Caledonian sleeper

[bennorthyork]

Please can someone answer a few questions about the sleeper for me.

I've seen the flexipass ticket for the sleeper which claims to save over 40% on 10 first class births according to national rail. But the cost is £1025 and a single appears to be £136 so not a 40% saving. Can anyone explain?

Also, if you get a flexipass it looks like it is transferable. Does anyone know how easy it is to transfer from one person to another?

Finally does anyone know how busy the section to Fort William tends to be in seated? Are there normally spare seats and is a reservation essential?

 

[jamesontheroad]

Finally does anyone know how busy the section to Fort William tends to be in seated? Are there normally spare seats and is a reservation essential?

No idea about your flexipass queries, but Fort William is generally very busy, and reservations always recommended. If it's full, travel to GLC on the lowland sleeper and cross to GLQ to catch the morning (around 0820 IIRC) ScotRail service to Fort William and Mallaig. Seated passengers between London and Fort William have to be woken to change carriages at EDB at a very unpleasant hour, so in some respects you might prefer to have a longer and uninterrupted journey to GLC and then the regular train the rest of the way.

 

[kkong]

I've seen the flexipass ticket for the sleeper which claims to save over 40% on 10 first class births according to national rail. But the cost is £1025 and a single appears to be £136 so not a 40% saving. Can anyone explain??

The £136 is one of the single fares (e.g. to Aberdeen), but it is not available on all trains.

There is also another first class single London to Aberdeen route CAL SLEEPER at £184.

I had to pay £184 when buying a ticket at Euston a couple of Fridays back for travel that evening.

 

[EltonRoad]

Please can someone answer a few questions about the sleeper for me.

I've seen the flexipass ticket for the sleeper which claims to save over 40% on 10 first class births according to national rail. But the cost is £1025 and a single appears to be £136 so not a 40% saving. Can anyone explain?

Also, if you get a flexipass it looks like it is transferable. Does anyone know how easy it is to transfer from one person to another?

Finally does anyone know how busy the section to Fort William tends to be in seated? Are there normally spare seats and is a reservation essential?

I travelled on the seated Sleeper from Corrour to Fort William two days ago, and back to Euston last night. On both occasions there were several free seats in the seated section. I also did a return journey from Euston to Fort William a few weeks ago and there was plenty of seating free on the WHL section. Corrour is a request stop - you have to flag down the Sleeper if you want to get on! I did not have a reservation but it still stopped nonetheless.

The lounge car has been refurbished as well - it is now the same design as the other lounge cars, with leather sofas and free-standing chairs. Very nice!

I've heard that the busiest times for this train are Friday and Sunday nights, down and up respectively. I think that, on those days in the summer, the Fort William section "borrows" a Sleeper coach from the Aberdeen portion, to make it up to 3 Sleeper coaches. I've seen photos of the train with 3 Sleepers but I've never travelled on a Friday or Sunday to be able to confirm it. Certainly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week it had 2 Sleepers.

 

[bennorthyork]

Thanks for all your advice on this.

One more question. I'm travelling with a dog, who will need a comfort break from Euston to Fort William on the sleeper. Does anyone know the exact timings so that I can plan where I can take him off for 2 or 3 mins? The timetable only shows departure times to Preston and arrival times beyond that.

 

[glynn80]

One more question. I'm travelling with a dog, who will need a comfort break from Euston to Fort William on the sleeper. Does anyone know the exact timings so that I can plan where I can take him off for 2 or 3 mins? The timetable only shows departure times to Preston and arrival times beyond that.

Here are the rules on dogs with regard to the Caledonian Sleeper

Dogs on sleepers

Dogs are only permitted in Sleeper berths providing the owner has exclusive use of the cabin and pays £40 per single journey to cover the cost of the extra cleaning of the berth. If travelling with a dog, booking must be made no less than 48 hours in advance of travel, 12 noon on a Friday for travel on a Sunday. Guide dogs are conveyed free.

Please note that dogs are not conveyed in the Seated Sleeper coach.

With regard to toilets, the sleeper has two cubicle toilets at the end of each sleeper coach but you may need to request being in the coach with the disabled toilet as that is slightly bigger.

 

[bennorthyork]

Unfortunately, I can't convince the dog to use a toilet He needs to go outside! So I'm looking for where the train stops for 2 or 3 mins or more.

I should have been clearer. I'm going to travel from London to Fort William in a berth.

 

[EltonRoad]

Try Crianlarich arr 7.42 dep 7.43, or Rannoch, where the Sleeper crosses the 6.03 Mallaig to Glasgow Q Street (Sleeper arr 8.40, dep 8.45).

Can your dog actually hang on for that long?

 

[glynn80]

Unfortunately, I can't convince the dog to use a toilet

He needs to go outside! So I'm looking for where the train stops for 2 or 3 mins or more.

Ah what a shame

The train does stop in Edinburgh (to split the train up into its component sections) for around 30 minutes at approximately 4:00. This is the only stop where passengers could get off for any length of time between Preston and Rannoch.