More Easter Musings ~ Sunday/Monday 4 & 5 April 2010

Saturday's vehicle dispersion resulted in Yarmouth receiving 37156/7 & 20107/27 overnight. Three of these are then booked to work on Sunday and 20127 ended up remaining at Yarmouth with the other three working. B10Ms are rare on Sundays now and 20107 made a welcome change. It ended up at Lynn where it rested on Easter Monday.

Sunday saw another unusual event, or rather non-event in that none of Lowestoft's B9 allocation were in service. Easter Monday saw 37565/7 back in service and 37159 was also used on a turn ending
at Yarmouth.

Pictured are 37575 on Sunday's 10.48 Lowestoft - Peterborough, still with the Philip Morris ad and 37579 on Easter Monday's 13.10 from Peterborough carrying the latest version of the T Mobile ad.

Saturday April 3rd 2010 ~ A Barbie Easter

As expected 20127 was in use today and it worked K4. It caught me ny surprise at Walpole, hence the photo taken through my car window complete with rain splashes at 09.35 dead on time. Grahame was more organised though and took a nice shot of it at Norwich at around Midday. (see pictures). What was less expected was the appearance of 20107 on L12, the out and back turn from Lowestoft which is then booked to go light to Yarmouth for Sunday X1 use. It is seen leaving Walton Highway eastbound in the picture.

37158 on L11 was removed at King's Lynn at 10.40 and 37576 took its place. Whether this was late leaving for Peterborough is not known, but it was certainly delayed at some point as Peter saw it on the A47 bypass at Tilney heading east at around 13.15 (in fact only about 10 minutes late). as a result 20107 on L12 had a heavy loading and was itself around 10 late. Geminis 37563/4/9 were all absent today.

37566 on K16 passing Walpole during an overcast spell at lunchtime.

Good Friday April 2nd 2010

The first of the three days over Easter with an hourly Sunday timetable. Delays were heavy today, with two services being seen 24 & 20 late respectively. A car fire at Guyhirn this morning closed the A47 for a time and may have added to the problems.

37576 departs from Terrington St. John 20 minutes late as the 14.05 to Peterborough this afternoon.

37562 was picked by one of the Lynn drivers and ended up at Yarmouth tonight which was not in the script. 37578 went out on the first eastbound turn from Lynn and was changed as booked at Lowestoft, but instead of a B9 being used, 37567/9 were present, B7 37156 was used instead. 20127 remained in King's Lynn garage spare along with 37575/7/9.

Thursday April 1st 2010 ~ For 564, read 127 !

The unreliability of 37564 reared its head again today with 20127 appearing on Y13 in its place. Bruce saw it on Y13 and the next service to Peterborough was K14 with 20107. All the B7s were in use on the X1 save 37159. Timekeeping was pretty poor today, particularly from Peterborough, however, the bus station was closed for a time this morning after a sudden daeth I am told.
37566 was spare at Lowestoft today and 37579 received a service at King's Lynn. Still no sign of 37563. Bruce says L12 with 37578 did not pass through the villages this morning and it is debatable as to whether it used the bypass or failed to work west of Lynn.

Wednesday March 31st 2010 ~ Mileage Mystery

37568 returned to X1 duties today, 37159 was sent out first thing on K16 but by the time the 16.02 to Lowestoft departed, 37568 had taken over. The discrepancies between the B9s odometer readings and those on the wheel hubs are becoming larger. According to its driving cab speedo, 568 has run 160,921 miles, yet its wheel hub device reads 156,050. Almost a 5,000 mile difference.
Various people helped out with sightings today including, Cheryl, Rob B and Bruce. Lowestoft sent out 20107 on L10, this time instead of 37575.

Tuesday 30th March 2010 ~ 123 Go ?

