Caledonian Sleeper

[Essexman]

We’re on the move.
Northbound.

 

[JonathanH]

The locomotive sent from Craigentinny has continued its journey to Perth. Presumably there is a 66 at Inverness that GBRf can hire from another operator to get the train to Perth and then swap for this?

 

[Essexman]

We’re back at Inverness.

Seems they were a bit hasty to cancel the train. Passengers woken once to tell them cancelled then again to say it’s not.

I imagine arrival time of 11am must be a guess. Is there a path or do we have to fit between faster trains.

 

[GordonT]

We’re back at Inverness.

Seems they were a bit hasty to cancel the train. Passengers woken once to tell them cancelled then again to say it’s not.

I imagine arrival time of 11am must be a guess. Is there a path or do we have to fit between faster trains.

Guess yes, path no, fit between yes.

 

[Speed43125]

We’re back at Inverness.

Seems they were a bit hasty to cancel the train. Passengers woken once to tell them cancelled then again to say it’s not.

I imagine arrival time of 11am must be a guess. Is there a path or do we have to fit between faster trains.

Guess yes, path no, fit between yes.

This is where the limit of 140km/h for 92s really gets in the way compared to the ac locos of mk.3 days

 

[FrodshamJnct]

66130 ended up doing the honours.

 

[driverd]

Sorry - since when was a 67 on the sleeper again? Is this just a temporary thing?

 

[JonathanH]

Sorry - since when was a 67 on the sleeper again? Is this just a temporary thing?

67023 and 67027 were acquired by GBRf to take the place of what a 66 has been doing on the sleepers - ie running in conjunction with a 73 on the Inverness portion. This seems to be the long term plan.

Yesterday was, I think, the first time (other than a 'fix' on 8 April) that 67023 was put on the Inverness working.

 

[Essexman]

We left Inverness 1.01am.
We’ve just left Crewe.
Due into Euston 10.50.
So will have made up over an hour, some of that from running non stop to Edinburgh.
Full refunds for everyone.

 

[Bletchleyite]

We left Inverness 1.01am.
We’ve just left Crewe.
Due into Euston 10.50.
So will have made up over an hour, some of that from running non stop to Edinburgh.
Full refunds for everyone.

Did the whole Highlander wait, or are the two portions running separately?

 

[Essexman]

All running together.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Oct 2022 ==

All running together.

A good run from Crewe so far. Fast line as far as Bourne End Junction.

I wonder who made the decision to set off from Inverness with just the 73 and not get hold of the 66 then?

 

[JonathanH]

I wonder who made the decision to set off from Inverness with just the 73 and not get hold of the 66 then?

Until the train has broken down it is a bit difficult to commandeer someone else's locomotive.

It would be equally interesting to know how the discussions went about hiring 66130 from DB Cargo.

 

[Essexman]

Until the train has broken down it is a bit difficult to commandeer someone else's locomotive.

It would be equally interesting to know how the discussions went about hiring 66130 from DB Cargo.

I assume agreement to hire took a while, during which the train was cancelled. Fortunately it then was made available so we could run after all.

So after last night will a 73 be expected to work alone on the Inverness portion again, or next time will they start to look for a second locomotive without delay if the 67 fails. Or will they wait for it to fail after setting out again?

 

[John Bishop]

Probably not helped that the 67 has been sat around for months now not doing anything. Probably needs a good shakedown run.

 

[Essexman]

Probably not helped that the 67 has been sat around for months now not doing anything. Probably needs a good shakedown run.

It had taken the sleeper up from Edinburgh the previous night.

 

[JonathanH]

Probably not helped that the 67 has been sat around for months now not doing anything. Probably needs a good shakedown run.

It had a number of trips to Aberdeen as practice before they put it on the Inverness portion.

 

[BRX]

Looks like it's 66724 helping out tonight

Realtime Trains | 1M16 2045 Inverness and Aberdeen to London Euston | 12/10/2022

Real-time train running information for 1M16 2045 departure from Inverness and Aberdeen to London Euston on 12/10/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[trainbow]

Can’t get enough locos tonight for the lowlander. Disappointing indeed. They really should be offering a partial refund for these eventualities - can’t imagine any other business getting away with not providing the advertised service and offering customers absolutely f*** all.

(Yes, I know NRCoT etc etc but you get my point)

Dear Guest,

Why are we writing to you?

We are sorry to inform you that due to a locomotive failure we are unable to terminate your service at Glasgow Central tomorrow morning.

What does this mean for you and your travel plans?

Your journey will start from London Euston as scheduled this evening and the Glasgow Central portion of the train will terminate at Carstairs at 0635.

From here, guests will board the 0651 Cross Country train to Glasgow Central, which will call at Motherwell at 0705hrs, and arriving in Glasgow Central at 0725hrs.

Station and on-board staff are aware of these arrangements and your Caledonian Sleeper ticket to travel will be accepted without any additional charge.

