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Why lights of seated coach of sleepers are not dimmed?

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paul1609

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Coach is more uncomfortable compared to train. I took megabus in feb , felt jammed in
I think its a personal thing. I much prefer overnight Megabus to the Sleeper Seats. I find it much easier to sleep. London to Glasgow in 7 hours with 1 stop for a driver change is competitive with the train.
 
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Bletchleyite

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There's a lot more room in a GWR Sleeper day coach than there are in many road coaches. Not to mention access to a toilet, food and a decent sized seat back table. I don't think GWR are about to spend more money refitting sleeper coaches having spent millions doing so within the last 5 years - if they did it'd be money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Where did all the plush First Class seats go from the HSTs? If they're in a pile somewhere, fitting those would be an afternoon's job.
 

fgwrich

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Where did all the plush First Class seats go from the HSTs? If they're in a pile somewhere, fitting those would be an afternoon's job.

Either to ScotRail or to the Bin sadly. A complete waste of those rather good seats (both in standard and first) - I'd have saved the standard class seats for refurbishments such as the SWR 159 fleet etc.
 

Bletchleyite

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Either to ScotRail or to the Bin sadly. A complete waste of those rather good seats (both in standard and first) - I'd have saved the standard class seats for refurbishments such as the SWR 159 fleet etc.

What an absolute waste. The Grammer IC3000 is still on the market and could certainly have been sold elsewhere (possibly even abroad), they were all in excellent condition.
 

fgwrich

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What an absolute waste. The Grammer IC3000 is still on the market and could certainly have been sold elsewhere (possibly even abroad), they were all in excellent condition.

Indeed, it's the thing I find most sad about the scrapping of the FGW sets - a good condition interior which certainly bits of could have gone for re-use. Still, I suppose it keeps the scrap dealers and the likes of Fansia happy...
 

fgwrich

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There's a lot more room in a GWR Sleeper day coach than there are in many road coaches. Not to mention access to a toilet, food and a decent sized seat back table. I don't think GWR are about to spend more money refitting sleeper coaches having spent millions doing so within the last 5 years - if they did it'd be money that could be better spent elsewhere.

I think it must have been a while since you last took a decent or new road coach. Access to a toilet - Many new coaches have them, Decent sized seat back table - again I've found many to have them too. If anything, a lot of newer coaches are coming out with better more comfortable seats than rail vehicles too (i.e not ironing board thin-ness) - See Scottish Citylink for example. Of course GWR are unlikely to spend anymore money re-configuring the Night Riviera, Like a lot of things to do with GWR, once they've done it your stuck with it.

Anyway, this thread is about lighting not interior finishes.
 
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northernbelle

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I think it must have been a while since you last took a decent or new road coach. Access to a toilet - Many new coaches have them, Decent sized seat back table - again I've found many to have them too. If anything, a lot of newer coaches are coming out with better more comfortable seats than rail vehicles too (i.e not ironing board thin-ness) - See Scottish Citylink for example. Of course GWR are unlikely to spend anymore money re-configuring the Night Riviera, Like a lot of things to do with GWR, once they've done it your stuck with it.

Anyway, this thread is about lighting not interior finishes.
It was you who first mentioned seating. My point about the superior facilities offered by the sleeper, such as catering, toilets and general accessibility still stand - just because 'some' coaches might provide these things doesn't mean it's consistent like on the Sleeper services - I know this as a regular coach user.
 

Bletchleyite

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It was you who first mentioned seating. My point about the superior facilities offered by the sleeper, such as catering, toilets and general accessibility still stand - just because 'some' coaches might provide these things doesn't mean it's consistent like on the Sleeper services - I know this as a regular coach user.

And coach seats are that bit narrower than most (non-3+2) train seats. That might not make any difference if you're skinny, but it does to me.

I would only use an overnight coach if I was able to guarantee a double seat.
 

northernbelle

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And coach seats are that bit narrower than most (non-3+2) train seats. That might not make any difference if you're skinny, but it does to me.

I would only use an overnight coach if I was able to guarantee a double seat.
Totally with you there. And it sounds trivial, but I find the motion of a coach precludes the ability to sleep more than a train - probably because I'm a 'back seat driver' and like to know what's going on around me when I'm on the road.
 

Bletchleyite

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Totally with you there. And it sounds trivial, but I find the motion of a coach precludes the ability to sleep more than a train - probably because I'm a 'back seat driver' and like to know what's going on around me when I'm on the road.

Yeah, I have been on a coach overnight on a Scout trip (and yes, I did have a double seat) and I found that I did doze a bit but woke up wanting to know what had happened at every bump.
 

Ashley Hill

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I've been on several journeys where the crew have dimmed it during the middle of the night, so it is possible.

As I've said the dimmer switch has two settings,supposedly normal or dim otherwise known as bright or floodlit. It is possible to illegally dim the lighting by turning off the coach lights leaving only the safety strip lit,that's what you may have seen. Just don't get caught!
 

northernbelle

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As I've said the dimmer switch has two settings,supposedly normal or dim otherwise known as bright or floodlit. It is possible to illegally dim the lighting by turning off the coach lights leaving only the safety strip lit,that's what you may have seen. Just don't get caught!
Thanks Ashley... the darkest setting is very nice indeed - just what's required at that time of night! There's plenty of subsidiary lighting such as above the windows and the bulkhead panelling to make everything visible enough.
 