B10M 20123 has at last moved to Vancouver Avenue garage for MOT preparation. Since the start of the year 20105/6 have been withdrawn and 20109 has only returned to service recently. At one stage only 20500, 20118 & 20121 were available for the three Hunstanton schools turns. This was not an ideal scenario with the Paragon being a rail replacement vehicle. Once 20123 returns to service it is likely to free 20109 for X1 use as required.
20107 was sent back to Lowestoft on K2 today and was just a couple of minutes late when seen both am & pm.
On the Gemini front 37563 has now been absent for over a week, while 37568 returned to King's Lynn this afternoon after bodywork repairs at 'Full Circle'.
Two new advertising campaigns were underway tonight, another for T Mobile and its Flexible Boosters (ooerrr matron !) and others receiving an ad for Sky Movies HD 'The Pacific'.
Whether 20127 worked all day yesterday is now even more in doubt as today the errant 37574 appeared on Y13.

Monday 29th March 2010 ~ Ladies Day

I had to make several trips along the route today as my Mum had appointments and I couldn't help noticing that every X1 I met was either driven by Karen or Natalie ! Must have been ladies day ? With my bit of road still being closed, Bruce kept an eye on things. Another A47 accident near Thorney made 37156 on L12 26 late returning from Peterborough. It was due past Bruce at 13.35 and appeared just after 2pm. Later this evening 37156 (still on L12) was noted arriving at Wisbech over Freedom Bridge at 23.02 (due 22.55) meaning it had travelled from Guyhirn via Wisbech St. Mary. Even more odd was the fact that the driver had forgotten to change the destination and it arrived with Peterborough showing instead of King's Lynn !

Michael reported a change of scenery for Beast 20107 with it working the 12.08 Lowestoft to Norwich X2, however, it couldn't keep away from the X1 for long and later replaced 37565 on Y9, bringing it to King's Lynn this evening.
Buses were on average 5 to 10 minutes late this morning, "Except" says Bruce "20127 of course on K4". Whether 127 worked all day is debatable as between us we all failed to view the afternoon part of the turn. Paragon 20500 was required at Norwich for a private hire job today and all the B7s worked on the route apart from 37160.

Google Street View - Part 2

Those of you interested in spotting X1s on the route might like to look at the following link provided by our man Des.

http://picasaweb.google.com/despeed/X1OnGoogleMaps?feat=email#

Please forward any more contributions you may have and special thanks to Peter for all his links to the captured White Elephants.

Sunday 28th March 2010 ~ What's That Noise ??

The B7s now seem to be part of the normal X1 fleet and are being used indiscriminately along with the B9s. Up until recently, they had rarely been used on Sundays but today both 37156 & 37157 were plying the route.
There were some swaps today. 37565 and 37573 both began the day at King's Lynn and ended up at Yarmouth. One must have worked the first eastbound service from Lynn which on arrival at Lowestoft goes empty to Yarmouth, but the other was swapped for 37567 during the day at Yarmouth and it was this which finished the day at Lynn. Highlight of the day by far occurred this evening. I'd popped over to Lynn for a meal, but persuaded my companion to allow me to view the 20.42 arrival from Lowestoft on which I'd been expecting 37567. At the appointed time a loud roaring noise was heard heralding the arrival of 20127 on the said service ! So both 20121 and 20127 which have been X1 performers since its inception have worked on the route this week.

Saturday 27th March 2010 ~ A Burning Question

The B7s are being pressed hard lately, here is 37156 heading back home on L12, the out and back turn today. this then goes empty to Yarmouth for X1 use on Sunday.

.....and here's another, 37158 with small fleet number heading for Peterborough on K16 at lunchtime meaning it too will end up at Lowestoft this evening.

Cheryl sent me a text this morning to say that when she arrived at work at 09.00 the former Belfast Linen premises on Nene Quay here in Wisbech were well alight. This didn't come as a big surprise, as yesterday (Friday) fire appliances had been called there at 11.30 and remained for about an hour, delaying X1s as a consequence. The fire today was a major one and apparently the culmination of a trio which had seen the fire brigade alerted three times this week. Someone was very determined and for a moment I thought it might be a fiendish plot by my boss Martin to stop me viewing X1s from my window (only joking chap). Anyway, this fire was of sufficient magnitude to render the buildings affected unstable and - yes you've guessed it - they've closed the road again while Humphrey & Sons try and make the area safe once more.

