Search This Blog

28/11/2011

Monday November 28th 2011 ~ Announcing The Arrival Of ......

36180 in Norwich. Photo courtesy of East Norfolk Bus Blog / RN. http://eastnorfolkbus.blogspot.com/
To deputise for the damaged 37156, Norwich 'Gemini' 36180 arrived at King's Lynn today on temporary loan for X1 use. After a deep clean at Lynn it should enter service on the route tomorrow (Tuesday).
So a new bus for the route, but today we also had an old one - dear old 20126 was pressed into use. Last night 37565 on Y7 (the final eastbound turn) expired at Hopton. Yarmouth fitters took 37570 to take over and the service resumed at 00.50. Meanwhile 37565 was brought in to Yarmouth for repairs at 04.00. Des drove 37565 this morning on Y13, but it was labouring to gain speed and only reached Gorleston Library on the 07.30 Yarmouth - Lowestoft. It returned to Caister Road garage at reduced speed and the arrival of 20126 off its college turn was then awaited. This worked forward from Yarmouth to Lynn at 09.07 where it was replaced by 37564 off servicing. 20126 went back light to Norwich with a Lynn driver and here a Yarmouth driver took the bus back to Yarmouth garage.
This left King's Lynn with one spare bus, 37158 until the arrival of 36180. Punctuality was pretty good today, 37157 on K16 14.35 from Peterborough was the worst performer 11 late.
Malcolm reports some X2 sightings from Lowestoft, 32208 on the 10.08, 32207 on the 10.38, 32211 on the 13.40 and loanee 60813 on the 15.03 to Norwich.

27/11/2011

Thursday November 24th - Sunday November 27th 2011 ~ Is This The World's Most Boring Blog ?

That was one of the questions the press asked earlier in the year, however, although I would have then disagreed, may be now they would be correct. The X1 service continues to operate as advertised - shock, horror  !
Thursday : Punctuality was pretty average, worst delays through Wisbech were around teatime with both K1 15.48 to Peterborough with 37575 and K2 16.18 with 37572 noted 11 late. At the other end of the scale, 37579 on K5 was a minute early this morning for the 09.56 Wisbech - Lowestoft despite a three car pile up between Thorney and Guyhirn shortly before.
37158 on K16 looks like it was changed for 37574 this afternoon, while 37569 was spare at Lynn after servicing.

Photo courtesy of  Joe Watson

Friday : Notorious for poor timekeeping, today fared well for a Friday. 37575 on Y6 was already 12 late for the 08.48 Wisbech to Peterborough and Bruce saw it 20 late returning. Things went fairly well after this until K14 which was 20 late with 37567, but this was the worst performer and even 37157 on K16 was only 7 late.
37573 was stopped with a compressor problem at King's Lynn, while 37577 replaced 37574 on L11. Presidents 32208/10/11/14 were all noted on the X2 by Malcolm.

Saturday : Once again excellent punctuality for a Saturday with only 37569 on L12 appreciably late at 11 minutes westbound. Earlier the 08.10 from Peterborough was in to Wisbech a record breaking 2 minutes early with 37564. 37573 remained stopped at Lynn and 37158 was the second spare vehicle today. Y7 with 37576 was on time this morning but had to pay a visit to Lowestoft garage before departing on the 14.55 to King's Lynn, while 34157 was on the 14.38 X2.

Sunday : An all B9 operated service as usual. The 17.50 King's Lynn - Peterborough with 37567 was 9 late, but otherwise timekeeping was OK. 37568 which was one of the Lowestoft spare vehicles today was seen by Malcolm in Lowestoft bus station which indicates it may have had a run out on the X2.

24/11/2011

Monday November 21st - Wednesday November 23rd 2011 ~ Exciting Blog !

OK I lied about the title :+)   Another trio of days where the X1 service ran well - don't forget I try and tell it how it is and these days it is usually fine.
I had a nice email from the driver who was in charge of 37156 when it was involved in its accident last week. He says he and his passengers were very lucky to escape unscathed and the police had to do a search (successfully!) for the driver of the car.
Speaking of B7s, a series of problems with 37160 now seems to have been resolved. Various ailments have afflicted this bus, it has received new heating pipes, a new radiator and also suffered electrical problems which affected some of the lighting in the downstairs saloon. It's now back in service and all seems OK.
Monday saw me have a day off from X1 observing. My correspondents made sure I knew what was going on though and the early evening saw yet another A47 collision between Wisbech and Peterborough.
A maintenance swap on Y13 today saw 37566 come in from Lowestoft to be replaced at Lynn by 37570. Des drove 37579 on Y7 this afternoon and encountered bad traffic congestion in Dereham, ten minutes to get out of the Market Place here alone. 37563 on K4 suffered a large windscreen crack today.

