Caledonian Sleeper discussion

[Techniquest]

I've had that happen with Central Trains in days gone by with turning services back early at Great Malvern and Ledbury. Believe SickyNicky when he says it's not a great place to fill an hour! I did it a while back, too long a story to tell, for about 50 minutes waiting for an HST, if I hadn't had some beers I'd have gone mad in that time!

As for the sleeper, I really don't even want to think about it any more

 

[Mag_seven]

86101 on 1S26 last night - may be on 1M11 tonight.

 

[Servotech Rail]

We are working on some electrical obsolescence issues on the CS right now, one of which should see some improvements to the disabled carriage access soon.

 

[captainbigun]

86101 on 1S26 last night - may be on 1M11 tonight.

It is on 1M11 this evening.

 

[87015]

It is on 1M11 this evening.

87002 widely claimed for S26 tonight. Rare to give it preference over the canjunk. 90042 was shown as being repaired today so presume it's more broken than anticipated...

 

[ld0595]

Aberdeen portion has been cancelled to Edinburgh tonight. Despite assurances that the service will be unaffected by the strikes, 1B16 has been cancelled due to.... A lack of guard! Passengers are being advised to join the 21:28 XC service to Edinbrugh and 1B16 will travel ECS as 5B16 to Edinbrugh.

 

[Haig paxton]

Aberdeen portion has been cancelled to Edinburgh tonight. Despite assurances that the service will be unaffected by the strikes, 1B16 has been cancelled due to.... A lack of guard! Passengers are being advised to join the 21:28 XC service to Edinbrugh and 1B16 will travel ECS as 5B16 to Edinbrugh.

What was different about this Sunday to any other Sunday they have been on strike? What made CS think they had a Guard to take the train from Aberdeen?

 

[najaB]

What made CS think they had a Guard to take the train from Aberdeen?

Perhaps they were told that they would have one? The Inverness and Fort William portions both appear to have run normally.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I never thought Id say this, but a Voyager is an improvement on bustitution

 

[47271]

To reduce the risk of us going round in circles on the question of what happens on the Highlander on Scotrail strike days, #1607 in this thread tells us that GBRF is in the process of taking over CS's supply of guards north of Edinburgh.

 

[leomartin125]

Anyone know what will be hauling tomorrow night's sleeper to Glasgow Central? Any chance of a 92 or an 86? Or most likely a 90?

 

[smudga331]

anyone know what's up with 1S25? It's been sat at Crewe for quite a while now with people sniffing around the loco with torches?

 

[roversfan2001]

3.35am: 1S25 still stood at Crewe (3h38m now), meanwhile 1M11 has been at Preston for 20 minutes.

EDIT (4.52am) : 1M11 left Preston 52 late, 1M16 now sat there, same platform as 1M11 was. 1S25 most likely terminated at Crewe.

 

[38Cto15E]

What a massive disappointment that will be for passengers, a knock on the door thinking that they are in the Scottish Highlands but find they are only in Cheshire and have an arduous coach journey ahead.

 

[Scotrail84]

To reduce the risk of us going round in circles on the question of what happens on the Highlander on Scotrail strike days, #1607 in this thread tells us that GBRF is in the process of taking over CS's supply of guards north of Edinburgh.

That's not accurate though. GBRF are only supplying men for strike days if possible, they also need to be route conducted by a driver! Serco will be hiring their own sleeper train managers to work the northbound services in the next year or so.

 

[PHILIPE]

Passengers off 1S25 caught 0557 Crewe to Glasgow Cen with arrival time at Fort William at 1609 - getting near time to go to bed again !!!
Eventually moved 1S25 to Alsager Loop which is about the only convenient place to put it due to length, otherwise it was blocking a Platform at Crewe.
What is happening next is - CS Information sadly lacking.

 

[Chrism20]

There were three 73s and a 66 (I think it was a 66) sitting at Waverley as the 1530 pulled out, I assume they are the ones that were to be used to take the train north this morning.

There was no one in any of the locos so movement did not look imminent.

 

[PHILIPE]

There were three 73s and a 66 (I think it was a 66) sitting at Waverley as the 1530 pulled out, I assume they are the ones that were to be used to take the train north this morning.

There was no one in any of the locos so movement did not look imminent.

They will be the locos to take tonight's trains forward.

 

[Bungle965]

1S25 also as it happened was a single voyager, bet it was nice and cosy.
I thought things were working rather well on the Sleeper, something had too give.
Turning into a 2 day farce at the moment.

