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Caledonian Sleeper

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Essexman

Established Member
Joined
15 Mar 2011
Messages
1,380
I'm booked on the Lowlander to Glasgow tomorrow night.
My first trip on the new trains.
Diverted via East Coast so leaves early (21.34).
My ticket says arrives Glasgow 7.57 but the website gives amended times for trains this weekend and says 7.22.
Is it reasonable to assume that the website is correct and schedules have changed since I booked the ticket at the beginning of the year.
 

_toommm_

Established Member
Joined
8 Jul 2017
Messages
5,855
Location
Yorkshire
I'm booked on the Lowlander to Glasgow tomorrow night.
My first trip on the new trains.
Diverted via East Coast so leaves early (21.34).
My ticket says arrives Glasgow 7.57 but the website gives amended times for trains this weekend and says 7.22.
Is it reasonable to assume that the website is correct and schedules have changed since I booked the ticket at the beginning of the year.

07:22 in the timetable:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/G65077/2019/05/26/advanced
 

vlad

Member
Joined
13 May 2018
Messages
749
You can see how Russia does (3rd class) sleepers here

<snip video>

kind of like open sided compartments, and longitudinal bunks on the other side (of course they have a much wider loading gauge than we do)

They do shorten the bunks to fit them in - if you're over about 5'9" your feet start to hang over the end....
 

alistairlees

Established Member
Joined
29 Dec 2016
Messages
3,737
I'm booked on the Lowlander to Glasgow tomorrow night.
My first trip on the new trains.
Diverted via East Coast so leaves early (21.34).
My ticket says arrives Glasgow 7.57 but the website gives amended times for trains this weekend and says 7.22.
Is it reasonable to assume that the website is correct and schedules have changed since I booked the ticket at the beginning of the year.
Yes that’s correct. The ticket will be correct for the times as at the time you booked it, which can change after that date.
 

Essexman

Established Member
Joined
15 Mar 2011
Messages
1,380
Thanks.

Another question.
I understand that there are diversions to Oban later in the year. Does anyone know the dates of these.
I think I'll need to have a meeting in Glasgow that week, then ride to Oban & sleeper home.
 

InOban

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2017
Messages
4,216
I'm fairly certain that it's sometime in October, but I haven't seen the week.
 

Essexman

Established Member
Joined
15 Mar 2011
Messages
1,380
Lowlander boarded late at Euston and should have left by now but they say we should still arrive on time. Problems setting up the train apparently.

Most impressed with the new berths with toilet & shower.
 

SN1 19-5

Member
Joined
23 May 2019
Messages
77
I did Scotland when it was me 50 th Birthday.

I got the first train (05:40) ish out of Euston one Friday morning. Got to Glasgow about 10. found my way to Queen Street and hopped on a unit to Rannoch. Had a good ol jolly up with a couple of peeps Friday and Saturday nights. Some local things got done on Sunday,
I got dropped of at Perth (I think) it was one of them days! Got a train to Edinburgh to connect with my booked HST to KX.

When I got to KX, I have to admit that I had sampled quite a few tins. No matter.

My point is that I would have loved to gone on the sleeper. I couldn't. Mainly due to the fact that I was working in London on the Thursday night. And, I was back at work at 7am on Monday morning!

Going by what I see here, the sleeper isn't on my list anymore.

At least I went up West Coast and went back East Coast. That'll do for me.

I think that the whole train fare was just over £100. Not bad!
 

Essexman

Established Member
Joined
15 Mar 2011
Messages
1,380
Positive report on the new stock. Bed comfortable. Shower was better than I expected.

Only negatives were not dark enough due to illuminated light switch, annoying rattle (I think from unused bed above) and quite noisy / bumpy over points. I was in berth 4 so I didn’t think over the wheels.
 

MrEd

Member
Joined
13 Jan 2019
Messages
587
I did Scotland when it was me 50 th Birthday.

I got the first train (05:40) ish out of Euston one Friday morning. Got to Glasgow about 10. found my way to Queen Street and hopped on a unit to Rannoch. Had a good ol jolly up with a couple of peeps Friday and Saturday nights. Some local things got done on Sunday,
I got dropped of at Perth (I think) it was one of them days! Got a train to Edinburgh to connect with my booked HST to KX.

When I got to KX, I have to admit that I had sampled quite a few tins. No matter.

My point is that I would have loved to gone on the sleeper. I couldn't. Mainly due to the fact that I was working in London on the Thursday night. And, I was back at work at 7am on Monday morning!

Going by what I see here, the sleeper isn't on my list anymore.

At least I went up West Coast and went back East Coast. That'll do for me.

I think that the whole train fare was just over £100. Not bad!

