Monday March 30th 2009 ~ British Summer Time

One could be forgiven for thinking that FEC drivers had advanced their clocks yesterday by 1 hour and 2 minutes, as today this seemed to be almost the standard time. Unheard of was the occurence of K5, K7 and K1 - the 15.01, 15.31 & 16.01 departures from Wisbech to Peterborough all departing 2 minutes early. K1 was also 2 minutes early when seen at Walton Highway this morning heading East. The vehicle was 37573.
Rob B reports seeing 37565 at Thorney early this morning on K5, but by this afternoon it had swapped and was 37570, obviously released again today from Volvo and presumably having replaced 565 at Lynn. There were other swaps today too, for the second Monday running L11 was a Lynn B10M with 20109 working out of Lynn westbound at 09.59 - I hesitate to say it after being proved wrong last week, but this must have replaced 37575 at Lynn. L9 on the other hand had 37574 which was swapped at Lynn for 575 for the 11.42 departure to Lowestoft, with 574 then being provided for K20b this afternoon.
Des confirms the failure of 20353 on Saturday afternoon near Yarmouth and 20126 which replaced it was not seen today, so may well have been K19. Apart from 109 mentioned above, B10Ms on mainstream X1 diagrams today were 20107 on K2 and 20104 on L12. The other two Profiles returned to their rostered work on K17 (351) and K3 (352).
Timekeeping as implied earlier was excellent today and worst performer seen was K15 12.31 Wisbech - Peterborough with 37579 which was 7 late.
B9 advert list is as follows
37563 Planets / BobBooks/-
37564 New In Town / Haunting In Connecticut/ -
37565 Young Victoria /-/-
37566 Planets/ BobBooks /-
37567 Planets / BobBooks /-
37568 Planets / -/Emissions
37569 Planets / BobBooks / -
37570 Creme Egg / -/-
37571 NIL
37572 NIL
37573 Creme Egg /-/-
37574 Planets / Bob Books/-
37575 Planets / Haunting In Connecticut/-
37576 Planets / BobBooks/-
37577 Young Victoria /-/-
37578 Planets/-/-
37579 Planets / Bobbooks/-

37565 continues in service with its faulty destination display

Sunday March 29th 2009 ~ Sunday Outing

"Look what I've found ! " - It's Bruce and his baby.

37571, one of two Geminis without any advertising (the other being 37572) alongside sister vehicle 37577 at Rowan Road this afternoon.

Part of the relief X1 fleet seen at Rowan Road this afternoon. 20121/131/109/107.

37567, hopefully cleaned up after Saturday heading east on the 10.18 from Peterborough this morning. Perhaps they shouldn't be encouraging punters to eat chocolates due to their riding qualities ?

After yesterdays heavy showers, today was in contrast almost wall to wall sunshine. Having previously read elsewhere that there were possibly some Tridents coming to Saddlebow compound for storage, Bruce and myself went out this afternoon to investigate.

We didn't find any Tridents, however, the compound was full of interest. From an X1 point of view, there were two B9s which had arrived late last night, 37571/7 and no less than seven B10Ms resting in the sunshine. These were 20105/7/9/18/21/26/31. The big surprise of course was 126 (see Saturday blog). The Lynn fleet of double deckers which work schools and the Hunstanton route now numbers just six, these are 34155/7, 30900/1, 34921/33. The latter two are the oldest and fellow campaigner 34901 was taken out of service on Tuesday after its gearbox gave up at West Newton. Surprisingly for a Sunday 30900 was seen heading from the bus station back to Saddlebow, so whether it was just a taxi or it had been in service is not known. Back at Vancouver Avenue garage, only occupants were 30901 (MOT), 65525, and two B7s, 20351/2.

On the X1, today's service was entirely B9 worked by 37564/5/7/8/72/3/6/8/9. 37568 has now been given a Planets advert bringing the number of B9s carrying this to ten.

