Caledonian Sleeper discussion

[Lrd]

What brings you to the Burgh LRD?

Track bashing some of my last few required lines in Scotland.

I need the curve from Carstairs towards EDB. North Berwick and Tweedbank, then over to Glasgow via Shotts and hopefully the two PSUL's near Motherwell/Holytown way. Then the line through Dumfries to Carlisle then some 37 action to Barrow.

That will leave me with the line avoiding Glasgow Queen Street high level, Inverness avoider and Dalmeny - Linlithgow to get another time.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I assume theres a night stop in there somewhere as thats rather a lot for a day!
I'd have joined you on some of that had I known

 

[Lrd]

I assume theres a night stop in there somewhere as thats rather a lot for a day!
I'd have joined you on some of that had I known

Yes staying in Glasgow Travelodge on Wednesday night. I only booked it at about 5pm this evening. I have a bit of a habit booking things last minute, I got the last seat on the sleeper for the pricey sum of £75 and no berths available.

 

[MylesHSG]

For anyone interested, some bits of film from my recent trip up to Fort William and back from Inverness. Includes reversal in Wembley yard (in both directions) on account of the ECML diversions.

https://youtu.be/HmlHbynqjPI

Funny, I was on shift that evening and watching you from WCSN.

 

[Railops]

For anyone interested, some bits of film from my recent trip up to Fort William and back from Inverness. Includes reversal in Wembley yard (in both directions) on account of the ECML diversions.

https://youtu.be/HmlHbynqjPI

Thanks for the film - great.

 

[MadCommuter]

Take it you mean the Lowlander ECS heading back to Wembley? (90042 T'n'T 92032)

Yes, but I was trying to keep it a surprise for others

 

[TimboM]

Yes, but I was trying to keep it a surprise for others

Doh! Where's the face-plant emoji...??

 

[Highland37]

For anyone interested, some bits of film from my recent trip up to Fort William and back from Inverness. Includes reversal in Wembley yard (in both directions) on account of the ECML diversions.

https://youtu.be/HmlHbynqjPI

Thanks! Good video. The EMD sounds so much better than the MTU and it seemed, to me at least, that the 73 was very slow to pull away from stations.

 

[BRX]

funny, i was on shift that evening and watching you from wcsn. :d

wcsn?

 

[BRX]

Thanks! Good video. The EMD sounds so much better than the MTU and it seemed, to me at least, that the 73 was very slow to pull away from stations.

Yeah, my thought too, the 73s are less exciting than 67s, although it may be a slightly unfair comparison as the West Highland Line is a much slower one than the Highland Main Line, and it's also a shorter train.

Also - you can sort of hear it in parts of the video - the 73s can almost sound like an electric loco; a bit strange.

Nearly all of my sleeper travel for the past 5-10 years has been on the Fort William one; taking the Inverness service this time I was almost surprised that the sleeper could move that fast north of Edinburgh!

Funny to see myself describing a 67 as exciting, as I remember them taking over from 37s on the WHL portion and that being something of a downgrade!

 

[CosherB]

Yeah, my thought too, the 73s are less exciting than 67s, although it may be a slightly unfair comparison as the West Highland Line is a much slower one than the Highland Main Line, and it's also a shorter train.

Also - you can sort of hear it in parts of the video - the 73s can almost sound like an electric loco; a bit strange.

Nearly all of my sleeper travel for the past 5-10 years has been on the Fort William one; taking the Inverness service this time I was almost surprised that the sleeper could move that fast north of Edinburgh!

Funny to see myself describing a 67 as exciting, as I remember them taking over from 37s on the WHL portion and that being something of a downgrade!

Isn't that a good trait?! I'm sure Serco and GBRf are looking forward to many years of extremely boring service from these locos.

 

[Scotrail84]

Friday 25th August Southbound

22:30 GLC - KGX (EDB portion no availability at the moment) arr KGX at 06:31

FTW/ABN usual times from origins but arr in KGX at 08:25

INV - KGX usual time from INV but arr at KGX at 07:46

Sunday 27th August

21:19 KGX - INV

22:08 KGX - ABN/FTW

23:38 KGX - EDB/GLC

Northbound services usual arrival times at destinations

 

[Bletchleyite]

No Fort Bill at all?

 

[Scotrail84]

No Fort Bill at all?

See hasty edit.

 

[TimboM]

Issues with the Down Lowlander ECS tonight (5S96) - 2 hours after it was due in Euston and <20 mins prior to scheduled departure of 1S26 it appears to still be in Wembley.

