Sunday 31st May 2009 ~ The Wright Seatbelt ?

The seatbelts fitted to the Gemini B9s are tested regularly as one might expect, but there is currently a problem obtaining replacements as Wrights have changed suppliers. As a result 37578 is now out of service awaiting repairs as previously mentioned, but also with some of its belts removed to enable other B9s to keep on the road ! Meanwhile 37571 is in secure accommodation in the Wisbech area awaiting a VOSA inspection.
Today's service was B9 operated although some swapping of turns did take place at Lowestoft. 37579 for example went over on K7 07.35 from Lynn but returned on the 11.48 from Lowestoft instead of the 10.48. Thanks to Terence for this information. 37563/579 appeared with new ads for Nokia today. These have a green background as opposed to the blue one used recently. 37579 was the last Gemini to still carry the Mars Planets ad. Thanks also to Rob Brooks for sightings today, B9s noted were 37563/64/66/69/70/73/76/79.

Saturday 30th May 2009 ~ Question Time

In the shade, 37572 near Faulkner's Tunnel on Y13 13.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft today.

and in the sun...... 37566 seen near Walpole Highway on K18 10.55 from Lowestoft.

I saw the man in charge tonight and we had a long chat which helps to answer some recent queries. Several people have pointed out that in a clip on Look East on Thursday, a B10M was seen arriving at the scene of the accident at Thorney from the east. Turns out this was 20118 which was supposed to have been sent from Lynn to reach the accident location from the west side and extricate the two passengers who didn't need hospital treatment (in fact the two guys interviewed on Look East). Due to an error in communications, 118 arrived from the wrong direction much to the consternation of all concerned, however it did rescue the two passengers and transfer them to a following service. The damage to 37571 is quite extensive and the front looks quite twisted which may not be good news for its longevity.

Other Gemini news involves 37570 which was collected from repair at Volvo last night and after checks was used on K5 today, but not before 20118 had done the first leg to Peterborough and back. 37578 is now off the road, it did L12 yesterday but has been grounded with No. 2 injector failed and it also requires a new water pump.

Profile 20353 remains on No. 1 pit at Vancouver Avenue, a position it has occupied all week due to its disabled ramp having packed up. One of the reasons for its delay in returning to service is that Lynn has suffered a maintenance staff shortage this week. This has been exacerbated by another Dart arriving from Bury St. Edmunds for MOT. Meanwhile at Rowan Road the tally of vehicles needing repair increases. Scania 65528 has been delicensed there for some time, but now 65525 needs major attention also. B10Ms 20106 (suspension + servicing) and 20121 (battery / cutting out) are still at the back of the queue. 20118/123/131 are earmarked for schools use this coming week with 20105/9 as X1 spares. Whilst on the subject of 20105, last Sundays outing on private hire was to Newmarket. Earlier this year 20105/9 both travelled to Nottingham on similar work. 20109 is reported to have suffered in the same way as the other restricted B10Ms, in that the seats have been damaged whilst being used on the Hunstanton schools jobs.

The X1 seemed to run fairly well today. King's Lynn had to produce no less than four B10Ms this morning to stand in for non-available B9s. K1 had 20103, K4 had 20109 to Peterborough and back before 37573 could take over. K5 as reported above had 20118 which was then changed for 37570, while K3 had a coach all day in the shape of 20105. From the other end, 20126 was standing in all day on Y6 which should end up at Lowestoft tonight. 126 had been seen just before lunch about 20 late heading east, but by this evening it had made all that up. 20351 did L9 and 20352 was on K19. The short turn (L12) had 37563 and this may not be coincidence as 563s availability is definitely lower than comparable B9s. 37575 looks to have been spare at Lowestoft today, it didn't come back to Lynn on K15 last night and 37567 off K14 did the last leg.

Friday 29th May 2009 ~ A Temporary Solution

Yarmouth's 20126 has probably never been such a regular X1 performer. She is seen arriving at Wisbech on Y6 on time this morning to work at 08.48 to Peterborough. I think Bernie has spotted me !

Following yesterday's accident which has taken 37571 off the road for some considerable time , or maybe even permanently, today's service was patched up by using B10M coaches normally used on Schools work. This option will not be available next week of course.

