Caledonian Sleeper discussion

[Number5]

Anyone know of any promo codes available between Glasgow Central and Euston?
My brother is looking to travel for a day trip at the end of March but it's working out at £160 for the non flexible return berth tickets.

He can get a return flight from Glasgow to Stansted for £26 but fancies the sleeper to give him more time in London.

 

[BRX]

Anyone know of any promo codes available between Glasgow Central and Euston?
My brother is looking to travel for a day trip at the end of March but it's working out at £160 for the non flexible return berth tickets.

He can get a return flight from Glasgow to Stansted for £26 but fancies the sleeper to give him more time in London.

He needs to add the costs of getting to and from each airport, and two nights in a hotel in London, then see what the difference is, to make a fair comparison.

Or, if without the hotel stays, compare to an advance ticket on the day train, not the sleeper.

£160 seems fairly reasonable to me for a return with a berth each way.

 

[Number5]

He needs to add the costs of getting to and from each airport, and two nights in a hotel in London, then see what the difference is, to make a fair comparison.

Or, if without the hotel stays, compare to an advance ticket on the day train, not the sleeper.

£160 seems fairly reasonable to me for a return with a berth each way.

It's only a day trip so no hotel accomodation needed. Advance Stansted Express return is £14.

Should have added that I travel free on a Scotrail pass and might be going with him and that's why he is looking at the sleeper, otherwise flying would be a no brainer.

 

[Kite159]

Anyone know of any promo codes available between Glasgow Central and Euston?
My brother is looking to travel for a day trip at the end of March but it's working out at £160 for the non flexible return berth tickets.

He can get a return flight from Glasgow to Stansted for £26 but fancies the sleeper to give him more time in London.

Sadly the days of the "bargain berth" are gone when you could get a berth from £19 each way

 

[Fishplate84]

£160 for return sleeper.

£26 each way for plane?
Bus or train each way from Stansted to London?
Bus to and from, or parking for the day at Glasgow airport?

Add it up and compare like for like at least then work out if your brothers time is worth the difference for the extra time in London.
My bet is the cost difference isn't that much.

 

[fgwrich]

As if the CS Didn't have enough problems of its own.

httpWe’ve arrested a man in connection with a small fire on board a Caledonian sleeper train at around 3am this morning.

BTP officers were informed about the fire, which is believed to have been in a luggage area, as it was travelling through Lockerbie railway station.

Officers met the train in Carlisle and arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of fire raising and theft, using cross-border powers.

He is being transferred back to a BTP base in Scotland to be dealt with under Scots Law.

London-based officers met the train when it arrived at Euston railway station at around 9am in order to make further enquiries with passengers and staff.

If anyone has any information, please call BTP on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016 quoting 41 26/01/17.s://www.facebook.com/BTPScotland/posts/1869081439996527:0

 

[ld0595]

And to add to the woes, the Aberdeen bound sleeper was cancelled at Kirkcaldy this morning due to a problem with the breaks apparently.

 

[najaB]

And to add to the woes, the Aberdeen bound sleeper was cancelled at Kirkcaldy this morning due to a problem with the breaks apparently.

Were the staff not getting enough of them?

Do you know if the train went forward to the loop at Thornton? Had a look on Realtime Trains and there's a VSTP path to get the stock up to Aberdeen tonight, but nothing to indicate what happened to the failed train.

 

[najaB]

As if the CS Didn't have enough problems of its own.

I wonder if the plan was to set a fire to get the train to stop and then disappear into the night.

 

[TEW]

Were the staff not getting enough of them?

Do you know if the train went forward to the loop at Thornton? Had a look on Realtime Trains and there's a VSTP path to get the stock up to Aberdeen tonight, but nothing to indicate what happened to the failed train.

Went in to the sidings at the end of the platform at Kirkcaldy. Problem was an air leak on one of the coaches which meant the brakes fully applied. They were able to get the train moving forward after around an hour, but at 5mph max.

 

[najaB]

Went in to the sidings at the end of the platform at Kirkcaldy. Problem was an air leak on one of the coaches which meant the brakes fully applied. They were able to get the train moving forward after around an hour, but at 5mph max.

Okay. Didn't think that siding was long enough.

Edit: Just had a look on Google Maps and it's quite a bit longer than I thought, at least 200m. Is the stock still there or or has it been moved?

 

[Michael.Y]

I wonder if the plan was to set a fire to get the train to stop and then disappear into the night.

He would just pull the cord.

Crafty fag methinks.

