Caledonian Sleeper locos for haulage?

[Mark G]

I'm not sure if this has been covered before however i was thinking of doing the sleepers one of the nights and was wondering if you could get all the diesel engines for haullage all in one night or over 2 nights? The electric locos should be pretty easy to get on the way going/coming back.

 

[Ben.A.98]

I wouldn't have thought that even two nights would be enough, bearing in mind there are at least 7 engines per night going to 5 different destinations.

Say you went London - Inverness, then you would get 1 electric and 1 diesel. You would then have to take a day train to either Fort William or Aberdeen and head south from there which will give you another diesel and electric. That's two nights already and you still have a diesel and a small handful of electrics to get.

More information about the loco allocations are somewhere in the Caledonian Sleeper discussion thread which may be able to help you with your planning.

 

[Kite159]

You could go London - Inverness/Aberdeen overnight the first day, then travel across to the other city to head back to London, that will get you at least 2 of the diesel locos (just beware the Inverness part is still a hired-in 67 [unless that has finally gone back to DB with the 73s taking over].

The Fort William portion is open to the general public west of Glasgow so that is a slightly easier way to get another loco.

Electrics wise, if I'm counting correctly there is normally 5 in use each 'night' [1x Euston - Glasgow lowlander, 1x Glasgow - Euston lowlander, 1x Euston - Edinburgh highlander, 1x Edinburgh - Euston highlander, 1x Edinburgh - Carstairs - Edinburgh lowlander], so the easiest way to get more bang for you buck is to book on the Edinburgh lowlander train.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Yes, book the Edinburgh for two haulages - but also stay either one night or three nights at a hotel so that on your return trip the locos which worked out of London the night you travel north won't be working back south with you.