Caledonian Sleeper

[Mike Redding]

Is there much chance of the 2350 from Euston running on the 24/6/22? Setting off 10 minutes before the strike starts seems risky - though I've booked a seat on it in the hope it does.

 

[Bald Rick]

Is there much chance of the 2350 from Euston running on the 24/6/22? Setting off 10 minutes before the strike starts seems risky - though I've booked a seat on it in the hope it does.

I’d say the chance is equally slim and fat.

 

[MadMac]

I’d say the chance is equally slim and fat.

And Slim just left town…..

 

[Scotrail84]

thats a bold statement given the number of boxes required, particularly WCML

Is there not 3 boxes needed to get a set from Wembley yard to Euston? 2 in the yard and one mainline?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Jun 2022 ==

Is there much chance of the 2350 from Euston running on the 24/6/22? Setting off 10 minutes before the strike starts seems risky - though I've booked a seat on it in the hope it does.

No chance that will run imo.

 

[GordonT]

Mike Redding said:
Is there much chance of the 2350 from Euston running on the 24/6/22? Setting off 10 minutes before the strike starts seems risky - though I've booked a seat on it in the hope it does.

Where is your intended ultimate destination?

 

[Mike Redding]

Ha, fair enough. I'm returning to Carlisle. Was a bit of a back up plan to come back the same night after a concert in Stratford instead of the original plan to stay over and come back on the Saturday.

I'll wait to see what's actually running on the Saturday and decide whether to still go.

 

[zero]

Fort William passengers get woken at Edinburgh.

In my experience no other waking up of seated passengers is done. In practice, going northbound, the tunnels at Edinburgh will always wake you up. If travelling to Stirling or Dunblane you don't really go back to sleep. Somewhere like Aviemore is later on so less risk of oversleeping.

Recently did Fort William to Glasgow and the guard walked through making a quite loud announcement as we approached Glasgow (just past midnight).

There were quite a lot of people getting off. Don't know if those seats would have been filled by passengers to London had they not been taken by Glasgow pax, if so CS would have lost out on some money.

Thanks Scotrail for cancelling the afternoon train... I didn't realise the service was so sparse even before the reduced timetable though



On the way up I was in a club room and the food was disappointing, they put menus out but when people tried to order it turned out they didn't have most of the options, might as well have just said "ask us what is available". The full breakfast was a tiny pot, I relied on getting refills of my tea to feel full. Last time I had breakfast included on the CS (in 2017) I'm sure it was a lot more substantial

 

[Blindtraveler]

Just spotted on Facebook that the sleeper is cancelled from Monday to Friday the week of the strikes later in the month. There was a link to the disruption page on the post as well so it's also on their website

 

[Essexman]

I’ve just received an email saying my bookings next week will be refunded as no trains running.

 

[kentrailman]

That's interesting thank you ! I am booked for Sunday and Sunday so have now found myself on the last and first trains ! Bet there will not be many spaces left on those now ! .. Wonder if anyone will be 'bumped off' airline style ?! However, If they want to make like a US airline and offer me a free trip if I cancel for someone else to take the slot I am open to offers !

 

[Butts]

I saw the Caledonian Sleeper crossing the Forth Rail Bridge this morning at 4.40am approximately whilst I was waiting to catch the Bus from Ferrytoll P&R to Edinburgh Airport.

It only appeared to have three carriages and not all those were Sleeper Cars.

Is this normal ?

 

[JonathanH]

It only appeared to have three carriages and not all those were Sleeper Cars.

Is this normal ?

Should be four carriages, two of which are sleeper carriages.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C43581/2022-06-14/detailed#allox_id=0

 

[The Prisoner]

Deleted. We were notified of a downgrade to our room literally just before we were due to travel, but the steward on the service resolved it and we got the room that was booked.

 

[railfan99]

Fort William passengers get woken at Edinburgh.

In my experience no other waking up of seated passengers is done. In practice, going northbound, the tunnels at Edinburgh will always wake you up. If travelling to Stirling or Dunblane you don't really go back to sleep. Somewhere like Aviemore is later on so less risk of oversleeping.

