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07/10/2012

1st - 6th October 2012 ~ Standby Coaches

Such is the reliablilty of the X1 fleet of Geminis, coach substitutions are now almost unknown. The last one recorded on a Peterborough run was on Friday April 20th and this only reached King's Lynn from the East before being removed. and you have to go back to December 6th 2011 to find the last time a coach worked the entire route.
20102 & 20115 based at Great Yarmouth have been regulars on the X1 short runs to Norwich, but this week, the first signs of change appeared with the arrival of Paragons 20514 & 20515 from Worcester. The former was actually loaned to the X1 route in 2010 when it worked during August filling in the period between the departure of loan Gemini 37562 and the return to service of 37571 after major repairs following the Thorney accident of May 2009.
It would seem likely that the newer coaches will join the remaining B10Ms at Great Yarmouth on the shuttles. Nevertheless, the likelihood of them appearing on the X1 is minimal as has been the case with coaches all year as outlined above.
Gemini 37579 worked on 35 consecutive days up to Saturday, but such long spells in service are rare nowadays.
This week has been fairly uneventful, so another nice easy blog to write.
Monday 1st October.
This was the only day of the week where there was any significant disruption. A serious accident on the Pullover Road between Eau Brink and the Pullover (Freebridge) roundabout at around 07.50 saw the A47 closed and diversions set up, presumably through Tilney All Saints. This threw the X1 into chaos of course and the first through service from the coast, Y6-XL12 finally managed to get away from Wisbech westbound 29 minutes late with 37564 which had left Yarmouth on Y7-XL13 ! Following it were Y7 with 37577 (off Y6) 31 late, L8-XL14 with 37578 25 late, Y9-XL15 with 37160 21 late, L10-XL16 37567 14 late and L11-XL17 37158 20 late before normality returned with L12-XL18 and 37568 running on time.
Early eastbound delays included 37571/9/0 which were all observed heading east within half a mile of each other at 09.23, the first two 'not in service'. These were K1-XL07, K19-XL06 & K2-XL08 respectively.
37157 was on time on K3-XL09 from Wisbech but had lost 25 minutes by the time it passed the Southgates inbound at 09.49. K4-XL10 with 37565 similarly lost 26 minutes over the same section. Des adds "At 10.50 37566 pulled into the garage with a handful of passengers. Though this was the K5-XL11 10.32 ex Lynn, the driver had managed to get to Lynn and load. I then spoke to the passengers, explaining that we were going back to Lynn in order to operate my turn, the 11.02 (Y6-XL12) as an on time service. Not one complaint from them. Left on time"
By the time the delayed westbound services began to reappear eastbound, the earlier delays were still in evidence. Eastbound from Wisbech were Y6-XL12 31 late, Y7-XL13 24 late, L8-XL14 16 late, Y9-XL15 16 late, L10-XL16 6 late and L11-XL17 12 late.
Whilst all this was going on, K2-XL08 had 37575 which was running late replaced by 37570 for the 09.02 to Lowestoft, unfortunately this only got as far as Swaffham where it was failed with a brake fault. 37572 went out to the rescue and later this was itself replaced by 37160 for the 15.45 King's Lynn - Peterborough. So four buses worked K2 today !
As one might expect 37575 off late running K2-XL08 became K3-XL09 and 37157 off K3-XL09 became K4-XL10 until replaced by 37579 at teatime. 37565 switched from K4-XL10 to become K5-XL11 and this layover procedure continued until L10-XL16 which ran through as booked. 37160 off Y9-XL15 then became spare until used on K2-XL08 later.There wasn't much wrong with 37570 as later it replaced 37579 on K19-XL06.
37159 was kept in all day for a gearbox hose to be replaced and when 37572 came off K2-XL08 this afternoon it was diagnosed with a ring gear problem.
From 1st - 12th October, Hardwick Roundabout is closed from 20.00 - 06.00 with services using Nar Ouse Way to get to the A47, while from 1st for five nights, the Norwich Southern Bypass is closed between Postwick and the A146. X1s diverted via Thorpe Road.
Tuesday 2nd October
Peter writes " Out early this morning for K3-XL09 with 37567, departed Walsoken on time but sat in Wisbech bus station until leaving at 07.22. Full credit to our driver, he was waiting connections as several people boarded just before we left - coming from the rail industry I find this concept bizarre - waiting for connections, whatever next ?"

Well it makes a change from all those films ! This striking advertising campaign was originally used by Stonewall to counteract bullying in schools and is now being used to promote the campaign for gay marriage legislation. It now adorns ten X1 Geminis and has turned a few heads.
All services ran to within 5 minutes of time today after yesterday's disruption. Only 37160 on L11-XL17 failed this target being 7 late to Peterborough, but only 3 late coming back. L8-XL14 arrived in Lynn with 37569 this morning, but 37572 then took over for the leg to Peterborough before 37569 returned to the diagram. 37572 was then booked to go to Volvo for attention.
37571 arrives at Wisbech with Y6-XL12 05.50 from Great Yarmouth today.

Wednesday 3rd October
A quieter day with just a few swaps. 37575 was one of these and started on Y7-XL13 then took over K15-XL02. 37573 off maintenance took Y7-XL13 forward and K15-XL02 had 37568 taken off for the same purpose. Tonight 37566 was in trouble with a suspected puncture at Toftwood on K2-XL08 and fitters attended. Mid afternoon, K5-XL11 with 37159 was seen leaving Yarmouth 15 late with temporary lights on the west side of Haven Bridge causing delays into the town. 37564 on L8-XL14 was diverted out of Norwich as mentioned above and was 10 late arriving at its destination, the JPH.

Thursday 4th October
Punctuality was very good in the west today and even late departures from Lowestoft, K16-XL03 with 37159 which left 15 late and K18-XL05 with 37158 which was 10 late made up time. 37579 came off K14-XL01 for 37574 but there were no other changes. Y7-XL13 with 37576 took 9 minutes to load in Norwich and left 5 late with congestion making a slightly late arrival in King's Lynn.

Friday 5th October
37572 returned from repairs at Volvo today and requires a full inspection before returning to service. Timekeeping was good today with a few late morning delays, but then things ran smoothly until an accident on the Pullover roundabout caused delays at teatime. K19-XL06 with 37575 finished at the coast and 37563 off K2-XL08 came back on the last Lowestoft - King's Lynn.
L8-XL14 had 37567 taken off duty tonight with a cracked screen, 37566 off Y7-XL13 went forward. At Lowestoft there were two late running B7s, the worst being L11-XL17 with 37159 arriving 15 late and departing 9 late.

Saturday 6th October
Pretty good timekeeping today with only a morning swap on L8-XL14, 37575 coming off for 37567.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

sadly 20102 has been withdrawn from service along with ex blue bus 43453