Per signalling diagrams it got as far as the Wembley Inter City depot "exit" but no further. There was then what appeared to be some light loco moves, including one from Willesden - but that was about an hour ago.

It (5S96) now appears to have vanished from signalling diagrams... :-/

Not sure of the issue.


UPDATE:
ECS finally made it in 160L at 00:05. CS predicting a 45 min late start - if it's round about that, gets a decent run on the Fasts and no further issues, should be able to recover the delay pretty easily, particularly as it's a 90 on tonight (90016).

 

[Wookiee]

UPDATE:
ECS finally made it in 160L at 00:05. CS predicting a 45 min late start - if it's round about that, gets a decent run on the Fasts and no further issues, should be able to recover the delay pretty easily, particularly as it's a 90 on tonight (90016).

22E into Preston!

 

[LeylandLen]

For anyone interested, some bits of film from my recent trip up to Fort William and back from Inverness. Includes reversal in Wembley yard (in both directions) on account of the ECML diversions.

https://youtu.be/HmlHbynqjPI

Thanks for that . I hope to travel by sleeper Euston to Fort William on the Highlander soon and it was nice to see inside a compartment. Obviously not a lot of space in standard class. So I have 3 questions..
1 is there somewhere where luggage not needed for the night can be safely stored so as not to take up space in the compartment .?

2 is the split of the 3 portions at Edinburgh just a simple matter of taking away the 3 portions 1 by 1, maybe adding a seated coach ?

3 is there somewhere I can look to find out the way the stock is formed prior to departure from Euston ?

Thanks again

PS I think it might be a good idea if CS did their own short videos for Youtube with commentary , maybe showing any shunting at Edinburgh plus l
some lovely views going over Rannoch Moor (Ive done it by DMU )

 

[gsnedders]

1 is there somewhere where luggage not needed for the night can be safely stored so as not to take up space in the compartment .?

Under the bottom bunk.

2 is the split of the 3 portions at Edinburgh just a simple matter of taking away the 3 portions 1 by 1, maybe adding a seated coach ?

Taking away the three portions one by one, adding a coach (the lounge) to the Fort William.

3 is there somewhere I can look to find out the way the stock is formed prior to departure from Euston ?

It's Inverness at the front, Aberdeen, and Fort William at the rear.

 

[BRX]

Yes, there's space under the bottom bunk as well as a high shelf above the window. Neither offer loads of space though, two people with large bags is likely to involve some stacked on the floor or on the shelf with the lift up flap for the basin.

Actually if you look on youtube there are quite a lot of other videos showing mire of the compartment as well as the lounge car and so on.

Indeed the trip over Rannoch Moor can be very beautiful. The whole line is good though, with the scenery starting pretty soon after you leave glasgow. If it's a nice morning I'd say it's worth getting up early to see it. You don't get a great view from the little window in the cabin, my favoured spot to have my coffee is at the droplight windows (which we will be robbed of in the new stock) or it can be nice to sit in the lounge car too.

 

[jopsuk]

luggage can also be put in the guard's van (in the seated coach) but I'm not sure how that works for Fort William passengers

 

[TimboM]

...2 is the split of the 3 portions at Edinburgh just a simple matter of taking away the 3 portions 1 by 1, maybe adding a seated coach ?

As well as other responses, see links below...

3 is there somewhere I can look to find out the way the stock is formed prior to departure from Euston ?

If by this you're meaning the shunting of the stock, that is all done at Wembley InterCity Depot and the 16-coach train comes in from Wembley hauled by the ECS loco as one train. I don't think Wembley is all that visible to the public.

Unless there's a need to switch a defective coach etc. I would also have thought they just keep the 16-coaches together having been brought in to the depot from Euston as a full rake after the previous night's working?

PS I think it might be a good idea if CS did their own short videos for Youtube with commentary , maybe showing any shunting at Edinburgh plus l
some lovely views going over Rannoch Moor (Ive done it by DMU )

I could possibly see CS using footage of the Highland scenery to promote their service (indeed there's already plenty of stills on the website) - however I'm not too sure the shunting around of coaches in Waverley at the dead of night with lots of noisy diesels to-ing and fro-ing is really the image they want to project/sell! ...that's more for the enthusiasts!