Tuesday saw 37160 & 37572 off the road at Lynn and the rest of the fleet  (minus accident damaged 37156) in service. Punctuality wise, 7 minutes was the heaviest delay noted today through Wisbech. Presidents seemed to be much in evidence in Lowestoft today, Malcolm saw 32211 on the 11.08 X2, 32210 appeared on the 10.10 from Norwich, while 32200 & 32204 were seen on Martham services.

Wednesday

37563 had its windscreen sorted and 37573 was also at Lynn for servicing. 37578 was the most delayed X1 this morning, it was 10 late on Y13 11.45 ex King's Lynn to Peterborough, but the 308 Yarmouth - Birmingham National Express coach was just ahead of it running 60 late for some reason.
37160 had its repairs completed today and was in use on K18. 37577 was 13 late into Lowestoft on K19, but by the time it passed through Wisbech at 17.00 it had regained all its lost time.
The X2 saw 34158 & 34157 on successive departures to Norwich at 10.38 & 11.08, while loan Volvo single decker 60813 was also on the route along with 32212. Thanks to Malcolm for the gen.

21/11/2011

Thursday 17th November 2011 - Sunday 20th November 2011 : Omniblog

Yes another omnibus edition , thanks largely to the X1 fleet behaving themselves. I was out sampling beer with Peter last night and he said "When you do several days in one entry in the blog, can you do the days in reverse, otherwise it seems in the wrong order". Well I've had a long think about this and the answer is No ! Oh Dear that's another friend I've lost - and my oldest one at that. I don't think I could handle writing it backwards Peter it's as simple as that. Anyway, see what you think of this :

Thursday 17th November

Punctuality was quite good, with 3-4 minutes being the average delay. 37157 on L11 passed me 10 late at 11.30, but by the time it returned from Peterborough (due by me at 12.50) it was just a minute late.
37579 was 12 late into Lowestoft with Y7 and departed 4 late on the return 14.55 to King's Lynn says Malcolm. 37574 on Y6 was changed for 37575 at some point while 37160 was off the road at Lynn for repairs.

Friday 18th November

37574 was at Vancouver Avenue today for its turbocharger to be replaced. 37160 was back in traffic on K3. There were some unusual diversions around Wisbech this afternoon. K15 with 37568 was spotted by me coming in from Peterborough about 14 late at 15.04 through the Old Market having travelled via Wisbech St. Mary and then Jamie R saw K2 coming in to the town over the Norwich Road speedbumps with 37566 at around 16.20.
Until L12 services through Wisbech seemed to run well, but Y13 with 37570 was viewed on Lynn Road running 13 late on the 13.56 to Lowestoft. K14 ws also delayed and was 19 late in from Peterborough for the 14.26 eastbound.
As usual on a Friday, K16 saw the heaviest delay and fittingly it was dear old 37159 in charge of the 14.35 ex Peterborough, seen arriving Wisbech 31 late and then viewed 28 late at Walpole by Bruce. & Rob Brooks.
K17 and 37576 ran 21 late eastbound but after this services gradually returned to normal.

Saturday 19th November

An incident on the A47 between Wisbech and Guyhirn saw the road closed until 15.30 today. All services were diverted via Wisbech St. Mary. 37160 was kept at Lynn garage with its interior lights malfunctioning and 37563 also had a day off here for attention to some panels.
'First' seem to have decided that it's about time they challenged Konectbus on fair promotions , both Des and Sam sent me this link :
http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/suffolk_norfolk/travel_news/news_initiatives/?item=3511

Sunday 20th November

An all B9 operated service with minimal delays noted. 37565/7/8, 37571/2/3/4/5/8/9 were the buses used. 37572 is now the highest mileage B9, it has now done just over 368,000 miles !