I am travelling on this train in a few months, but in a 'classic' sleeper. Poor that a conductor/steward doesn't wake sitting car passengers five minutes before a station.

Provided they don't move seats, in my country, NSW TrainLink attendants always wake travellers as if they didn't, too many would be overcarried. We don't have the frequency of long intrastate, or interstate trains that GB has between the latter's major cities.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I am travelling on this train in a few months, but in a 'classic' sleeper. Poor that a conductor/steward doesn't wake sitting car passengers five minutes before a station.

It's just seen as a normal train. It's your own job to make sure you wake up for your stop. Most people are going all the way anyway, and out of those who aren't a lot won't sleep well anyway, and a lot more will have mobile phones or digital watches on which an alarm can be set. The one person a year who fits none of those descriptions* can I'm sure ask the guard or another person if they wouldn't mind helping.

* Do I hear the sound of the RUK "standard minority" being wheeled out?

 

[al78]

It's just seen as a normal train. It's your own job to make sure you wake up for your stop. Most people are going all the way anyway, and out of those who aren't a lot won't sleep well anyway, and a lot more will have mobile phones or digital watches on which an alarm can be set. The one person a year who fits none of those descriptions* can I'm sure ask the guard or another person if they wouldn't mind helping.

* Do I hear the sound of the RUK "standard minority" being wheeled out?

Surely the one person a year who sleeps like a log and doesn't have a mobile phone or digital watch with an alarm function can buy a portable alarm clock in advance of the journey.

 

[The Prisoner]

Having traveled from Crewe to Fort William last night I have to say the staff, food and service was excellent.

The coaches on the other hand I didn't feel rode well - the room was very noisy and it was difficult to sleep with hearing every set of points very loudly. A bit of sound proofing or at least some ear plugs in the amenity pack would have been good.

Overall very enjoyable despite the lack of sleep.

 

[Iskra]

Having traveled from Crewe to Fort William last night I have to say the staff, food and service was excellent.

The coaches on the other hand I didn't feel rode well - the room was very noisy and it was difficult to sleep with hearing every set of points very loudly. A bit of sound proofing or at least some ear plugs in the amenity pack would have been good.

Overall very enjoyable despite the lack of sleep.

That’s good to hear. What did your fiance make of the experience? I’m hopefully taking my partner on the CS in a club room from Fort William in August, she doesn’t normally come with me on rail trips so I need it to be a good experience to encourage further travels.

 

[Class 466]

Having traveled from Crewe to Fort William last night I have to say the staff, food and service was excellent.

The coaches on the other hand I didn't feel rode well - the room was very noisy and it was difficult to sleep with hearing every set of points very loudly. A bit of sound proofing or at least some ear plugs in the amenity pack would have been good.

Overall very enjoyable despite the lack of sleep.

You should've had earplugs, they've been in the pack every time I've travelled with CS!

 

[XAM2175]

It's just seen as a normal train. It's your own job to make sure you wake up for your stop. Most people are going all the way anyway, and out of those who aren't a lot won't sleep well anyway, and a lot more will have mobile phones or digital watches on which an alarm can be set. The one person a year who fits none of those descriptions* can I'm sure ask the guard or another person if they wouldn't mind helping.

* Do I hear the sound of the RUK "standard minority" being wheeled out?

In fairness to @railfan99's point, the CountryLink services run for a lot longer and serve places that are both larger and more remote than many here: for instance, on the Sydney-Melbourne run there is a section between Wagga Wagga and Albury that only receives two trains per day each way, and the sleeper is one of them.

The sleeper is also, in truth, just one car of twinette rooms, and the rest seated - but unless things have changed in the last few years they do still turn the lights fully-off in the seated cars. There is also no passenger information system other than the PA, very little mobile phone reception, and a number of request stops that can be passed early so you are reliant on the crew to keep you updated to a greater degree than here.

 

[ashkeba]

Surely the one person a year who sleeps like a log and doesn't have a mobile phone or digital watch with an alarm function can buy a portable alarm clock in advance of the journey.

