Monday 18th February - Tuesday 26th February 2013 ~ Update

Since the last blog entry I've been making daily visits to my Mum in hospital, so to catch up it's a bit of a 'brief highlights' job. Most noteworthy arrival at King's Lynn was an Enviro 400 which visited briefly on Friday for the engineers to peruse, however, it was shorter in length than the buses which are expected, so an evaluation of that nature was not possible. It is confirmed now that the new buses will be able to run at a top speed of 56 mph, the same as the B9 Geminis.

Norwich bus station was closed all last week for repairs to the roof canopy and X1 services along with other buses which normally use the bus station were diverted to nearby stops. The week dawned with 37573 stopped with its axle problem and 37568 likewise with a no. 3 injector fault. 37570 had an exciting day doing K5-XL11 to 10.27, L11-XL17 from 10.45 and then Y6-XL12 from 20.35, on the latter replacing 37567 which had a wayfarer fault.  Services ran well but with a few other bus swaps, K18-XL05 was the worst delay noted, 37159 being 16 late on the 14.48 Wisbech - Peterborough. Thanks to Malcolm Hicks for some notes on the X2 where this afternoon two successive journeys were entrusted to Darts, 43489 on the 13.38 and 42451 on the 14.08 to Norwich. The 12.40 from Norwich came in with Palatine 34156. Tuesday 19th passed with all buses sticking to their turns. Morning services from Peterborough passed Wisbech running late, the most delayed was 37157 14 late on K5-XL11 09.05 ex Peterborough.

Richard Alger kindly sent me this picture of 37579 in All Saints Green on Wednesday while taking the passengers on the  09.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough (K15-XL02) on unfamiliar territory.

Cheers also to Kieran Smith who was also out with his camera in Norwich on Wednesday capturing 37574 on K1-XL07 07.00 Peterborough - Lowestoft at its temporary stop. 

On Wednesday 37573 made its way to Volvo at Norwich for attention to its axle problem. Delays were restricted to Y13-XL19 13.05 from Peterborough running 12 late with 37576 and K14-XL01 following on the 13.35 with 37566 21 late. The roads were relatively quiet today and Des was quite pleased that he managed to convert a 10 minute late arrival with 37158 on K18-XL05 at Peterborough rail station into an on time departure from King's Lynn at 17.02. Thursday 21st saw a liner sensor fault on 37159 repaired in time for it to work L11-XL17 10.45 from King's Lynn to Peterborough, taking over from 37157. Earlier 37566 had an adblue problem on L10-XL16 and the 10.15 to Peterborough had 37568 forward from Lynn, but all services ran pretty much to the timetable.  On Friday 22nd the service ran well, with only K16-XL03 (37157) delayed and just two maintenance swaps occurred.
Saturday 23rd began with two buses sidelined as 37573 was still out of action at Volvo and 37156 was stopped for MOT preparation work. 37577 was spare at King's Lynn after a safety service. In the evening though 37567 on K15-XL02 was involved in an altercation with a runaway invalid carriage in Great Yarmouth, causing damage to the bus. This meant it had to be taken out of traffic and there was a gap in the service back to King's Lynn. Sunday passed without incident with the service all B9 worked.
A shortage of drivers on Monday 25th saw supervisors and a relief driver employed to keep the service running, most buses ran pretty much to time and with 37567/73 & 37156 unavailable there were no spare vehicles whatsoever. Only one swap was necessary though, 37564 came off Y6-XL12 at 20.35 and 37566 which had just arrived on L11-XL17 worked forward. 37567 was sent to 'Full Circle' for bodywork repairs.
Tuesday 26th will go down in X1 history as a bad day. To begin with, no driver was available to work the 07.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough and 09.05 back to Lowestoft as far as Lynn (XL11-K5). 37569 working K19-XL06 07.21 Wisbech - Lowestoft had an air problem in King's Lynn bus station, so 37159 which would have done K5 had it run, was called for and worked the remainder of K19. 37569 was quickly repaired, just in time to relieve 37160 on K3-XL09 which had a minor fault. 37160 was also soon fixed and took out the 10.32 to Lowestoft. Things then settled down briefly until 37576 failed in Wisbech bus station before departure on the 12.18 to Peterborough (Y13-XL19). With no spare vehicles, the service was cancelled here and the 13.05 ex Peterborough suffered the same fate as far as Lynn.
Bruce was at Lynn bus station where the 14.15 to Peterborough (K18-XL05) was also cancelled, this was because the bus which had arrived from Lowestoft on it, 37158, was then appropriated to work Y13-XL19 at 14.32 back to Lowestoft in place of 37576. Peterborough passengers had to wait until K19-XL06 at 14.45. A similar situation occurred at 17.00 when 37160 on K5-XL11 was turned round to work K18-XL05 17.02 to Great Yarmouth and the 17.15 to Peterborough didn't run. When 37577 on Y7-XL13 arrived at King's Lynn, it was despatched to Wisbech to work K5 at 19.30 and only the Peterborough - Wisbech bit of this was cancelled. So this was all a bit of a tragedy for the timetable. The problem with 37576 was its camshaft and no. 6 injector so this evening Richard fetched 36180 from Norwich to begin another short stint on the X1. This bus is fitted with a tachograph and can therefore stand in on the X1 unlike its sisters, so was really a surprise choice to receive wrap all over advertising (below). 34155 had a run out on the X2 today being noted 15.08 Lowestoft - Norwich.

Monday 11th - Sunday 17th February 2013 ~ They Are On Order !!

We have a  possible X1 blog 'exclusive' to start today's entry. It is now official that part of Thursday's huge order for 464 new buses announced by First Bus includes 22 new vehicles for the X1 service. They are Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s fitted with 6 cylinder Cummins engines and delivery could commence as soon as May this year. Blog readers have made it known that upgraded features they would like to see are leather effect seating and wi-fi and in response to customer satisfaction surveys these refinements are amongst several which will be fitted to the new fleet. Check out the full spec available on these buses here : http://www.alexander-dennis.com/uploads/files/e400_spec_sheet.pdf

So time would appear to be running out now for the trusty fleet of Volvo/Wright Geminis which have served us so well over the last five years. We begin our review of recent events on Monday 11th February, a day on which X1 timekeeping was very good and possibly the most notable happening was the appearance on the X2 of 32656 repainted in its new X2 branded livery. 37159 was off the road for MOT prep, but the remaining B7s were all at work and according to Richard Tucker, the chief engineer at King's Lynn, these vehicles give him less headaches than the B9s. All the B9s featured today except 37577 which needed new brake discs. Y6-XL12 swapped 37563 (due a service) at 17.45 for 37578 and earlier 37578 had come off K19-XL06 to be replaced by 37571 which was fresh from attention to an adblue fault. Shrove Tuesday was uneventful with 37564 stopped for servicing and an alternator fault and 37573 coming off L10-XL16 with an axle problem to be replaced by 37563.
Wednesday 13th was another excellent day for punctuality and the visit by 37571 to Vancouver Avenue whilst working the 19.50 King's Lynn to Peterborough was the only talking point. Late tonight 37565 was unable to work the last leg of K15-XL02 and instead 37574 off K16-XL03 substituted.
 Just when you thought this was going to be a good week, Thursday saw a five vehicle accident near Drayton Hall Lane, close to the start of the Dereham bypass around midday. This caused big queues in both directions on the A47, although the X1 seemed to escape relatively unscathed. Westbound from Wisbech, Y13-XL19 passed through on time with 37567, but K14-XL01 was heavily delayed, due off Wisbech at 12.48, 37156 appeared departing for Peterborough 28 late 'not in service' with passengers decanted at the Horsefair to wait for 37578 which was close behind on K15-XL02, 37156 then miraculously appeared just 2 late on the 13.35 ex Peterborough which by deduction must have started at Thorney. After this K16/17/18 all appeared roughly on time, although K17-XL04 had 37575 off King's Lynn garage rather than 37571 which had begun the turn, K19-XL06 though departed Wisbech for Peterborough 19 late and K1-XL07 following had lost 8 minutes before K2-XL08 came through on time with 37574/2/9 respectively. At the Lowestoft end Y7-XL13 failed to arrive due to the disruption. K3-XL09, K5-XL11 and L8-XL14 all swapped buses today and in the case of K5, 37160 came off for 37159 fresh off MOT to work forward.