Bletchleyite

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Thanks Ashley... the 'dim'/'bright' setting is very nice indeed - just what's required at that time of night! There's plenty of subsidiary lighting such as above the windows and the bulkhead panelling to make everything visible enough.

FWIW I don't find the Riviera seated coach lighting (on dim) too bad, it's quite restful, indirect and the design is quite classy. Just shows what the HSTs could have been like - or even the 80x.
 

northernbelle

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FWIW I don't find the Riviera seated coach lighting (on dim) too bad, it's quite restful, indirect and the design is quite classy. Just shows what the HSTs could have been like - or even the 80x.
Certainly the HSTs - the trouble with the IETs is they have to meet a specific interior lux level as it's a new design. It's why the Caledonian Sleeper stock is somewhat brighter than the stock it has replaced.

The 'TC' composite vehicles that GWR had converted used the same dynamic lighting that was fitted to First Class vehicles when they were refurbished. This adjusted the brightness of the interior lighting depending on the amount of light coming in through the windows. On the TCs, this extended to the Standard Class end and provided a peaceful environment.
 
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delt1c

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Interesting how the lighting and the Mk5 seem to be a step backwards. Have done the Indian Pacific ( 3 nights) in seated and The Ghan (2 nights) in seated in Australia, on both of thesae the main lights were almost extinguished which allowed a reasonable nights sleep in a comfortable seat, interesting how here in the UK things seem to have gone backwards.
 

route101

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I think its a personal thing. I much prefer overnight Megabus to the Sleeper Seats. I find it much easier to sleep. London to Glasgow in 7 hours with 1 stop for a driver change is competitive with the train.

Have to agree on journey time , the overnight runs are quick , daytime is a waste of a day compared to the day train service. Ifyou have no one next to you the coach is bearable . I think the coaches lately are more likely to full now. Legroom and space , train wins , with the single seat.
 

Unstoppable

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I think its a personal thing. I much prefer overnight Megabus to the Sleeper Seats. I find it much easier to sleep. London to Glasgow in 7 hours with 1 stop for a driver change is competitive with the train.
Ah the double man M11 road. My office. Depot policy is now that drivers will swap at Gretna services northbound to prevent the Guardian system detecting a fatigue event. On the Astromegas and Panoramas coaches it is a laser which looks into the drivers eyes and it sounds an alarm if you become distracted ie looking in a mirror more than 3 seconds or if you recieve a fatigue event it will vibrate the seat, sound an alarm and record a video 10 seconds prior to the event and send it to the company to review. The driver is then required to contact the depot to state if he is fit to continue or not. In terms of driver changes myself and my co driver normally do London - Hilton Park (Birmingham) then to Gretna with the next driver taking it to Cumbernauld where we hand over to the day shift to Aberdeen. My record run back when we were allowed 1 driver change between London and Glasgow without any passenger stops was 7 hours 5 minutes.
 

route101

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Ah the double man M11 road. My office. Depot policy is now that drivers will swap at Gretna services northbound to prevent the Guardian system detecting a fatigue event. On the Astromegas and Panoramas coaches it is a laser which looks into the drivers eyes and it sounds an alarm if you become distracted ie looking in a mirror more than 3 seconds or if you recieve a fatigue event it will vibrate the seat, sound an alarm and record a video 10 seconds prior to the event and send it to the company to review. The driver is then required to contact the depot to state if he is fit to continue or not. In terms of driver changes myself and my co driver normally do London - Hilton Park (Birmingham) then to Gretna with the next driver taking it to Cumbernauld where we hand over to the day shift to Aberdeen. My record run back when we were allowed 1 driver change between London and Glasgow without any passenger stops was 7 hours 5 minutes.

Used the M11 in feb , drivers swapped at Keele. Noticed we went via m40 rather than M1 , change of route?
 

Unstoppable

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Used the M11 in feb , drivers swapped at Keele. Noticed we went via m40 rather than M1 , change of route?
The M11 used to be run by Rugby, Preston and Cumbernauld drivers. Until a year ago the service used to change driver at Central Park, Rugby M6 J1 and then Walton Summit, Preston, however now it is operated by double man Cumbernauld drivers only so we choose whatever route is quickest generally. I've been known on the non stop service from London - Glasgow to come up the A1(m) to Scotch Corner, across the A66 to Penrith and up the M6/74. Journey times are surprisingly identical to the M40 which is the fastest route as it avoids all the nasty road works around Milton Keynes and if any road is likely to be closed overnight it seems to be the M1.
 

route101

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The M11 used to be run by Rugby, Preston and Cumbernauld drivers. Until a year ago the service used to change driver at Central Park, Rugby M6 J1 and then Walton Summit, Preston, however now it is operated by double man Cumbernauld drivers only so we choose whatever route is quickest generally. I've been known on the non stop service from London - Glasgow to come up the A1(m) to Scotch Corner, across the A66 to Penrith and up the M6/74. Journey times are surprisingly identical to the M40 which is the fastest route as it avoids all the nasty road works around Milton Keynes and if any road is likely to be closed overnight it seems to be the M1.

Thats interesting up the A1 , i take it they go up the M1 rather than A1 ? Does the M1 and A50 route get used. Had the M6 closure between Stafford and Stoke a few times , A34 it is!
 
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