18/11/2011

Wednesday November 16th 2011 ~ A Rarity

Following last night's accident which occurred east of Thorney Village, 37156 was taken off the road and today sent to the Full Circle workshops for assessment. This brings the spare X1 fleet down to two vehicles temporarily and both these are at King's Lynn. Problems this morning then when 37570 was failed at Lowestoft with a dashboard warning of a brake problem. This meant nothing available for L12 07.45 Lowestoft - Peterborough. B10M Premiere coach 20126 was joined by L12's driver at Yarmouth after it had completed its regular college contract and then went empty to Norwich to resume the service.
20126 on Nene Quay this lunchtime and a friendly wave from John.
It was 5 late through Wisbech but returned bang on time. Unfortunately a lady with a wheelchair was waiting at Walpole Highway for the 12.35 ex Peterborough, so I gave her warning that the service was a coach a couple of minutes before it arrived. Not sure whether they waited for the next low floor X1 or NG service or whether they managed with the coach.
By the time 20126 returned to its destination, 37570 had been fixed and this did the remainder of L12 commencing with the 17.48 from Lowestoft.
20126 heading back home near Walpole Highway on the 12.35 from Peterborough. Eagle eyed Mr. James spotted that the blind reads 'Lowestoft via Beccles' !

The appearance of the B10M was not the only incident today. At 16.35 a four vehicle crash on the A47 near Middleton saw an initial diversion via Blackborough End aborted due to congestion and the police then closed the road throughout from the Hardwick roundabout to the A1122 roundabout west of Swaffham.

Delays were extensive and K5 (due Lynn at 17.07) together with Y6 and Y7 all rolled into Lynn at about 18.50. This meant there was nothing westbound, so when 37158 on K1 arrived to do the 18.02 to Lowestoft, it was turned round to go to Peterborough in the place of K5 and Y6. K1 was cancelled and eventually a driver took 37565 empty to Lowestoft in lieu. K2 had Mr. Speed in charge (he was supposed to take K1). K5 and Y6 had been stuck on the A47 and Y7 travelled via the diversion route. L8 arrived into Lynn just 12 late as things recovered. Further east 37566 on K14 travelled via Filby eastbound after queueing traffic at Acle. 37575 on K15 took the normal route and was 10 late into Yarmouth.
Problems with a few B9s saw 37569 on K19 come off at 14.37 to be replaced by 37160, however, this just managed the leg to Peterborough and back to Lynn before it was removed with its heaters not working. 37578 off repairs worked forward to Lowestoft. K17 had problems with 37571 and at 16.32 the aforementioned 37569 replaced it. Finally 37572 on Y6 was swapped for 37571 for the 20.35 Lynn to Lowestoft.

17/11/2011

Tuesday November 15th 2011 ~ Collision Course

37576 running about 5 minutes in arrears this lunchtime on K15 12.45 King's Lynn to Peterborough (the 09.25 ex Lowestoft)

The day began well with morning services running to time. 37579 on Y7 seemed intent on not losing any time and positively rushed past my vantage point on the 10.05 from Peterborough, after lunch K17 with 37565 was 9 late westbound from Wisbech and then K18 with 37563, which had replaced 37566 at Lynn was 7 late and K19, K1 & K2 all ran five late with 37575/572/573 respectively.
Over at Lowestoft, Malcolm reports 32210 out of service at the bus station with Palatine 34157 on the 14.38 X2 and 32213 on the 14.40 1a to Martham.
Ryan takes me to task for failing to report the reinstatement of vintage Olympian 34333 at Great Yarmouth - it is purely intended to help out on Bernard Matthews contract work for the time being.
It was a bad evening on the X1 route though with Y6 needing to have 37578 removed with a water leak and 37568 off L11 worked forward from Lynn to Lowestoft at 21.35.
Just before 22.00 37156 on L12 was involve in a RTA at Thorney. An errant car was in head on collision with the B7 and 37156 sustained considerable damage to the front and side panels, fortunately the driver and passengers on L12 escaped unscathed. 37571 on Y13 (the last service of the day) was able to take delayed passengers onward.