In chronological order then, 20109 was K3 for the third day running and was seen leaving Wisbech 14 late at just after 5pm tonight, which is not bad for a Friday. K4, a turn which ends up at Lowestoft began the day with 20131, however after doing a trip to Peterborough this was removed and tonight 37579 was on this turn which finishes at Lowestoft. 20131 was then used to work K17 at 13.45 from Lynn to Peterborough, presumably replacing a B9. K5 had 20105 all day and the first turn from Yarmouth (Y6) was 20126 which also stuck all day taking it back to Lowestoft tonight. One more B10M working today was 20103 on L11. Profile 20353 remains off the road (again) and 20351 was used on K16 with 20352 coming over on Y13. Geminis which were not seen in service today were 37563/74/77 as well as 571 of course.

Timekeeping was pretty good for a Friday and worst delay was caused by an accident at Goosetree on the A141 which led to traffic queueing back to beyond Guyhirn on the A47. 37564 got caught up in this and was seen departing from Wisbech at 09.56 (about 4 late) and returning east at the same spot two hours later at 11.56 (due 11.18). Later in the afternoon Bruce, who had been on a trip to Acle, saw 564 heading empty down the Norwich southern bypass with 'Sorry Not In Service' on the front. Services from the east were less affected and worst performer was K14 with 37567 which was 20 late.

More congestion due to roadworks at Eye Green on the Crowland Road meaning tailbacks onto the A47 resulted in some delay to services this afternoon. Returning services eastbound seen at Wisbech were 37575 on K15 running 10 late, 20351 on K16 17 late, 20131 on K17 26 late and 37572 on K18 just 8 late.

A quick postcript to yesterday's accident and it was announced today that the lady driver who was unfortunately killed was a 47 year old from Bretton. The 71 year old victim hurt was a bus passenger injured whilst trapped between the seats of the upper deck.

Thursday 28th May 2009 ~ A Serious Accident

Emergency services at the crash scene earlier today after the evacuation of passengers from 37571.

As you may have read below and seen on television, the X1 made headlines today. 37571 on L10 was in head on collision with a car which for unknown reasons was being driven on the wrong side of the road. The motorist was killed in the accident and thirteen bus passengers were injured. I saw the service leaving Wisbech and it appeared to be reasonably patronised, however passenger numbers are thought to have been slightly less than normal because of 37563 running late on the preceding service.

The A47 was closed until around 19.00 this evening with diversions being set up and long queues developing. 571 was badly damaged in the impact and ended up in a dyke at a dangerous angle. The bus had to be stabilised before passengers could safely disembark as it was feared that the bus might tip over onto its side. One elderly passenger on the upper deck was still being rescued two hours after the crash. The air ambulance attended and airlfted a lady with a broken pelvis to Addenbrookes Hospital. Several passengers were described as 'walking wounded'. 571 was being driven by one of the senior X1 drivers based at Lynn and fortunately he was not badly injured in the crash. Damage to the bus included the steering wheel being rammed into the camera monitor and the wheelchair ramp equipment being thrown from the vehicle. Fitters from King's Lynn arrived on an unidentified B10M and were in attendance for about five hours. They checked the condition of the B9 before it was removed this evening.

The day had begun in quite an ordinary manner. King's Lynn despatched the two Lowestoft B10Ms back to their home territory as expected with 20104 on K1 and 20103 on K4. Services from the coast appeared with 37565 (Y6), 37566 (Y7), 37576 (L8) and 37563 (Y9). 37571 on the doomed L10 was seen leaving Wisbech slightly early. Bruce saw 37578 on L11 and B7 20351 on Y13. 37576 returned on L8 five minutes late according to Bruce, but then there was a gap due to the incident and the next eastbound service was 37563 on Y9 which passed Walpole Highway at 12.54 (48 minutes late, which all things considered was a commendable effort).

K14 was 37579 but after this, the B9s seemed to be temporarily withdrawn (possibly for safety checks) as K15 was spotted by me leaving Walton Highway just 6 late with 20118. Had this accident occurred outside the school holidays we may well have seen some interesting workings as K16 following was 13 late with 20131 and K17 was 30 late with 20126. K18 was next with B7 20352. K19 was not seen (possibly cancelled) and K1 turned up just 7 late still with 20104. 37577 had been expected on K2, but this had changed vehicles too as early as 09.05 with 20105 also running 7 late. Terence viewed 105 leaving Lowestoft and K3 following it was 20109 for the second day running. Seven successive services seen with coaches cannot be a coincidence. That being said 37570 was out of service at Volvo Norwich today with a recurring ABS fault and 37574 had its MOT completed.

