Caledonian Sleeper

[norbitonflyer]

It does appear that 73969 is in sole charge of the Inverness portion.
Solo 73/9s have hauled this portion before, but it is absolutely on the limit of their capability and the train is losing time, but not so much that it cannot be recovered on the WCML.

It coped well. Although already ten minutes down by Carr Bridge it made up some time after Perth and got to Edinburgh only 7 minutes down.
Although all three portions arrived close to right time, the combined train left Edinburgh 24 minutes late and was 32 late into Euston. This would appear to be because the Edinburgh portion of the Lowlander was late into Carstairs, giving its loco insufficient time to get back to Edinburgh to take over the Highlander

 

[InvHst]

Two for Inverness, one each for Aberdeen and Fort William was the plan. Single 73s have managed Inverness a number of times, but not ideal in the autumn.


Given 66762 is shown up front this morning on RTT, it appears that it must have been on the train south last night.

Yeah 66762 shunted the rhtt set into platform 1 before detaching and Rhtt went forward with one loco before 66762 joined on top of sleeper about 1950

 

[BenBracken]

Something has gone drastically wrong on the northbound highlander today! Over two hours late!

 

[Bikeman78]

This would appear to be because the Edinburgh portion of the Lowlander was late into Carstairs, giving its loco insufficient time to get back to Edinburgh to take over the Highlander

Are they short of class 92 at the moment? The Glasgow ECS loco, Edinburgh portion, and the Highlander used to be separate locos. Using one of the first two to work the Highlander makes the operation gather fragile.

 

[Bill57p9]

Are they short of class 92 at the moment? The Glasgow ECS loco, Edinburgh portion, and the Highlander used to be separate locos. Using one of the first two to work the Highlander makes the operation gather fragile.

In a word, yes: short of serviceable 92s with Dellners.
The Glasgow ECS loco has been shared with the Highlander for some time now, however currently the Highlander loco is shared with the Edinburgh portion, which gives less downtime (I.e. slack) northbound. The Glasgow ECS is currently being worked by 73967.

 

[norbitonflyer]

In a word, yes: short of serviceable 92s with Dellners.
The Glasgow ECS is currently being worked by 73967.

Not so long ago it was 73s that were scarce, hence the need to pair them with 66s rather than each other. No it seems that, (thankfully given the 92 situation), there is a 73 to spare for the ECS

 

[InvHst]

Sleeper not having the best starts to the southbound portions tonight the Fort William part left 50 late presume an issue with a loco. And the inverness is about 30 minutes down leaving Perth

 

[voyagerdude220]

The Highlander isn't doing well tonight at all. It left London Euston on time at 21:15, but as of 22:48 it's around 77 minutes late just north of Watford Junction.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Highlander isn't doing well tonight at all. It left London Euston on time at 21:15, but as of 22:48 it's around 77 minutes late just north of Watford Junction.

Didn't seem to lose much more time though - arrived in Inverness about an hour late, Aberdeen a bit less, and the FW portion is passing Rannoch also about an hour down

 

[voyagerdude220]

Didn't seem to lose much more time though - arrived in Inverness about an hour late, Aberdeen a bit less, and the FW portion is passing Rannoch also about an hour down

I suppose that's a positive then, it could have been worse.

 

[JamieL]

The Highlander isn't doing well tonight at all. It left London Euston on time at 21:15, but as of 22:48 it's around 77 minutes late just north of Watford Junction.

I suppose that's a positive then, it could have been worse.

Out of interesting, what was the point of just posting that the train was delayed? Hundreds of trains are delayed everyday - Google tells me it is close to 15% of all trains experience some sort of delay. If there is some exciting info about why it was delayed or what it might mean for future services being disrupted, then I get it. Or perhaps an exciting story about how you are on the delayed train and your world is about to crumble as a result. But just posting, this train is running late then whats the point? Again, going by Google stats if everyone posted about a every train being delayed, there would be 2,500+ posts per day reporting delays! I appreciate the CS is like the Royalty of the railway and everyone is fascinated by it. But it gives a really distorted picture of the CS which doesn't help anyone.