Guests wishing to remain on-board can do so, as the full train will proceed to Edinburgh Waverly with the scheduled arrival time of 0730hrs. For guests who are booked to Glasgow Central but wishing to stay on-board to Edinburgh can board the 0745hrs Scotrail service to Glasgow Queen Street arriving at 0838.

Station and on-board staff are aware of these arrangements and your Caledonian Sleeper ticket to travel will be accepted without any additional charge.

We kindly request that you inform the on-board crew when boarding this evening if you will be terminating in Edinburgh.

If these options are not suitable then you may cancel and receive a refund This can be done by either contacting us via Live Chat or emailing us at enquiry@sleeper.scot prior to the departure of the service.
Please accept our sincere apologies for this disruption and for any inconvenience caused.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've seen far worse than that. A very minor inconvenience.

 

[JModulo]

Can’t get enough locos tonight for the lowlander. Disappointing indeed. They really should be offering a partial refund for these eventualities - can’t imagine any other business getting away with not providing the advertised service and offering customers absolutely f*** all.

(Yes, I know NRCoT etc etc but you get my point)

The required locos for the lowlander are available, its not them that is the issue. A 73 failed at Aberdeen last night. Because of this, the highlander was short formed as that portion didn't run. This now means the north bound lowlander tonight is shortformed. As there is only 1 seated /club coach, the usual split can't be done.

 

[43096]

Can’t get enough locos tonight for the lowlander. Disappointing indeed. They really should be offering a partial refund for these eventualities - can’t imagine any other business getting away with not providing the advertised service and offering customers absolutely f*** all.

(Yes, I know NRCoT etc etc but you get my point)

I assume this is a consequence of three of the ten sleeper 92s being stopped at UKRL for maintenance or repair. That leaves 7 for 7 diagrams (one each for 1M11, 1M16, 1S25 and 1S26, one for the Edinburgh portion of the Lowlander and ECS locos at Wembley and Polmadie) - presumably one of those is unavailable. I'm assuming there is also a 73 shortage, as in extremis one could cover the Polmadie ECS or Edinburgh portion.

 

[zwk500]

I've seen far worse than that. A very minor inconvenience.

Still worthy of a partial refund, I'd have thought. If its meant to be a hotel on wheels then being turfed out at Carstairs at half 6 on an October morning is not an experience that would encourage me to book again.

 

[AlterEgo]

Still worthy of a partial refund, I'd have thought. If its meant to be a hotel on wheels then being turfed out at Carstairs at half 6 on an October morning is not an experience that would encourage me to book again.

I completely agree. This is marketed and pitched fares-wise at the premium end of the market and being chucked off at 0635 is not good enough.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Still worthy of a partial refund, I'd have thought. If its meant to be a hotel on wheels then being turfed out at Carstairs at half 6 on an October morning is not an experience that would encourage me to book again.

There's the option to stay on to Edinburgh too.

 

[zwk500]

There's the option to stay on to Edinburgh too.

Even with the ticket acceptance onto a Scotrail that gets you to Glasgow just before 0840, it's still not great customer service for something that markets itself akin to a luxury hotel. A goodwill gesture of a 20% refund to Glasgow passengers would be appropriate, rather than just a normal railway approach of 'we got you there in the end, that's good enough'.

 

[driverd]

Still worthy of a partial refund, I'd have thought. If its meant to be a hotel on wheels then being turfed out at Carstairs at half 6 on an October morning is not an experience that would encourage me to book again.

I'd usually agree here but, to be honest, this seems quite reasonable from a customer service stand point. They've made an effort to advise customers in good time and they've offered two contingencies (one of which offers a similar arrival time, one of which offers longer in bed). In my eyes, it's a reasonable compromise, not ideal but not a disaster either - I'd rather have the information in advance and be able to alter my arrangements accordingly.

I think, if they offered you over night seated accommodation (eg: a coach from Carlisle), that would be clearly inappropriate and worthy of a refund, but for me, I travel the sleeper to have a good night's kip. Turfed off at 0635 vice 0730 with boarding at 2300 still allows sufficient time for a good night's sleep (infact, it's often longer than night riviera journeys), so I personally wouldn't be too sad.

Have you tried contacting CS to see if they'll offer a refund? I suspect their customer service may try and offer something?

 

[zwk500]

Have you tried contacting CS to see if they'll offer a refund? I suspect their customer service may try and offer something?

I'm not travelling myself, so I don't want to block up their customer service lines for people who may need to reach them.

 

[John Bishop]

1M16 showing cancelled from Inverness tonight on RTT.

 

[43096]

1M16 showing cancelled from Inverness tonight on RTT.

But shows as having departed as well!

 

[GordonT]

Now that the decision not to extend the franchise has been taken I'm not sure that living up to all the "hotel on wheels" malarkey will be a huge priority for Serco.