The B9s seemed to have regained their turns tonight and at 20.15 37565 was seen heading for Lowestoft on Y6 having worked all day unaffected by things. The westbound service seen was L10 now with 37575 instead of the ill fated 37571. 37568 was seen leaving Lynn on the 20.50 to Peterborough and 37576 was still on L8 and worked the 21.35 to Lowestoft. Of the B10Ms 20118 was back at Rowan Road, 20105 was in the bus station having been relieved by another vehicle on K2 while 20131 seemed to have joined 20126 in heading east. It is very rare for 20131 to venture east of Lynn these days. 20106/121/123 all remained spare at Rowan Road today with 20353 in bits at Vancouver Avenue. All in all, an eventful if rather sad day and may be not the best time for 20118 to be adorned with a new small rear advert proclaiming 'Enjoy Travelling - First'.

Newsflash ~ X1 Accident

The 07.05 Gorleston - Peterborough X1 (diagram L10) was involved in an accident as it approached the Thorney bypass Eastern roundabout at about 11.10 this morning. The bus, Gemini B9 37571 was seen departing Wisbech slightly early at 10.47 and was lightly loaded owing to a late running preceding service. Although details are yet to be confiirmed, it would appear that a car driven by a 71 year old woman appeared on the wrong side of the single carrageway and collided head on with 37571. The driver in an attempt to minimise the impact, swerved to the left and ended up in a ditch at an angle. 13 people were injured and the lady car driver killed. The A47 is still closed now at 17.30

Wednesday 27th May 2009 ~ Availability

I think a few months ago we actually had a day where the X1 service in its entirety was worked by Gemini B9s and Profile B7s. With 19 turns to cover, 20 buses is always going to be a tight call. Today for example, three B10Ms were out : 20103 came out of Lowestoft on L10 followed just 30 minutes later by L11 with 20104. At the Lynn end 20109 was initially reported at Peterborough by Rob Brooks on K3 and it worked all day on this turn which finishes at Lynn at around 19.00
Profile 20353 spent the day at Vancouver Avenue on a service/repairs and 20352 started the day on K4, however it needed a scheduled service too and at some point of the day was replaced by sister 20351.
There were no real blips in the timekeeping stakes, much as yesterday and ten minutes seemed to be the maximum delay.

Tuesday 26th May 2009 ~ A Joint Effort

Between us, Bruce and myself managed to account for all 19 X1 turns today. Geminis not in evidence were 37568/74. The latter has been appropriated for an MOT at King's Lynn and this is scheduled for Thursday. 568 went into Lowestoft on Saturday with K16. 37569 had a short day today, it is believed to have worked the first leg of K15 to Lowestoft where it was replaced by 37573.
37567 was L10 today but was unable to work the 19.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough, so 37570 which arrived at about this time on L11 was substituted. Profile 20353 spent the day at Lynn on a service, while 20351/2 did the regular B7 turns - K3 & K5. With 20353 unavailable, K18 was worked by 20109 (not a problem with schools on holiday), however this turn ends up at Yarmouth and as their 20126 was working Y13, a clever swap was arranged. 109 completed K18 in Yarmouth at 19.20 and then waited for Y13 to arrive with 126. 109 then took over Y13 at 19.40 as the last turn to Peterborough, keeping everyone happy. Another diagram worked by a B10M today was K2 which had 20104.
Further east B10Ms keep busy with Neville reporting 20126/7 on consecutive X1 turns heading for Yarmouth through Acle between 16.30 & 17.00. 126 presumably being on Y13 (see above).

Bank Holiday Sunday/Monday 24/25 May 2009

37569 heads east through Tilney on Sunday evening. The pink advert is sponsored by Norfolk County Council and is encouraging people to vote in the forthcoming elections !!

The Bank Holiday weather was actually good ! 37571 heads for Peterborough on Sunday.

Sunday

The sun shone today for 20105's private hire and the A47 became its usual crawl. Bruce reports a continuous queue either crawling or stationary from Wisbech B & Q Roundabout all the way to Thorney Bypass where traffic was queueing in both lanes to gain access to the single carriageway.

Seen amongst the hopeful trippers was 37573 between Thorney Toll and Guyhirn at 11.05, at which time it should have been the other side of Wisbech. The next eastbound service was also heavily delayed. Because of the traffic there were some changes at the Lowestoft end. 37573 on K3 noted above was changed for 37569, the latter had gone over on K8 and was changed for 37565.