Not picking on you specifically voyagerdude220 - another poster did exactly the same the day before.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Out of interesting, what was the point of just posting that the train was delayed? Hundreds of trains are delayed everyday - Google tells me it is close to 15% of all trains experience some sort of delay. If there is some exciting info about why it was delayed or what it might mean for future services being disrupted, then I get it. Or perhaps an exciting story about how you are on the delayed train and your world is about to crumble as a result. But just posting, this train is running late then whats the point? Again, going by Google stats if everyone posted about a every train being delayed, there would be 2,500+ posts per day reporting delays! I appreciate the CS is like the Royalty of the railway and everyone is fascinated by it. But it gives a really distorted picture of the CS which doesn't help anyone.

Not picking on you specifically voyagerdude220 - another poster did exactly the same the day before.

I get your point. It's purely to give people an update on how reliable (or not!) the Sleeper is running.

 

[pitdiver]

I see the Fort William portion arrived 59 minutes late. That's strange, same as ours did a couple of years back. So we only got 50% delay repay.

 

[Bald Rick]

I get your point. It's purely to give people an update on how reliable (or not!) the Sleeper is running.

Fair enough. But in the intetest if balance, can you report progress for every train every day? Otherwise we only see the delays, and prospective passengers might be under the mistaken impression that the sleeper is unreliable.

 

[Struner]

Out of interesting, what was the point of just posting that the train was delayed? Hundreds of trains are delayed everyday - Google tells me it is close to 15% of all trains experience some sort of delay. If there is some exciting info about why it was delayed or what it might mean for future services being disrupted, then I get it. Or perhaps an exciting story about how you are on the delayed train and your world is about to crumble as a result. But just posting, this train is running late then whats the point? Again, going by Google stats if everyone posted about a every train being delayed, there would be 2,500+ posts per day reporting delays! I appreciate the CS is like the Royalty of the railway and everyone is fascinated by it. But it gives a really distorted picture of the CS which doesn't help anyone.

Not picking on you specifically voyagerdude220 - another poster did exactly the same the day before.

Indeed. Just wondering, is there a similar thread about the “Riviera” - a logistically much simpler operation?
& the same goes for https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/european-sleeper-experience.274451/ - what about all the other sleeper services in Europe?

 

[BenBracken]

Of all the services in the UK, the CS is probably the one that having a delay isn’t the end of the world for many people using it. I get that someone trying to make a 9am meeting in London would be pretty fed up, but for leisure travellers, who choose the sleeper for the experience of watching the Scottish scenery go by and the gentle pace, having an extra hour in bed isn’t much of a drama!

 

[tumbledown]

But in the intetest if balance, can you report progress for every train every day?

Please don't.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Fair enough. But in the intetest if balance, can you report progress for every train every day? Otherwise we only see the delays, and prospective passengers might be under the mistaken impression that the sleeper is unreliable.

No, but you can easily find out how they've run by going on the Realtime Trains website.

 

[Bald Rick]

Of all the services in the UK, the CS is probably the one that having a delay isn’t the end of the world for many people using it. I get that someone trying to make a 9am meeting in London would be pretty fed up, but for leisure travellers, who choose the sleeper for the experience of watching the Scottish scenery go by and the gentle pace, having an extra hour in bed isn’t much of a drama!

Indeed, I should imagine that a sizeable proportion of those delayed by more than 60 minutes are delighted to be getting a free trip.

No, but you can easily find out how they've run by going on the Realtime Trains website.

Ah. Presumably we can find out about delays the same way. And therefore no need to post updates about them every. single. time. It really is very dull, and fills this thread up unnecessarily.

 

[voyagerdude220]

And therefore no need to post updates about them every. single. time. It really is very dull, and fills this thread up unnecessarily.

Erm.. Maybe don't follow a thread on the Caledonian Sleeper if you don't want to know how well it's been running recently then?

 

[Bill57p9]

Just wondering, is there a similar thread about the “Riviera” - a logistically much simpler operation?

Indulge yourself in all the trials and tribulations from running a logistically simpler operation with class 57s: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...nd-gwr-class-57-updates-from-long-rock.127881

 

[JamieL]

Erm.. Maybe don't follow a thread on the Caledonian Sleeper if you don't want to know how well it's been running recently then?

The issue is voyagerdude220, you don't tell us how it has been running, you just give some very selected data of one part of one journey. And this time you didn't even tells us how late the CS was at end destination, merely gave a snap shot of one of 7 services mid-journey.