Sprowston Manor Hotel was the venue for an evening honouring long standing employees of 'First' in the region this evening. Here, X1 boss Rosemary Parry, who manages the Excel drivers at all three depots, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and King's Lynn is seen here with First Bus MD Giles Fearnley.

Des Speed has accumulated 37 years service at Great Yarmouth and was one of five X1 drivers attending, along with King's Lynn engineers Colin Dack and Tim Rix. Giles Fearnley appears to have acquired an X1 Blog calendar !

Friday 15th saw just one blip in the timetable. L8-XL14 09.48 Wisbech - Peterborough departed 6 late with 37579, but there was then a prolonged wait before Y9-XL15 and L10-XL16 arrived within 5 minutes of each other with 37157 & 37158. Passengers were concentrated on 37158 and 37157 went empty to Peterborough returning 12 late. One other delay concerned 37571 on K4-XL10 which overheated in Gorleston at 14.20. Fitters attended with a replacement belt and 37571 continued on its way, being seen 20 late at Tilney heading for Peterborough. Michael B reports coach 20515 relegated to a Bernard Matthews contract working this afternoon. 37573 which last worked on Monday remained at Vancouver Avenue with its axle fault. On the X2 Dart 43489 was an unusual sight on the 10.38 Lowestoft to Norwich and also seen by Malcolm was 37157 on Y9-XL15 arriving 16 late this afternoon (see above).
Timekeeping on Saturday was quite good, the poorest point coming in the early afternoon when the 13.48 Wisbech - Peterborough (K16-XL03) departed 11 late and the corresponding eastbound 13.56 to Lowestoft (Y13-XL19) came in from Peterborough 13 late with 37579. At around 17.30, 37158 working K1-XL07 lost all its air in Wisbech and 37157 had to come to the rescue and work through to Great Yarmouth. This was the only swap of the day though. 37159 was enjoying more time off at King's Lynn for some rear panels to be patched up. Ideally Lowestoft should receive just one B7 on a Saturday evening in order to avoid a refuelling manouevre on Monday, L11-XL17 being the only weekday Lowestoft starter which is suitable for a B7. Today though 37160 went through on K16-XL03 and with 37157 ending up on K1, two B7s will now have to be sent out on Monday.
Finally to Sunday and a glorious sunny day for a change. Bruce noted most services within five minutes of time. The service was entirely B9 worked, but at some point XL01 turn had 37568 replaced by 37579.

Friday 1st - Sunday 10th February 2013 ~ Well Behaved Buses

It's quite a while since I wrote a blog entry, but despite this there is little to report. The week just gone must rank in the most successful since Geminis took over the X1. By my reckoning, there were six vehicle swaps during the entire week which leaves 118 diagrams starting and finishing with the same bus. Any bus company would quite rightly be proud of such a record,
February began with 37573 having its camshaft problem sorted, but no sooner was this back on the road than 37578 disgraced itself by suffering an injector failure, It was operating K5-XL11 on Friday 1st, but 37576 took over - I think for the 17.15 King's Lynn to Peterborough. This diagram finishes at Lynn at 20.00, but 37576 was then called upon to take over from 37565 on Y6-XL12 20.35 to Lowestoft. L12-XL18 had 37575 removed with a rear suspension problem, but 37574 was spare to take over at 11.15.
Timekeeping was fair with many services running 6 to 8 minutes late, but nothing any greater than this. X2 sightings from Malcolm included Dart 43463 on the 13.38 to Norwich - is this booked a Dart I wonder ? The 15.38 service had Palatine 34155.
Considering what a successful week was ahead, this looked highly unlikely as of the evening of Saturday 2nd at King's Lynn. With 37575 having its suspension examined and 37578 stopped with its injector fault, this just left one spare bus, this was 37565 which took over K18-XL05 from an ailing 37574 during the afternoon. At 20.30 37563 was brought in on Y6-XL12 with a dashboard warning showing, With 37579 and 37159 earmarked for heavy cleaning, 37158 which had arrived on Y7-XL13 was started up to replace it, however, this then failed with an ABS modulator fault. 37576 which had come in on L11-XL17 was still being examined and cleaned, so this only left 37157 which had just had the treatment after arriving at 20.00 on K5-XL11. It was 37157 then which took the 20.35 to Lowestoft in exactly the same fashion that 37576 had done the previous night. Anyway it was a sunny morning on Saturday and here are some pictures from Des of buses on the Yarmouth diversionary route :

I think this is 37569 on the 09.25 from Lowestoft, though I stand to be corrected. (Photo :  Des Speed)

37156 takes the 09.55 from Lowestoft over unfamiliar territory (Des Speed)

Des says he was experimenting with a new camera and was none to impressed with the results. Looks OK to me Des ! This is 37568 working K1-XL07 08.00 Wisbech - Lowestoft with Paul smiling for the camera !

Sundays are usually fairly predictable with just ten diagrams, but some swaps were made on this occasion. XL02 with 37572 is supposed to arrive in Lowestoft at 20.30 and then do the 20.48 back to Lynn, 37577 which had done XL09 13.10 from Peterborough, due into Lowestoft at 17.30 did the 20.48 instead and XL06 10.10 from Peterborough which was 37576 and which is then supposed to work the 1 service to Martham, instead came back on 577s turn, the 17.48 Lowestoft - King's Lynn. Meanwhile the driver of 37565 had experienced unusual vibrations and XL07 changed vehicles at Lynn with 37579 working the 18.50 to Peterborough and 20.10 back to Lowestoft.
I had a meeting in London on Monday 4th, so took K5-XL11 with 37570 at 10.06 from Walpole Highway to Lynn, bang on time. To my surprise though, on arrival here it went 'not in service' to the garage, see picture here :

Shortly afterwards, 37565 (hopefully vibration free - see above) appeared in its place on the 10.32 to Lowestoft. As we arrived in the bus station, 37156 was seen departing for Peterborough 11 minutes late on L10-XL16 which is due off at 10.15.
On my return from the Capital, I took advantage of my free pass and took 18.35 King's Lynn to Lowestoft with 37577 as far as the Southgates, coincidentally with the same driver who had driven me earlier. I then walked down the road to have a peek at what was in the garage. Here I was told that my service forward was having to change vehicles owing to passenger illness and needed cleaning, so I was able to board the replacement vehicle - would you believe 37570 again ! - for onward travel back to Walpole on the 18.50 ex the bus station. 37567 soon arrived and passengers were transferred with only a slight delay.
Bruce kindly sent me details of Monday's buses on which there was one other evening swap, Y6-XL12 having 37572 , due a safety service,  replaced by a repaired 37158.
The rest of the week has gone very smoothly. Tuesday saw 18 out of the 19 turns viewed at Wisbech and most were on time, the maximum lateness recorded going to 37567 on K5-XL11 which was 9 late to work the 09.56 to Lowestoft and later 37564 was similarly delayed on K14-XL01 14.26 eastbound. Punctuality on Wednesday was even better and even 37157 working K16-XL03 13.48 Wisbech to Peterborough with Des at the wheel turned a 7 minute late departure into an on time arrival returning eastbound. This was all the more surprising as earlier, the Acle Straight had been closed with diversions via Filby. 37570 on K14-XL01 also driven by Mr Speed was 14 late at Acle, but on time departing Lynn at 12.45. L10-XL16 with 37568 started from Dereham this morning owing to no driver being available at Lowestoft.
On Thursday morning, 37576 had a problem with its lights and instead of working its rostered turn , the Y6-XL12 05.50 Great Yarmouth - Peterborough, it was decided to drop it down to work Y13-XL19, however, repairs weren't completed in time so instead, coach 20514 deputised on the 07.30 Yarmouth - Lowestoft and 08.15 Lowestoft - Peterborough as far as Yarmouth where 37576 was fit to continue. If one discounts this incident though, a third successive day passed without any bus swaps. Punctuality was pretty good too. Malcolm Hicks reports X2 services still giving employment for Palatines and today 34155 did the 10.38 to Norwich with 34156 doing the 15.08.
So to Friday 8th and again ten minutes was the heaviest delay noted. K14-XL01 had 37575 swapped for 37569 at lunchtime and later on 37158 off K5-XL11 replaced 37571 which had an adblu fault on L8-XL14 21.35 Lynn - Lowestoft. 37578 returned to traffic today on K4-XL10. Over at Lowestoft two successive services departed from the resort with the old timers, 34156 was the ao.38 and 34155 the 11.08 to Norwich.
Saturday passed without incident although Jamie did see an X1 on Wisbech bypass at lunchtime which was probably a reaction to an earlier accident between Swaffham and King's Lynn. 37159 is now stopped for MOT work until Thursday. Sunday 10th saw some delays on the route with Bruce reporting the 13.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough passing by with 37575 at 14.30, 19 minutes late. An hour later 37572 was also seen running 11 late, but 37569 due past him at 16.11 was on time.
Too good to last ? Well probably, but next time we will have news of forthcoming roadworks at Gorleston and Hockering as well as the week long closure of Norwich bus station for roof repairs.

