The Highland would only be going to Edinburgh in any case given the industrial action. Seems to be at Euston but leaving late.
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Caledonian Sleeper
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alistairlees
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Buses are planned forward from Edinburgh.
Cheshire Scot
Established Member
On a different tack, there is an article on Caley Sleeper in the January issue of Railways Illustrated. Whilst I have not yet read the article what took my attention was a photo of a pair of cl73s stabled in Fort William and what I found interesting was the location, not at the Depot, nor even at the station, but at the long disused oil terminal.
jagardner1984
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Given it is now a single seated coach - presumably some lightly loaded buses !
I was supposed to be on the lowlander tonight. A service which arrived in Euston at 0707 this morning. First email of an issue was sent out at 1748 tonight.
When is the servicing normally done during the day ?
Does seem to point to some fairly significant shortcomings if there is not a single imaginable way of getting some sheets on or off the train (yes I am deliberately being flippant) in the 16 hours between one service arriving and the other departing, or indeed there is not one single piece of metal with wheels and some seats in it that could accommodate more than 31 people (seated coach) that could have gone up the WCML tonight.
I appreciate there are complexities, but the ease with which rail companies dispose of their passengers for someone else to deal with is I would say an issue that needs to be addressed.
The language from CS online tonight is very much "well if you want to go to Euston to see if we can get you a hotel you can. Emergency Essential Travel only, we do not advise this. Tomorrow's first service gets in about 2pm. We are working on ticket acceptance but nothing is in place. Oh and by the way it's like -3 in Euston. Up to you"
I'm on an all stopper to Birmingham airport for an early flight. So much for my green trip ....
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Sounds like a good time
Corrour's got a rather good pull to it, I've been wanting to go there with my hiking boots for a while. I might actually do it in 2023, I have a feeling next year will see a lot of focus on Scotland. Speyside Way, Isle of Skye and now Corrour. Certainly worse ways to spend a couple of weeks!Running with 14 coaches enables platforms other than 1 and 15 to be used. I arrived on platform 16 last Thursday morning.
How come its down to 14 coaches? I also note that the Highlander looks to be terminating in Edinburgh tonight.
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Sounds like a good time
Corrour is a very unique place to visit, I've done it twice by getting the morning service from Glasgow up, spending an hour and a half in Corrour and getting the afternoon train back down, I'd love to spend a bit longer there though.
Lowlander looks like 13 on RTT actually. Highlander was 16.
I was going to make the point that it is usual practice in the winter months to reduce each set to 7 rather than 8 coaches to allow additional maintenance to happen.
See https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/caledonian-sleeper.176365/page-402#post-5481889
Sleepy
Established Member
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_toommm_
Established Member
I spent about six hours there the other week - getting the morning sleeper from Glasgow, then the 15:20ish to Fort William. There’s also the wonderful Corrour Station House for food and drink in case you find yourself with spare time.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Not a bad way to introduce oneself to the place before commiting a fuller trip I suppose. Hmm, ideas are forming!
Nice, I'm getting even more sold on the idea! I could pick up the sleeper in Crewe, choosing a berth of course (no way would I want to do it on the seats) and have a mighty good explore. I do have a couple of weeks of holiday time to book yet before the end of March, hmm!
_toommm_
Established Member
It closes soon though, until the end of March 2023. Don’t want you to get up there expecting to eat something and get caught out!
Station House | Corrour Estate | Highlands Scotland
Corrour is the highest railway station in the UK, on the stunning West Highland Line. The Station House is accessible only by train or a twenty-mile walk! We warmly welcome visitors with a roaring fire, comfy sofas and good homemade food. Children and dogs are welcome.
www.corrour.co.uk
Appears that the Aberdeen portion is diverted northbound via Stirling and runs earlier southbound via Fife, other than on Friday night, due to electrification work.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
It closes soon though, until the end of March 2023. Don’t want you to get up there expecting to eat something and get caught out!
