First Eastern Counties 36905 (YN69 XZJ) in East Dereham - 28 Sep 2020 (P1070818)

Monday 28 September 2020 (1154) - First Eastern Counties Buses 36905 (YN69 XZJ) seen as it arrived at the Market Place, East Dereham having worked the 1115 Excel service D from Norwich.

In February 2020 the Excel (XL) Norwich-East Dereham-Swaffham-King’s Lynn-Wisbech-Peterborough service was upgraded to provide four variants of route. Service A covers all points over each segment as does service B except that it runs more direct over the King’s Lynn-Wisbech segment. Service C runs via a more direct route on the Norwich-Swaffham segment (omitting East Dereham) and on the Wisbech-Peterborough segment (omitting Thorney village). Service D provides a fast service between Norwich and Dereham.

A batch of new well appointed Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro400 City bodied Scania N250UDs were delivered at the end of 2019 in readiness for the launch. A new red based livery replaced the blue and gold livery carried by the buses previously employed on the service. Note that the buses do not feature traditional style rear view mirrors, cameras now provide this facility.

I had read of the planned upgrade at the New Year and was looking forward to a trip on the service soon after the launch. However, a bad back and then the Coronavirus Covid-19 lockdown put paid to that plan. So, some seven months on I ventured out especially to get a few photographs.