Sunday / Monday November 13th/14th 2011 ~ Double Blog

Sunday seemed a very quiet day, but several services ran late. The service was worked by B9s 37565, 37568 -573 & 37577 - 579.
Monday was better timings wise, some services ran slightly early and Y13 with 37159 was 2 early heading westbound. K14 had 37570 swapped for 37156 at lunchtime, but as the latter didn't leave the depot until its bus station departure time of 12.15, the service was 6 late at Wisbech. 37158 & 37160 were out of use at King's Lynn. One of these was viewed on the Southgates webcam arriving from the Hardwick direction at 15.15, presumably after a test run. I missed K2 this morning as it was bang on time, but Phil M says he followed it all the way to Thorney with 37577. Malcolm saw three Presidents at Lowestoft this afternoon, 32211 leaving the bus station not in service, 32210 on the 14.38 and 32207 on the 15.03 X2 services to Norwich.

13/11/2011

Tuesday 8th November - Saturday 12th November 2011 ~ All Is Well

Another combined blog and whilst it doesn't mean I can make an individual daily blog, it must be pleasing for 'First' who seem to be enjoying a very settled spell operating the X1.
This week saw the three spare vehicles all still at King's Lynn and this gave the chance for some small remedial jobs to be carried out by Richard and his team at King's Lynn.

Tuesday 8th

Light traffic meant punctuality was pretty good today, but even I wasn't prepared for 37156 on K14 12.48 Wisbech to Peterborough running a minute early, as well as 37159 on L10 11.35 from Peterborough also a few seconds ahead of schedule. 37160 returned from Volvo meaning that all the B7s have now had their brake disc mods carried out. Swaps today included 37578 for 37572 on Y6 at some point, 37579 passing through Wisbech on both Y9 and K17 with Y9 believed to have gone forward to Lowestoft from Lynn at 12.32 with 37160 and K17 arriving at Lynn with 37574. Strangely 574 then took over from 564 on Y13, so why they didn't simplify things by keeping 574 on K17 and putting 579 on Y13 is anyone's guess. All Geminis were used at some point apart from 37157 which was at Lynn being serviced. Malcolm reports "32212 on the 10.08 X2 to Norwich with 32207 on the 09.10 from the city. 60808 reported on an X2 yesterday was on the 101 town route today".

Wednesday 9th

Almost all services were 3 - 5 minutes late at Wisbech today. K16 as usual was worst performer with 37159 (seems to be its favourite turn) 9 late on the 14.35 from Peterborough. 37577 was working L8 for the third day in a row. 37564/67/73 were all spare at Lynn. After yesterdays' Sightings of the booked Presidents on the X2, today was just the opposite with Malcolm seeing Palatines 34155/7/8 in use. President 32213 was on the 14.40 service 1 to Martham.

Thursday 10th

37577 switched to L10 today and was a minute early in each direction this morning. Timekeeping was pretty good, though 37576 on K17 was 5 late westbound and 12 late coming back on the 15.05 from Peterborough. 37566/8/9 all had a day off at Vancouver Avenue.

Friday 11th

37575 was in a spot of bother on K2 today, I think it broke down in Norwich but that needs confirming as I write. Naturally there were several options to replace it and 37577 took over the turn. Friday timekeeping deteriorated in  the afternoon, but nowhere near as bad as sometimes. No prizes for guessing the tardiest bus, yes it was 37159 on K16 again - this time a mere 14 late on the 14.35 from Peterborough. L12 had 37574 to Lynn this morning for 37564 forward. 37563 was 8 late into Lowestoft on L8 and Malcolm saw Presidents 32207/12 back on the X2.

Saturday 12th

Eleven minutes was the maximum lateness noted through Wisbech today, this being the busy 10.18 to Peterborough with 37576 (pictured above) which was a slightly improved 8 late returning. The  funny noises 37575 was making yesterday were repaired in time for it to work K1 today. This turn sometimes gets a B7 on a Saturday, but today the trio of 37156/58/60 were spare at King's Lynn.
Tonight 37563 which has had a badly glaring nearside headlight all week was taken off L8 and 37577 off L11 replaced it.
37157 pictured in Peterborough with the Saturday 11.35 to Lowestoft (Y10). Photo courtesy of Tony Irle

08/11/2011

Friday 4th - Monday 7th November 2011 ~ A Few Notes

Very little to report over the last few days, so here goes :

Friday : 37159 returned from Volvo after attention to its brake discs and this just leaves 37160 to be seen to. Malcolm saw Presidents 32208/14 at Lowestoft depot with 32211 on the 10.38 X2. 37569 spent the day at King's Lynn having complete new pipework fitted above the nearside rear wheel after its recent problems.