Friday 25th - Thursday 31st January 2013 ~ No News Is Good News ?

Well the long awaited news about new buses will have to wait a while longer. There would appear to be nothing happening on this front before May, the only thing that seems certain is that the new fleet will number 22 vehicles, rather than the 17 B9s currently used. At the moment, the balance is made up with the B7s which were originally used on Norwich city services. More news as I receive it.
The X1 continues to operate pretty well with the existing fleet it must be said, although niggling faults are now becoming more regular on the B9s, though this is to be expected considering they have travelled on average almost half a million miles each since their introduction.

On the route, I omitted to mention that since the end of last year, the good citizens of Tilney All Saints have had the luxury of a new bus shelter and seat for eastbound passengers. The westbound stop is situated somewhat precariously with a dyke below and no room for a shelter, however, this is one of the least patronised stops west of King's Lynn.

Peter took this picture of 37156 braving the wintry elements on L11-XL17 on Friday lunchtime in Peterborough, the rear advert  claims it is 'Spring all year round' !

Friday 25th January is our first port of call in this report. K16-XL03 with 37575 was 13 late departing Lowestoft this morning, but other services ran to time. The day was marred by 37573 being removed from traffic on K15-XL02 with a failed camshaft. The service was taken over by 37579. Earlier 579 had done a trip to Peterborough and back on K5-XL11 but at 10.30 was taken off for servicing at Vancouver Avenue. 37157 which had come in from the east on Y9-XL15 was turned round to do K5 at 10.32 to Lowestoft and in a convoluted swap for which no doubt there is an explanation,  37159 then took Y9 to Peterborough at 09.45 after it had received a new windscreen. After this frenetic period, everything settled down for the rest of the day, although early evening saw Y7-XL13, the first terminator at King's Lynn from Lowestoft arrive around 50 minutes late with 37563 and with 37572 on L8-XL14 only a minute or so behind it. It was an interesting day on the X2 with 32652 appearing in the new livery and elderly Dart 43459 expiring at Beccles on the 13.38 from Lowestoft,  while on Thursday Enviro 200 no. 44513 had been seen on the 14.08 ex Lowestoft.
Saturday 26th saw 37158 halted for work to commence on its MOT preparation, but not until it had worked K3-XL09. In the late afternoon, Bruce saw 37157 on K1-XL07 running about 25 late on the 15.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough and K2-XL08 with 37565 was only about five minutes behind it. K4-XL10 had 37577 removed late in the day with a gear fault and 37567 which had arrived at just after 19.00 on L9-XL15 worked K4 forward to Great Yarmouth at 19.35. Meanwhile 37579 on K17-XL04 had to be swapped at Lowestoft and 37156 off K16-KL03 worked the last leg of K17, the 19.48 Lowestoft - King's Lynn which arrived at its destination around 20 late. 37575 passed the 500,000 miles mark today whilst working L8-XL14 !

Sunday January 27th was notable only for the use of B7 37159 on diagram XL09, this is the turn which terminates at King's Lynn at 20.44 as there is a gap in the timetable on Sundays with there being no 20.50 thence to Peterborough. 32654 had a journey on Lowestoft town service 102 today when Enviro 44512 was unavailable.
A new week is always a good time for a fresh start, but 28th January was a bad Monday.

Roy writes "Today saw the start of disruption in the Market Gates area in Great Yarmouth. The X1 services have been moved to the east side of Market Gates outside the Troll Cart public house with buses regaining their normal route via Alexandra Road, Yarmouth Way and South Quay". 37160 was 11 late from Lowestoft on K16-XL03 this morning and this afternoon Y7-XL13 arrived with 37571 14 late, while all other services seen were on time - thanks to Malcolm Hicks for this info.
Temporary traffic lights at  the Weasenham Lane Junction in Wisbech caused problems. L8-XL14 10.35 from Peterborough was the first service dealyed, it left Wisbech 2 late on the 09.48 to Peterborough, returning 17 late with 37579. To avoid the area, services then began taking the alternative route via Wisbech St. Mary, depriving passengers at Weasenham Lane of a service ! 37565 on L12-XL18 was noted at Walpole Highway on the 12.35 ex Peterborough running just 2 minutes late, but L11-XL17 had obviously taken the normal route as it then appeared behind L12 running 44 late with 37157. At around 3pm, 37563 was seen in the Old Market on the diversionary route running 5 late on K15-XL02 eastbound, while K18-XL05 then came through 13 late with 37156.

37576 was back today (Monday)  and is seen here at Walsoken on K4-XL10 08.35 from Peterborough. It did not last the day however .....

Yes 37576 was back in service today after extensive bodywork repairs, but it decided to die at Dereham on K4-XL10 at 15.45 with loss of gears. Apparently its ECU plugs needed a clean - very technical ! K4 finished up with 37571 taking the 19.35 King's Lynn - Great Yarmouth. Another swap occurred with K1-XL07 which had 37572 removed for 37564.

34108 on an X1 short negotiates the diversion from Alexandra Road into Yarmouth Way on Monday.
Photo copyright : http://eastnorfolkbus.blogspot.co.uk/

Tuesday 29th was if anything marginally worse for disruption than Monday as during the morning a broken down car blocked one side of the A47 between Thorney Toll and Guyhirn. Services continued to be diverted via Wisbech St. Mary. K4-XL10 09.26 Wisbech - Lowestoft with 37572 was seen at Walsoken running 29 minutes late and K5-XL11 with 37563 came along 17 late. 37564 came off Y7-XL13 at just before 11.30 with a Nox fault, but was fit again to do K17-XL04 forward to Peterborough at 13.45 replacing 37577 which again had its gears problem.

34186 leaves Norwich with a full compliment of senior citizens on an X1 short on Wednesday. Photo : Richard Thomas

To Wednesday 30th then and with the roadworks at Weasenham Lane over, buses regained their normal route in Wisbech. Timekeeping was for the most part very good with only three services seen late, K3-XL09 08.05 from Peterborough had lost 10 minutes with 37577 and K18-XL05 14.15 King's Lynn - Peterborough ran 11 late with 37159, but Y9-XL15 is thought to have become delayed by an A47 accident at Colney and it left Wisbech 36 late without its passengers who had been transferred to 37571 on L10-XL16 itself 8 late and which then followed 37157 westbound. Mid morning, 37576 failed again - this time at Norwich on K19-XL06 with a loss of gears. At some point 37564 on K4-XL10 took over K19-XL06 with noisy 37160 filling the breach on K4.

