The X74 Route

LL794 OEX794W vinyled up for the X74 at Gasworks Road, Lowestoft in April 1988

No sooner had I posted James Long's photos of the 'forgotten' Eastline service he contacted me saying

'I also recall the the X74 service which is now the X2 - does anyone have photo's of that service? I think there were a couple of dedicated vehicles for that route with LL794 being one of them. I say dedicated, they were vinyled up for the service.'

ECOC LL794 at Norwich Surrey Street Bus Station

The only person I could think of who might have any photos was regular contributor Syd Eade who came up with the goods once more...

'The forerunner of the X2 was indeed the X74, which had just one bus lettered up for it... LL794, now that is a real co-incidence! I think it did four return trips a day and the increasing popularity out-stripped the coach's

The 702 fast with LL809 in charge passing Norwich Thorpe Station

capacity. I have just two photos of her though. This was very much a limited stop service though, not to be confused with the later X71/X74 services which had many more calling points. It was non-stop Loddon to Norwich which always caused complaints from the villages on the way, particularly Thurton.

The 702 fast from Great Yarmouth to Norwich also had a lettered coach to operate the service, LL809, of which I have a poor shot passing Thorpe Station going into Norwich.'

It's amazing just how this thread has developed since the submission of an Eastline bus stop flag at Dereham by Peter Warner!

All photos are copyrighted to Syd Eade and my thanks go to him for providing the information and photos to support this article