37562 was due a service today and duly did K5 after this had been completed. Its regular turn, K17, was bestowed with the luxury of Paragon 20500 today. Meanwhile 20501 was viewed in London on an unspecified working - yes really ! For 'Beast' lovers, K14 was the turn to view and as a result it will end up at its home depot tonight.

37565 began the day on K1 and 37574 on K15, but this all went pear shaped somewhere along the line and tonight 37565 was on K15 and no sign of 37574. It is not known what worked the second part of K1.

Once again four out of the five B7 Geminis were on the X1 today. exception was 37160 on King's Lynn local work.

Look closely and you will see an X1 Gemini in unchartered territory, this one looks to have come into Wisbech from Peterborough and then been diverted via the Old Market to get to Wisbech bus station. It would have been quite entertaining to see it negotiate the very sharp left turn from its normal route onto Wisbech town bridge. Cheryl took this picture as fire crews were damping down.

Friday March 26th 2010 ~ A Whiter Shade Of Paragon

20500 passed its MOT yesterday and no time was wasted in putting it back to work on the X1. Today it worked K3, 3 late into Wisbech at 08.52 heading for Lowestoft and 4 late departing on the 16.48 to Peterborough. This might sound poor, but for a Friday such minor delays are exceptional. Timekeeping today was good overall taking into account the Friday factor. 37562 was worst offender on K17, it was 4 late going west and 10 late returning this afternoon.
37158 appeared on Y9 this morning having replaced 37575 at King's Lynn as this was required for maintenance. 37569 was also stopped for an exam today and Lowestoft provided 'The Beast' as replacement on L10. L11 was 37567 after its day off on Thursday.

Thursday 25th March 2010 ~ The Special One

Yes it's a takeover by the infidels ! Andy James kindly sent in this picture taken out at King's Lynn bus station at around 13.40 today depicting Volvo loanee 37562 on the 13.45 to Peterborough and behind 37156 on L11 13.32 to Lowestoft.

Yet another day with just one diagram covered by a non- low floor vehicle. The 'Beast' was K14. What will happen after June I wonder ? This is when 107s MOT expires.

Speaking of MOTs, 20500 passed this afternoon and this should make it available again from tomorrow. Timekeeping was very good today, maximum lateness noted was just six minutes while two services ran fractionally ahead of time, these being 37574 on L8 09.48 Wisbech - Peterborough and 37566 on L12 11.49 westbound.

Again no sign of 37563 or 20501 and 37568 is yet to return from accident repairs. 37567 did appear on the X2 late on (thanks Sam) and 37157 & 37156 were sent out from Lowestoft on L10 & L11.

Wednesday 24th March 2010 ~ A Wootton Ride

At one time in the not too distant past, the old K6 turn (08.00 King's Lynn - Peterborough) was booked to do a 43 to North Wootton before it. I don't think this happeed for long, but this afternoon, 37575 on K5 didn't do its allocated turn at 16.15 to Peterborough and instead ended up on the 17.15 Service 43, see picture above from Andy James. Whether 37578 (which had earlier been removed from K15, with 37158 going forward to Peterborough at 12.45) did the 16.15 is unclear, but there weren't any other suitable candidates.

With 37563 being absent again and 37157 spare at Lowestoft, it came as a bit of a surprise to find L10 with 20107. The B7 was used on the X2 though being noted on departures from Lowestoft at 07.08, 10.38 and 13.38.

37564 managed a full turn today and was marginally early departing as the 15.48 Wisbech to Peterborough (K1).
Punctuality was pretty good again today with 37562 on K16 being the heaviest delay at 17 minutes late on the 14.18 Wisbech - Peterborough.

Tuesday 23rd March 2010 ~ A Spot Of Coaching

On the frontline again. 20121 gets a rare outing on the X1. It was standing in for 37564 this morning and is seen returning to King's Lynn where it was taken off.

Even better, a few minutes later this came the other way !

