I've had the piper on the platform at Waverley before now. I think it was some sort of anniversary or new commercial partnership because I was handed some freebies (whisky minis and chocolate if I remember rightly). My memory of it is a bit hazy because it was late at night but I remember thinking this is an awfully unsociable hour to be piping!
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Caledonian Sleeper
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Struner
Member
pipes shouldn’t be played in roofed environments anyway…
& as for your memory, wasn’t it hazy because you had finished the mini?
LickeyIncliner
Member
At least not in a highly resonant roofed environment where people need to listen to announcements and to other people. One piper on Waverley platform 2 (e.g. for a Belmond charter) can dominate everything else in the station
H F Stephens
Member
They don’t, but then the aviation ones don’t generally calculate an average for ramp running, push-back, taxiing variation, wind, cruise height variation (other than broad generalisations for ultra short haul, short haul and long haul) and approach holds, apron holds for stand availability etc., etc.
As the BBC article referenced earlier mentions, though, the further issue in making comparisons between aviation and surface based transport is that certain emissions, mostly other than CO2, are generally held to have a greater warming effect at altitude than at ground level.
Although there’s not yet a consensus on how to mathematically compute this, it does make purely CO2 comparisons specious at best.
JohnMcL7
Member
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In the case of aviation that's a small percentage of the running time whereas in the case of the 66, it can be idling for as long as they're mean to be running for. Also those emissions are going to have a direct impact on the air quality when it's an old engine with no SCR sitting at a city centre, it just doesn't seem that 'green' an option to me especially compared to the lner class 800 which also runs to London. Then again it's a fair point that travelling hundreds of miles for a meeting is not green in the first place anyway.
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norbitonflyer
Established Member
Or anywhere else?
"A true gentleman is someone who knows how to play the bagpipes, and doesn’t"
leightonbd
Member
Beat me to it
BenBracken
Member
A relative of mine did Inverness to Birmingham last Thursday in the seated coach. She thought about 40 people got off in Birmingham from seated and sleeping coaches and the platform looked busy. Thats an encouraging start isn’t it?
VT 390
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Given that represents the equivalent of over an entire seated carriage worth of passengers (31 seats) or 2-4 (depending of single or double occupancy) club/classic sleeper carriages worth of passengers and the service has only been going just over a month this appears to be very good loadings for Birmingham.
It would be interesting to know if this is about the average for Birmingham or if it was more of a one off.
DelW
Established Member
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The Camping, Caravanning and Motorhome Show was on at the NEC, which might have been an attraction for visitors from Scotland.
You mean they didn't drive there in their motorhomes?
norbitonflyer
Established Member
If they already had a motorhome, why would they want to go to a show to choose a motorhome?You mean they didn't drive there in their motorhomes?
Dfatcontroller
Member
People with cars go to motorshows......
I went North from Birmingham International towards Fort William lar Friday night. I was estimate around maybe 10 people getting on. I did notice most people seemed to be heading for the Aberdeen portion that is in the platform. Only 1 other person heading to the back for Inverness & Fort William.
There were a lot of announcements asking people not to board for Birmingham New Street!
There were a lot of announcements asking people not to board for Birmingham New Street!
VT 390
Established Member
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Were Caledonian Sleeper staff checking everyone's tickets/reservations before boarding or after boarding? As this would prevent anyone without a mandatory reservation (including those wanting New Street) from boarding the train.
Although, I guess it can't be a bad thing announcing not to board for Birmingham as it is a long train filling the whole platform so it prevents anyone accidently ending up at Crewe.
That’s exactly what was meant. Of course the timetable has to be amended in an emergency - but delay/ get you there (or home) rights for tickets bought before that change should be based on the original timetable at the time the ticket was purchased. I was referring in the main to planned work.
Ritchie333
Member
Well, I've finally, after about 15 years of thinking about it, booked the Caledonian Sleeper from Euston to Inverness. Club on the way up, Caledonian Double on the way back.
Do I have more money than sense paying the prices offered? (£385 / £570) Probably, but given how long I've been planning the trip, it's easy to save up that amount of cash, it seems. I'm interested to see what the onboard food is like, a potential throwback to a proper, Orient Express style three course meal. And full access to the guest lounges is thrown in as well.
The service certainly looks in demand - even planning a few months ahead (albeit towards the height of summer) it seems that at least half of the seats were already booked, and I managed to grab the last Double.
Do I have more money than sense paying the prices offered? (£385 / £570) Probably, but given how long I've been planning the trip, it's easy to save up that amount of cash, it seems. I'm interested to see what the onboard food is like, a potential throwback to a proper, Orient Express style three course meal. And full access to the guest lounges is thrown in as well.
The service certainly looks in demand - even planning a few months ahead (albeit towards the height of summer) it seems that at least half of the seats were already booked, and I managed to grab the last Double.
VT 390
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At Inverness especially (but London as well if you can) make sure you arrive around 15 minutes before opening time for the Lounge as the Inverness lounge is nice but very small and get completely full early on.
The double rooms especially can go really early on on the Highlander routes as there are only 2 Double en-suite and 1 accessible double per portion of the train.
They were checking during boarding as well, I didn't notice if the non-staffed doors were released or not. But yeah doesn't do any harm particularly while people are getting used to it. It was due at 2242 from platform 3 and there is also a 2238 CrossCountry to Birmingham New Street and 2251 Avanti to Wolverhampton both also off the same platform it fits between.
WSP / Brake issues.
Some indication, rotational test undertaken, etc.
Tetragon213
Member
Highlander 1M16 approximately 45L.