 

[najaB]

Crafty fag methinks.

That's what I thought at first, but the article mentioned theft. Quite tragic if his 'victory ciggy' after the perfect crime ended up being what got him caught.

 

[MadCommuter]

Okay. Didn't think that siding was long enough.

Edit: Just had a look on Google Maps and it's quite a bit longer than I thought, at least 200m. Is the stock still there or or has it been moved?

The stock went south to Polmadie. Replacement stock went north from Polmadie to Aberdeen with 47739. Info from scot-rail.co.uk

 

[miami]

That's what I thought at first, but the article mentioned theft. Quite tragic if his 'victory ciggy' after the perfect crime ended up being what got him caught.

Maybe he stole the cigarettes?

 

[ld0595]

And as I walked past Dundee station tonight, I noticed on the screens that the southbound Aberdeen has been delayed by an hour! Any idea what has bust this some? Not a good few days for CS! :P

 

[TimboM]

And as I walked past Dundee station tonight, I noticed on the screens that the southbound Aberdeen has been delayed by an hour! Any idea what has bust this some? Not a good few days for CS! :P

Not sure of reason but thanks to the generous timings on the main EDB-EUS leg it's on track to arrive EUS 6 mins early. All's well that ends well!

Update: per their Twitter feed, the delay was due to "the train crew being delayed".

 

[92002]

Not sure of reason but thanks to the generous timings on the main EDB-EUS leg it's on track to arrive EUS 6 mins early. All's well that ends well!

Update: per their Twitter feed, the delay was due to "the train crew being delayed".

Delayed awaiting a conductor.

 

[Clansman]

Delayed awaiting a conductor.

Could have possibly have been a knock on delay, since the Sleeper is still worked by Scotrail guards on North of Edinburgh legs.

 

[signallerscot]

It was a rostering error, it turned out the booked guard did not sign sleeper stock so another guard was stepped up to cover the job. The Aberdeen sleeper portion is currently worked by Edinburgh guards. The same thing has happened a few times recently.

 

[Bungle965]

It was a rostering error, it turned out the booked guard did not sign sleeper stock so another guard was stepped up to cover the job. The Aberdeen sleeper portion is currently worked by Edinburgh guards. The same thing has happened a few times recently.

I seem to remember that Serco wanted to get their own guards instead of having to use ScotRail due to cost. That was a fair few months ago now, is the plan for them still to train up guards or are they going to be using ScotRail for the foreseeable future?
Sam

 

[signallerscot]

They're currently being recruited.

 

[TimboM]

It was a rostering error, it turned out the booked guard did not sign sleeper stock so another guard was stepped up to cover the job. The Aberdeen sleeper portion is currently worked by Edinburgh guards. The same thing has happened a few times recently.

Genuine question, not a criticism - why is it only just as the service is due to leave (it appears) they realise the guard booked isn't signed for sleeper stock? Does the guard only find out what they are on when they turn up for work? Fair enough the rostering goes wrong sometimes, but you'd expect someone to notice a little earlier?

 

[najaB]

Fair enough the rostering goes wrong sometimes, but you'd expect someone to notice a little earlier?

My guess is that the guard probably realises at the start of his/her shift but the delay comes about finding someone who can work the service and getting them up to Aberdeen. I agree though that it's the sort of thing that rostering software shouldn't let happen.

 

[Highland37]

I was on the FW sleeper on Friday night but only for one stop. We sat in a red and black M2 with large guard's compartment.

Does anyone know where I can get more information on this coach?

 

[najaB]

Does anyone know where I can get more information on this coach?

Caledonian Sleeper are using are ex-Virgin Trains Mk 2 carriages to supplement their fleet. I thought it was a short-term measure while they sorted out wheel flats on their own stock but it's been going on for a while now.

 

[47271]

There are two hired mk2s, and this is one of them, that get added and subtracted to the Fort William section at Edinburgh but never make it south from there. The FW seats and lounge can't carry on to London since it would make the train overlong at Euston.

I haven't heard of major problems with flats recently but the mk2s seem to be suffering electrical faults again.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I'm heading up to Fort William (by car) on Sunday 12th Feb. I was just wondering if the sleeper stock and locomotives stable up there for the weekend, or if they work light/ECS down to Glasgow.

If they stable at Fort William, are they in a photographable location?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

They stable in the siding adjacent to the platform, so easily photographable.

You've even got the light behind you.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Thanks. Last time I went up they were running to Oban so had to work ECS to Glasgow and back for the weekend.