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Caledonian Sleeper
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Spartacus
Established Member
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Looking at it another way if it's the only service affected there's more likely been an incident on the inward working this morning only detected on the depot than a fleet-wide problem.
Yes, however be aware that, if running late (which isn’t uncommon) then 1Y11 usually runs via Falkirk High and the north Cowlairs curve avoiding Glasgow Queen Street to make up a substantial amount of time (circa 20 minutes). Therefore without a reservation you have a non-negligible chance of being unable to catch it: the sleeper is the second westbound train from Glasgow Queen Street, following the 0520 to Oban.
CS used to sell very keenly priced advance tickets Glasgow to/from Fort William, £10 if I recall. Some forum members have however reported some difficulties in availability of CS (seated) tickets between Glasgow and Fort William.
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Looking at RTT all the formations appear normal and are running as class 1, not ECS, so I suspect reports of problems have been greatly exaggerated.
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Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Yes, but if it's an hour early - like it often is - you'd be there at 05.40... Unless you lived almost next door to the station, would you really want to bail out there at that time?
Problem is the fleet is now going to be unbalanced owing to missing coaches in the wrong part of the uk
norbitonflyer
Established Member
So book to Euston, and bale at Watford if the opportunity presents itslef and you are ready. (I did similar on a sleeper to Vienna - plan had been to double back to our actual destination - Achnamg Puchhelm (junction for Hallstadt) but it was three hours late so we baled there
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Noting that 1B01 (the southbound woerking) is now normally routed via Falkirk, not Bathgate, according to both PSUL and RTT.
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Any update if there actually was an issue last night?, apart from that one guys tweets no other information seems to show anything, not having any sleepers would have been something the official CS twitter account would have made people aware of?
BRX
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I just had a look now (via trainsplit) at a few random dates and on all of them it shows the Glasgow - Fort William service as "sold out".
Based on what I've seen here over the past few years, my impression is that CS basically does everything they can to discourage people using it as a day service, despite the fact that it's supposed to be available as such (and presumably is part of their franchise agreement with the scottish govt).
GLC
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Small point of order: We are aware of a bug on TrainSplit (and TrainSplit powered products like the forum's ticket service) which may cause incorrect availability to be reported for trains like the Sleeper. It's to do with a supplier of ours and we have reported it to them, but for the short term, you are best using the official Caledonian Sleeper website for now
BRX
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CS's own website doesn't even let you attempt to buy tickets for the "day" services (it won't let you put Glasgow as start and Fort William as end point).
I checked on the Scotrail website and it's the same as trainsplit, won't let you buy a ticket for the CS service.
I see that it will let me buy a ticket for the evening one though.
Thanks all for the kind advice - I'll keep an eye out and do some fiddling myself 
Indeed just went and did a fiddle and can see its available 03/02 for example, on others it notes 'timtable unavailable' and sometimes its not there at all - guess all understandable due to planned alterations further south I suppose etc
Indeed just went and did a fiddle and can see its available 03/02 for example, on others it notes 'timtable unavailable' and sometimes its not there at all - guess all understandable due to planned alterations further south I suppose etc
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Wyrleybart
Established Member
Attnang Puchheim now there is a place !!!
Last time I was there the OLE was off in the station. Through trains dropped pans and coasted through but stoppers were propelled out of the station by diesels. I vividly remember a class 2067 0-6-0 diesel pushing a Stainach Irdning bound EMU out of the station and onto the branch for it to carry on unaided.
Admittedly that was back in the 1980s when class 1044s were premier traction on the OBB
The Glasgow portion was formed of only a seated and a lounge due to issues found on depot with the sleeper coaches.
Passengers were accommodated on other portions and I expect there was nothing on socials as all those travelling may already have been informed.
Tonight's northbound lowlander will be the same, as all the spare stock is at Glasgow. It will then be back to full capacity for the following night (22/01).
