Caledonian Sleeper

[Techniquest]

I travelled with my bike in early October, and it is incredibly easy to get a bike reservation. I think it was a fairly clear option on the first bit of the booking process after selecting your train. Tick the box, fill in the details (which I think was passenger name etc, been a while since I booked) and you're well away. I suspect if there is no space allocation for the bike it would soon tell you.

Boarding with the bike on the Down Lowland was relatively straightforward, showed my reservation to the staff in the seated sleeper coach (which clearly shows the bike reservation on the e-ticket) and hanging the bike onto the hooks is really easy, and of course taking it back down is easy too.

The hardest part was navigating it through the corridor to be honest! It's a bit narrow, with just enough room to push my bike through.

If getting out at an intermediate station, I'm pretty sure the process would be basically return to the seated sleeper coach where one of the crew will be to open the section up again for you to remove the bike and disembarkation would carry on as normal. They'll have a list of reservations somewhere (pretty sure I saw the crew make a note/reference against a list when I travelled) so will know where passengers are alighting.

Of course, as I alighted at Edinburgh I didn't have to deal with that as I was nearly last off the train, so it was all ready for me to collect after leaving my berth. If in doubt, just double-check procedure with the crew when boarding. You're not going to be the first or last to be anxious about it!

While I'm here, I must mention my love of the bedding. That quilt and pillow were excellent, I'd have taken them home with me if I could...

 

[Butts]

Can you take a Dog on the Caledonian Sleeper ?

 

[Bungle965]

Can you take a Dog on the Caledonian Sleeper ?

Google is your friend.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-pets/

Up to two pets can join you on board and we don’t charge for their travel but, because we have to thoroughly clean the room your pet has travelled in, we do charge a cleaning fee. Currently this is £30 per room, for any single journey and for either one or two pets. Unfortunately, pets cannot travel in our Seated Carriage.

 

[Butts]

Google is your friend.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-pets/

So in theory you could transport a Cat and a Dog for the princely sum of £30 sovs.

Has anyone actually seen one onboard, and do they get a breakfast for their £30 conveyance fee ?

Imagine if you turned up with a St Bernard and a Great Dane !!

 

[221129]

So in theory you could transport a Cat and a Dog for the princely sum of £30 sovs.

Has anyone actually seen one onboard, and do they get a breakfast for their £30 conveyance fee ?

Imagine if you turned up with a St Bernard and a Great Dane !!

No they dont get breakfast. Why on earth would they?! And it's not a conveyance fee... it's a cleaning fee.

 

[mde]

Google is your friend.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-pets/

Worth noting as well that if the dog in question is an assistance/service animal they travel at no cost, with a free upgrade from the seated coach to a room if available.

Assistance dogs are warmly welcome on board. Please let an on board host know how we
can make your dog comfortable eg providing water. If you are travelling with us in seated accommodation, please contact our Guest Service Centre in advance to reserve a seat next to you at no additional cost to enable your dog to sit safely at your feet. Subject to availability we will upgrade you to a classic room free of charge.

https://www.sleeper.scot/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20860-CS-Accessible-Travel-Policy-V5-1.5.20.pdf (page 6)

 

[47271]

So in theory you could transport a Cat and a Dog for the princely sum of £30 sovs.

Has anyone actually seen one onboard, and do they get a breakfast for their £30 conveyance fee ?

Imagine if you turned up with a St Bernard and a Great Dane !!

Yes, there are plenty of dogs on the sleeper. I know one regular who used to keep his bacon roll to feed to his dog as they got off in the morning, and the sight of urgent pooing on P15 at Euston at 8am is very familiar.

I've heard of one or two cases of passengers who have tried to take them along to the lounge of an evening, presumably for some haggis and wee dram. Not allowed...

 

[185143]

Yes, there are plenty of dogs on the sleeper. I know one regular who used to keep his bacon roll to feed to his dog as they got off in the morning, and the sight of urgent pooing on P15 at Euston at 8am is very familiar.

I've heard of one or two cases of passengers who have tried to take them along to the lounge of an evening, presumably for some haggis and wee dram. Not allowed...

The passengers or pets?

(I'll get my coat)

 

[47271]

The passengers or pets?

(I'll get my coat)

Ha ha, maybe in the old days but not so much now with the number of ensuites they have on board!

 

[Essexman]

Pleased to see that CS have extended the deadline to use Flexipass tickets bought prior to 31st March 2019 by 6 months. With 8 tickets still to use I look forward to some trips next summer.

 

[JModulo]

5C11 Polmadie to Edinburgh appears to be in a bit of bother at Newton, been stood there for 40 minutes now after having left the depot 64 late.