I've been enjoying a couple of days at home preparing for my forthcoming music convention, as the organiser it takes up a fair bit of my time. This morning though, I had a phone call from Bruce who said "You'd better get up here with your camera at 12.30 cuz 121 has just gone to Peterborough". Well the weather was very Spring like and so it was that Bruce and myself walked up to the A47 flyover at the appointed time with this in mind. 121 which had been 6 late going over was by now on time, 37564 seems to have been the culprit for it appearing, so no surprises there. We were just about to return when Bruce reminded me that 'The Beast' was at Lynn last night, so could conceivably be K14. Well wouldn't you know it, he was dead right and the evidence is reproduced above. These were the two exceptions to a low floor service today. At some point today, it was realised that 37569 which was on Y7 and due to finish at Lynn needed to be at Lowestoft for a service, so it did one of those strange swaps with 37572 on Y6. 37564 was back on L10 tonight, repaired - well for now anyway !

Google Maps - Street View

"Hey" says Peter, "Have you looked at Google Street View yet ?" "If you look closely between Wisbech and Guyhirn, you'll spot 20127"!

Really ? How bizarre. Anyway I looked for myself and here you can see one angle of 127. Peter adds " Why don't your other blog readers see if they can come up with any more examples ?".

A look at Vancouver Avenue revealed a B9 Gemini with Pepsi advert, dating the picture to roughly May or June 2009.

Monday 22nd March 2010 ~ When In Doubt, Use The Beast !

I tried to deduce how many B9s would end up at Lowestoft last night. 37578 did not go to Yarmouth and instead 37575 went instead, but this still left five for four turns. It was quite a surprise then to find our old friend 20107 on L10 which it worked all day. The missing B9s were 37564 which had a day off, one assumes to have its ABS fault sorted (thanks D) and 37566 which did come out later on Y7 replacing 37567 which was due maintenance. This was 37566's first work since last Wednesday. Pictured is 37562 on time this afternoon (it may be reliable, but punctuality is not normally a strong point) while working K17.

Everything else behaved it would seem with Royale 34108 earning its keep on the X2 and Paragon 20500 stopped at King's Lynn for MOT prep. There is still no sign of 20501 which was last reported on Rail Replacement in Suffolk. Four of the five B7s were on X1 duty today with 37160 being kept on King's Lynn local duties. 37577 pictured above was on L12 today at Walpole Highway

Sunday 21st March 2010 ~ A Day For The Camera

Some pictures from today. (1 & 2). 37572 and 37573 (above) at Walpole Highway on the 09.48 and 12.48 from Lowestoft respectively, both with adverts for the animated film 'How To Train Your Dragon'. (3) : At last a picture of 37570s rear advert for Intersport at Holt. A bit off route for the X1 I reckon ! 570 was on the 15.10 ex Peterborough. (4). 37574 with the Nanny McPhee advert, seen near Terrington on the 13.48 from Lowestoft and our last photo (5) is of 37569 heading down from the A47 flyover at Walpole. Bruce can just be made out in front of the gate to the right of his Leyland Nationals !

Very little to report today. The service was B9 worked with just one exception. 37563 had to be removed on arrival at Lynn at 11.35 and 37159 was hastily substituted to work the 11.50 to Peterborough. This was just 5 late arriving in Wisbech. 37575 on the 10.10 from Peterborough was swapped at Lowestoft for 37578 and 37562 was in action working the 16.10 from Peterborough.

Saturday 20th March 2010 ~ The Parochial Paragon

Richard seems to like using his B12 Paragons as early morning fillers on a Saturday. A B12 can do an early morning Peterborough and back and then be replaced by a freshly serviced B9. A few weeks ago, we chronicled Michael Bryant's abortive attempts to photograph a B12 on the X1 at Lowestoft on a Saturday. This morning, I phoned him to report 20500 on K5. Poor old Michael was in situ at Lowestoft to record its arrival but was rewarded with.... 37575 ! Headlight fixed, it had replaced 500 at Lynn of course.
'The Beast' was used on K14 today, meaning it will end up at Lowestoft where there is currently a surplus of B9s. Michael took a trip down to the depot and saw the sickly 37564 parked cab forward against the wall alongside 37566.
20500 seems to have been the only swapped vehicle today. Punctuality was very good with everything viewed at Wisbech being within 10 minutes of time. The three worst performers were all in the middle of the day, these being (times west/eastbound) L11 37159 -7/-5, Y13 37157 -5/-3 and K14 20107 -8/-5.
In contrast two services were one minute early, these being L12 11.48 to Peterborough with 37569 and K1 15.48 with 37577. All in all an excellent effort from all concerned and at least it shows that on occasion, the timetable can be maintained.