Richard Thomas captured 37578 departing Norwich on K15-XL02 10.55 to Peterborough while fitters are attending errant 37576 in the background. Check out Richard's pictures at :
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/hertsman_images/

The 06.52 King's Lynn - Lowestoft (K17-XL04)  with 37565 calls at its temporary stop, handy for breakfast at Wetherspoons on Wednesday morning. 34114 is leaving on a 'short' to Norwich. Photo :Des Speed

Finally on this entry to Thursday  January 31st and on my birthday I'm pleased to report the X1 running normally, seemingly without a hitch or even a swap - now that's what we like ! Des sends us a report of  a morning peak time journey today. Driving 37159 on the Y9-XL15 06.45 Gorleston JPH to Peterborough as far as King's Lynn Southgates, he was on time until queuing out of Norwich was encountered, it then took seven minutes to exit onto the A47 at Hockering. School traffic at Dereham Neatherd School meant a 10 minute deficit by this point and only one minute was gained by arrival in Lynn.
Finally today for those of you with a railway interest too, Matthew has asked me to tell you about his new blog which you can find here  : http://eastangliarailwaypage.blogspot.co.uk/

Thursday 17th - Thursday 24th January 2013 ~ Good Days and Bad

The adverse weather conditions continued to affect the X1 service on several days during this period. Going back to Thursday 17th January, I've managed to piece things together thanks to various friends as myself and Bruce were not able to view everything. The morning seemed to run reasonably well in the west, but the afternoon was a different matter. Further east there were problems in the morning though. Malcolm didn't see any X2 services this morning, but he did spot 37156 arriving into Lowestoft on K16-XL03 at 10.40 where it had been due at 09.40, so precisely an hour late. It left 'not in service' at 10.42 and was next seen by Bruce at 14.10 heading to Peterborough, now running 37 late. K17-XL04 appeared to run near to time with 37579 being seen approaching Wisbech from the Wisbech St. Mary route at just before 16.00. K19, K1 & K2 (XL13-15) were delayed and some overtaking may have taken place. 37572 on K19-XL13 16.05 Peterborough - Lowestoft arrived at the rail station at 17.05 and departed a minute later, so it was running in the times of K2-XL15. Bruce saw two Peterborough bound services leaving Wisbech almost together at 16.15, so presumably K1 and K2 which by now were running with 37577 & 37573. 37576 was involved in a skirmish with a car today while working Y6-XL12 and had to be replaced by 37575 for repairs to be made. 37160 was fresh from MOT this evening. 37156 & 37577 returned from Lowestoft to Lynn tonight in place of 37571 & 37572 caused by the day's disruption.
Friday 18th began with 37577 seen parked in a layby near Walsoken on K1-XL07, all must have been Ok though as it continued the turn and was on time by the afternoon. Diversions were in operation for much of the morning after the A47 was closed at Necton because of an accident, David Leathart was surprised to see a Lowestoft bound X1 in Watton High Street at 10.10, it turned left at Queens Hall traffic lights and headed for Dereham. I am told that only eastbound buses used this diversion. Delays at Necton meant that Y6-XL12 05.50 from Great Yarmouth did not arrive in King's Lynn in time for its 08.15 departure to Peterborough, so 37567 was sent from Vancouver Avenue to form this service. When 37578 arrived on Y6, it became Y7-XL13 and some other shifting of vehicles resulted. Afternoon punctuality was pretty good for a Friday, but 37159 on K18-XL05 was changed at King's Lynn for 37573.
 So we move on to Saturday 19th January and overnight snow caused less disruption than expected. In fact this was probably the best day for X1 punctuality SINCE I STARTED THIS BLOG !! Drinks all round then (well unless you are driving that is !). I viewed all 19 services passing through Wisbech and every one was within 3 minutes of time or even slightly early, with the exception of one. The black sheep was K2-XL08 15.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough which passed me almost 6 minutes late with 37579. Otherwise an absolutely splendid day and one I will certainly remember for a long time.37157 was stopped today for compressor attention and then for MOT preparation. 37566 found itself on L8-XL14 today, but was needed for a safety service on Monday. Because of this it was taken off L8 at 18.45 and 37564 replaced it. 37566 was then required to relieve 37577 at 19.45 on Y10-XL16, so it did the 19.50 to Peterborough and back before being positioned over the pits for attention on Monday as scheduled.
The evening of Sunday 20th saw First withdraw services early because of snow. This barely affected the X1 though, as by this time drivers were in position to complete their turns. The driver of 37565 on the 21.35 King's Lynn - Lowestoft saw very few passengers and would have travelled empty had it not been for a single passenger who needed to get to Yarmouth and then once he'd successfully arrived there, another person who wanted to go to Gorleston. Because of the paucity of traffic, the bus was at its destination on time. The 21.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough which should have been 37573 is believed to have been cancelled because of the deteriorating weather conditions. 37571 was replaced by 37156 at some stage today on XL09 diagram.
Monday 21st January was an extremely unusual day on the X1 with the service effectively running in two parts, from Lowestoft to Yarmouth (or possibly Norwich - I'm not sure on that one) and Norwich - Peterborough. Some services were cancelled and as an example of how things worked out, 37156 worked K3-XL09 as booked until arrival in Norwich at 11.20, it then turned round and became K17-XL04 11.55 Norwich - Peterborough and again back as far as Norwich where it finally became L11-XL17 18.20 Norwich - King's Lynn.

37156 after it had retired for the night after a rather unusual day.

Malcolm was at Lowestoft to see some of the shuttles at that end noting 37572 arriving at 10.08 and departing as a Service 1 to Yarmouth at 10.28, 37578 arrived at 10.24 and 37575 at 10.47. In the afternoon 37575 arrived at 13.51 and left again at 14.06 while 37578 arrived again at 14.34. Dart 43465 was turned out for the 14.38 X2 to Norwich. 32651 was in contrast noted by Malcolm on a contract working.
On Tuesday 22nd, the X1 service reverted to its normal weekday timetable. Bruce noted 37573 on K3-XL09 08 56 Wisbech - Lowestoft travelling almost in convoy with 37159 which was out on a test run. 37579 on K4-XL10 following came through 14 late and going the other way L8-XL14 passed through en route to Peterborough 12 late with 37567. Things then seemed to pretty much run to timetable. K14-XL01 12.15 King's Lynn to Peterborough had 37159 after an obviously successful test run, it having replaced 37566 at Lynn. At Lowestoft, 37156 arrived 17 late on K16-XL03, getting away westbound just 9 late. 37568 with K17-XL04 then came in 11 late and departed 3 late. 37158 on K18-XL05 then arrived 10 late. The X2 had Dart 42458 on the 09.05 from Norwich and Palatines 34156 on the 10.38 and 34155 on the 14.38 to Norwich.
The early part of the week saw 37576 still sidelined with its bodywork repairs and 37157 on MOT work.

37563 bang on time with Wednesday's 10.36 from Walpole Highway to Lowestoft (XL12)

  Wednesday 23rd's service ran fairly smoothly with just two bus changes required and timekeeping was good on the 24th with only Y13-XL19 and 37160 exceeding 10 minutes delay and even this came back from Peterborough just 5 late. Now isn't it this year we are supposed to be getting new buses ? More news on this next time.

Thursday 10th - Wednesday 16th January 2013 ~ Winter Arrives

Certainly been eventful since the last blog hasn't it ? Not that that seemed likely if we go back to Thursday 10th, when all was relatively calm. Punctuality in fact was quite exceptional, 37570 on Y6-XL12 09.35 from Peterborough was 15 late through Wisbech and the same out of King's Lynn, but all other services were behaving. Even 37160 on Y7-XL13 managed to be on time into Wisbech despite very foggy conditions, though I suspect 37570 on the late Y6 had picked up most of its intended passengers. Congestion on the A141 at rings End looks to have tailed back onto the A47 this afternoon and one or two buses went via Wisbech St. Mary.
Friday 11th was almost a repeat of Thursday with good timekeeping and a few services travelling via Wisbech St. Mary. 37563 on K14-XL01 13.35 from Peterborough was 16 late having travelled via the normal route, but again other services did well. 37579 was stopped today with a wheel bearing needing attention. Saturday 12th saw 37579 still being worked on and 37565 joined it in the garage with a data link fault. This evening 37160 was stopped on arrival for the start of its MOT preparation. Bruce kept me up to date with proceedings.

A surprise on Sunday 13th was 37156 on XL06 10.10 Peterborough - Lowestoft instead of a B9. This turn then works Service 1 and finishes at Yarmouth.

So to Monday 14th and the start of an eventful week. With snow forecast for the afternoon, the omens were not good, however, amounts were smaller than expected. At Walpole it fell for two hours from around 14.10, but the rest of the day was dry except for some light rain at about 22.00.

Wyn battling his way through a blizzard at Walpole Highway with 37563 this afternoon - commendably only 7 minutes late considering the conditions.

37572 has now completed half a million miles, not too many of them in conditions like this though, This was Gareth guiding 572 through Walpole at the height of this afternoon's blizzard

L11-XL17 ran sufficiently late in the morning to terminate at Wisbech and restart from there eastbound with 37159 at 12.56. Generally, services ran up to 15 minutes late, although the final service into King's Lynn, K19-XL06 from Lowestoft was seen arriving slightly early at 00.36 with 37572.