Saturday March 28th 2009 ~ Otherwise Engaged

Due to me being actively involved in a project which comes to fruition next weekend, I didn't leave the house today. This meant I was reliant on sightings from your good selves the blog readers. This is what we came up with.
Firstly Rob Brooks reported two B7s at Wisbech, namely 20352 on K4 08.01 to Peterborough and himself aboard 20353 on K7 08.09 Wisbech - Lowestoft which he took as far as Dereham.
Cheryl sent a text to report 20352 at Thorney Toll at 18.26 heading to Peterborough, which seems odd as it should have been on K4 heading to Lynn ! This would have meant it was on L9. She then saw 20103 at Guyhirn at 18.36 heading east and Rob Brooks saw this at Tilney at 19.19, so it must have been either K4 or K6 ! Bruce also glimpsed it and says he thinks it was K6.
Bruce saw 37567 on L11 this morning on time at Walpole Highway heading west at 10.20. The same bus was on L11 this afternoon as Rob Brooks reports "Eastbound from Dereham 1754 on time and full, can also report that this bus is very dirty inside, and one seat on the top here has a layer of sick on it. Not very nice!" . Oh dear Rob, not nice at all.
So there we have it, three observers who in total spotted four buses !! I think there were probably a few delays too, as there was a serious accident mid morning on the X1 route at Tilney St. Lawrence which must have meant diversions. 20353 doesn't have appeared to have lasted the course on K7 either as 20126 apparently arrived instead of it and Grahame had reported this spare at Yarmouth earlier. If anyone else can shed any light on today, it would be nice to do an update at some stage, but thanks to all who submitted sightings.

Friday March 27th 2009 ~ Friday Meltdown

37574 heading for Lowestoft on K1 this morning. No less than nine B9s now have the Mars Planets advert as seen here.

"What happened to the service today, was it another Friday meltdown ?" asks Rob Brooks. Well sort of Rob. The Profiles got themselves into a muddle and a Gemini fault added to the delays caused by Friday traffic. Firstly K4 had 20351 which worked to Peterborough and back before being swapped - it would seem for sister 20353. Certainly 351 was in Vancouver Avenue around 13.00 as it was seen there by Bruce who also spotted 37571 back from 'Full Circle'. The next operational problem occurred when 37572 on K3 was unable to do its booked 13.59 departure to PB and 37571 was called upon to take over. 37572 was then given the OK to relieve 20353 on K4 which was then on its third bus of the day ! Part of the reason for the above is that 20351/3 both had services at Vancouver Avenue during the idle parts of their day. 20351 was then sent out on the second part of K20 which takes it light to Norwich. This is the third successive day that K20b has been a B7.

Friday traffic did little to help punctuality. As is often the case things were pretty OK until lunchtime, the following were then noted at Walpole by Bruce. L13 -12 with 37578, K16 -23 with 37564, K17 -9 with 20109 and K18 -12 with 37566. After this things were a shambles for a while. K7 15.31 Wisbech - Peterborough was 10 late with 37573, but the next westbound service due at 16.01 was 39 late past Bruce with 37574 which had been dead on time on the 08.39 to Lowestoft. tailing it was K2, itself 11 late with 37575. At Wisbech 575 overtook 574 ! Rob Brooks was one of a crowd waiting at Queensgate for the 16.58 to Lowestoft and says "37575 arrived Queensgate from Wisbech 1727, then loaded up upwards of 60 people. 37574 arrived at 1730 and headed to the railway station. 37575 departed at 1735" .

K19, the X2 turn was today 20121, while L12 had 20103. Only absent Gemini was the disgraced 37570.

Thursday 26th March 2009 ~ The Best Made Plans......

The trouble with the B7 Profiles is that the fleet numbers are not in favourable positions for viewing unless head on. 20353 following its collision repairs, is easily identifiable as Bruce pointed out yesterday, as it has no 'First' branding on the front. I always recognise it as it has a very small fleet number on the front. 20351/2 however are almost identical, although I seem to think that only one of them has yellow backed mirrors, I must check. Anyway, this is all a roundabout way of saying that I cocked up good and proper with my report on the B7s activities yesterday. 20352 had a peculiar day in that it did indeed do L11 as stated, but in fact came off for a service at Lynn at 12.37 and it was this coach which then went east on K20. L11 looks to have received 20351 in its place, so a rare B7 for B7 swap there. Today's B7 workings were much more orthodox with 20351 doing K3 and 20353 on K17, both bang on time this afternoon as was the other one 20352 on Y10 this morning. There is a twist to the tale though, see below.
The reason for the list of Lowestoft's B9s scheduled maintenance services appearing at Lynn garage is in fact because the installation of new pits at Lowestoft depot has meant that Lynn has had to take over maintenance on the Lowestoft B9s until work is complete. This explains various strange goings on, in particular the removal of 37569 from L12 on Tuesday and 37563's use on K4 yesterday - it was serviced at Lynn overnight.
37571 has now gone to 'Full Circle' as mentioned earlier this week and 37570 is believed to have been the B9 which began K7 yesterday but then had to be replaced by 20121. 570 was taken to Norwich Volvo for repairs. It was collected this morning by a King's Lynn fitter and performed faultlessly returning home. After a service it was sent out on L9 11.42 King's Lynn - Lowestoft in place of 37579 which had a faulty windscreen wiper. 570 was in trouble again though on the return leg and warning lights appeared as it left Norwich westbound. In the end it expired at Dereham and had to suffer the indignity of being towed back to the Volvo dealership. As a result of this L9 was cancelled between Dereham and Lynn. 20103 which had done L12 (reported by Judith leaving Wisbech at 12.39), came off at Lynn at 13.07 so that it could do a Hunstanton schools turn was then sent out to resume L9 as the 17.59 Lynn - Peterborough. 103's place on L12 was given to 37574 which had done the Norwich out and back, K20. This left Lynn short for K20 this afternoon and this was viewed at 20.17 tonight heading east with an unidentified B7, presumably 352 off Y10. This means that K20 may have had 37579 this afternoon, but this was in Vancouver Avenue over the pits tonight. It was actually on the MOT pit, so it is possibly the next B9 to undergo this.
Timekeeping was overall good today, but there were some glaring exceptions. Firstly 37563 on K6 contrived to lose 28 minutes by the time it was seen arriving at Wisbech to work the 10.09 to Lowestoft. By this time 37564 on Y8 was not far behind, it being only 6 late. 564 has somehow avoided the advert men and still sports its ad for 'New In Town' on the drivers side. 37565 on Y14 was seen departing Wisbech 17 late on the 13.39 to Lowestoft, although it had regained all of this by this evening. 37573 was 19 late into Wisbech with K7 16.18 Peterborough - Lowestoft. Several Geminis hitherto without any advertising are now carrying the Mars Planets ad and these include 37569/574/578.
B10Ms sent out from Lynn today, both returning this evening were 20109 on K4 and 20118 on K19. The reason for 103 having to cover Hunstanton schools today was because 20131 was stepped up to 41s. Decker 30900 was absent at Bexwell for MOT hence the shortage. The other two schools turns had 20105/121.