Saturday : A strange swap involving K16 & K18 today, originally allocated 37157 & 37156, this afternoon they looked to have swapped turns with 37157 8 late on K18. I wonder if the drivers took the wrong buses from the garage ? 37576 was kept at King's Lynn with an adblu fault and 37564 suffere a similar problem on K19 this afternoon with 37578 replacing it.

Sunday  : All B9s, err that's it. Thanks to Bruce and Malcolm for sightings.


37563 on K2 in Gorleston at lunchtime. Photo from Des Speed
Monday : 37563 on K2 (above) lost time this afternoon, seen 18 late departing Thorney eastbound. Earlier things had been much better with even K16 with 37159 being dead on time at Terrington westbound.   37572 on K3 was changed for 37566 at Lynn at some stage, both because of servicing commitments.
37156 had a special guest on board today, Snowy from the new TinTin movie on L11 15.20 eastbound from Norwich. The proof is here !

04/11/2011

Thursday November 3rd 2011 ~ Jack & Jill Went Up The Hill .......

Peter had a day out today via the X1, I passed him waiting for Y6 (37564) at Walton Road at 08.40. It was running a little late, Peter says "I was beginning to get a bit worried, especially with the congestion going into Wisbech. I was aiming for the 09.46 train and it looked unlikely to start with, but our excellent driver went straight to the railway station and I made it comfortably". He adds, "Been on the Guided Busway into Cambridge today, now these buses would be good for the X1, high back leather seats, wi-fi and power points".
It was Des who drove Y6 from Yarmouth as its rostered driver didn't turn up. He was 6 late departing, but on time by Norwich.
Timekeeping was pretty good today, the only exception being L8 which expired at Peterborough this morning, Jamie Robinson texted to say "37569 in Queensgate with hazard lights on". The poor B9 had a recurrence of its coolant problems, Jack & Jill's pail of water would have been handy. Instead 37565 off servicing at Lynn took up the turn at 12.02 to Lowestoft.
37158 returned from Volvo yesterday and was back in traffic on K3 today. This leaves 37159/160 to be dealt with and 37159 was taken off L8 at 09.00 and sent to Volvo Norwich for this to be done. 37569 replaced it but then failed (see above). 37579 should be back tomorrow after its MOT today.

Wednesday November 2nd 2011 ~ Much Better



37566 running 8 minutes late this morning passing Boskoop Farm with the 07.35 ex Peterborough.

A much better day today, Congestion in Wisbech was particularly bad this morning, 37575 on Y6 was 12 late departing, but had cut this to 6 returning east. Y9 with 37570 was 6 late going to Peterborough, but only a minute late returning, but the exceptional performance was yesterday with of all things a B7. 37160 passed me at 09.28 (8 late) and returned from Peterborough at 10.49 (1 early), quite extraordinary and one item I failed to mention amongst all yesterday's confusion. Just when it looked as though things were going well today, L10 failed to run westbound - yesterday it was 49 late, today it didn't run at all. The following service, L11 was itself 6 late with a packed 37567. The answer to L10s whereabouts was answered later when 37157 passed by on L10 eastbound 17 late at 12.37, presumably having gone light to Peterborough - I may have missed it, but I don't think so.
This afternoon I was out and about and saw 37159 on K16 unusually bang on time at Walpole, next was K17 with that nice Mr. Parry - Doreen must have been impressed, I saw her getting off 37565 at 16.04 at Walton Road, dead on time. Let's hope she hadn't been waiting for L10 earlier.
Earlier in the afternoon their was an unusual sight on the Southgates webcam with two B9s on the roundabout alongside each other, 37563 on a test run after servicing and 37565 on K17.

As a postscript to yesterday, here is a map of the unusual diversionary route used. Today 37576 was back in service, windows repaired on K19, after its altercation with as it turned out, a beet lorry not a skip lorry as originally quoted.