Update: arriving into Birmingham International 0707, against a timetabled 0621, for a total of 46L
Update: arriving into Birmingham International 0707, against a timetabled 0621, for a total of 46L
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This has probable been asked / explained before somewhere in the 626 pages of posts, but...
Can someone remind me why passengers on the seated coach of the Fort William section need to get off the train at Edinburgh, and then get back on again?
(I've had a couple of occasions where it'd have been really useful to get on the Highland Sleeper at Edinburgh, but the CS policy is you can't board there for "safety reasons" - even though they making a load of passengers get off and then reboard anyway?!)
In those instances I've then travelled from Edinburgh to either Inverkeithing or Falkirk, to get on the Sleeper to then just retrace my steps (well, tracks, literally ). It's especially annoying when one section of the Sleeper is already at Waverley when I leave, to then travel back and get attached to that section an hour later... 
Can someone remind me why passengers on the seated coach of the Fort William section need to get off the train at Edinburgh, and then get back on again?
(I've had a couple of occasions where it'd have been really useful to get on the Highland Sleeper at Edinburgh, but the CS policy is you can't board there for "safety reasons" - even though they making a load of passengers get off and then reboard anyway?!)
In those instances I've then travelled from Edinburgh to either Inverkeithing or Falkirk, to get on the Sleeper to then just retrace my steps (well, tracks, literally
). It's especially annoying when one section of the Sleeper is already at Waverley when I leave, to then travel back and get attached to that section an hour later...
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hexagon789
Veteran Member
Because the seated coaches don't go through to/from Euston only the sleepers do. Seperate lounge and seated brake vehicles are added/removed at Edinburgh for Fort William passengers.
ooh ok, thanks - what's the rationale for that? Why not just use the same coaches all the way through, like they do for the other 2 sections?
There is typically more seated demand to stations on the Aberdeen side than on the Fort William side The sleeper is limited to 16 coaches on the trunk leg. The seated coach and the lounge coach goes through to Aberdeen.
Tetragon213
Member
After a few days to recover from the lack of sleep...
The beds on the Mk5s are quite comfortable. The bedding was actually possibly better than that provided on the Riviera. Also, having the option to book a room with an ensuite is a very welcome change from the Riviera, where the Mk3s do not have any ensuites available. I'd booked a club rate sharing with a different family member, seeing as we're likely to only do this once.
The killer, however, is the horrendous ride quality. I don't think I've had a bumpier ride on a railway in my life, than I did on the Cally (and bear in mind I've done some heritage lines over some properly rough bits of track at, ahem, "25 miles an hour wink wink". The Mk5s ride diabolically poorly, to the point where I kept being jolted awake and hearing "dun-dun, dun-dun" at pretty much every station, every junction, practically every piece of pointwork. It boggles the mind that a comparatively ancient Mk3 can somehow ride far better than a more modern coach does. I am not a light sleeper, not by any stretch, and even for me it was a struggle to stay asleep.
Breakfast in the morning was a much better affair than what I had on the other sleeper. Getting a proper hot-cooked breakfast on a plate is certainly a step up from a sausage bap served in a bag!
I think Cally should try and arrange for some form of lounge sharing at Birmingham International. It's an important stop that they were very excited about adding, but it could be so much more. Providing lounge access at BHI would be very welcome considering the extremely early arrival time into Brum.
Finally, I'm not sure what happened, but I awoke to discover that we were running over 45 minutes late, having apparently lost nearly 50 minutes in Edinburgh.
All in all, it was an interesting experience, but I much preferred the Riviera over the Cally. It's just a shame that I have no real reason to go to Cornwall regularly, whereas I have much more reason to go to Scotland.
The beds on the Mk5s are quite comfortable. The bedding was actually possibly better than that provided on the Riviera. Also, having the option to book a room with an ensuite is a very welcome change from the Riviera, where the Mk3s do not have any ensuites available. I'd booked a club rate sharing with a different family member, seeing as we're likely to only do this once.
The killer, however, is the horrendous ride quality. I don't think I've had a bumpier ride on a railway in my life, than I did on the Cally (and bear in mind I've done some heritage lines over some properly rough bits of track at, ahem, "25 miles an hour wink wink". The Mk5s ride diabolically poorly, to the point where I kept being jolted awake and hearing "dun-dun, dun-dun" at pretty much every station, every junction, practically every piece of pointwork. It boggles the mind that a comparatively ancient Mk3 can somehow ride far better than a more modern coach does. I am not a light sleeper, not by any stretch, and even for me it was a struggle to stay asleep.
Breakfast in the morning was a much better affair than what I had on the other sleeper. Getting a proper hot-cooked breakfast on a plate is certainly a step up from a sausage bap served in a bag!
I think Cally should try and arrange for some form of lounge sharing at Birmingham International. It's an important stop that they were very excited about adding, but it could be so much more. Providing lounge access at BHI would be very welcome considering the extremely early arrival time into Brum.
Finally, I'm not sure what happened, but I awoke to discover that we were running over 45 minutes late, having apparently lost nearly 50 minutes in Edinburgh.
All in all, it was an interesting experience, but I much preferred the Riviera over the Cally. It's just a shame that I have no real reason to go to Cornwall regularly, whereas I have much more reason to go to Scotland.
ah I see - so basically from the three branches there are only ever allowed to be a total number of seated passenger equal to two seated coaches? (i.e. I guess there's never a situation where the seated coach is full on each of the three branches and that the booking engine is clever enough to allocate seats appropriately to cope with this!)
Someone travelling to Fort William books a different seat for each leg of their journey. The total number of seated passengers for Aberdeen and Fort William can't exceed the number of seats between London and Edinburgh, although spare seats between Edinburgh and Fort William are made available for internal Scottish travel.