We fall under the ones that just no longer make the journey. We used to finish school and work on a Friday, go and catch dinner somewhere and then jump the sleeper to London from Glasgow. Same return on Sunday and straight to school. Was a great way to spend a weekend in London or jump Eurostar to Paris or Disneyland, where we had annual passes. Used to see quite a few families doing similar. With the prices now, we just no longer do it. Last journey was October 2021 and it's increased further in price since then. Shame as we absolutely loved the sleeper, but we're not the market that they want. The tourists and business travellers will just find other ways if the sleeper is cancelled.interesting choice of pic on that tweet!
Whilst I agree with everything you said, it would be interesting to know what proportion of sleeper travellers would not make the journey at all if the sleeper was removed. I suspect it would be a small minority - most would transfer to day trains or air.
And of course for every sleeper travelling tourist bringing in cash to Scotland, there are also sleeper travelling Scots taking their money out to spend on the Sassenachs
Tbf the Scottish Government presumably also didn't buy a 120k Motorhome with the aim of generating headlines such as 'Nicola Sturgeon Arrested.'
No, all those berths are taken by the tourists at the end of their stayAnd of course for every sleeper travelling tourist bringing in cash to Scotland, there are also sleeper travelling Scots taking their money out to spend on the Sassenachs
Yes they are two different entities, but that would have obscured the point of the post. Whatever aims politicians may have when making decisions, they do not have sole control over what happens next.
It’s not operated by ScotRail
Perhaps the Motorhome could be gifted to the Caledonian Sleeper operation for stand-by use in disruption
www.bbc.co.uk
No, everything gets passed on with the operation. The money you have paid for the ticket needs to fund the service running when you were due to travel. It is all an accounting matter in any case.
Perhaps the Motorhome could be gifted to the Caledonian Sleeper operation for stand-by use in disruption
seems on topic to me
would make the pool of locos needed smaller as wouldnt need as many spares and as well as using original Euston loco for Inverness (1-2 less loco depending on if a single 99 on diesel can pull 8 mark 5's) you could also use the loco that dragged the Glasgow portion into central from the depo for the aberdeen portion (2 less loco as one less 92 and one less 73)
Is this not exactly what they are doing?
The 75mph top speed of the 99 south of Edinburgh would be a restriction, though, and they’d still be running round for the Inverness portion. Better to stick with the 92 south of Edinburgh, I reckon.
How does that work? The Aberdeen portion and the ECS of the Glasgow portion are running at the same time on opposite sides of the country!
the loco departs glasgow 2330 ish after the glasglow portion has departed, would get to Edinburgh at 0100 ish read for the highlander at 0330 ish
No, it is running as a separate company albeit also run by the government.
I don't think that saves a loco though - what you propose, I think, is that one loco runs the ECS from Polmadie to Glasgow, and then runs over to Edinburgh to work the portion to Aberdeen. Another loco would be needed to work the portion from Aberdeen and then run over to Glasgow tio take the ECS to Polmadie.