Friday March 19th 2010 ~ I Spy

My colleague Cheryl was very kind to me today and arranged a position for me to work near the window, giving a birdseye view of the road and of course, the passing buses !
Today was by no means a bad day for punctuality on the whole, certainly when compared to some of Bruce's Friday vigils. He was able to enjoy the first day of his 'holiday' without worrying about the X1 too much, he did have the last laugh though......

At Wisbech, westbound departures were observed for most of the day. 37574 on Y9 (10.18 to Peterborough) and 37573 on L12 (11.48) were dead on time and other services under 10 minutes late. The first exception was 37567 which being a Lowestoft bus was most unusually employed on K15, which was 12 late and this then became the average lateness for the remainder of the afternoon westbound. With 37577 being seen on K14, it looks as if this may have been the original bus on K15, overtaking 37567 on K14 at some point, hence the reversal of diagrams.

That was pretty much the story westbound other than to say that one service took the diversionary route down the A1101 (the driver I daresay forgot the normal route was open) and this just happened to be Y13 with 20107 seen just 2 minutes late by Bruce - but not, therefore, by me !

Eastbound was a different story. 37563 on Y7 lost 7 minutes west of Wisbech and was12 late returning (due 10.20), I missed seeing L8 and Y9 but L10 was in real trouble with 37565 being 6 late going west and 33 late coming back ! Next was 37564 on L11 which was 6 late westbound and 21 late returning. After this average lateness into Wisbech from Peterborough was 15 minutes. Somehow 37577 on K14 avoided this fate and was only 4 late. Best performer - predictably - was 20500 working K19 which was 11 late going west and only 4 late returning.

At King's Lynn the late running saw some changes to diagrams. 37565 on L10 stepped up to become L11 with 37570 off repairs working L10 13.02 to Lowestoft. 37564 on L11 was halted at Lynn and this then replaced 37577 on K14 to enable it to end up at Lowestoft for further inspection.

Tonight 20107 was still on Y13, but a disappointing 18 late at Terrington St. John on the 22.05 to Peterborough when viewed by Bruce. K5 which had started the day with 37159 saw this diverted onto the 14.38 Lowestoft to Beccles and this should then have done a schools turn and eventually the 18.08 Norwich to Lowestoft X2. 37578 replaced it, having ended up spare at Lowestoft but on arrival at Lynn at 20.00 this then did L8 21.35 back to Lowestoft after the incoming Gemini, 37575, had a headlight out.
Michael reports Royale 34108 on the X2 today, it was seen on the 13.38 to Norwich. Peter had a trip out to Peterborough on 37572 (Y6) returning on K15 (37567) and the journey was uneventful by his standards.

Thursday 18th March 2010 ~ B9 Bugs

The huge mileages being amassed by the dedicated Gemini B9s are beginning to take their toll on availability. 37564 - as we've often said - for long the highest mileage example is now being treated with care. The reason for its frequent substitution is unknown, but likely to be an adblu related problem. Today 'The Beast' replaced it at Lowestoft on K18 and later this afternoon, Bruce espied 37570 which was supposed to be on K19, heading towards King's Lynn not far off tiime, but with 'Not In Service' displayed and with interior lights out. This was replaced by B12 20500.
Today saw the return to service of B10M 20109 at King's Lynn, so we await its reappearance on the X1 at some point.
Many thanks to Bruce for 'holding the fort' so admirably over the last few months and in many cases like today, giving me something to report on a day when I have seen precious little. From tomorrow my new office overlooking the route will take the onus off  Bruce and hopefully allow me to view a bit more !