 

[PHILIPE]

CS now published info re tonight:-

"Due to a fault on the Highlander service the previous evening, the Southbound Highlander service tonight (26 July 2016) is disrupted.
Guests booked on the Southbound Highlander from stations all stations north of Edinburgh will be taken by road replacement transport to Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley, where they will join the Southbound Lowlander service to travel to London Euston."

 

[Essexman]

Will all the Highlander passengers fit into the Lowlander given that the Inverness, Edinburgh & Fort William portions are all busy this time of the year?

 

[roversfan2001]

The news given by CS for tonight is that passengers for the Highland only stops have to join RRBs to either Glasgow Central or Edinburgh where they will join the Lowland Sleeper (ie no Highland Sleeper towards Euston tonight).

EDIT: Didn't read page 111, repeated info already given

 

[NamelessPoster]

That's not accurate though. GBRF are only supplying men for strike days if possible, they also need to be route conducted by a driver! Serco will be hiring their own sleeper train managers to work the northbound services in the next year or so.

As I understand it those GBRF staff being used at present are the future train managers. The contract with ScotRail ends shortly and Serco opted out of renewing the contract.

 

[reb0118]

As I understand it those GBRF staff being used at present are the future train managers. The contract with ScotRail ends shortly and Serco opted out of renewing the contract.

That could be true. However, I've also heard that ScotRail have reduced the fees for hiring their guards and that they will continue to provide them until at least the new trains start.

Wait & see.....

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[Class 170101]

In any case these trains simply cannot sit at a platform as busy as Edinburgh Waverley taking up a platform booked to deal with several East Coast services from 5.30am.

How about sending it on a tour of lines Edinburgh to Glasgow and then return back at a later time instead?

Passengers off 1S25 caught 0557 Crewe to Glasgow Cen with arrival time at Fort William at 1609 - getting near time to go to bed again !!!
Eventually moved 1S25 to Alsager Loop which is about the only convenient place to put it due to length, otherwise it was blocking a Platform at Crewe.
What is happening next is - CS Information sadly lacking.

Are there no sidings long enough at Crewe (Carriage) Sidings?

 

[smudga331]

Passengers off 1S25 caught 0557 Crewe to Glasgow Cen with arrival time at Fort William at 1609 - getting near time to go to bed again !!!
Eventually moved 1S25 to Alsager Loop which is about the only convenient place to put it due to length, otherwise it was blocking a Platform at Crewe.
What is happening next is - CS Information sadly lacking.

5Z25 currently running back to Wembley Depot, Currently making good time passing Watford Junction. Dragged back by a 92 ahead of the 90 and Mk3's. Would this indicate a problem with the loco as opposed to the coaching stock?

 

[furgus2]

Were passengers able to stay in their beds during the night at Crewe?

 

[smudga331]

Were passengers able to stay in their beds during the night at Crewe?

I believe so, until about 5am anyway, when they were all woken and booted off ready to join 1S34 to Glasgow.

 

[BRX]

I was booked on the fort william sleeper tonight (southbound). It seems CS must have known this would not run early today. But no email, text message or phonecall to let us know. In fact they sent me an automated email at noon telling me how they looked forward to welcoming me on board etc.
The first we knew about it was at Mallaig station around 5pm having arrived off the ferry, where the scotrail service was bustituted for unknown reasons - thought I'd double check the sleeper was ok and was told it wasn't (but no further details). Half an hour on the phone to CS' s hold music got me no further information. On arrival at Fort William, no sleeper train and no-one from CS in sight. Ticket office man told us it was cancelled and replaced with bus and he didn't know any more. He reckoned there might be someone from CS "around somewhere". Well we did eventually find them and after considering the options available (this only being possible less than an hour before departure time) decided to book onto tomorrow night's service.

I understand things go wrong but from a "customer" point of view this was dealt with terribly. We were lucky enough to be able to change plans at the last minute (family nearby to stay with etc) and I also have some idea what's likely to happen if the service is cancelled. If this were the first time I was trying the sleeper it seems unlikely I'd give them a second chance. Other passengers were turning up clearly also with no idea the train had neen cancelled, and with no one there to greet them and a ticket office that appeared not to have been informed what was happening. What a shambles.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Read Modern Railways last night and it looks like there will be First and Standard class seating (as the pods have been abandoned, sadly). This seems an odd move given that the seats in general are "third class". ORCATS raid?