Flirting on the Broads

Late July saw a week of two contrasting launches. LNER heralded the arrival of the Azuma at York and stations northwards with a superbly executed string of events over three days. Greater Anglia opted for a different approach, with a soft launch of its new Class 755 Flirt bi-mode units from Stadler ahead of an event with greater fanfare in September. On the evening of Sunday 28 July word came over that the operator was planning to quietly swap the Class 37 loco-hauled diagram on the Wherry lines from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft over to a Flirt the following day. With this confirmed and the weather forecast consulted, I selected Friday 2 August for a trip to Norfolk to try out the new trains. From Nottingham we have the direct East Midlands service to Norwich, and I join the 07.52. The schedule is somewhat undemanding at just eight minutes shy of three hours for the 136 miles, but much of that is lost in dwell times and generous pathing. Seven minutes are booked for the reversal at Ely; in fact, we arrive early and spend twice as long at the platform. The splitting of the Liverpool – Norwich service at Nottingham has provoked much debate; it is worth recalling that apart from the London …