As half expected dear old 20104 did the business on Y5 for the second successive Sunday. 37570 had a day off at Vancouver Avenue today and received a replacement destination glass after it had shattered .

Monday

Delays weren't as heavy today and the service was (I think) an entirely Gemini operated one. Latest service seen at this end was K6 09.48 from Lowestoft with 37579 having replaced whatever Lynn turned out. It was seen passing through Walpole Highway 15 minutes late with a driver obviously intent on making up time. K1 08.10 from Peterborough had 37565 which I am pleased to report bore the destination 'Lowestoft' so it would seem its recent lay off has seen its destination indicator repaired. On arrival there it was held over to return on K2 while another swap involved 37570 which was firstly seen on K2 but later had dropped two hours and was on Y4 in place of 37573. The Geminis seen in service toady were 37563/5/9/70/1/3/5/8/9.

Saturday 23rd May 2009 ~ Return to Peterborough

37570 near Terrington today on K17. It is having a solid spell at the moment, but not as good as 37566 which has worked every day since 27th April.

The Saturdays only turn which simply works Lowestoft to Peterborough and return was a surprise today in the shape of 20127 which had been sent from Yarmouth. Just as well as the spare B9 at Lowestoft was utilised very quickly when 37567 on K14, the first incoming working from Lynn, was swapped for 37565. Later in the day a series of stepping down took place, the like of which we've not had reported for a while. L8 had 37575 which was changed at Lowestoft for the aforementioned 37567, then 37575 took over L9 from 37569 which had been noted by Bruce & myself running 25 minutes late going east at Walpole. The swaps continued with 569 then taking Y10 in place of 37579 which remained at Lowestoft.

Not only was 20127 performing, from the Lynn end K1 produced 20104. As this ends at Yarmouth, could it put in a second Sunday appearance in a row I wonder ?

37578 returned to traffic today on K19. Rowan Road had a fine selection of B10Ms this evening with 20105/6/9/18/21/23/31 all present. 20105 had a service today and had been prepared for working a private hire job tomorrow, apparently organised by one of the King's Lynn fitters.

Timetables and Diagrams

Now I've found time to examine the new schedules I've been able to upload the new diagrams to my website at the following link.
http://gerards-buses-and-things.moonfruit.com/#/files/4531325751

These differ slightly from the original predicted versions of course. The columns are colour coded as follows :
Yellow : King's Lynn internal turns
Turquoise : Turns ending at Lowestoft
Purple : Turns ending at Yarmouth
Green : Turns from Yar/Lft ending at Lynn.

The Saturday timetable has some diagram changes from the weekday version.

Friday 22nd May 2009 ~ A Slow Recovery

Today's blog is gleaned from various sources as I'm not yet back in circulation. 37578 was back at Lynn today after visiting Volvo for work under warranty. 37574 meanwhile remains at Rowan Road awaiting attention to seatbelts. Eleven other B9s were noted in use today as well as the three Profiles, one of which, 20352 was on K4 which ends up at Lowestoft. B10Ms performing were 20104 on Y7 and 20103 on K18. One turn not accounted for was L12 which was either 37563 or 37566.

Thursday 21st May 2009 ~ Have I Got A Blog For You ?

Hague, Harris or Billingham ??

Well, no I haven't actually ! I am up off my sickbed for this one and having not left the house all day, we have a guest presenter (I know I'm ill now because I just typed a guset presenter !). We couldn't afford William Hague or Rolf Harris so its over to Bruce Billingham ........

Thursday Blog or a day in the life of Walpole Highway's Express Service

Well the Blogman is poorly so his Deputy has been on duty today. X1s SHOULD pass each other outside the bungalow at xx.04 and xx.34,
So chronologically:-
08.01 37575 on K1 to Lynn
08.34 37563 on Y6 to PB and 37579 on K2 to Lynn
09.04 37564 on Y7 to PB
09.09 20352 on K3 to Lynn 5 late
09.41 37567 7 late on L8 to PB and 37568 7 late on K4 to Lynn
10.04 20351 on K5 but no Y9 passed through the village - see below
10.34 37565 3 late on L10 to PB
10.46 37563 now 12 late on Y6 to Lynn
11.08 37576 4 late on L11 to PB
11.12 37564 now 8 late on Y7 to Lynn
11.34 37569 on L12 to PB
11.38 37567 now 4 late on L8 to Lynn
12.04 20353 on Y13 to PB
12.08 20103 4 late to Lynn on the missing Y9
12.34 37577 on K14 to PB
Lunch Break
13.34 37566 to PB on K16 and 37569 to Lynn on L12
14.04 37573 to PB on K17 and 20353 to lynn on Y13
14.34 37572 to PB on K18 and 37577 on K14 to lynn
15.04 37571 to PB on K19 and 37570 on K15 to Lynn

