Caister Road Updates

After forgetting my bus pass yesterday, I venture out to Caister Road today to photograph 33423 SN60CAA. She was sat near the entrance of the yard, in her allover white livery which is due to stay with her until the arrival of the other Enviro400s for the X1. She is and will be based at Great Yarmouth, but no confirmations have been made about which services she will be on, or when she will enter service. The most likely allocation will be Peterborough to Lowestoft to enable the Geminis to be repainted. The kind people at First allowed me to have a sneaky peak inside the bus and I must say I am very impressed. Comfortable leather seats and plenty of leg room, with tinted windows to prevent the upper deck getting too hot in the summer. 

Whilst I was at the depot, I was informed that three of the 21 buses purchased from Ensign were arriving in just a couple of hours, however the identities of these buses were unknown. I decided to stick around for a bit and managed to photograph them all coming in. Here we see 44599 (YX08HJF), displaying an incorrect fleet number on the front which is bound for Clacton at First Essex. A second Enviro200 arrived a few minutes later, (44598 - KX57BWF) also bound for Clacton. The third bus to arrive was the legendary 37562, FJ08FYN! This bus has been in service in the area before being bought up by Beestons. Whilst it was there, it retained its original First livery however now it can be seen resplendent in her Great Yarmouth colours. Unfortunately, I couldn't photograph the bus arriving as I was standing at the other entrance waiting to photograph her, when she went in the other entrance at the other side of the yard. But ever improving customer relations at First meant a little treat for me as whilst reparking her, the driver brought her out the front especially for me to photograph her. My many thanks to First for allowing this to happen. She is due for service any time now, however at the moment the only thing that the screen can display is Rail Replacement, so it may be a few days yet.

Meanwhile, 43487 - R687DPW has been transferred to Lowestoft, and 42451 - R451CCV and 43470 - R470CAH have been permanently withdrawn.