Wednesady 25th March 2009 ~ The unexplained

20104 was despatched from Lynn on K16, a Lowestoft terminator today. Other B10Ms out were 20109 on K19, which was 20121 yesterday. Today 121 was seen on K7 14.59 Lynn - Peterborough with Blondie at the helm. It is doubtful if it started out on this turn. Two Geminis were missing from sightings today, vis 37570 and 37574. One of these stood in for a B7 on K17 while the other presumably began on K7. This left K20 with 20351 as 20352 was on L11 having done a Lowestoft overnight.
B9s confirmed with the Planets/Bob Books combination of ads are now 37563/66/67/69/76/79.
John W contacted me to say that my assumption that 20121 had done L11 forward from Lynn on Monday morning was incorrect as he viewed it travelling west bound near Swaffham. It did the early part of K20 so should have returned from Norwich light rather than in service.

Tuesday March 24th 2009 ~ The Planets Sweet

With apologies to Gustave Holst....... more B9s than ever before are now sporting adverts over the side panels thus obscuring the route branding. Mars have a new campaign for Planets chocolates and most of the vehicles carrying these ads also have passenger side ads fir Bob Books.Com. Today 37566 joined the B9s already carrying these ads, it having been treated at Yarmouth overnight. 37575 has received a Planets ad too, but retains its 'Haunting' ad on the other side.
Timekeepimg was good today with the exception of Y14 11.29 Lynn - Peterborough which somehow managed to lose 28 mins with 37576. The A47 between Acle and Yarmouth was closed for a couple of hours this morning, but having said that, no other services were delayed. Tonight 576 had made up all the defecit and was on time. Profile 20352 was sent out on K16 thus ensuring a Lowestoft overnight. K17 which would normally have been a B7 was 20104 ! sisrer 20103 was seen by Michael on the X2 this afternoon.

Monday March 23rd 2009 ~ Liasons

Lowestoft have now supplied Lynn with a timetable listing their Geminis (37563-569) scheduled service dates. This week for example, 37568 is booked for Tuesday, 37569 (Wed), 37564 (Thu) and 37563 (Fri). Armed with this info, Lynn can then endeavour to get the relevant B9s in position in order that they terminate at Lowestoft as required the previous night. Services scheduled at King's Lynn this week are Mon 37571/8, Thu 20118, 20351/3 and Fri 37570/2/3 and 20352. 37571 was pulled off L11 this morning and 20121 took over for the 09.59 to Peterborough etc, although this crept past Bruce without him noticing. He did see 121 on time returning though. Meanwhile 37571 was then stopped and is now required at 'Full Circle' even though there is no noticeable bodywork fault. Whilst 20121 evaded Bruce, he did spot an unidentified B9 (believed to be 37576 on K6) running eastbound on the Walton Highway bypass at 10.24. Quite why this was necessary is unknown.
20351 on K4 was required for repairs to its steering today and it came off at 10.07 for 20109 to work the rest of the turn. 109 was 2 early leaving Wisbech on the 17.01 to P'bo. Andy sent me a text this afternoon to say that a revived 20351 was on the Fairstead service - definitely a first time for that.
B10M 20104 with its ridiculously positioned Internet Opportunities ad was on L13 today. It was six late at lunchtime, but on time tonight. 20103 did indeed replace 37573 yesterday as we thought and today it did K19 (X2 turn) but then came out of Lowestoft on L9 14.55 X1 to Peterborough. 37567 which incidentally has the same new combination of adverts as 576 and 579 came in tonight on K19, so quite plausibly may have worked L9 this morning.
The day wasn't quite finished for the B10Ms though as tonight 20121 was summoned to Lynn bus station to work either the 20.59 or 21.59 to Peterborough. 37569 was the only absent B9 today. 37568 is now the only B9 to retain the rear emissions ad.