Station House | Corrour Estate | Highlands Scotland
Corrour is the highest railway station in the UK, on the stunning West Highland Line. The Station House is accessible only by train or a twenty-mile walk! We warmly welcome visitors with a roaring fire, comfy sofas and good homemade food. Children and dogs are welcome.
Thanks for the link and the heads-up! Yes don't worry I won't be visiting for a while, it'll be a bit too cold up there for me until the spring
The curry on their menu sounds nice, nothing else appeals/is suitable on that menu for me though!
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Isn't that normal in winter in recent years?
47550
Member
Thanks for the link and the heads-up! Yes don't worry I won't be visiting for a while, it'll be a bit too cold up there for me until the spring
Definitely recommend the Station House at Corrour, very friendly staff and chilled atmosphere. You can stay in the old signal box (book on airbnb) or in the YHA (though that is a 15 min walk from the station).
Also worth looking at on the travel side are the Standard Premium fares from Crewe to Glasgow on Avanti - they weren’t much more expensive than standard when we went and booked well in advance.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Funnily enough I have also thought about using Avanti to get to Scotland, going in Standard Premium would be an ideal middle ground given how expensive a First Class fare would be!
Once I get some time off work booked, I'll know what I can do. Staying in the signal box looks like an awesome idea, I definitely want to try it if it's available on the dates I'll be up there on.
Of course, this isn't likely to happen before March!
That’s a good walk, Beinn na Lap on the north side is an easy hill, the two on the south west side fairly straightforward, even if one of them is barely pronounceable.
Thanks for the link and the heads-up! Yes don't worry I won't be visiting for a while, it'll be a bit too cold up there for me until the spring
It’s a lovely place. Do give them a ring before you go about menu availability, when I went the veggie options were off and it was basically different variations of venison.
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Wildly off topic but Ive done the Loch Ossian run and my name is in the folder but i couldn't get anywhere near the 1 hour time!
I went by Caledonian Sleeper from Garelochead by the way.
www.hostellingscotland.org.uk
I went by Caledonian Sleeper from Garelochead by the way.
The legend of the Loch Ossian logbook
Fiona Russell, aka Fiona Outdoors, discovers the story of a legendary round loch run challenge at the remote Loch Ossian Youth Hostel in Corrour in the Scottish Highlands.
There's a few Munros walkable from there too, walks are on Walk HighlandsWildly off topic but Ive done the Loch Ossian run and my name is in the folder but i couldn't get anywhere near the 1 hour time!
I went by Caledonian Sleeper from Garelochead by the way.
The legend of the Loch Ossian logbook
Fiona Russell, aka Fiona Outdoors, discovers the story of a legendary round loch run challenge at the remote Loch Ossian Youth Hostel in Corrour in the Scottish Highlands.
Sleepy
Established Member
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I've just been looking into going on the sleeper at either half term or Easter into catching the train from Crewe to Inverness. There are no services showing. On a chat on the Caledonian Sleeper website I've been told that the stop at Crewe is currently being reviewed hence no services showing.
That’s interesting. I’ve looked at a few dates and it won’t let you book from Watford, Crewe or Preston.
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I thought that at first. However every date I've tried from late Decenber to mid April shows no tickets from Crewe to Inverness. This is despite tickets showing from London to Inverness. The person on Web chat said Crewe was being reviewed as a station stop hence they had withdrawn all tickets. I complained on line to him and he said review would be completed quickly. I'm tempted to complain to my MP as by withdrawing the stop would make the sleeper more expensive and add 5 hours to the journey.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
There was talk (it's upthread somewhere) about stopping at Birmingham New St, though I didn't think that was instead of Crewe, maybe it is.
More interesting is blocking out all of the WCML stations, that sounds almost more like they are considering running ECML instead! I suppose ScotGov are looking at a direct award, maybe that might specify some changes.
The Planner
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- 15 Apr 2008
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Keep an eye on what appears on RTT for May 23.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
What a tease! I would suggest that Birmingham New Street would be a good option for a lot of places, I would certainly use such a stop.