Caledonian Sleeper

[Techniquest]

Keep an eye on what appears on RTT for May 23.

What a tease! I would suggest that Birmingham New Street would be a good option for a lot of places, I would certainly use such a stop.

 

[JonathanH]

What a tease! I would suggest that Birmingham New Street would be a good option for a lot of places, I would certainly use such a stop.

Well, if so, from a purely personal standpoint, I hope it can be delivered without detriment to the timings in London.

 

[Techniquest]

Well, if so, from a purely personal standpoint, I hope it can be delivered without detriment to the timings in London.

If it ran non-stop to Birmingham, dropping the Watford Junction calls, I'd imagine there would be no significant difference in current timings. Certainly Birmingham New Street for an option to join the sleeper is going to open up demand far more than a stop at Crewe would do, if only for the fact that it would be a much more secure and warmer place to wait for a sleeper train than Crewe's open platforms. The demand from the Midlands must be significant, but having to wait until the middle of the night in Crewe is certainly off-putting.

Granted, I'd also want to put in somewhere for the demand in the North West as well, Preston being the most logical option so I'd keep that in there.

 

[alistairlees]

Crewe and Preston for journeys in 2023 will reappear next week.

 

[Turbo004]

That's excellent news. Thank you for the information. I won't complain to my MP then and hopefully book next week.

 

[jagardner1984]

Realtime Trains | 1S26 2142 London Euston to Edinburgh | 02/01/2023

Real-time train running information for 1S26 2142 departure from London Euston to Edinburgh on 02/01/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Credit where it’s due for trying to keep the service going through the blockade, but not the more inauspicious start to 2023 ….

 

[Kite159]

Realtime Trains | 1S26 2142 London Euston to Edinburgh | 02/01/2023

Real-time train running information for 1S26 2142 departure from London Euston to Edinburgh on 02/01/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Credit where it’s due for trying to keep the service going through the blockade, but not the more inauspicious start to 2023 ….

Issue with the 92 not providing full power?

 

[JModulo]

Issue with the 92 not providing full power?

92020 having a bit of a wobble. 66728 on top from Peterborough to York, where it was swapped with 92032. 020 providing ETH throughout.

 

[Garmoran]

Highlander still sitting at Wembley waiting to change direction

 

[43096]

92020 having a bit of a wobble. 66728 on top from Peterborough to York, where it was swapped with 92032. 020 providing ETH throughout.

92032 - which is the Edinburgh standby for the sleeper - having topped 92018 south to get it to York.

GBRf being their usual responsive and resourceful selves, unlike the previous contractor who would have given up last night when the WCML was blocked.

 

[brennivin]

Hi all,
I try to get my head around the sleeper timetable.
https://www.sleeper.scot/timetable/london-glasgow/ states, that it leaves Euston at 23.50. If I want to book, it only states one leaving 21.34. If I have a look into RTT, only the 23.50 can be found.

What is the solution for this?

Regards
Daniel

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sometimes the times are different because of engineering work diversions. The one that is open to book will be the time it actually runs (unless there's - unlikely - another late change or a strike).

 

[alistairlees]

Hi all,
I try to get my head around the sleeper timetable.
https://www.sleeper.scot/timetable/london-glasgow/ states, that it leaves Euston at 23.50. If I want to book, it only states one leaving 21.34. If I have a look into RTT, only the 23.50 can be found.

What is the solution for this?

Regards
Daniel

Is there a particular date that you want to travel?

The London - Glasgow / Edinburgh sleeper leaves at 23.50 on Mondays to Fridays, and at 23.30 on Sundays, when it is travelling on the WCML via Crewe (the normal route).

When it is going via the East Coast Main Line, because of engineering works on the WCML, then it leaves much earlier (typically around 21.30).

 

[brennivin]

It is the 16th May 2023.
I didn't find any date where it leaves at 23.50/23.30 so I assume, these are all routed via ECML?

 

[Cheshire Scot]

I wonder if perhaps you are looking at a date when it is routed ECML with the consequent earlier departure but the times have not yet been uploaded to industry systems and hence are not on RTT but are known to Caledonian Sleeper - they will typically know months in advance what dates they will be running ECML.

 

[brennivin]

The issue is that the EST from mainland/BRUX will arrive 21.57, so this means either flying in (if 21.30) or taking a rest in the sleeper (23.50)

 

[alistairlees]

It is the 16th May 2023.
I didn't find any date where it leaves at 23.50/23.30 so I assume, these are all routed via ECML?

All of this week it leaves at 23.30 / 23.50.