Where Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone ?

Blind Drunk 1 : 20109 with a strange route number after taking over K4 on Monday

Blind Drunk 2 : 126 on the 8X1 on Tuesday morning afer it was turned out in an emergency the previous evening.

37579 departing Walton Highway on the 13.17 to Lowestoft on Friday. Both adverts were removed this weekend.

Here's 37571 on the shuttle turn, Y21, on Thursday at Market Gates. Photo : Grahame Bessey

I've had a hectic weekend, so time now to bring the blog up to date with recent goings on. All has been a bit sedate really........

Friday 20th March 2009

Timekeeping was very good for a Friday. I didn't see all the turns, but 20103 seemed to be the sole B10M on the X1. It did the first westbound departure from Yarmouth (Y8). Michael saw 20104 on the X2, while Bruce reported 20109/18/21 at Rowan Road and 20131 being cleaned at Vancouver Avenue.

Saturday 21st March 2009

Services had a bad patch in the middle of the day with 37567 22 late on K16 and 20103 20 down on K18. Before and after this though, services ran to time. 37579 was 3 early arriving at Wisbech for the 09.09 to Lowestoft and 'right time' on the 16.31 to Peterborough. 37578 was on Y10 this morning but by this evening had dropped down to L11. There was an unidentified B7 on K4 and Y8 which had begun the day with 37565 also had a Profile this evening.

Sunday 22nd March 2009

37576/9 received new advertising today for Planets (drivers side) and Bob Books (passenger). 37573 was reported by Bruce on the 09.09 Wisbech - Lowestoft with a healthy load, but Michael saw the same turn returning through Dereham at about 15.00 with 20103. 37565 was at Lynn needing a new window which is probably why it didn't finish Y8 yesterday.

Thursday March 19th 2009 ~ Jolly Good Show !

After yesterday's performance, it was only right that today should provide a better illustration of how 'First' would prefer to see the X1 run. Timekeeping was about as good as it gets and only evening peak services amassed delays of over 5 minutes and even then, L9 17.59 Lynn - Peterborough was the worst example at 9 minutes behind schedule.
Noteworthy events today were all three B7 Profiles beginning the day on X1 duty for the first time since around February 5th. For the record, 20352 did K3 and 20353 K17 as booked, while 20351 which had found itself overnight at Lowestoft due to yesterday's dislocation of resources worked L12. Lowestoft B9 37565 unusually worked the King's Lynn early bath turn, K4 07.29 Lynn - Peterborough etc. It still has a fault with its estination isplay !!
B10Ms in service were 20104 which did the first part of K19 before being replaced by 37566 and 20103 which was on K6 which ends up at Yarmouth. Y14 ran all day with 20118.
Had a chat with Andrew James at Lynn bus station early this evening and we remarked on the lack of incident today, however, later there were evening changes. Andy says 37569 on K20 arrived with a broken upstairs windscreen and was replaced for the 18.59 to Peterborough by newly MOT'd 37570. A second change involved Lynn's 37576 which was taken off L9 for a scheduled maintenance service and 37579 off Y8, the 20.07 arrival stepped up and did the 20.42 to Lowestoft.
The mileage on the B9s has been mentioned by me before in this blog. 37573 which had a period out of service following the accident in Peterborough with the overhanging scaffolding had done 44,026 miles this week whereas 37566 which had two extended periods out of service for collision repairs has only done 31,265. In contrast, 37568 and 37571 which have run without interruption since their introduction have done nearly 46,000 miles. On the adverts front it looks as if only 37567/8 and 37571/9 retain the small rear 'exhaust emissions' ad even though most Geminis had them applied. 37569, 37572/4/8 were all seen today without any advertising whatsoever.
Finally tonight, 37574 which worked L13 was seen leaving Lynn on the 23.00 to Hunstanton as per diagram. It would seem therefore that Geminis are now permitted to run to Hunstanton, though that said, L13 is still probably the turn most frequently worked by B10M coaches.