 

[Steddenm]

5C11 Polmadie to Edinburgh appears to be in a bit of bother at Newton, been stood there for 40 minutes now after having left the depot 64 late.

There was an incident the emergency services were dealing with tonight between Prestonpans and Musselburgh which may have had a knock on effect.

 

[JModulo]

There was an incident the emergency services were dealing with tonight between Prestonpans and Musselburgh which may have had a knock on effect.

Wrong side of Edinburgh for that. The train is still in the Glasgow area with brake issues.

 

[Steddenm]

Wrong side of Edinburgh for that. The train is still in the Glasgow area with brake issues.

Of course. My mistake. For some reason had a brain fart and thought Polmadie was Craigintinny

 

[Wildrover]

Of course. My mistake. For some reason had a brain fart and thought Polmadie was Craigintinny

that must have been a HS3 or German brain movement to cover the 50 odd miles!

 

[alangla]

Scotsman/Alastair Dalton article based on an interview with Michael Matheson. Headline is "

Caledonian Sleeper: Scotland's Transport Secretary Michael Matheson has travelled the world by rail but never taken this train – Alastair Dalton"​

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/ne...ain-alastair-dalton/ar-BB1bAXTZ?ocid=msedgntp

Seems the managing director of Caledonian Sleeper changes next month, Kathryn Darbandi is the person taking over.

 

[47271]

Good luck to the new MD. Does she know what she's taking on?

Badly designed rickety stock with a terrible reputation, a workforce in revolt, massive overpricing masked by government support over the past year, and a dependency on a vanished foreign tourist core market prepared to pay those prices. And worst of all for regular users, no realistic prospect of the Club Car reopening at any time in the next six months.

Nae bother.

 

[Roger B]

Good luck to the new MD. Does she know what she's taking on?

Badly designed rickety stock with a terrible reputation, a workforce in revolt, massive overpricing masked by government support over the past year, and a dependency on a vanished foreign tourist core market prepared to pay those prices. And worst of all for regular users, no realistic prospect of the Club Car reopening at any time in the next six months.

Nae bother.

I suspect she'll be richly rewarded, come what may - so may not be such a poisoned chalice for her personally. That aside, I wish her success in her endeavours - always assuming her objectives are to turn the business around!

 

[MrEd]

Good luck to the new MD. Does she know what she's taking on?

Badly designed rickety stock with a terrible reputation, a workforce in revolt, massive overpricing masked by government support over the past year, and a dependency on a vanished foreign tourist core market prepared to pay those prices. And worst of all for regular users, no realistic prospect of the Club Car reopening at any time in the next six months.

Nae bother.

I suspect she'll be richly rewarded, come what may - so may not be such a poisoned chalice for her personally. That aside, I wish here success in her endeavours - always assuming her objectives are to turn the business around!

To be fair, some fresh ideas might not go amiss at this point in time, especially as CS needs to work very hard to win back custom once restrictions ease significantly (as they probably will do) at some point in 2021. There were some nights in August 2020 when the Fort William and Inverness trains were fully booked so even without the foreign tourists, it’s not impossible to achieve.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Dec 2020 ==

Good luck to the new MD. Does she know what she's taking on?

Badly designed rickety stock with a terrible reputation, a workforce in revolt, massive overpricing masked by government support over the past year, and a dependency on a vanished foreign tourist core market prepared to pay those prices. And worst of all for regular users, no realistic prospect of the Club Car reopening at any time in the next six months.

Nae bother.

The industrial dispute needs settled as soon as possible, I agree. To be honest, I am less worried about the club car; most TOCs have had reduced or non-existent catering since March, and I doubt many passengers will be confident about sitting in a cramped club car next to total strangers for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t do that without a vaccine, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that view. Even with vaccines, it may take a long while for people to regain confidence in using such facilities. I used the sleeper a couple of times in the late summer 2020 and honestly didn’t miss it. It’s a nice-to-have but not an essential, and most passengers probably want (as long as Covid is out there) to stay isolated in their berths anyway. It might be nice, though, for CS at least to consider offering some evening room service (at least cups of coffee/tea, juice and snacks) or even operating the club car as a takeaway buffet car, just to make passengers feel a wee bit more looked after.

They did manage to fill the Highlander on some nights in August, which in the middle of Covid is not bad going. They must be doing something right. I’m actually more confident in CS’ ability to deliver a robust and reliable service now than I have been in three years or more.