Sounding an alarm is a bit antisocial to the rest of the seated passengers, isn't it? There aren't even thin partitions to muffle the sound. A buzzing alarm (use those discs that chain pubs use to tell you your food is ready) followed by a staff prod as your stop approaches seems like a pretty basic feature for an open sleeping coach.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sounding an alarm is a bit antisocial to the rest of the seated passengers, isn't it? There aren't even thin partitions to muffle the sound. A buzzing alarm (use those discs that chain pubs use to tell you your food is ready) followed by a staff prod as your stop approaches seems like a pretty basic feature for an open sleeping coach.

99.9% (or more) of passengers have a device in their pocket that can do a "buzzing alarm" like that. It's called a mobile phone. I reckon there will be single figures of passengers per year on the Sleeper who have no mobile phone at all, not even a "dumbphone", and are not travelling between the terminal stations.

It's the budget option, sort it yourself.

 

[ashkeba]

99.9% (or more) of passengers have a device in their pocket that can do a "buzzing alarm" like that. It's called a mobile phone. I reckon there will be single figures of passengers per year on the Sleeper who have no mobile phone at all, not even a "dumbphone", and are not travelling between the terminal stations.

It's the budget option, sort it yourself.

There is often no phone GPS connection in other Mk5s so unless the sleepers are different, a location-based phone alarm won't work. Time alarms won't work if the sleeper runs early through your intermediate set down stop.

It's pretty cheap to prod passengers for intermediate stops. Even the old southern European sleepers used to manage this and they are very very low tech and far cheaper than CS.

 

[The Prisoner]

That’s good to hear. What did your fiance make of the experience? I’m hopefully taking my partner on the CS in a club room from Fort William in August, she doesn’t normally come with me on rail trips so I need it to be a good experience to encourage further travels.

She loved it. Fortunately she loves a quality train trip (Northern Belle, GWR Pullman and we are doing the Jacobite tomorrow). She works in hospitality, so the staff in the Club Car coming through and chatting away went down well. The lovely lady in charge of it even gave us a bottle of something nice when we got off. We were in the club double, which was cosy tbf, but as an experience and something a little different it went down as a 10/10 even if we are a little sleep deprived!

 

[Iskra]

She loved it. Fortunately she loves a quality train trip (Northern Belle, GWR Pullman and we are doing the Jacobite tomorrow). She works in hospitality, so the staff in the Club Car coming through and chatting away went down well. The lovely lady in charge of it even gave us a bottle of something nice when we got off. We were in the club double, which was cosy tbf, but as an experience and something a little different it went down as a 10/10 even if we are a little sleep deprived!

Excellent to hear!

 

[Berliner]

I am travelling on this train in a few months, but in a 'classic' sleeper. Poor that a conductor/steward doesn't wake sitting car passengers five minutes before a station.

Provided they don't move seats, in my country, NSW TrainLink attendants always wake travellers as if they didn't, too many would be overcarried. We don't have the frequency of long intrastate, or interstate trains that GB has between the latter's major cities.

In my experience of the seats, they do come and wake you up, at least on most journeys I have been on. I guess it depends on who is on and what else they might be caught up in at the time. At the end of the day, the only person responsible for getting off a train is the passenger. You're aware of the arrival time at your stop, there is also a screen and a PA announcing the stop. To complain about someone not waking you up seems a tad silly to be perfectly honest.

 

[xotGD]

The time I did the seats to Aberdeen, the guard who took over at Waverley came through and asked everyone where they were going. I'm assuming that if any had failed to bale he'd have come along to wake them, but everyone managed to make their stop.

 

[JModulo]

60021 hauled 1S25 Northbound Highlander during the night from Warrington to Preston due to overhead wire issues.

 

[Falcon1200]

To complain about someone not waking you up seems a tad silly to be perfectly honest.

Agree, and if I had ever fallen into a deep enough sleep on an overnight train to miss any station stops I would have been astonished !

 

[gordonjahn]

60021 hauled 1S25 Northbound Highlander during the night from Warrington to Preston due to overhead wire issues.

Can't say I've heard of a 60 on the full length train in a while - that can't supply ETS power for load 16, can it?

I guess Warrington to Preston is fairly short... does the TMS run on batteries for that time or is it just assumed that people aren't using showers etc in the middle of the night and the ETS supply won't be overloaded?