Wednesday 18th March 2009 ~ Who Let The Dog Out ?

There were plenty of other awful header lines I could have used after todays debacle.......
The day began with K1 being worked by 37571 which was 3 early for its 08.47 stop at Walton Highway. Earlier Bruce had espied K5 with 37564, the first westbound departure from Lynn already 7 late going to Peterborough, but on time returning. 564 had done K18 yesterday but then did the last part of K7 to bring it back to Lynn. 37572 which had done K7 yesterday remained at Lowestoft overnight and came out this morning on L13, however, it was removed at Lynn and replaced by 20109 so that a B9 could be provided for the second half of K20.
So what you may ask did the morning part of K20 ? Well this was 37574 which on its return from Norwich empty was commandeered to take L9 11.42 King's Lynn to Lowestoft instead. L9 came out of Lowestoft with 20118 but this became the first service to become embroiled in the days farce.
Police decided to close the A47 between Wisbech and Guyhirn sometime after 11.00 because of a Rottweiler on the loose which had attacked two members of the public. Fearing it would cause an accident by running into the road, the A47 then shut until around 16.30 whilst the hound was tracked down and eventually sedated by using a dart ! (that's the poison type not the Dennis type). You couldn't make it up could you ? Quite how 118 got involved is unknown, but it didn't return whereas Y8 and Y10, the two services either side of L9 both returned with 37569 and 37577 respectively. L12 which by all accounts was 20104 didn't work west of Lynn at all.
By 13.00 considerable disruption was being caused, 20109 on L13 seemed to escape the worst of the delays, being 10 late through Walpole going west and 18 late returning, seen by Bruce, but Y14 with 20103 passed Bruce at 14.20 (due 13.48) on the 12.48 P'bo - Lowestoft. Tonight it had reclaimed all its lost time though and was on time coming into Lynn to work the 20.59 to Peterborough. Next along was K15 (37578) and I saw this leaving Wisbech on the North Brink at 13.02 (30 late) to reach Guyhirn via Wisbech St. Mary. It was further hampered and passed Bruce 53 late at 15.11 heading east. Subsequent westbound services ran roughly to time into Wisbech and these were : K16 37568, K17 37576, K18 37563, K3 20353 and K5 still with 37564. Much time was lost however and at one stage in excess of an hour passed between Bruce witnessing eastbound services. This barren spell was broken by the return of 20353 at 17.26, a massive 68 late. Meanwhile K7 14.59 Lynn - Peterborough had Scania 65532 which was standing in for B9 37573 which had encountered problems. K1 following left Wisbech eleven late on the 16.01 to Peterborough but due to a communication breakdown took the normal route only to be turned back at Cromwell Road roundabout whence it took the bypass and A1101 to return to the Horsefair. It then eventually took up its return working at 17.39 to Lowestoft. By the time 37566 left Wisbech at 16.31, the A47 had reopened and some sort of normality resumed. K4 had yet again started the day with a Scania (65526) but this was swapped at Lynn during the day for a rejuvenated 20352.
Andrew now takes up the story and viewing proceedings at Lynn from around 15.00 he saw
K5 1712 to Lowestoft go out with 20118 off schools at 1738 - 26 late. The next Lowestoft left at 1748 with 20353 which should have been the 16.42 and was therefore 66 late, this then turned into 1742 departure. The 18.12 eastbound left on time with 37571 and Scania 65532 came in at 1810 - 32 late for the 1742 to Lowestoft and this was then taken off the X1. 37564 came in 'out of service' at 1751 and should have been K5 due in at 17.07. This then retired to the garage and all this because of an unruly dog !!
The other Profile, 20351 did K19 this morning but was replaced by Lowestoft's 37565 for the rest of the turn. Gemini 37570 looks ready for MOT, so this may take place tomorrow.

Tuesday 17th March 2009 ~ History Repeats Itself

In years gone by when a B12 Paragon was out of action for MOT, turn K4 would almost always get a town Scania standing in. Today with 37570 similarly sidelined, 65526 stood in on this turn. it was seen by Sam, Andrew and myself and did the whole turn.
Last nights Royale working was as expected halted at Yarmouth where (no surprises here) 20126 was substituted. Today 126 did K1 and again did the whole diagram. It was 2 late leaving wisbech at 08.39 to Lowestoft and 12 late on the 16.01 to Peterborough (thanks to Rob Brooks for the latter). A surprise today was the use of 20104 on L9 instead of the expected 37565. 104 was only seen from the offside where it has been adorned with another advert, but this time much lower on the bodyside - a bit daft as it will get quite dirty at that level. 20107 did K16 to get it back to Lowestoft tonight and K19 was I suspect a B10M to start with today, but was later 37573 as sampled by Sam on the 12.38 X2.
K17 with 20353 was viewed by Bruce 19 late westbound at lunchtime, but that apart the service ran quite punctually today.
Reports of 30900's demise were somewhat premature, as Andrew reports it back in action on the Hunstanton route today, much to the relief of the schedulers one would imagine.