Well I thought that was enough - all 19 turns: 15 B9s,( 574/8 missing), 3 B7s and 20103 flying the flag when it wasn't flying down our bypass.
Except K4 sounded odd tonight so a quick observation of the flyover revealed no top deck but B10 rear lights disappearing. A vigil at 19.00 revealed K4 was now 20104, having deposed 37568 sometime during the day.
Sanity tomorrow - I am going to Rowan Road !

Thanks for doing all that Bruce, I guess you've never mowed the front lawn so much ! A couple of comments now and 37565 is back after a week, so almost certainly an MOT I would think. Punctuality was good apart from the missing Y9 to Peterborough in the morning. Last nights Profile sighting on K2 must have been a B10M which just worked to Peterborough and back. 20105 worked K1 from Wisbech to Lynn after rescuing 20121 for 37563 forward. During the morning Sam had seen 563 in service with a smashed destination screen glass. He also noted 20107 on the 8:38 X2 from Norwich. Today Michael saw 20104 on the 10.08 X2 from Lowestoft and as Bruce says this later replaced 568 on K4.

Finally Ryan reports that on Monday night Yarmouth garage was having asbestos removed off the pits. "This meant we lost 8 spaces and thought it was going to be an unusual night. It started ok till 20128 turned up from Norwich as a spare, then 20129 turned up for the night (both these are driver trainers) . We then expected a white mountain would turn up but no -instead 3 more B10s turned up in a row 20126 20127 and 20103 then the next was a mountain 37573. We are then expecting another mountain but no its 20104 ! Trying to park them was a total nightmare as the B10Ms are longer than the B9s. Thank goodness the last one was white mountain 37563. We also have 3 buses here that should be taken away to the bus depot in the sky : 30106 tri axel , 46601 dart and 40288 dart".

Wednesday 20th May 2009 ~ Profile Profusion

"Just how many B7s have we got ?" asked Bruce this afternoon as the third turn in a row passed his house with one of them. Well 20352 came first on K2 ( it had replaced 37566), but next came 20351 on K3 and then 20353 on K4. Earlier 20352 had been standing in on L12 which is thought to have been taken forward by 37578.
The lowlight of the day was definitely the failure of Premiere B10M 20121 which had taken over K1 at some point and which just before 15.45 expired at the Clarkson Avenue junction in Wisbech. I expect it ws a recurrence of the battery charge fault. Anyway, by the time I passed by at 17.05, 20121 had been joined by 20105 which had arrived with a young fitter to sort 121 out. A First employee had enforced a stop/go method to keep the traffic flowing.
The B10M rolecall today was 20103 : K18, 20104 : K16 and 20121 as described above.

Tuesday 19th May 2009 ~ Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Pouring rain at Peterborough. The young lady on the right is making desperate efforts to shelter from the rain, or I suppose could be avoiding the camera of Rob Brooks ? 37566 is seen on K3 this evening having replaced the usual B7 Profile.

Oy said Dave from Swindon this morning (Wed). Where's Tuesdays blog ? Are things slipping in the Fens ? Well the answer to that is an old Fenland retort 'Well Yes & No !'. No we are not slacking, but I have a horrible sore throat which unfortunately has coincided with a hectic social schedule of meetings etc. (sounds pompous but true actually). I will try and get back on track as it were.

So what of Tuesday ? Well in addition to 37574 which has now not worked in service since May 5th, 37565 also appears to have been taken off the road - one would like to think that this might mean no more buses going to 'Eterborough, Owestoft or Orleston', though I expect it may be having its MOT. For the record it was last seen on Thursday unless you know different. 37576 had a scheduled service at Lynn today and Profile 20352 began its day on K3 but was replaced at Lowestoft by B9 37566.

John Wilson emailed to report that the first turn from Yarmouth was 37573 and adds 'When I passed VA at around 10.40, 37573 was there as if it was todays maintenance vehicle'.