I notice that most complaints about the sleeper arise because a) the train is hideously late, ruining the passengers’ plans, which may include funerals or urgent meetings, and b) the train has not reached its destination and passengers have been turfed off somewhere random to catch a bus, or left in the freezing cold and rain to wait for a day train. Incidents of this kind have been remarkably rare in 2020 (compared with 2018/19!) and I think what passengers I did see this year are a lot happier now than they were a year ago. Whatever CS claims to be, at the end of the day, if it gets folk from A to B safely, on time and in reasonable comfort, most passengers will be satisfied and would probably consider using it again.

 

[47271]

To be fair, some fresh ideas might not go amiss at this point in time, especially as CS needs to work very hard to win back custom once restrictions ease significantly (as they probably will do) at some point in 2021. There were some nights in August 2020 when the Fort William and Inverness trains were fully booked so even without the foreign tourists, it’s not impossible to achieve.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Dec 2020 ==


The industrial dispute needs settled as soon as possible, I agree. To be honest, I am less worried about the club car; most TOCs have had reduced or non-existent catering since March, and I doubt many passengers will be confident about sitting in a cramped club car next to total strangers for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t do that without a vaccine, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that view. Even with vaccines, it may take a long while for people to regain confidence in using such facilities. I used the sleeper a couple of times in the late summer 2020 and honestly didn’t miss it. It’s a nice-to-have but not an essential, and most passengers probably want (as long as Covid is out there) to stay isolated in their berths anyway. It might be nice, though, for CS at least to consider offering some evening room service (at least cups of coffee/tea, juice and snacks) or even operating the club car as a takeaway buffet car, just to make passengers feel a wee bit more looked after.

They did manage to fill the Highlander on some nights in August, which in the middle of Covid is not bad going. They must be doing something right. I’m actually more confident in CS’ ability to deliver a robust and reliable service now than I have been in three years or more.

I notice that most complaints about the sleeper arise because a) the train is hideously late, ruining the passengers’ plans, which may include funerals or urgent meetings, and b) the train has not reached its destination and passengers have been turfed off somewhere random to catch a bus, or left in the freezing cold and rain to wait for a day train. Incidents of this kind have been remarkably rare in 2020 (compared with 2018/19!) and I think what passengers I did see this year are a lot happier now than they were a year ago. Whatever CS claims to be, at the end of the day, if it gets folk from A to B safely, on time and in reasonable comfort, most passengers will be satisfied and would probably consider using it again.

The bit about the regulars in the Club Car wasn't entirely serious, and I agree that the service, just like almost every other in the land, has become more reliable this year.

If I have one piece of advice for the new MD, other than to sort the causes of staff unhappiness, then it's to make sure that the service delivered consistently reflects the prices charged. And I don't so much mean lateness or even getting turfed out mid journey, that's what Delay Repay is for. I mean sort cleaning, sort the stock's abysmal ride, and sort the broken and rickety plumbing and fittings. Let's hope that the capacity to do this is in her skillset as well as to fill the train with tourists paying inflated prices.

 

[BRX]

To be fair, some fresh ideas might not go amiss at this point in time, especially as CS needs to work very hard to win back custom once restrictions ease significantly (as they probably will do) at some point in 2021. There were some nights in August 2020 when the Fort William and Inverness trains were fully booked so even without the foreign tourists, it’s not impossible to achieve.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Dec 2020 ==


The industrial dispute needs settled as soon as possible, I agree. To be honest, I am less worried about the club car; most TOCs have had reduced or non-existent catering since March, and I doubt many passengers will be confident about sitting in a cramped club car next to total strangers for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t do that without a vaccine, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that view. Even with vaccines, it may take a long while for people to regain confidence in using such facilities. I used the sleeper a couple of times in the late summer 2020 and honestly didn’t miss it. It’s a nice-to-have but not an essential, and most passengers probably want (as long as Covid is out there) to stay isolated in their berths anyway. It might be nice, though, for CS at least to consider offering some evening room service (at least cups of coffee/tea, juice and snacks) or even operating the club car as a takeaway buffet car, just to make passengers feel a wee bit more looked after.

They did manage to fill the Highlander on some nights in August, which in the middle of Covid is not bad going. They must be doing something right. I’m actually more confident in CS’ ability to deliver a robust and reliable service now than I have been in three years or more.

I notice that most complaints about the sleeper arise because a) the train is hideously late, ruining the passengers’ plans, which may include funerals or urgent meetings, and b) the train has not reached its destination and passengers have been turfed off somewhere random to catch a bus, or left in the freezing cold and rain to wait for a day train. Incidents of this kind have been remarkably rare in 2020 (compared with 2018/19!) and I think what passengers I did see this year are a lot happier now than they were a year ago. Whatever CS claims to be, at the end of the day, if it gets folk from A to B safely, on time and in reasonable comfort, most passengers will be satisfied and would probably consider using it again.