Monday 16th March 2009 ~ A Busy Morning

A well overdue picture from the eastern end - this is 37565 photographed by Grahame at Market Gates (Great Yarmouth) on 18th February before it received an advert and when it still had a 'P' in Peterborough ! Photo : Grahame Bessey.

The new and the old ! 37566 (note the bold font fleet number affixed after accident damage) departs Lynn with the 12.29 to Peterborough and passes 20118 which was ready to work the 12.42 eastbound.

A nice photo for B10M fans. Passengers for the 12.42 Lynn - Lowestoft board 20118, while behind is 37576 which had arrived from Peterborough and which then departed for the garage to later work K20.

37575 departing Lynn on Y10 12.12 to Lowestoft complete with new nearside advert.

New transfer 30900 surprised me at lunchtime - here it is seen departing for Hunstanton.

It was a busy morning at King's Lynn when I paid a visit today. Richard was back at work and consequently K3 and K17 reverted to their usual vehicles, namely the two serviceable Profiles. 20352 had gone from Rowan Road and wasn't at the garage either, so it may have gone to Volvo.

Swaps were happening thick and fast. Firstly at Norwich where K19's 20107 was switched and put on to L13 so that the vehicle which had started at Lowestoft at 07.45 could return for servicing. 107 was 14 late at Tilney on the 10.59 Lynn - Peterborough, but bang on time returning with Blondie driving. 37577 began the day on K4 but was swapped at Lynn with Scania 65531 which then worked the 10.12 Lynn - Lowestoft witnessed by John W. 577 then took over L12 07.15 ex Lowestoft from 37574 which was due for servicing. 577 was 23 late going west and about 13 late returning. 37574 must then have had the quickest service on record as it was hastily sent back to the bus station to work L9 11.42 Lynn - Lowestoft taking over from 37570 which retired to Vancouver Avenue garage for MOT prep. Yes really ! This is because the MOTs on the Geminis are having to be staggered, 570 is the first to be dealt with and will be having an MOT after just five months in traffic.

The changes weren't finished as 37576 on L11 11.18 ex Peterborough came off at Lynn for 20118 to work forward to Lowestoft. This was to provide cover for the afternoon part of K20, the morning Norwich turn which returns light having been undertaken by our old friend 20121. Later in the afternoon 65531 was removed from K4 and 20109 did the 16.29 Lynn - Peterborough running 14 minutes late.

20103 worked Y14 today, but Syd says it had a fuel leak on arrival at Lowestoft this evening and Royale 34114 took the 17.55 to Peterborough. It was due to be replaced at Yarmouth.

Sam saw Gemini 37573 in Norwich around 11.00 this morning with 'First' on the blinds. This was the wrong time for it to be on Y21, so quite what it was doing there is a mystery. There was an imbalance of power again today and Lowestoft/Yarmouth ended up with 37567/69/73 with only Y21 and K19 left to cover. Presumably the other one relieved 34114 at Yarmouth tonight.

In addition to 37564, 37579 has also had the 'Haunting' advert affixed to its passenger side. The Hunstanton services took another step towards becoming low floor operated today with the entry into service of 30900 and this as well as 30901 were seen in action. Unfortunately 30900 was subsequently involved in an incident this afternoon which may well see it sidelined for sometime. Meanwhile 34950 which is due to be retired tomorrow was also earning a few pennies.

You know what they say - you don't get a blog photo for weeks then five turn up at once ;+)

Sunday 15th March 2009 ~ Sunny Hunny

The lack of heating on the Geminis would not have been noticeable today as the temperature was in the mid teens. Hordes of people descended on Hunstanton and traffic paralysis resulted. X1 services were affected too by being unable to gain access to the Hardwick roundabout and a long queue developed. Mid afternoon the 15.59 from Lynn to Peterborough was 17 late with 37563 and an hour later 37564 was 9 late through Walpole when viewed by Bruce and myself. 564 is the first Gemini to have received an advert on the passenger side, this being for 'The Haunting In Connecticut'. 37567/79 were noted today with the exhaust emissions ad still in situ, but it seems to have been removed from the majority of B9s.
B9s in operation today were 37563/4/5/6/7/8, 37572/5/9.