The fun and games began on Tuesday 15th. Morning services to Peterborough were running behind time and noted through Wisbech were the 09.18 (Y7-XL13) with 37577 7 late, but full as it transpired that 37576 on Y6 had been running so late it went empty from Lynn to Peterborough - not a good start and very unusual for a peak time service Next was  L8-XL14 with 37566 running 19 late - amazingly this made up a lot of time and came back only 7 late. Westbound again, Y9-XL15 was 24 late with 37157 and L10-XL16 14 late with 37567. L11-XL17 came through 13 late with 37573, but then services ran to time until K15-XL02. This turned out to be the last service to get through Norwich before a huge snowstorm which paralysed the whole city. Snow showers had been forecast, but nothing on the scale which materialised.

Norwich this afternoon with 36173 amongst the stranded buses on Ketts Hill. Photo from a brave Dave Hodkinson !
Sister 36178 has become a media star following attempts by passengers to push her up Rose lane in the city :
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/video_passers_by_help_push_bus_up_rose_lane_norwich_in_the_snow_1_1794436

Dave Hodkinson's picture shows the chronic ice which led to a 19.00 shutdown of 'First' services in Norwich tonight.

 Eventually, because of the chronically icy conditions,  the X1 was suspended between Great Yarmouth and Dereham with a shuttle service operating at either end. 37574 which had operated L12 ran through from Lowestoft to Peterborough and then worked the 12.35 back as far as King's Lynn. On arrival here it was turned round to become K17 13.45 back to Peterborough on which it was a creditable 12 late at Wisbech. Later 37574 was seen making a third run of the day from Lynn to Peterborough with K4-XL10 16.45 departure. Spare vehicles were at a premium with 37569 o/s awaiting injector sleeves and 37160 on MOT. All diagrams went out of the window and I popped over to the King's Lynn control room at shortly before 21.00 to see how things were going. 37566 departed Lynn at 20.50 with passengers for Dereham, while earlier a B9 was seen leaving Wisbech at 20.10 to Peterborough, only 12 minutes ahead of the next service which didn't run. As a result this bus formed the 21.10 from Peterborough rather than a delayed 20.10. 37571 was seen arriving at Lynn from Dereham at 21.35 in the path of Y13-XL19. The last service to Peterborough passed Bruce at 22.35 (due 22.11). Over at Yarmouth 37567/72/78/79 were garaged ready for Wednesday morning when 37577 arrived as well, so one bus was diverted to Lowestoft to correct the numbers.
Wednesday morning conditions were OK in the west, but still very dicey in Norwich. By the time services left Lynn for Peterborough, they were around 30 minutes late, but passengers probably didn't notice, unaware that they were catching a late bus rather than the one they had bargained for. Cheryl was not impressed with the Twitter feed from 'First' and phoned me for updates which were relayed by a combination of Bruce and viewing the Southgates webcam. The first service from Yarmouth did get through today with 37567 viewed departing South Gates at 08.39 (about 18 late), then passing Bruce at Walpole at 08.55. Malcolm later reported 37567 being 13 late into Lowestoft but departing just 5 late, so almost back on schedule. There were several unexplained swaps during the day which Bruce reported diligently as ever. K15-XL02 looks to have done a sprint to Peterborough before coming back in service, noted passing Bruce at 15.28 (23 late). Malcolm reports L8-XL14 arriving in Lowestoft this afternoon with 37570 35 late.
More snow forecast for Friday, so watch this space !

Wednesday 2nd - Wednesday 9th January 2013 ~ Par for the Course

A Happy New Year to all our readers ! Seems a while ago now doesn't it ? The first week of 2013 has been relatively uneventful, but let's have a look at it anyway :
Wednesday 2nd Jan. The year begins with a day of good timekeeping, Y9-XL15 lost 11 minutes with 37157 and L11-XL17 12 minutes with 37568, but everything else was good. 37579 on K4-XL10 misbehaved with a faulty starter motor after the initial trip to Peterborough, so 37563 off maintenance did the rest of the turn. 37570 needed new brake pads so in the afternoon came off K19-XL06 and a revived 37579 took over. A problem with the ticket machine on 37571 saw it swapped for 37564 on Y6-XL12 20.35 King's Lynn - Lowestoft.
Thursday 3rd Jan. Temporary lights at Necton caused minor delays to services today, but west of King's Lynn punctuality was excellent 37577 on L8-XL14 was 6 late on the heavily loaded 09.48 Wisbech - Peterborough, but only 1 minute late returning eastbound and 37572 on Y9-XL15 was three late westbound and one early coming back. Just one swap today, again involving 37571 which did K17-XL04 until 13.37 with 37156 taking the turn forward to Peterborough at 13.45 from Lynn.

34111 photographed on a short by Jo Watson

Friday 4th Jan. Another great day for timekeeping - even the fact that L11-XL17 with 37159 passed through Wisbech 9 late westbound and 37157 arrived in Lowestoft 17 late on Y9-XL15 couldn't take the gloss off a very good day otherwise. K17-XL04 was the only bus change reported with 564 giving way to 565 this afternoon.
Saturday 5th Jan. I didn't see much today, but things seem to have gone smoothly. B7 37159 was seen arriving at the Southgates from Lowestoft at 14.16, a minute after it should have left westbound, but that was the only delay noted. 37578 is at last almost ready to return to service after a prolonged lay off for repairs. It now just needs an inoperable destination system sorting. No swaps were required which is always a good sign and the buses weren't choked with football supporters as some people suspected they might be with Norwich playing away at Peterborough in the FA Cup, for which a special bargain fare was available.
Sunday 6th Jan was just an ordinary Sunday with ten B9 worked diagrams, so to Monday 7th and B7 worked services ran about 10 late, 37159 on Y9-XL15, 37160 on L11-XL17 and 37156 on K18-XL05 were all late by this margin westbound through Wisbech, although surprisingly, the latter did regain a lot of this and was only 3 late coming back eastbound. Worst delay affected Y13-XL19 which had 37563 and was 13 late on the 11.45 Lynn - Peterborough and this had increased to 20 minutes coming back. 37572 replaced it for the 14.32 King's Lynn - Lowestoft.
Tuesday 8th Jan saw some services diverted via Wisbech St. Mary due to delays in the Guyhirn area. One service which ran via the correct routewas L8-XL14 which left Wisbech 8 late westbound and came back 13 late. 37566 on L12-XL18 expired at Middleton with a water leak at around 11.00, so 37572 took over. 37566 came out again later replacing 37159 on K18-XL05. At last 37578 returned to traffic on K4-XL10, it had last worked on December 20th.
Up to date then with Wednesday 9th January and today more services ran via Wisbech St. Mary, particularly in the middle of the day. 37577 on K17-XL04 used this route in both directions this afternoon. Tonight an accident on the Acle Straight saw services diverted via Filby and K15 with 37568 took this route,still though arriving in King's Lynn on time. Diagram K1-XL07 had an interesting day, beginning with 37563, this gave way to 37579 at 15.15 from King's Lynn eastbound, however, a mysterious rumbling noise saw 579 taken off on arrival back in Lynn and 37570 went forward as the 18.02 King's Lynn - Great Yarmouth. All the X1 Geminis were involved in the service at some point today except 37574 which was out of service having new brake pads fitted.
On a final note 37572 should pass the half million miles mark on either Sunday or Monday of next week !

Saturday 29th - Monday 31st December 2012 ~ Goodbye 2012

A nice quiet end to 2012 with pretty much everything behaving. An errant pheasant managed to smash the destination screen on 37565 on Saturday. This resulted in the bus running empty from Norwich - Lowestoft and back to King's Lynn where 37567 took over the turn (K2-XL08) at 15.45. One other swap was on K4-XL10 when 37579 was removed at 19.30 for heavy cleaning and 37563 worked forward - this had already done a day's work on L9-XL15.
On Sunday services seemed to run very well to timetable, there was just one surprise with 37160 working Y8-XL08 instead of 37573. B7s are seldom used on Sundays and 37160 had to visit Vancouver Avenue for refuelling before departing on the 19.55 Southgates - Peterborough. 37569 & 37579 were stopped for deep cleaning today and mileage leader 37572 was also inactive as it required attention to its water pump. The half million miles mark is imminent for 572 and tonight it had almost completed 496,000 miles.
New Year's Eve saw 37572 back on the road working K19-XL06. 37158 was serviced during the morning and then took K15-XL02 this afternoon replacing 37563. Stopped today were 37579 (starter motor) and 37578 which is continuing with its brake modification, having not worked since 20th. The service mirrored Christmas Eve with an early shutdown today. Services ran well with only L11-XL17 appreciably late this morning having lost 17 minutes by the time it reached Wisbech with 37159.