There are many weeks of ECML diversions this year, because of Carstairs remodelling. 16th May will be one of them.

The Caledonian Sleeper timetable is created over a year in advance to maintain a 12 month booking horizon. Although there may be minor changes to the timings, this is correct. You can ignore what's on Real Time Trains as it could be wrong for anything more than about 6 or 7 weeks out, and is in this case because the engineering timetables for 16 weeks ahead are not loaded to Network Rail data.

In summary: sleeper.scot is your correct source of info.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The issue is that the EST from mainland/BRUX will arrive 21.57, so this means either flying in (if 21.30) or taking a rest in the sleeper (23.50)

I'd say a 2157 EST arrival and a 2350 Sleeper departure is too tight, anyway, unless your trip is very flexible. I know St Pancras to Euston is only a 15 minute walk (done it lots of times) but when connecting into something where it's going to ruin your trip if it misses (including further back in the journey) you want more slack. I'd be looking to arrive a couple of hours earlier and if it goes well to go for a meal in London, and if that's not viable to do something else e.g. stay over in a hotel and to Scotland by day train the next morning.

 

[brennivin]

Ok, thanks anyway. The restrictions before are too tight to come earlier (although I would appreciate that). So this time only flying to Glasgow.

 

[Kite159]

Boarded the Highlander tonight from Euston. Has the Inverness portion always been at the northern end at London? (Inverness - Fort William - Aberdeen tonight).

(I could swear in the past its been at the southern end but it's been a few years since I've done the Highland sleeper)

 

[Speed43125]

A question for those more familiar with the sleeper; I am potentially looking at booking a Euston to Fort Bill return around mid February, 18th to 21st being possible dates, to attend a climbing trip a friend is doing for his birthday. The current seated one way fare is £36.30 (w/ a 16-25 RC) with 4 tickets supposedly still at that price. Does anyone know by how much the next price band rises? And how quickly would one expect those prices to climb?

I presume "Limited Availability" simply means there's plenty of seats left, whereas "Only 4 left at this price" is actually factual?

 

[lachlan]

A question for those more familiar with the sleeper; I am potentially looking at booking a Euston to Fort Bill return around mid February, 18th to 21st being possible dates, to attend a climbing trip a friend is doing for his birthday. The current seated one way fare is £36.30 (w/ a 16-25 RC) with 4 tickets supposedly still at that price. Does anyone know by how much the next price band rises? And how quickly would one expect those prices to climb?

I've seen it at around £55 (with Railcard). That was Aberdeen-London. I don't know if there are other price bands, all I've seen from memory is £36, ~£55 and sold out

 

[JonathanH]

Boarded the Highlander tonight from Euston. Has the Inverness portion always been at the northern end at London? (Inverness - Fort William - Aberdeen tonight).

(I could swear in the past its been at the southern end but it's been a few years since I've done the Highland sleeper)

Not always at the Northern end. It was changed when the stock was switched from Mark 3s to Mark 5s. As you say, the Inverness portion used to the South end going north.

The switch was made because the Edinburgh portion always works the Inverness portion.

 

[Speed43125]

I've seen it at around £55 (with Railcard). That was Aberdeen-London. I don't know if there are other price bands, all I've seen from memory is £36, ~£55 and sold out

That's interesting, thank you!

 

[Kite159]

Not always at the Northern end. It was changed when the stock was switched from Mark 3s to Mark 5s. As you say, the Inverness portion used to the South end going north.

The switch was made because the Edinburgh portion always works the Inverness portion.

Must make it harder at Edinburgh considering the Inverness part is meant to be the first out

 

[JonathanH]

Must make it harder at Edinburgh considering the Inverness part is meant to be the first out

Not really. The train is split, the 92 draws the train further down the platform and the Inverness locomotives back onto the train via the scissors crossover. Once the Inverness portion has gone, the Fort William shunting can happen.

 

[Speed43125]

Must make it harder at Edinburgh considering the Inverness part is meant to be the first out

The train reverses in Edinburgh, so out of Euston it used to be 90/92 - FW - ABD - INV, the 67 would then draw the inverness portion off the rear and then be off once the tail lamp had been attached.

 

[Napier]

It might be that the train was lightly loaded so by putting all the guests together in one coach they free up the other berths for seated passengers given upgrades if the seated coach was out of action?

Reminds me of this

 

[Kite159]

Anybody know why the Highlander lost nearly an hour north of Carlisle this morning?

 

[father_jack]

Anybody know why the Highlander lost nearly an hour north of Carlisle this morning?

Loco issues Caldew Junction, reset done and away.