Saturday 14th March 2009 ~ More Rumours

Following on from the remarks in Thursday's blog, Sam says "One theory/rumour I've heard floating around (which would make a lot of sense) is that the 5 07 B7TL Geminis would go your way and it makes sense. Only thing is they would need a speed upgrade and tachos and possibly a seat upgrade (although the Scanias have yuck seating!)"
Today B10Ms were still performing with 20103 on K18 and 20107 on L13, the same two turns which they worked on Thursday ! B7 20351 was sent out on K6 which ends up at Lowestoft, but it was swapped at some point for a Gemini (believed to be 37570 off servicing). 20351 had a problem with a steering cable. Meanwhile 20352 remains waiting a Turbo at Rowan Road. 20353 was K4 again today. 37563/7/71 all apparently need their maximum speed increased, which is strange because I assumed they had all been done.

Friday 13th March 2009 ~ A Few Observations

Being down south today meant that Bruce was in charge of sightings at this end, he says : "An unscheduled delivery of hay then drove a coach and horses through my morning, however L13 had a B10 on it when seen on the flyover.
At Rowan Road were 20131 (Contract 2) and 20109 (Contract 4). Strangely 30901,34950 43802 and 65531 were also present - unusual for a Friday morning. Vancouver Avenue had 37573 and 20118 freshly washed. Drove up and down Nar Ouse Way until L13 and 20105 arrived on time with Blondie driving. Went back down to Rowan and 30901 and 43802 had disappeared into service. Back at the bypass, 20107 came flying by about 5 late with K18. I followed it all the way back to Walpole Highway ( its good for 65!) and caught up 3 minutes in the process. The late 37568 lived up to its reputation on Y14, being 10 down. Saw 37565 on K5, 10 late to Peterborough but no sign of K16 which should pass at the same time.
Back at my vantage point I waited for 107 to come back - it was 14 late - but not as bad as K1 which was 27 late past me with 37563. As Standard Friday Time was now applying, I made my excuses and left the stage".
Rob Brooks also comments on 20105 on L13 saying it left Queensgate five minutes early at 21.23 on the 21.28 to King's Lynn.

Thursday 12th March 2009 ~ More B9s ??

Alan sent a message the other day to ask if I'd heard anything about the X1 route acquiring three more deckers. I haven't actually, but it did seem odd that the initial delivery was cut to 17 from 20 and as a consequence a small contingent of B10Ms continue in frontline service. The poor availability of the three B7s hasn't helped of course and the increase to 22 diagrams from next month will increase the pressure on existing resources unless other vehicles are forthcoming.
Today 20103 was K18 and 20107 L13. The two Profiles available were 20351 which came back from Yarmouth on Y10 and 20353 on K4, the early bath turn. 20109 had its MOT today and should be back on the road now. 20104 was out on the X2.

Newsflash Thursday 12th March 2009

The next post will be on Saturday as I am away until then. Any sightings as ever are welcome. Today 20103/5/7 all out on x1. More detail when I return. Gerard

Wednesday 11th March 2009 ~ 20121 -Did It work ??

It took a little while for me to find the solution to yesterday's conundrum regarding K2. Today, the answer became apparent. 37568 was required at Lowestoft for an overdue service. but it was on a turn which ended up at Lynn. With this in mind, 37568 was taken off Y14 and rested until 18.42 when it relieved 37566 on K2 which ends up at Lowestoft. Only question was, what did the remainder of Y14 ? The answer would appear to be 20121 ! I base this on the fact that no other Excel vehicle was available and it was absent when Rob H & I paid a visit to Lynn last night. Today it had returned and did Hunstanton schools contract 4, the others being 20131 (5) and 20118 (2).
Richard's absence has meant more strange rostering at Lynn, today for example, Lowestoft's 37565 stood in for a B7 Profile on K3 and the vehicle which should have done this, 20353 was sent out on K19 ! The second day in a row K19 has started with a Profile. Thanks to some fortuitous sightings, we know that Sam saw 20351 laying over at Norwich and Terence likewise at Lowestoft. He then saw it take over K1 in a similar move to yesterday. Meanwhile 20104 which had come in on K1 was despatched to Lowestoft garage for repairs. Yesterday it was 20353 which did this strange manouevre and today this worked back on L11.
Joining 20104 today were 20103 which was spot on time all day with L13 and K4 had 20105 which was also on time both morning and evening. 20352 remained on restricted work today while Michael saw 20107 on the X2. At Lynn 20109 had a journey out to Bexwell on MOT test.
The rear adverts on the B9s are disappearing quickly. 37578 has now joined 37572 in the privileged pool of buses completely devoid of external advertising.
K16 was today's timekeeping 'turkey' and 37579 was 19 late through Walsoken heading west at lunchtime. Closely following it was the 'late lady driver' with 37572 on K17 one minute early. She will in future be referred to as 'the driver formerly known as late' !
Mileages on the B9s seem pretty uniform. Last night 37571 was showing 45415 miles and tonight 37568 had 45578 on the clock.