37568 photographed by Kieran Smith

Time as usual to say a huge thank you to everyone involved with the unofficial X1 blog, our regular contributors, Des, Bruce, Malcolm, Cheryl, Peter and all the rest - oh, not forgetting Victor Meldrew's occasional rants. Your contributions are always valued and thanks too to Kieran Smith and Dave Hodkinson for keeping me supplied with photographs. On a personal note I'd like to thank Nigel Barratt and his team at First who have kindly issued me with another free pass - a most unexpected and appreciated gift. Thanks too to all the local team at King's Lynn for their help over the year and finally to the X1 drivers, most of whom seem more than happy to have a camera pointed in their direction from time to time. Hope you all have a Happy & Healthy 2013.  Gerard

Saturday 22nd - Friday 28th December ~ A Star from the East ?

Well a short week, so a short blog but with a few more pictures. The weather has hardly been conducive to good photography lately with some really dark dismal days.
Saturday 22nd supplied us with a pre-Christmas surprise. 37564 managed to get 'lost in the system', presumably a pre-Christmas hangover. In its place, passengers on L12-XL18 had surprise transport today in the shape of Paragon coach 20514. This was particularly noteworthy as it was the first coach to work to Peterborough since April 20th and only the third this year. As usual the weather was dire, so instead of photographing it, I took a little video of her splashing her way back to Lowestoft :

Now just in case the video fails to work, here's a picture of 20514 taken by Bruce in the appalling weather conditions :

Not surprisingly on such a busy Saturday, punctuality suffered on some services. L11-XL17 12.05 from Peterborough passed through Walton Highway with 37572 21 minutes late and 20514 on L12-XL18 (above) followed running 13 late. 37572 was changed over for 37575 at King's Lynn and this did the rest of the turn. the B7s were also late runners with 37159 on K15-XL02 (it had taken over from 37576 at 12.45) returning 10 late and going west the two regular B7 turns, K16-XL03 & K18-XL05 passed through 25 & 20 late respectively with 37158 & 37160.
On Sunday 23rd, 37574 was in trouble again, this time with a faulty adblu sensor and 'lumpy' gears. It was in use for most of the day but was eventually replaced at King's Lynn by 37569. This had started the day on diagram 10 and was itself replaced by 37156. 37578 is having a scheduled brake modification carried out at King's Lynn, so may not be out for a while.
So to Christmas Eve and an early shutdown as usual. This meant Y6-XL12 and L8-XL14 terminated at King's Lynn and K17-XL04 & K19-XL06 at Yarmouth and Lowestoft to compensate. 37568 on K14-XL01 was seen at lunchtime with a faulty destination display which resembled a snowdrift. Timekeeping was good except in the case of K19-XL06 which swapped 37564 for 37566 this afternoon and then ran 18 late to Peterborough. Later services were delayed by a fatal accident at Wendling which resulted in an unscheduled diversion. The X1 vehicles spent Christmas at King's Lynn except for 37565/71/75 & 37159 at Great Yarmouth and 37566/68/70/77 at Lowestoft.
A normal weekday service resumed on Thursday 27th and the morning service ran very well. Services from Peterborough were delayed in the afternoon though with L12-XL18 (37566) which had been just 8 late going west returning 19 late, then came 37571 on Y13-XL19 12 late, 37160 on K14-XL01 26 late, 37569 on K15-XL02 6 late and 37156 on K16-XL03 23 late before things got back to timetable. Two turns changed buses for maintenance purposes, L10-XL16 had 37568 taken off for servicing and attention to its destination display at 10.15 and 37573 worked the rest of the diagram. Later 37574 was taken off K19-XL06 and 37157 went forward to Peterborough at 14.45. Over on the X2 there was a nice surprise with 32655 returning to traffic in its new colours.

32655 with X2 branding and route detail seen in Norwich this lunchtime. Photo : Kieran Smith

Typical of recent weather,  37564 dashes away from Walton Highway on Y13-XL19, the 14.04 to Lowestoft on Friday afternoon.

Friday 28th was fairly straightforward with 37579 being changed for 37568 on K15-XL02 and most services running reasonably to time. That said, 37157 came through Walton Highway 18 late on the 14.15 Lynn to Peterborough (K18-XL05).
Although this blog concentrates on the 'through' X1 services, the shuttles from Great Yarmouth and Gorleston can still produce almost anything as shown by the pictures below, all taken by Kieran on the afternoon of the 27th.

Photographs by courtesy of Kieran Smith.

Greetings to you all !

Thursday December 13th 2012 - Friday December 21st 2012 ~ Seven Years Bad Luck ?

Isn't that what they say if you smash a mirror ? Read on dear friends.......

Pre Christmas traffic doesn't seem to have affected X1 service schedules quite as badly as in recent years. Here's the latest goings on from X1 land. Like many of you I suspect, I was given the worlds worst cold recently so info for 13th & 14th is a little sketchy as I was absent from my office window. On Thursday 13th 37572 was taken off Y6-XL12 in the evening, but it has nevertheless been out every day for a month, 37159 off Y9-XL15 finished the turn. Another swap to an eastbound service occurred with 37573 coming off K4-XL10 and 37568 taking over for the 19.35 King's Lynn - Great Yarmouth. On to Friday and there were numerous swaps with all the Geminis being involved at some point apart from 37574 which is still laid low with a gearbox problem. 37156 had a nightmare run to Peterborough on K16-XL03 departing Southgates 18 late, traffic then took irs toll and the bus was 29 late into Peterborough rail station. Despite quick loading and a 20 minute defIcit leaving Queensgate, 156 was 32 late at Wisbech. Des' next turn, K18-XL05 was 12 late from King's Lynn eastbound but thankfully lost little further time. This was with 37160 which had earlier terminated at Wisbech on the 14.15 from Lynn after failing to start. A faulty relay was replaced by fitters.  37571 suffered a puncture on Nar Ouse Way at 12.25 on L10-XL16 and K15-XL02 never ran from Lowestoft at 09.25, starting instead at Yarmouth at 10.12 with 37569.
After a quiet period, Saturday saw a bit of excitement -firstly L12-XL18 managed to overtake L11-XL17 meaning that 37157 off L12 ended up on L11. This was not without incident as 37157 then became involved in a skirmish in Gorleston losing  a wing mirror and mirror arm. On arrival in Yarmouth, Paragon coach 20515 was sent to the rescue and this then worked forward to King's Lynn. Initially it was intended to send it back east on L8-XL14 21.35 King's Lynn - Lowestoft, but this fell through and instead 20515 went back east on Sunday - I think 37156 travelled light from Yarmouth and the driver took the coach back, but this needs confirmation.

Back to Saturday and Tony & Marcus report the 16.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough, K4-XL10 with 37572, leaving Lynn via the A17 and then diverting through Tilney All Saints to regain the booked route, so presumably yet more delays on the A47. The Sunday service was entirely B9 worked otherwise with slight delays due to a broken manhole cover on the Acle Straight.

