The XL Blog: Monday 12th - Sunday 18th March 2012 ~ It's Not A TA-X1

A few mysteries this week - may be you can solve them ?

Monday 12th March 2012.

20126 was spotted at Necton heading east driven by Lynn fitter Colin at 11.30. I've been unable to find out why, but hope to do so eventually ! Otherwise an unremarkable day by all accounts. 37565 was changed for 37158 on L11 at Lynn. Amongst sightings from Malcolm on the X2 were 32656 on the 10.38, Palatine 34155 on the 12.40 ex Norwich and 30889 on the 13.40.

Tuesday 13th March 2012

One swap today, L8 began with 37579 and 37563 replaced it this morning. All the more surprising that was all, because Wisbech became a virtually no-go area. A water main leak at Weasenham Lane, plus Lynn Road closed eastbound due to a gas leak as well as the other roadworks. Ironically, Nene Quay has reopened to westbound traffic, but X1s are still diverted due to the Weasenham Lane temporary lights. This morning I met 37160 on Norwich Road heading out of town on K3 08.56 Wisbech - Lowestoft. It was only slightly late and then took a further diversion down Clarkson Avenue to meet its booked route on Lynn Road by the Clarkson pub. The low tree branches in Clarkson Avenue must have been a bit of a challenge ! 37566 on Y6 08.15 ex King's Lynn was on time past Bruce, but due to the congestion was 29 late arriving at the Horsefair where Cheryl got on. When she alighted at Thorney, 37572 on Y7 was about a minute behind it.

Rob H says " I took the 10.18 Wisbech - Peterborough this morning (Y9 in your parlance) and sat on the upper deck of 37577. Two guys who were already on board were creating a Tandoori atmosphere and as we approached Thorney Toll, one of them went to press the stop bell. This he did after we had passed the bus stop in an abortive effort to get the bus to stop outside the Little India restaurant. After a couple more presses on the bell and going downstairs, they eventually alighted at Thorney School much to the amusement of the other passengers. Here they crossed the road to wait for 37579 back eastbound. As I left the bus, I cheekily asked the driver whether he had managed to sell them a Thorney Toll to Thorney return, which he tactfully refused to let on. They had, as I suspected, been hoping for a request stop though - come on guys, after all it's the X1 not a TaX1 ! I hope if they the nerve to complain to 'First' they will be told just that ".

The X2 continues to provide the odd Palatine with some revenue earning work. Today Malcolm saw 34156 on the 15.03 Lowestoft - Norwich.

Wednesday 14th March 2012

37563 before departure from Yarmouth Caister Road this morning. Photo : D Speed.

Most unusually neither 37569 or 37159 have worked since last Friday. This was the day that 159 blew up at Fransham with a charging fault, meanwhile 569 had a service and has been undergoing other maintenance. K17 saw 37576 failed with an adblue fault at lunchtime and the only spare bus was 37160 off servicing, so this worked forward. An accident at teatime saw services delayed on Guyhirn Bank. K18 didn't return past Bruce so may have gone empty to Lynn. 37578 on K19 was 22 late at 17.28.

Thursday 15th March 2012

Possibly the shortest blog post ever ? 37569 returned to traffic on K4 today. 37565 had a day off for servicing.

Friday 16th March 2012

Diagrams 4, 5, 12 and 15 all changed buses at Lynn at some point today to enable servicing commitments to be fulfilled and for windows to be repaired. 37564 began on K4 but ended up on L12 and 37156 came in on L12 and was later K15. 37566 on K15 was 17 late westbound past Bruce at Walpole and was 23 late returning before 37156 replaced it for the 15.32 to Lowestoft.
The X2 produced 34155 on the 10.10 ex Norwich and 34156 on the 15.48 departure from Lowestoft, both viewed by Malcolm while Michael Bryant reports Dart 43459 on the 13.38 to Norwich - the first seen for a while.
Something odd happened late on tonight. Ian Wiseman had a call from his neighbour to say his X1 had broken down at Dereham. The next westbound service then went straight past and the following one allegedly turned round here to go back to Norwich. All very odd as nothing seemed amiss at the Lynn end. Only unusual thing was 37565 on L12 arriving at the depot at 22.45 (due 23.30) , so I am assuming this was the bus which broke down and it then didn't go to Peterborough at 20.50 as a result.

Saturday 17th March 2012

37576 had its adblue problem fixed and was out today on K4. 37572 was stopped for its MOT prep work at Lynn and 37160 had some paintwork tidied up at and was waiting to have new fleet number transfers applied to the front end tonight. 37564 on L8 had a headlight problem tonight, so 37573 replaced it on the late show, the 21.35 to Lowestoft.

Sunday 18th March 2012

The service ran well today with ten B9s on the road, for the record 37563/5/8/9/71/3/5/6/8/9. This week has seen 37563/8/71/3/5/8/9 out every day. 37575 is racking up the mileage again and has been out every day since 20th February.
New advertising campaigns were being displayed today and these include the Harry Potter experience, Wrath of the Titans and less scarily Mini Ritz Crackers. Now if you wanted to attract the attention of the motorist sitting behind the bus, which of these two ads applied last weekend would you choose ?

Well if you ask me,the bottom one is much more eye catching and as for the top one, well it is more eye testing !

Speaking of adverts, Tesco has taken out a contract with CBS to advertise on the buses - the first of these has been featured on a dozen X1 vehicles for the past fortnight :

Most of these have disappeared this evening - Tesco are very particular about advertising campaigns not running beyond schedule it would appear. In its place some X1s will be sporting this rather odd effort for Mini Ritz Crackers ....