Tuesday 10th March 2009 ~ Eating Ones Words

37573 now with standard destination glass passes Walpole Highway on Sunday 8th.

"You have to hand it to the Geminis", I said to Bruce just after 9am this morning "they are certainly very reliable". At that point I was very much unaware that subsequent observations would question my judgement !

You may recall that yesterday's observations had left some unanswered questions. The two turns concerned were K18 which after consultation with Andrew looked at first as though it had left Lynn at 16.12 with Scania 65527, but on reflection the Scania had probably relieved 20105 which in turn did K18. The other mystery was K19 and with neither Sam nor Michael viewing it, I can only come to the conclusion that it was Gemini worked throughout (as on Friday), but this time with Lynn's 37579.

Back to this morning then and the first sign of things to come was Bruce reporting 20107 running 7 late on L9 06.32 from Yarmouth, the 09.31 ex Wisbech to Peterborough. The following 10.01 (Y10) was not seen, but 20104 then turned up on the 10.31 which is L11 07.05 from Gorleston and then Suzanne saw L12 07.15 from Lowestoft departing Wisbech with 20105 !! The no-show of Y10 is best explained by Rob Horspole who was on the scene.

" I arrived at Horsefair at 09:37 shortly after 20107 en route to Peterborough. I could have got on that, but decided to wait for my parents to arrive on their free Norfolk Green bus so that we could travel together on the 10:01. (There was a guy in a hi-viz vest on 107 accompanying the driver). 20107 was pulling onto the roundabout as the local bus arrived. And then we waited. At 10:05 the service to Lowestoft arrived with 37573 and a nice blonde lady driver. Unfortunately, while her passengers were alighting and embarking, a delivery lorry parked to her offside rear, which as she had other buses parked in the bays on either side made her exit from the bay more difficult than usual. However, after a few minutes she managed to complete the manoeuvre with the assistance of the Gemini’s somewhat feeble horn and her more robust verbal suggestions as to how the lorry driver might have parked. And so we waited some more, and at 10:23 37563 arrived into its awaiting bay. There was quite a queue by then, some of whom were obviously early arrivals for the 10:31 service. We got onto the bus, and went to sit at the back on the lower deck. Oh dear, the use of the back seats as footrests by some passengers is not doing them any good, and their condition can at best be described as “dirty”. I refrained from sitting nearest the window as I could not identify what the brown substance was which was on the seat, but suspect it had previously been on the bottom of a shoe! And so we reversed out of the bay, and began to move forward, with what sounded a most disconcerting noise coming from the engine. We stopped level with the taxi waiting area opposite the car park exit, and the driver was on his phone. Within seconds, 20104 appeared, and we graciously reversed back and then moved into a vacant bay, and we transferred onto 20104 with the poorly Gemini left to have its “engineering fault” resolved. I gleaned from other passengers that 37563 had called at Vancouver Avenue with an “Adblu problem”, and indeed the driver of 20104 explained how the performance of a Gemini is adversely affected, in particular in pulling away at junctions, when this happens. There were 3 empty seats on 20104. I and several passengers commented that we want our coaches back – and both drivers remarked “so do we”!
Our journey to Peterborough was uneventful, and comfortable. The return on 37564 which was the 13:58 from Peterborough (K16) was adequate, but with the seats unsurprisingly in a similar state to those on the other Gemini".

So thanks to Rob, the picture is complete. To be fair I don't think this kind of thing happens on a daily basis, but it does indeed confirm that Adblu influenced failures are still occurring.

Earlier I had passed K1 with 37565 on its way to 'Owestoft', but this didn't come back and 565 then took over K19 and returned to Lynn, thanks to Sam for confirming this. It is not known what did the second part of K1 (12.25 ex Lowestoft) but it would seem a reasonable assumption that it was 20353 which had unusually been sent out from Lynn on K19. Mention has been made previously of some rather unusual vehicle allocations at Lynn recently (not least of which was 37564 on K7 yesterday - this is a Lynn internal turn and very rarely gets a Lowestoft car). This would appear to be because the regular man who rosters the buses has had an understudy standing in this week.

Because of 37563's adblu problems, Y10 was restarted at Lynn at 12.12 with 37574 which had done the first part of K20. 37563 was then repaired and sent out on the second half of K20.

37566 which had been on K2, was tonight over the pits at Lynn and what worked forward at 18.42 to Lowestoft is unknown.