Monday 17th : The X2 provided a surprise today with Norwich Gemini 36166 workung on the route - it is thought to be on loan whilst 32655 is away, presumably for repainting. 66126 was also about on the 12.40 Norwich - Lowestoft. 32200 and coach 20514 were viewed at Norwich by Malcolm on X1 shorts.
Wisbech Xmas Market brought much extra traffic to the Fenland town today. X1 services shuffled by fully loaded with around 7 minutes being average lateness this morning.
My staff Christmas party was held at Terrington St. John Woolpack which was handy for viewing afternoon services between the Turkey and Christmas Pudding. 15 minutes was the maximum delay recorded by 37570 on Y13-XL19. Both K16-XL03 & K17-XL05 came back through the village eastbound 13 late but 37573 on K18-XL06 was just 3 late. There were more incidents tonight, 37567 on Y7-XL13 was caught in queueing traffic from Little Fransham to Swaffham McDonalds roundabout because of an rta. The service finally got away from Swaffham to Lynn at 18.23 (47 late).
 K1-XL07 burst at Acle tonight with a gearbox hose failure on 37574 and it then had to suffer the indignity of being towed into Great Yarmouth. This in turn led to an unexpected sight on Tuesday morning when Grahame Bessey reports Y13-XL19 08.15 Lowestoft - Peterborough departing with coach 20514. This was soon taken off however and a revived 37574 worked forward from Great Yarmouth. Delays of up to 10 minutes were noted on some services, but overall the standard of timekeeping was better than in recent days and certainly an improvement on previous years. An unexpected sight amongst the Geminis at Lynn this evening was Ex LT RM 39623 for MOT. Tuesday also  saw 37565 on K15-XL02 swap over at lunchtime for 37564 which had been receiving an axle modification. To enable scheduled maintenance to take place on the B7s, K18-XL05 also had a change with 37158 giving way to 37159 at 14.15.
Wednesday saw some patch up work to panels on 37565 and 37156, while 37566 had a starter fault which was rectified in time for it to work K5-XL11. A good day for timekeeping despite busy roads and heavy loadings. 37160 on Y9-XL15 was exceptional, being full when it passed me just 2 minutes late on the 10.18 Wisbech - Peterborough and it hadn't lost any more time when it went back to Lowestoft at 11.56.
 On Thursday, the Christmas shopping hoards become even greater. Afternoon services ran around 10 late which surely only a scrooge could grumble at ? There were two failures, 37571 on K15-XL02 and 37578 on K17-XL04. The latter had an adblu problem while 37571 had a problem on the Acle Straight where speed was reduced to 15mph. After pulling in and consultation with King's Lynn garage, the system was reset and the bus continued to Lynn where it was changed over at 12.44. 37159 on K18-XL05 was fairly typical of today's services , being 8 late from King's Lynn westbound and 21 late on arrival back at the Southgates changeover, all the loss due to heavy traffic. There was a visitor to the King's Lynn office today :

By all accounts, Friday was a dreadful day - major congestion and accidents on the route conspired to make buses run at irregular intervals. This afternoon, Peter was waiting for over an hour at Peterborough rail station with two arrivals going back east empty before a bus arrived at 16.10 and eventually left Queensgate with a full compliment of standing passengers. Cheryl was waiting at Thorney for the 17.35 to Wisbech and saw 37570, 37563 and 37158 head westbound before 570 returned to pick her up considerably late. At Lowestoft things weren't much better with Malcolm viewing  Y7-XL13 arriving 29 late with 37566, 37567 on L8-XL14 arrived just 5 late and earlier 37158 on K5-XL11 had been 20 late in. Later L8 caught up Y7 at Great Yarmouth. Passengers transferred to 37567 on L8 and Y7 (37566) went light westbound to regain some time.On his morning outward trip, Peter had caught Y9-XL15 with 37159 which was 15 late and delayed due to a malfunctioning ticket machine. Below is a missive from Bruce to the X1 team and a rather festive listing of today's bus plan until the A47 intervened !

Christmas Eve & New Year's Eve Timetables now online in the X1 essentials folder - see link above,

Wednesday December 5th - Wednesday December 12th ~ While I Was Away....

Having returned from Belgium, it seems ages since the last blog, but time passes so quickly at this time of year.
Let's go to Wednesday December 5th to start. K4 (XL10) had a funny day, usually a B9 it started the day with 37159 but this got swapped at King's Lynn at 10.02 for 37156. Finally this evening 37576 off K3 (XL09) took the service forward to Great Yarmouth at 19.35. Morning timekeeping was all over the place due to delays between Wisbech and Peterborough. Lowestoft bound services noted were K3 (XL09) 12 late, K4 (XL10) 21 late and K5 (XL11) 10 late before services returned to timetable. Westbound services were OK until L10 (XL16) which turned up 29 late with 37564 following the temporary closure of Dereham Market Place, not surprisingly 37578 on L11 (XL17) following was just 9 late and by the time it returned it was on time. Later 37564 had recouped some time and was 14 late from Southgates to Lowestoft.

Y13 (XL19) was also in trouble with 37570 (left) having to make a visit to Roundtree Way depot in Norwich for cleaning after passenger illness. The driver (DS) then took the bus light to King's Lynn but heavy traffic prevented any great progress and eventually it departed the garage at 12.02 for Peterborough. the remainder of the day was thankfully uneventful.
Thursday 6th was quieter and it looks like only Y6 (XL12)  swapped vehicles, 37576 off for servicing and its replacement is believed to have been 37160. Y9 (XL15) was late departing Lowestoft tonight - due off at 15.55, it was still on the stand when 37571 left on L10 (XL16) at 16.25. The reason was an ABS sensor fault on 37158. Other X1s viewed at Lowestoft by Malcolm earlier in the day saw 37568 on K17 (XL04) arriving 14 late, K18 (XL05) with 37156 arrived 22 late and went out 19 late. Mid afternoon services were on time though.
On to Friday 7th and one of those strange changes which leaves one wondering why. K2 (XL08) with 37563 was later 37577 and Y6 (XL12) the opposite. I suspect the swap occurred due to late running, but who knows ? 37571 on K15 (XL02) encountered heavy settling snow on the 09.25 ex Lowestoft, it was 4 late from Yarmouth and 9 late at Acle. The snow then turned to rain and departure from Norwich was on time. Later Des reports K1 (XL07) with 37574 being on time eastbound from the Southgates driver change at 18.07, but around 35 passengers joined at Norwich and slow loading resulted in an 11 minute late arrival in Yarmouth.

There were several vehicle swaps on Saturday including 37574 again which started out on Y6 (XL12) and finished up on L8 (XL14). Sunday was the day when 37574 played up though - it has been a little unreliable of late. This time Des was driving it on XL09 07.08 James Paget Hospital to Peterborough when a 'check transmission' warning activated and speed was reduced to 45mph and even less on any gradient. A replacement in the form of 37159 was ready to work forward from King's Lynn to Peterborough at 11.50.This was not the only B7 out however and for the first time since August Bank Holiday Monday 2011, King's Lynn let a B7 loose on the Sunday service. The omens were not good though and whilst working the 10.10 Peterborough - Lowestoft it attempted to overtake a Range Rover doing 30mph (well even a B7 can do 49mph !) on the dual carriageway section between Walpole Highway and Terrington . The driver of the 4x4 then took leave of his senses and deliberately veered into the path of 157 causing an impact and forcing the driver onto the hard shoulder. Eventually thanks to the bus drivers cool head, the bus was able to rejoin the main carriageway. It is refreshing that some upstairs passengers came down to check that the driver was OK having witnessed the irresponsible actions of the other driver. The central reservation still bears the scars where the X1 was forced off the road. Fortunately the bus was able to continue despite the superficial panel damage.

Slow motorists are nothing new in the Fens. Here 34825 on its last ever run on the X1 takes on a car on the old A47 between Walpole Highway and Terrington. January 6th 2005.

 Meanwhile I had a pleasant journey back from Peterborough rail station with 37564, only marred by a vociferous professional drinker  with a mobile phone - thankfully he eventually ran out of credit, but not before he had regailed us with tales of his bawdy exploits. In view of the fact that everyone must know how to text, can we consider banning the use of mobiles on board for calls ? This sort of behaviour doesn't encourage travellers to repeat the experience.

The new week started on 10th then with 37574 off the road with a gearbox problem, 37578 with an engine fault and 37569 with an adblu fault. This meant servicing commitments had to be juggled and 37570 was done first thing to enable it to operate K5 (XL11), while 37566 had to work K3 (XL09) and then be positioned for its maintenance. Fortunately, everything else was on best behaviour. L10 (XL16) was viewed heading for King's Lynn at 22.20 with 37156 in darkness, so presumably minus any passengers. On the X2, 32654 returned to service in the new First livery.