I'm beginning to wonder if it was actually in service when you saw it John and was having an adblu problem fixed or similar ? Either way it began the day on Y6 and seems to have finished the turn too, although it is always possible that another vehicle filled in to Lowestoft and back.

Latest turn seen today was K2 this afternoon which with 37569 in charge had lost 17 minutes on its schedule. The number of B9 Geminis now sporting the Pepsi Raw dropdown advert has increased to epidemic proportions. Even 37564 (of Renee Zelweger fame) has now received one. Apart from out of service 37565 which has not been viewed, only 37571 & 37579 have escaped the treatment. At the same time 37564/575 have lost their ads for 'The Haunting'.

There were three B10Ms noted today, these being 20103 on Y13, 20104 on Y7 and 20107 on K16.

Early evening services were delayed tonight when an accident at Eye Green on the Crowland Road spilled its congestion back onto the A47.

Monday May 18th 2009 ~ Paralysis

37569 about to depart from Wisbech at 15.00. The previous eastbound service had departed 64 minutes earlier with 20131. (Photo by Rob Brooks)

Rob Brooks captured 20103 on K18 at Wisbech this afternoon as normality resumed.

The chaos caused when one person decides to commit suicide on a busy road was illustrated today. Although officially described as an accident involving a pedestrian, it would appear to have been a deliberate act. The location was the Norwich Southern bypass and partial road closure meant that the X1 service was brought to a standstill. Des says "Today I operated the 08.55 ex Lowestoft (K14, 37572). Normal arrival time in King's Lynn should be 12.07 - Actual arrival time 13.42! - It took two hours eight minutes to get from Acle (09.57) to Norwich (12.05).

At King's Lynn the deadlock took a while to filter through and up until the 10.45 departure to Peterborough (L11 07.15 from Lowestoft) the service had run to time. L11 left with 37570 but then there was a long gap until the next arrival from the coast at about 12.45. In the interim Lynn supplied two B10M coaches to run in the path of L12 at 11.15 (20109) and Y13 at 11.45 (20131). Subsequent westbound services are due at Walpole Highway at 12.33, 13.03, 13.33 and 14.03. Instead a classic Bruce vigil saw just 37569 passing here at 13.09 (65 minutes after 20131) and the next service was 37572 at 14.13. After this the service resumed its regular intervals with 20103 on K18 running slightly late. In other words two services never went through to Peterborough. Diagrams 12 - 17 were restarted eastbound in their correct timings from Lynn commencing with L12 at 14.02 to Lowestoft when 20109 was replaced by a Gemini as was 20131 on the following turn. 37572 was seen entering Wisbech at 15.59 now running as K17 10 minutes late, or if you prefer K14 which started out with Des a mere 100 minutes late !

Before the chaos ensued there had been an early surprise with Y6 05.50 from Yarmouth changing vehicles at Lynn, not sure what came in (20107 possibly), but 20351 replaced it. Another B7 20352 spent overnight on the coast but returned this evening on the second part of L9 which had begun the day with 37566. 20353 did K3, while 37564 unusually did K5.

One other B10M to report is 20104 on K4. Going back to yesterday and Des says of 20104 : " I operated it out of Yarmouth on the 08.30 departure. No choice really, it was allocated and I put it into service. I rarely question the allocated vehicle".

37563 can be added to the list of B9s with the new Pepsi advert. Rob Brooks (who says incidentally he hates the Bob Books advert as it sounds too much like his name !) sent a comprehensive report today and says 20103 arrived Wisbech at 14.49 departing at 14.52 (just 4 minutes late) on K18. He also reports 37569 heading east at 15.00 in the path of K15 (see above).

Jamie Robinson travelled on 20131 from Peterborough and on arrival at Wisbech the driver requested his assistance to reposition his mirrors ! So all in all a pretty bad day, but congrats to 'First' for making the best of a bad job.

Sunday 17th May 2009 ~ Renee beats the odds

20104 at Walpole Highway this lunchtime following a heavy shower. It was something of a surprise to see it out on a Sunday again.

