for Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, of the remainder 4 are going to Clacton and 6 to the Midlands. These will no doubt see off some of the older Darts which have served the company well and which have regularly worked X1 shorts and the X2 as well as the odd run to Peterborough in the past :
  

43466 deputising for a coach seen near Walton Highway on April 3rd 2007.

Vehicle News :  37565 was out every day in April and is now up to 30 days continuous service. 37569 & 37572 went briefly to Volvo for axle modifications last week and 37574 is on MOT this week, expected OK on May 2nd. 37573 suffered ramp failure in Gorleston on Friday morning, but the switch was repaired by Yarmouth fitters. This bus still features an outdated advert for 'The Hobbit' which has been in situ since December 9th, due to a problem with the hoarding fixture.

On the Road. I had a trip to Peterborough on Saturday afternoon. 37160 was my outward vehicle on K1-XL07 with Steve, still making a lot of noise from its screaming fan, but a 7 minute late departure from Walpole saw us arrive at Peterborough rail station at exactly 16.35, 6 minutes late which is the time of departure for Lowestoft. This turn is a B9 in the week, but more often than not, a B7 on Saturdays.
 Coming back on the 19.19 from Queensgate on Y6-XL12 with 37564 driven by Gareth showed what can be done with a clear road throughout. Departure was on time to the second and we took the route via the passport office and Boongate out of the city taking 10"20' to the Eye Green roundabout. With just a 15 second delay by traffic lights in Thorney village, we were still unable to keep the harsh 15 minute timing to the nearby stop where we arrived after 16 minutes & 11 seconds from Queensgate.
The next section to Thorney Toll took 6 minutes 12 seconds and we passed non-stop. The Guyhirn stop was observed in 10 minutes dead from Thorney, whereas the timetable allows 11 minutes, so at this stage we were just half a minute over the booked time from Queensgate.
The final section to Wisbech is booked to be covered in eleven minutes from Guyhirn, which is optimistic to say the least, especially as it now involves negotiating three sets of traffic lights. We were stopped at all three junctions and this lost us another 74 seconds, so our final arrival in Wisbech was in 39 minutes 37 seconds, getting on for 3 minutes over the schedule of 37 minutes. The surprising thing here is that the B9 was being driven as smartly as possible to keep to time and yet this was still not achieved - it is small wonder that the B7's frequently lose time.
 Four minutes are allowed at Wisbech for loading and this meant we were away again back on time at 20.00. Our arrival at Walton Road at 20.04 (also on time) came as a surprise to a couple of joining passengers who had to partake in the time honoured sport of 'running for the bus'. I was back at Walpole on time for my lift home and this was once again a good advert for the X1, however, in my opinion, it might be a good thing to increase the schedule between Wisbech and Peterborough by a couple of minutes to make the timetable more credible.

Monday 22nd April 2013 ~ Future Predictions

37572 makes ready to depart King's Lynn for Peterborough. At the last count, this bus had travelled 530,000 miles. Photo copyright : Des Speed

37578 viewed from on high working XL19-Y13 on Wednesday 10th April. [Kieran Smith}

37579 takes a break at Lowestoft Gasworks Road after working the 09.00 from Wisbech on Sunday 14th April/ [Copyright Kieran Smith]

Not surprisingly with the scheduled replacement of the X1 Gemini fleet later this year, the rumour mill has been in full swing as to the destiny of the current fleet. The possible re-employment varies in location depending on which end of the route you hear it from ! The most feasible story so far can be found here :
http://www.norwichbuspage.com/2013/04/norwich-bus-page-exclusive-x1-buses.html

Now I am too old in the tooth to believe that everything here will definitely come to fruition and I will update you further when I have more information. Thanks to Kieran for the link.

Are the Geminis heading into oblivion ? 37579 (again) working K4-XL10 08.35 Peterborough - Lowestoft in the rather nautical setting of Southtown Road in Great Yarmouth . Thanks to Joseph Leathers-Watson of the Norwich Bus Page for forwarding the picture which was taken today (Monday 22nd April).

Vehicle News :

37563. The doyen of the fleet has been active most of the week, but did have a couple of days off for servicing and attention to an adblue sensor problem.
37565. This bus has now worked for 22 consecutive days which is quite good for nowadays.
37569. After a period of light use,  this bus is scheduled to go to Volvo for an axle modification this week.
37570. Following the removal of the rear vinyl, this bus has been devoid of rear adverts, but it has now had a frame refitted and is identical to the other B9s.

37570 on Friday 12th April photographed by Kieran Smith, unusually having arrived from Peterborough on XL18-L12 with Norwich on the destination. It was soon changed to Lowestoft and the bus was on its way again. 

37573. This one had its MOT last week and was back on the road just a few hours afterwards on Thursday.
37576 had a problem at Swaffham on Friday morning while working XL13-Y7, 37569 was sent out to replace it, but 37576 was able to return to the diagram later.
37160 is still suffering from a noisy fan and 37157 also seems to be loud, but only on warm days !

Route News :
An accident at Narborough caused diversions for a time on Saturday, Malcolm saw XL15-L9 with 37569 arriving back in Lowestoft at 16.10 and heading back west 'not in service' at 16.20, it is due to depart at 15.55. Meanwhile, roadworks on routes into Peterborough have caused delays at peak times.