02/11/2011

Tuesday November 1st 2011 ~ Halloween Nightmare

Shortly after 5am this morning, a car ran out of control and collided with a lorry in a lay-by on the A47 at North Burlingham. Unfortunately, there was a fatality and this resulted in the road being closed for seven hours.
Naturally this meant the X1 became embroiled in queues, diversions and all round chaos. Today was the first occasion where the lack of spare buses became a major player in what ran and what didn't.
As we have mentioned lately, Lowestoft currently has no spare X1 vehicle, so this morning when the time came for the 08.55 Peterborough departure, the incoming service not having arrived, there was nothing to replace it. The depots overnight incumbents, 37568, 37566, 37157 and 37563 had already departed on L8, L10, L11 & L12 respectively.
 Stephen Gowler on 'East Anglia Buses' Yahoo Group says " I left Lowestoft on the 09.25 (K15) this morning, full to the rafters as the 08.55 (K14) never showed. We arrived in Great Yarmouth 8 minutes down, and as we were due to leave, the driver announced that he wouldn't be going to Acle. We headed back to Gorleston then set off for St. Olaves and Haddiscoe, then to the McDonalds roundabout at Gillingham and into Norwich along the X2 route. We met 37575 between Gorleston and St. Olaves and another Gemini near Thurton, so this must have been the official diversion".
K14 had set out from Lynn with 37567, so on arrival at Lowestoft it then assumed the mantle of K15, as Stephen says, departing at 09.25. So what of the original K15. Well 37576 which was working the turn had a slight argument with a skip lorry on the diversion, smashing a trio of upstairs windows. It was seen in Lowestoft bus station by Malcolm Hicks who says "It departed empty at 10.20 'not in service' with a blonde lady at the wheel". Meanwhile K16 which was due to depart at 09.55 had not arrived and eventually 37570 turned up just in time to depart back westbound as K18 at 10.55. As for K17, this had set out with 37565, but it is thought that late running meant it went back to Lynn empty to regain time.
When K18 arrived at Lowestoft (37577), it became K19 and this pattern continued with K19 (37575) becoming K1. Not sure where the original K1 got to though as 37572 later became L11 !
Back at the western end, K5 with 37564 was taken off at Lynn at 10.30 with 37156 which had just returned from Volvo working forward eastbound. Surprisingly, 37158 was then sent to Volvo to undergo the operation with its brake discs. With the dire shortage of buses, I would have expected this work to be put 'on hold'.
Repercussions of the accident further east did not immediately become apparent and Y6, the first through working from Yarmouth was almost on time from Wisbech with 37573. Later Y9 also departed near time (37571 just 3 late), but L10 got lost in the delays and eventually appeared wedged to the seams with 37566, passing my window at 11.39, about 49 late. Possibly because of this, L11 did not run over the western section and 37157 which had been on it terminated at Lynn. L11 resumed as the 13.02 to Lowestoft with 37572, or at least that's what we think :+O
Services to Peterborough from Wisbech then became very fragmented. The 11.48 (L12) was bang on time with 37563, the 12.18 (Y13) was 10 late, K14 eventually appeared 25 late with 37157 - this had restarted the turn at Lynn after it had failed to run from Lowestoft (see earlier in this tome).
Tony Irle says "37157 departed Peterborough rail station at 14.05 to Lowestoft and 37565 also seen at the station at 14.09". Well this is explained as follows : K15 did not run, but it did come back as the 14.05 from Peterborough with 37565 - this means it is feasable (especially today) that 37565 worked Lowestoft to Peterborough empty !
K16 with 37567 was only about 5 minutes adrift - but that's because 567 had started on K14, then became K15 and by now had dropped to K16 !  K17 did not run and it looks as if this turn (the 10.25 Lowestoft - Peterborough) was cancelled in its entirety - well there's not much you can do when you run out of buses is there ?
 K18 was still 37570, but 19 late which meant nothing left Wisbech westbound between 13.48 and 15.07. K19 & K1 were within about 12 minutes of their booked time, but after K1 departed at 16.00, there was a 55 minute lapse until the late running K2 appeared with a well loaded 37574 running 37 late. K3 should have been next, but on arrival at Lynn 37159 was turned round to form K17 16.32 to Lowestoft, this left nothing for K3 so the 16.15 to Peterborough & 17.40 return were cancelled, cue Peter Risebrow who says " Got to Peterborough rail station forecourt at 18.11 to see an X1 disappearing - no problem I thought, I'll nip over to the bus station and catch it. No such luck, so I joined the passengers waiting for the 18.20. 37569 (K4) arrived at 18.40 and left at 18.45. To add insult to injury, as I got off at Walsoken, 37156 came along on K5 right time ! I'm still trying to work out what the X1 Peter saw at 18.11 was, but there you are. Cheryl Cleary reports "There was a man in'First' gear sitting behind me on Y6 this morning, turned out he was monitoring our driver" - probably a Drive Green inspection I would think. She continues " Tonight I was waiting as usual for K2 at Thorney, it eventually appeared at 18.11 with 37574, about 39 late. The driver explained about the smashed windows on 576 earlier which had left them short and apologised for the delay".
One positive out of today was that L10 and 37566 managed to regain all its lost time by this evening and with one of our most capable drivers, even managed to be spot on time into Wisbech at 21.55 from Peterborough. Something which is rarely witnessed. Finally thanks must go to my colleague and fellow X1 nutter, Bruce Billingham, for his help in trying to work out what exactly happened today. Come to think of it, he's probably still looking out for the missing K3 - it's OK Bruce you can go to bed now !