I definitely missed the lounge car on the one return trip I did in the summer and it would affect my decision whether to use the sleeper.

I think you might be overly pessimistic about people being confident to use it again. Your perspective on this might vary according to where you are in the country, but in London plenty of people seem to be happy to pack into bars and restaurants when they are allowed, and this is pre vaccine. I also note that nervousness about public transport is disappearing. I think that especially once vaccination is underway, people may revert to previous habits more quickly than some assume. There will be a portion of the population who will remain nervous for a long time but I think they will be relatively small in number.

 

[JModulo]

I definitely missed the lounge car on the one return trip I did in the summer and it would affect my decision whether to use the sleeper.

I think you might be overly pessimistic about people being confident to use it again. Your perspective on this might vary according to where you are in the country, but in London plenty of people seem to be happy to pack into bars and restaurants when they are allowed, and this is pre vaccine. I also note that nervousness about public transport is disappearing. I think that especially once vaccination is underway, people may revert to previous habits more quickly than some assume. There will be a portion of the population who will remain nervous for a long time but I think they will be relatively small in number.

I too have missed the option of the lounge being there on the few trips I made over the summer/autumn. I've always found it as a handy option when arriving into London later in the evening and there not being many other options available apart from a sandwich and snacks from nearby shops.

 

[Requeststop]

Sorry but I am 10 hours ahead of you all (mostly)

I noticed that the Inverness Sleeper today left Edinburgh -20. Is there any advantage leaving that early when the sleeper had to travel over the single lines northwards? Would it be possible for the sleeper to still arrive early in Inverness at -20?

 

[godfreycomplex]

Sorry but I am 10 hours ahead of you all (mostly)

I noticed that the Inverness Sleeper today left Edinburgh -20. Is there any advantage leaving that early when the sleeper had to travel over the single lines northwards? Would it be possible for the sleeper to still arrive early in Inverness at -20?

The sleeper has to cross 2 services between Perth and Inverness, one between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie and one at Tomatin.

 

[6Z09]

o

Sorry but I am 10 hours ahead of you all (mostly)

I noticed that the Inverness Sleeper today left Edinburgh -20. Is there any advantage leaving that early when the sleeper had to travel over the single lines northwards? Would it be possible for the sleeper to still arrive early in Inverness at -20?

At present no "foot passengers " are being uplifted enroute, so it's possible it can on occasion arrive in Inverness early, much depending on how other services are running.

 

[Requeststop]

So theoretically, just how early could the sleeper leave for Inverness without disrupting any services heading south and still get to Inverness as early as possible? I know this is theoretical as more often than not the Sleeper has "issues".

 

[6Z09]

So theoretically, just how early could the sleeper leave for Inverness without disrupting any services heading south and still get to Inverness as early as possible? I know this is theoretical as more often than not the Sleeper has "issues".

The Sleeper has been running very well over recent months, very few issues!
I would imagine that the earliest possible departure from Edinburgh would be around 0400.

 

[boom boom]

So theoretically, just how early could the sleeper leave for Inverness without disrupting any services heading south and still get to Inverness as early as possible? I know this is theoretical as more often than not the Sleeper has "issues".

It can’t get in before 0800. 1H01 from Perth is due in INV at 0753. S25 follows this and sometimes has to wait for it to clear a section. 1B06 also heading south has to be crossed. Kincraig usually. And then it’s the lottery of E13. Do you get a run ? Or train goes in at Moy for 15 minutes to await E13. S25 gets a run then it’s in about 30 odd early

 

[John Bishop]

It can’t get in before 0800. 1H01 from Perth is due in INV at 0753. S25 follows this and sometimes has to wait for it to clear a section. 1B06 also heading south has to be crossed. Kincraig usually. And then it’s the lottery of E13. Do you get a run ? Or train goes in at Moy for 15 minutes to await E13. S25 gets a run then it’s in about 30 odd early

1H01 crosses 1B06 at Kingussie, then 1B06 crosses sleeper between Dalwhinnie and Blair so it would always have to follow 1H01 and at the earliest cross at Dalwhinnie so realistically cant run much earlier without a wait there. Further north, it still has to cross 1B08 and 1E13.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Anyone know what happened to the Inverness departure tonight? I was waiting at Culloden for it to pass and gave up waiting then checked RTT and it left 49 minutes late.