37565 departing from Lowestoft on the Sunday diagram to Martham having arrived on XL06 10.10 from Peterborough. [Copyright : Kieran Smith]

Sunday 14th April 2013 ~ New Buses Timeline

The arrival of the new vehicles for the X1 has been unavoidably delayed I am sorry to report. New buses should begin to appear in late August/early September. The reasons for the delay are that stringent efforts are being made by 'First' to ensure that the new vehicles are suitable for the long distance route. Points of contention have been the quality/depth of the seats, the weight to speed ratio to guarantee running at 58mph and the internal lighting / layout arrangements. These were all finalised too late for the May/June build slots, but at least we know we will get something suitable when the buses begin to appear.
Vehicle news :
37571 : a fuel fault caused this bus to be out of action between 1st and 10th of April, but it is now back in service.
37577 : this one was taken off duty last Sunday (7th) and replaced by 37158, it then was unavailable early on Monday meaning that coach 20515 deputised on Y13 to Peterborough and back before 37577 was OK again.
37158 disgraced itself on Thursday when it failed at Thorney on K18/XL05 at around 15.10. 37576 worked the turn at 17.02 from Lynn to Lowestoft and 37158 had a pulley and belt replaced before it could be driven back to King's Lynn for further examination.
37160 expired on Friday with a data link fault and 37156 came out instead.

The appearance of 36180 on Friday 5th was an emergency substitution and 37572 was available again later to replace it.

Friday April 5th 2013 ~ Remember the X1 Blog ?

Yes it is two weeks since my last blog entry and I apologise to regular readers for the delay in updating, due to the reasons I have given previously.
Knowing that we occasionally feature blasts from the past, my friend of many years, Richard Adderson wrote to me enclosing a couple of pictures of a forerunner to the X94 and X1, the 794 service. Here the Sunday 11.15 Norwich to Peterborough is seen before departure from Surrey Street on February 27th 1983 with old faithful Alexander T type Leyland Leopard MCL934P, which was new in 1976.

To more recent times now and coaches 20514 & 20515 are regulars on the shuttles, but in times of shortage they can get used on the longer Peterborough runs.

20515 looking rather smart on a Norwich - Yarmouth shuttle when pictured on Tuesday April 2nd. [Photo copyright Grahame Bessey]

Not quite so dapper is 20514 which is seen here departing from King's Lynn on XL01-K14 15.02 King's Lynn - Lowestoft also on April 2nd. 37568 had worked the service from Peterborough, but the coach which had arrived earlier from Lowestoft was sent back home instead. [Photo copyright : Andy James]

Thanks to everyone for keeping me informed of events during this period where I have been otherwise engaged, especially to Bruce. Des and Malcolm and to all those who have sent me pictures to brighten up the blog. The Geminis have done reasonably well over the last fortnight, but squeezing the scheduled safety services into the Easter period is always a bit of a challenge for the engineering staff. Good Friday ended up being a bit of a nightmare for the timetable with many services running 20+ late. Bruce noted 37577 leaving King's Lynn on the 12.50 to Peterborough near the Ouse bridge at 13.26 and it came back through Walpole at 15.37, 27 late. Malcolm reports K5 and K6 not arriving in Lowestoft due to a six vehicle accident in Great Yarmouth . 

Over the Easter weekend, 37564 returned from Volvo at Norwich after rear axle repairs and it returned to traffic on Tuesday (2nd). 37567 is believed to have been the bus which was unavailable on Tuesday for 20514 to work (see above) and overall Tuesday was a bad day, as in the evening 37156 was failed at Peterborough before working L10-XL16 21.10 back to King's Lynn with an air fault. This resulted in it having to be towed back to Lynn. On Wednesday night L12 20.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough was noted departing 25 late with 37569, reasons unknown while in Lowestoft, Matthew saw 20514 heading out of the town on the 17.25 X1 short to Yarmouth and also on Wednesday, Peter says "Full marks to my lady driver tonight on the 16.05 ex Peterborough for telling an inconsiderate man to turn his music off which would have meant a hellish journey for the rest of us"
On Thursday evening, 37572 was failed at Yarmouth on arrival and despite attempts to repair it, firstly to work today's Y6-XL12 and then a second attempt on Y13-XL19, it only reached Lowestoft on the latter before expiring. 36180 was hastily summoned from its city work in Norwich and worked Y13 forward 20 late.  Punctuality monitored by Bruce this afternoon was poor. K14-XL01 came back from Peterborough about 75 late with 37564, K15-XL02 and 37568 followed it 43 late and then next seen was K17-XL04 with 37573 just 2 late, More details in the next update, but in the meantime some pictures for you....

37563 arriving in Norwich on Wednesday as the 08.15 Lowestoft - Peterborough (Y13-XL19) and below in the bus station joined by 37568 working the 07.21 Wisbech - Lowestoft (K19-XL06). Both photographs copyright Sam Larke

37572 arriving in Norwich on K15 09.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough on Wednesday. The highest mileage Gemini had a bad week and was taken off this duty at King's Lynn in favour of 37570. [Photo copyright : Sam Larke]

At least there was some sunshine on Tuesday when 37575 was captured in Norwich on K18 10.55 Lowestoft - Peterborough. [Photo Copyright : Grahame Bessey]