Wouldn't surprise me if the 73s have some issues. After all, they initially struggled with rakes of 7 and 8 coaches up the HML when introduced.
As said earlier on in the thread, when I was in Inverness on Saturday I noticed that the Fort William coaches were left on the platform whilst the sleeper parked itself in the sidings - which was odd given the sleeper was sitting as a full 10 car set on the platform before hand, with the locomotives on the front. So throughout Saturday, the sleeper was shunted out upon arrival, reversed back in from the 73s, and then brough back out of the platforms again and into the sidings, this time leaving the Fort William coaches behind.
Couldn't have happened on a worse night either:
- Fort William portion being added on to the Inverness portion, with passengers for the former boarding/alighting at Kingussie
- Diversion via Fife Circle
- Diversion via ECML
On the plus side - passengers on the Aberdeen portion will sleep easy with the coaches sitting dead at Waverley for 3 hours
Update
Now running 3 hours late and counting - arrived into Perth at 01:35 and not moved since - looks like it's been cancelled there.
RTT showing an STP diagram of a loco from Polmadie having arrived into Waverley at midnight - possibly to allow the Aberdeen portion to continue to London? 4 hours in and no updated diagrams to be seen anywhere on RTT.
Update 2
Caledonian Sleeper has confirmed it was an issue with one of the 73s.