Dfatcontroller
Member
Thanks all for the kind advice - I'll keep an eye out and do some fiddling myself
Indeed just went and did a fiddle and can see its available 03/02 for example, on others it notes 'timtable unavailable' and sometimes its not there at all - guess all understandable due to planned alterations further south I suppose etc
Joining at Dalmuir would be safer.
Are they swapping the stock for Highlander and Lowlander to manage that? In the normal course of events the Glasgow southbound portion would be going back to Fort William tonight.
Yes, the short set that went south on the lowlander last night, will come north again tonight on the lowlander.
Spartacus
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If nothing else it's great for modelers!
HighlandStorm
Member
Had a look on the ScotRail website and app, and it requires a change at Dalmuir to use the southbound sleeper as a ‘day’ train to Queen Street now.
Given all the discussion about the 156 issues on the WHL, this is a rather retrograde step. Yes it’s a late arrival, but when there’s only 3 day trains, it was a welcome 4th option and I’ve used it to get from several points on the WHL to Glasgow since it started running via Queen Street.
It was done specifically to give Fort William a 4th direct service and others have noted there used to be some cracking advance offers.
Those made sense, it was basically extra income at no cost, filing seats that could not be used to London because of passengers from Aberdeen.
I did note however, if you split tickets, at Dalmuir it appears to honour a Highland Railcard for both legs!
Given all the discussion about the 156 issues on the WHL, this is a rather retrograde step. Yes it’s a late arrival, but when there’s only 3 day trains, it was a welcome 4th option and I’ve used it to get from several points on the WHL to Glasgow since it started running via Queen Street.
It was done specifically to give Fort William a 4th direct service and others have noted there used to be some cracking advance offers.
Those made sense, it was basically extra income at no cost, filing seats that could not be used to London because of passengers from Aberdeen.
I did note however, if you split tickets, at Dalmuir it appears to honour a Highland Railcard for both legs!
That was essentially to allow the earlier departure from Edinburgh that facilitates the Birmingham International stop.
Kite159
Veteran Member
What was the situation like 10 or so years ago when the Fort William sleeper was routed via Falkirk both ways (with an early morning ScotRail 156 running from Queen Street to Westerton to connect with the ScotRail run sleeper.
Was it a case of anybody wanting Glasgow having to change at Dalmuir for an electric train?
Was it a case of anybody wanting Glasgow having to change at Dalmuir for an electric train?
The class 156 connection at Westerton was specifically to connect with the sleeper. I would imagine that it waited if the sleeper ran late. Can anyone confirm? I doubt Scotrail will delay the current +9 at Dalmuir. If it gets ahead at Craigendoran then it's game over. I wouldn't fancy getting stranded at Dalmuir at midnight.
D6130
Established Member
Technically-speaking the Sleeper could overtake the electric at Dumbarton Central - as the Down Loop there is reversibly signalled - however, I agree that it's unlikely to happen.
Presumably CS would arrange taxis from Dalmuir to Glasgow QS in the event that the connection is missed?
Sure, but how long would it take? Dalmuir is uninviting at the best of times, let alone late at night. It's a firm no from me!
side effect
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Looks like the sleeper is departing earlier and going via Aberdeen.
Apparently the dam at Pitlochry has been/will be opened.
Oxfordblues
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Mark Smith of Seat61 fame is on-board 2H64 ex-Thurso and now has a nail-biting 3-minute connection into the retimed 1M16 20:20 ex-INV: https://www.facebook.com/seatsixtyone
Stop press: he made it! With just 3 minutes to spare.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Well, understandably, 1M16 arrived Euston 57 minutes late this morning on the WTT timings at 08:44. But in a brilliant move CS Control VSTP'd the pubic arrival time to 09:00 so (lo-and-behold!) it appeared to be 16 minutes early. If only Avanti could be as flexible.
Stop press: he made it! With just 3 minutes to spare.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Well, understandably, 1M16 arrived Euston 57 minutes late this morning on the WTT timings at 08:44. But in a brilliant move CS Control VSTP'd the pubic arrival time to 09:00 so (lo-and-behold!) it appeared to be 16 minutes early. If only Avanti could be as flexible.
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