Fortunately there's already a few YouTube videos of the Edinburgh shunting, some examples being as follows (they're from Scotrail/DB days, but the order of events is still pretty much the same):

https://youtu.be/tBpMMw-ecDk Northbound Highlander splitting at Waverley

https://youtu.be/5rMxkPUu2dY Southbound Highlander forming up at Waverley

...and then a good one for your potential FW trip - "Up all night on the Caledonian Sleeper" - this includes footage of the Edinburgh shunting (from 1:11), plus some of the Highland scenery:

https://youtu.be/UYj06jvgM8c

 

[thruud]

Hi there,
I dont post very often, but i i took the sleeper on sun 18 jun travelling in a first class berth, for the first time, gping to inverness.
As a newboe, I was very impressed with the trip and service received, and the only complaint would be the lack of aircon at times during the journey. Personally I had a great trip and would happily use it again.

 

[BRX]

luggage can also be put in the guard's van (in the seated coach) but I'm not sure how that works for Fort William passengers

Actually, when I went up to Fort William the other month, there was someone at London (travelling in the sleeper berths) asking the steward if there was anywhere outside of their cabin they could put large bags. His response was a rather abrupt "no, unless you want to get up in the middle of the night and move them", leaving them looking a bit confused.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Unless there's a need to switch a defective coach etc. I would also have thought they just keep the 16-coaches together having been brought in to the depot from Euston as a full rake after the previous night's working?

That is correct; the rakes remain untouched during the day in normal circumstances.

 

[TimboM]

That is correct; the rakes remain untouched during the day in normal circumstances.

So at the Euston end it's all pretty straightforward... the only real interest Len will get is what is on the buffers end having brought in the ECS - it's almost always the loco that then hauls the Lowlander later, so likely to be a 90 or 92.

 

[LeylandLen]

Answering my own query , for future reference, I found this video useful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKQgkqdIhDc

Its the video mentioned on https://www.seat61.com/CaledonianSleepers.htm

I can understand it can get complicated , with the number of locos involved for the highlander at 5 ( 1, ECS to Euston, 1 Euston to Edinburgh , (electric ) and the 3 diesels for onward departure from Edinburgh .
Then there is the problem if its diverted via ECML where it runs in reverse formation if it reverses at Wembley , and stays in that order and formation until it does another reversal at Wembley to correct itself !

 

[marks87]

Answering my own query , for future reference, I found this video useful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKQgkqdIhDc

Its the video mentioned on https://www.seat61.com/CaledonianSleepers.htm

I can understand it can get complicated , with the number of locos involved for the highlander at 5 ( 1, ECS to Euston, 1 Euston to Edinburgh , (electric ) and the 3 diesels for onward departure from Edinburgh .
Then there is the problem if its diverted via ECML where it runs in reverse formation if it reverses at Wembley , and stays in that order and formation until it does another reversal at Wembley to correct itself !

When diverted via the ECML it's in the correct formation leaving Euston, goes into reverse formation leaving Wembley but then rights itself by entering Waverley from the east.

 

[bb21]

Anyone per chance know which one 90016 is rostered on tonight, or if at all, seeing that it brought the up lowland in this morning?

 

[TimboM]

Anyone per chance know which one 90016 is rostered on tonight, or if at all, seeing that it brought the up lowland in this morning?

I think it may be on its way back to Freightliner at Crewe as I type.

There was a Crewe Basford Hall-Willesden Light Loco move today reported as 90049:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/O06854/2017/06/23/advanced (0Z93)

...then something is on its way back to Crewe Basford Hall the other way on 0Z94:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/R00274/2017/06/23/advanced

This is the usual pattern when they periodically switch one of the Freightliner 90s. I've not had an ID on the return loco yet, but if it is a 90 switch then the other one (90047) is in Waverley today, so could only be 90016. Both on-hire 90s failed (or at least were incapacitated) last Friday, so there's a possibility that whilst 90016 only went to Willesden on Saturday as a replacement, it was a short-term measure and Freightliner need to swap things around again.

There's a chance it's one of the 92s going to Crewe for some reason (e.g. to go on the cars) but balance of probabilities it's 90016. No doubt will be confirmed shortly by someone who's seen 0Z94.

Incidentally, 86101 was released today from Barrow Hill after ETS repairs - went from Barrow Hill (via a lift to Doncaster from 66776) to Willesden TMD. Arrived after 0Z94 left Willesden.

 

[bb21]

Now you mentioned it, it rings a bell, and yes, 0Z93 shown as 90049, and 0Z94 shown as 92038+90016.

That is annoying as this is the second time I've missed it, although come to think about it, it just saved me £45 so there is a silver lining to everything eh?