Monday September 27th 2010 ~ Aqueous Urea Solution 32.5% !

Today's blog title refers to the composition of that strange mixture known as Adblue (or Adblu). Not only do buses now have to have enough fuel, but also sufficient Adblu to reduce exhaust emissions. 37563 was today oddly used on K3 and with 37576/7 on K1 and K2 this would suggest a problem with 563. As luck would have it, our spy in the cab reports : "Urea and rainwater just don't mix !!!! Whenever there is a lot of surface water, the Adblue system plays up.

37563 had only operated from Lynn to P'boro to Norwich (where this snap was taken) and the Adblue tank apparently already needed filling! (It didn't really, the sensor gets wet and falsely reports). On this occasion I didn't have engine derate, but on many other occasions I have".
 I suppose the elephants are getting rather old now aren't they ! I mean 209 thousand miles is a lot in less than two years. I did ask a chap when the Adblue system was installed exactly what it was, to which he replied "It's P*ss isn't it ?". Now he was almost right as Urea is indeed found in urine, although in this case it is artificially produced - thank goodness.
37563 was later seen on K3 16.48 Wisbech to Peterborough none the worse for its error message running just 6 late and this was again on a day where punctuality was commendable.
37157 and 37566 were both off the route today and very unusually 'The Beast' was turned out on L8 - normally a solid B9 turn. This diagram finishes at Great Yarmouth and so does K4 which today was 20126. 37579 was at last released back onto the X1 operating Y13 as far as Lynn where it was promptly removed for MOT preparation. Its replacement was 37160.

In my haste to produce yesterday's blog I omitted to extend my sincere thanks to Andy James for arranging our journey to Showbus with Norfolk Green. It was much appreciated.

Now here's a strange picture for you, sent in by Grahame. What exactly was 32212 doing at Mildenhall and how did it get that destination display ? I think it just might have been specially arranged by the photographer ! Nice one chaps.