37575 was motoring well this afternoon complete with new ad for Pepsi Raw

The saga of the Renee Zelweger ad for the film 'New In Town' on 37564 continues. Another campaign for Pepsi began this weekend, but 37564 spent Sunday locked inside Vancouver Avenue garage at Lynn after being taken off K19 turn yesterday. As a result 37576/7 at Rowan Road, both received new ads for Pepsi while 564 remained out of reach ! The ad which has been in situ now for 3 months is begining to peel. Norfolk County Council have sponsored a new range of rear ads, 37576 carries one about libraries and 37577 one about rubbish (no comment necessary ?). 37575 looks to have been adorned with another NCC ad. Meanwhile the Cola ad was seen on 37566/73 today also. 37573 was the bus which had lost half its Nokia advert and apparently this was spotted adjacent to the A47 on the roadside at Necton !!

Quite why Yarmouth found it necesary to use 20104 on the X1 today is unknown - perhaps the driver preferred B10Ms. It did the 08.30 ex Yarmouth and worked all day finishing at Lynn this evening. Gemini 37566 failed at Wisbech at 09.30 with an adblu fault, however after some attention it was able to continue.

Saturday 16th May 2009 ~ 107 The Legend

The beast/stalker, 20107 gets underway from Wisbech on the 17.18 to Peterborough this evening.

As reported here recently, Gemini 37567 now has a large font destination display. It is seen here at lunchtime passing through Walpole Highway on K16 09.55 from Lowestoft. The blog of April 25th includes a photo of 567 with the narrower style destination display.

Well first of all 20107 was nicknamed 'The Beast' by Bruce and now Jamie Robinson has christened it 'The Stalker' on account of the fact that it seems to follow him everywhere. This morning he caught Y6 the first X1 from Yarmouth with Wayne driving B7 20352 and en route texted to say that "Stalker 107 is close and personal with the 36 Stagecoach - they look like good frends !". I guess I will never understand the youth of today, but yes 107 was out again, this time on K4 08.35 Peterborough - Lowestoft and it was not the only B10M out today. 20103 did L11 07.25 from Lowestoft and 20104 was on K18 07.00 Wisbech - Lowestoft etc. The B7 Profiles were busy too with 20352 on Y6 as mentioned, however, it looks to have swapped turns during the day as Bruce saw a B7 on K19 this afternoon and it is thought that this was 352 as the other two were accounted for, 351 on K5 and 353 on K3.

This left 13 of the 17 B9s to cover everything else. 37575 on L10 and 37578 on Y9 were noted with new nearside adverts affixed overnight for Pepsi Raw Cola today. 37570 (K1) has also gained the rear Kwikfit advert. Timekeeping was good today with light traffic throughout in contrast to yesterday. Last night late running meant 20104 on K16 which was due to die at Lowestoft was then sent back on K17c and 37575 which came in on K17 went to Lowestoft depot instead. Likewise 37567 on K18 was sent back to Lynn on K19c with 20352 off K19 retiring to Yarmouth garage. Another swap occurred today when 37579 took L12 forward from Lynn at 11.15 relieving whatever had brought it in - possibly 20105.

Friday 15th May 2009 ~ Traffic Traumas

It was a classic Friday today, accidents, diversions and consequent late running plus a dose of swaps for maintenance. Since the new timetable started as regular readers will know, the booked safety inspections and services often mean the changing of vehicles mid-diagram.
King's Lynn would previously have used K20 for this or done an early shift service enabling the bus to work the final starting turn, previously the 07.59 Lynn - Peterborough. With the new timetable, the last turn off Lynn in the morning is now K5 07.45 westbound from Lynn and this quite often still gets a freshly serviced vehicle, however, the demise of K20 means that swaps are now an almost daily event.
An accident near Wisbech caused delays mid morning and then the A17 from Lynn into Lincolnshire was closed from 09.30 until about 15.00 due to a fatal accident at Walpole Cross Keys. This lead to a build up of traffic taking the obvious diversionary route via Wisbech. The town was then gridlocked at various points of the day.
First thing though it was quite different and the 07.30 from Peterborough (K2) with 37563 was slightly early at Walpole as was Y6 05.50 from Yarmouth with 37571. Profile 20353 came across on Y9 06.45 from Gorleston having gone over last night on L8. 20351 was employed on K3 today while 20352 had an interesting day which began with a service at Lynn garage. It then took Y13 11.45 Lynn - Peterborough and back replacing a Gemini (this had been 37569 I believe). After this it replaced 37573 on K19, working to Peterborough again at 14.45 having arrived back at 14.24. Other changes involved K1 on which 37570 worked until 17.54 when it came off at Lynn and retired to the garage. K5 was also swapped at Lynn as 37577 required a service. This all begs the question what did K1, K5 and Y13 this afternoon? The answer would appear to be 37569/573 and 20105, but in what order only tomorrow's sightings will reveal.
B10Ms on duty today were 20107 on L11 and 20104 on K16.
Punctuality has been very good this week overall, but today Bruce saw 37578 departing Lynn about 30 late on K14 with 37576 in hot pursuit on K15. 578 travelled via Wisbech bypass to get to Peterborough and thus make up time. It was seen entering Wisbech on the return at 14.29, having made up all but 9 minutes. Congestion saw 20104 arriving at Wisbech eastbound at 16.09 on K16 (due 15.20 !). Neil reported seeing it at Guyhirn at 15.54 passing 20352 on K19. It didn't pass Bruce however and must have been sent on the bypass avoiding Walpole and Terrington to recover time. This left a huge gap in the timetable for anyone wishing to travel from Wisbech and west thereof to the aforementioned villages. At 16.44 Bruce witnessed 37575 on K17 going east at Walpole 39 minutes late, the first eastbound service he'd seen in 71 minutes observation ! Badly affected by the delays too was K18 with 37567 which was 33 late going west. By 17.00 westbound services were back to time thankfully. 37574 remained out of use at Rowan Road today, it needs a seatbelt inspection and service. 37564 was in service on L10 tonight and the 'New In Town' ad remains in situ !