I was back at work on Tuesday when I saw all 19 turns and most ran to time - once again L11 (XL17) was late with 37159 14 down departing Wisbech  for Peterborough and K16 (XL03) 13.48 to Peterborough with 37573 was also 14 late. 37578 was tried out on K2 (XL08) but didn't complete the turn and 37577 off Y7 (XL13) worked back to Lowestoft at 18.35. I took a friend to catch the 08.03 from Walpole Highway to Peterborough this morning (K5 - XL11) and 37572 arrived bang on time but with its destination display having reverted to the standard style instead. One of those incidents which you always expect to happen, but which in fact very rarely does, occurred this morning when Cheryl texted to say that Y6 (XL12) 08.48 Wisbech - Peterborough and K3 (XL09) 08.56 Wisbech - Lowestoft both arrived in the bus station proclaiming Peterborough on the front. This was soon rectified and 37156 was seen departing correctly displaying Lowestoft. One item of note today was noisy 37160 performing on Y9 (XL15) - it was 6 late goimg west but came back slightly early - definitely a red letter day. 37157 however, was seen arriving Lowestoft 15 late on Y7 (XL13).

37159 is now back after attention to its engine. It is seen here getting a wash at King's Lynn on Tuesday evening after arrival on L11-XL17. Photo taken by kind permission of First.

Finally then to Wednesday 12th and a nice day with any delays reported all being less than 10 minutes in the west. No swaps reported either. It was quite exciting for X2 passengers today though, when the usual suspects were partially ousted by 66126, 34114 and 34155. Thanks to Michael Bryant for the gen.

Monday November 26th - Tuesday December 4th 2012 ~ The Story Continues

A quick catch up before I have a short holiday. Monday 26th saw 37577 having a new window fitted and 37570 stopped at King's Lynn for servicing. 37159 has gone to Volvo at Norwich and is rumoured to require a new engine which sounds serious. Low point of what was otherwise a good day for the X1 was L10 with 37158 departing Wisbech 5 late on the 10.48 to Peterborough and then a big gap until L11 finally appeared with 37160 at 11.45, 25 late. 37574 on L12 was on time just 5 minutes behind it. Malcolm viewed 32203 at Lowestoft - it came in from Martham and then worked the 15.03 X2 to Norwich departing 10 late.
Tuesday 27th witnessed swaps on three turns, K5 had 37569 changed for 37157, L10 had 37578 taken off in favour of 37572 and Y13 began the day with 37573 finishing with 37578. Bruce was monitoring today and says K15 did not pass him westbound, but came back spot on time with 37574. Another surprise at Lowestoft was the appearance of President 32200 on the 10.38 X2 to Norwich, while Michael Bryant reports the increasing use of Palatines on this route. 37571 was in trouble tonight whilst working the last leg of Y7 from Lowestoft - King's Lynn where it is due to garage after arrival at 18.07. 571 had low oil pressure at Acle. It managed to limp to Toftwood where a Lynn fitter attended to effect repairs and eventual arrival in Lynn was 45 late.
Wednesday 28th began with 37160 in trouble on L12 at Thickthorn with a loss of gears. An oil top up solved the problem and on arrival at King's Lynn it was taken out of service for examination. L11 continued from Lynn westbound at 10.45 with 37157 and later L12 with 37576 gave way to a refreshed 37160 for the 14.02 Lynn to Lowestoft. Swaps were not over for the day though and K16 was next with 37567 coming off and 37576 working forward at 16.02. I was stocktaking at work but saw most turns. Having said that, both Y7 and L8 evaded me going westbound this morning. Latecomers were 37158 on Y9, 12 late and Y13 which went to Peterborough and came back 13 late in both directions with 37564. Over at Lowestoft K18 06.51 from Wisbech arrived 18 late with 37156, but the X2 was once again in the news with 32200 out again on the 10.38 ex Lowestoft  and 34156 on the 14.10 ex Norwich

Time for some chaos then and Thursday certainly provided that. A crash at Necton shut the A47 for recovery work from 10.45 until 12.55 badly affecting services. Y13 11.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough looks to have been a non-runner. This turn arrived in Lynn late with 37566 and 37568 then took over later on the 14.32 to Lowestoft. K15 12.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough came through Wisbech 22 late with 37566 (off Y13) having replaced 37568 at Lynn. K16 with the ill starred 37160 fared even worse and set sail for Peterborough 27 late at 14.15. Not sure what time 37579 on K17 went westbound, but it returned 32 late. Several buses changed turns including 37571 which came into Lynn on Y9 at 09.37 and then went to the garage. 571 was available again to work K5 forward to Lowestoft at 10.32, this service had come in with 37574 which was then stopped for repairs including a faulty adblu sensor and airbags. At midday there was a strange carry on when 37578 on L8 arrived in Lynn only to turn round and work K14 back to Peterborough. Similarly, 37564 off K14 promptly went back East with L8. There was still time for one more swap with K2 which was 37573 having a starter problem, so 37569 which itself had been having attention to its adblu sensor was made available for the 15.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough. Finally Des reports 37570 on K4 arriving at King's Lynn about 30 late from Peterborough this evening. Departure to Great Yarmouth was 28 late and even with Mr. Speed at the controls, heavy traffic meant little time was recouped and the service was 15 late from Norwich - this after his inward service Y7 had also suffered on the congested A47, 37156 was 4 late from Lowestoft and 26 minutes in arrears by the time it got to King's Lynn.
There was another fiasco on Friday which brought bus services grinding to a halt in King's Lynn. Emergency surface repairs to the A47 saw the Saddlebow - Hardwick section closed eastbound at lunchtime with diversions via Nar Ouse Way and Hardwick Road. This soon resulted in drivers becoming displaced and some long delays were recorded. To cap a miserable week for 37160, it began the delays and was 20 late heading west on L11. Y13 with 37564 went to Peterborough 15 late but Friday traffic saw it lose a further 10 minutes by the time it came back eastbound. Both K14 and K19 appeared to be victims of the disruption and neither passed Bruce or myself. The delays continued into the evening and L12 which is due to depart Lynn for Peterborough at 20.50 was allegedly 90 minutes late with 37563, so 37160 off L11 worked the turn. In addition to these delays, 37158 expired at 16.00 near Norwich with an air leak whilst working Y9 and fitters had to attend, so all in all, a day to forget.
At least Saturday passed off smoothly with just a single vehicle change reported, this being on K17 which started with 37568 and ended up with 37577. Most services ran well, but 37157 on L11 was 22 late eastbound through Walpole at 13.28. Next day 37566 on the Sunday turn supplied by Lowestoft suffered a broken upper windscreen en route and 37157 was wheeled out to replace it.
The new week began well with just a single swap involving K14 which had 37568 (adblu sensor)  taken off in favour of 37574. The latter had been undergoing heavy repairs since last Thursday. All buses ran pretty much to timetable with a couple of exceptions, these being  37573 on L12 which was 11 late heading west, but 25 late returning past Bruce. This evening the lost time had been regained however and 573 was seen heading home on the 22.10 ex Peterborough in good time. 37160 is really going through a jonah phase at the moment - today she was seen departing King's Lynn 28 late on L11 showing 'Not In Service' on the front but with passengers on board. The service looks to have missed Wisbech altogether ! At Lowestoft there was a surprise when coach 20515 appeared for the 11.15 1a to Martham. X1s viewed by Malcolm included K17 with 37579 which was 19 late in and departed 9 late on the 10.25  westbound.
Finally to Tuesday December 4th and all services ran OK except L11 (again !). 37574 was 19 late on the 11.18 Wisbech - Peterborough. 37159 was returned to King's Lynn garage from Volvo today pending return to service.
Finally Colin White writes "Hi Gerard, here’s something for the blog.

Whilst there are roadworks and traffic lights in the vicinity of the Magdalen Square bus stop a temporary bus stop has been placed outside the Magdalen Way shops but it appears no one has actually told the drivers that it is there. (See photo).

 I’ve just witnessed a lady waiting there for the 11.15  X1 and it just sailed past, she had to run up to it sitting in the queue of traffic waiting at the traffic lights. There is no mention of the road works on the First Website so maybe an entry on your blog might help. The road works are due to end this Friday. I have only seen two Service 8 buses actually stop at the temporary one".

Apologies for the paucity of pictures this time - I'm afraid it is past my bedtime. Next blog when I return.