01/11/2011

Monday October 31st 2011 ~ No Slack

The week began with zero spare buses ! 37579 was on MOT prep, 37575 awaiting a visit from the Volvo technician for attention to its compressor trouble and 37156 at Volvo Norwich having a brake disc modification - this being the reason for the B7s visiting their premises, not a maximum speed change as I'd hoped.
Many services ran the best part of 10 minutes late today. Y7 with 37160 was 8 late from Wisbech at 09.26 on the 09.18 to Peterborough, but almost amazingly returned just 2 late. L10 was delayed en route and 37573 on the 11.35 from Peterborough was 21 late at Wisbech. At King's Lynn it was changed for a revitalised 37575. Subsequent service ran late, but as usual it was K16 which suffered worst, 37157 was 9 late westbound and 15 late returning. 37573 was soon back in action taking K18 to Lowestoft from Lynn at 17.02 replacing 37159.
37569 was in trouble for the second successive evening, tonight it failed at wisbech at 17.30 with a water leak on K4. a temporary repair saw it limp on , but it was replaced for the 19.35 Lynn to Lowestoft by 37160 which had come in on Y7.
Over on the X2, missing 32211 was back in service today with 66126 working the 13.38 ex Lowestoft. Malcolm reports K15 with 37576 arriving in Lowestoft 13 late and then departing 6 late on the 09.25 to Peterborough. Bruce's favourite 34108 was earning its keep on the 09.40 Nrwich to Yarmouth X1 shuttle.

Sunday October 30th 2011 ~ X2 Review

Not much of note on the X1 today, thanks to Bruce for his observations. 37569 was changed at Lynn this afternoon with a burst pipe and 37576 took its place on the 16.35 to Lowestoft.
Nice to hear from Syd again regarding my recent query on the X2......."A bit late as the request was last week, but I may be able to shed a little light on the missing B7s on X2.
   32211 had been having major engine work (and also visited Volvo during the course of work ) Its last sighting on X2 was 9th October. 32213 has problems with its retarder so was sidelined at Gasworks Road, the last time it was noted on X2 was 16 August when it was on the 2220 departure from Norwich, although she was seen on 29th September operating the 1110 service 1 from Lowestoft to Martham. 32214 is a bit of a mystery as I dont seem to have any details of X2 workings to hand, although it was reported to be overheating in service, which may restrict it to contracts etc. Hope this helps fill some gaps".
Well things are obviously a bit desperate at Lowestoft still with 20126 appearing on Friday aand Yarmouth's 34112 on Thursday.

Saturday October 29th 2011 ~ A Postscript

How could I forget ? When doing Friday's blog, I forgot the highlight of the day over at Lowestoft. Malcolm reported coach 20126 out again, this time on the X2. It was seen arriving on the 14.10 from Norwich, returning on the 15.48. 66126 was seen broken down in the bus station.
Moving on to today, 37575 was sent out on K4 this morning, but by the time it had worked to Peterborough and back, it was unwell with compressor trouble. 37564 took over for the 10.02 Lynn to Lowestoft, despite it being taken off L8 yesterday to enable it to be serviced on Monday. 37579 was also at Lynn spare, but as this is due an MOT next week, so 37564 was preferred.
Punctuality was very good today over in the west, but Malcolm reports 37576 on L8 being 17 late into Lowestoft on L8 before departing westbound just 3 late.