Thursday 14th May 2009 ~ A Bit of History

Many will remember 20140 in Green Line livery as depicted here in 2001. Photo by John Wilson

20118 in Lynn bus station on August 10th 1998. Photo : John Wilson

John W was in touch today and says " I met B10M 20118 several times on Tuesday on local 43 duties - this reminded me of when I first saw the vehicle at Lynn. I believe this may have been the only time a City Saver liveried B10 was given a run on the then X-94 route before receiving the red and cream coach livery.
Although not a photo man, I did take a pic of that, and you may like to have a look. My extensive bus pics( I have about 7!) also includes what became 20140 when in Greenline livery. The dates were 10 Aug 98 for N618 APU and Sept 2001 for R342 GHS".

Nice to have a look back John, your knowledge is as always much appreciated and thanks for sharing with us.

20140 was of course withdrawn a couple of years back with fire damage - it caught fire on an X1 on Nar Ouse Way one evening, less than a mile away from its destination. 20118 is still a regular in this blog of course. It is usually to be found on Hunstanton schools duties now, but still gets an occasional X1 outing. It is due an MOT next week.

Whilst on the subject of B10Ms, 20121 expired with a flat battery at Sedgeford this morning during its school diagram. It is now back at Lynn being repaired.

So to the X1 service itself and there were two unscheduled swaps today. Firstly 37579 was removed from L8 10.35 Peterborough - Lowestoft this morning and replaced by B7 20353 which itself had been stopped with a suspension fault. Secondly 37566 on K2 was taken off at Lynn at 15.40 with a smashed rear destination glass and replaced by repaired 37579. Thanks to Andy for the gen on 566. It was in Vancouver Avenue having new glass fitted tonight. B10Ms on X1 duty today were 20104 on L12 and 20107 on K14. B7 20352 came out of Yarmouth on Y13 today, it was seen departing Wisbech at 13.56 spot on time with the lady driver formerly known as late !

Wednesday 13th May 2009 ~ Balancing act

Just recently there have been several days where the balance of B10Ms and Geminis between Lynn and Lowestoft/Yarmouth has been one sided. Today for example, Lowestoft in contrast to yesterday produced all B9s for the X1 : L8 577, L10 569, L11 565 & L12 568. Such was the availability that 563 was also turned out on the X2, in fact on the former K19 turn. King's Lynn meanwhile had more B10Ms than required and sent out 20103 on K1, 20104 on K14 and 20126 on K16. With 37563 out on the X2, when 37564 arrived at Lowestoft due for maintenance on the new K19 turn, 20107 was sent out on the second half of this and thus ended up at Lynn tonight.
Ryan reports 20352 at Yarmouth today and 37570 returned in its place yesterday and had an exam at Lynn today after beginning the day on K4, it was replaced by 37573 also off a scheduled service. Another Gemini back at Lynn and due back on the road shortly is 37574 which is back from 'Full Circle'. B10M 20121 is currently having a new alternator fitted at Lynn.