I would definitely give the sleeper a try and not be put off by some of the reports you see here. Yes CS are going through a challenging time at the moment, but I feel reasonably confident that they will resolve the difficulties within a few months. I use the Highlander to Inverness and Fort William regularly and I’ve always found it a very reliable service with lovely staff, which is great fun to travel on. Perhaps if you’re just doing the trip out of curiosity/for a bit of fun, it might be best to wait until the new Mk5 stock has successfully been introduced on all the routes and most of the teething problems with it have been solved; I’m fairly sure that it will have all settled down by the end of this year. The Fort William sleeper in particular is an amazing journey, with the chance to enjoy a nice meal in the lounge car in the evening out of Euston and the fantastic experience (and contrast) having breakfast as the sun rises over the West Highlands in the morning; the West Highland line is an incredible journey and the sleeper lounge cars offer much better scenic viewing (I hope the same can be said of the Mk5s) than the Class 156s used on the regular services. It also gives you a full day in the West Highlands. Sadly it isn’t the cheapest train anymore (I do think that CS ought to think of some special offers/more competitive pricing, particularly to fill the train on weekday nights in the low season) but it’s still a great journey and definitely (for me) the easiest, most stress-free and most fun way to get to the Fort William area and other remote areas of the west coast (such as Lochalsh and Skye) for walking etc. (and no, I don’t work for CS and these are my own views as a regular traveller).
 

nlogax

Established Member
Joined
29 May 2011
Messages
5,369
Location
Mostly Glasgow-ish. Mostly.
Booked myself on a Glasgow-bound service in late June, am keen to see how things will have developed by then in terms of resolution of teething problems and the staff / morale issue. Have to say the booking experience was pretty seamless, but I only went for a room supplement on top of my existing off peak return which I'm sure simplifies things.
 

M7R

Member
Joined
15 Sep 2010
Messages
262
What is the cheapest way to book a trip? I really fancy doing it just so I can say I have done it, but a double room was £400+ when I went to book it for October.

Did look at the Night Rivera but the idea of sleeping on a thin bunk wasn’t appealing either....
 

swapmeetpete

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2013
Messages
39
What is the cheapest way to book a trip? I really fancy doing it just so I can say I have done it, but a double room was £400+ when I went to book it for October.

Did look at the Night Rivera but the idea of sleeping on a thin bunk wasn’t appealing either....
London to Inverness or Fort William on the old seats, £33 with railcard.
 

M7R

Member
Joined
15 Sep 2010
Messages
262
Sorry I should have said, cheapest with a double bed :lol: I like my sleep in a proper bed. I just don’t fancy it for £400+o_O (thats going all the way London to Fort Will) cheaper for me to fly and hire a car etc and hotel at that cost :lol:
 

trebor79

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Joined
8 Mar 2018
Messages
4,443
Err, if you want to go from London to Scotland in a double bed, you'll need to pay whatever CS charge.
I don't think there's another way.
 

mcmad

Member
Joined
11 Mar 2015
Messages
979
Err, if you want to go from London to Scotland in a double bed, you'll need to pay whatever CS charge.
I don't think there's another way.
Rent a luton sized van, put a double bed in it and pay someone to drive you all the way? Probably still cheaper than by CS!
 

swapmeetpete

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2013
Messages
39
You can get 1.6% cashback with Quidco.

But consider the seated sleeper. Eat, drink, read, meditate, chat, doze. You can sleep in a bed the other 364 days a year.
 

_toommm_

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Joined
8 Jul 2017
Messages
5,855
Location
Yorkshire
Sorry I should have said, cheapest with a double bed :lol: I like my sleep in a proper bed. I just don’t fancy it for £400+o_O (thats going all the way London to Fort Will) cheaper for me to fly and hire a car etc and hotel at that cost :lol:

It's really not as bad as you think. I can't comment on seated on the MK5s, but the old MK2s are incredibly comfy, and IMO, the biggest seats on the network :D
 

WesternLancer

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Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
7,147
What is the cheapest way to book a trip? I really fancy doing it just so I can say I have done it, but a double room was £400+ when I went to book it for October.

Did look at the Night Rivera but the idea of sleeping on a thin bunk wasn’t appealing either....
I don't think the bunks are that narrow. I was on the old stock a few nights ago and the mattrass was comfy etc. If you juts want to say you have 'done the trip' - it's not quite the same to say you have done the jny in a big double bed is it?
 

gavin

Member
Joined
25 Dec 2006
Messages
1,006
1S25 London Euston to Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William delayed at Euston due to a train fault
 

_toommm_

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Joined
8 Jul 2017
Messages
5,855
Location
Yorkshire
Assuming no other faults, it should catch up about half of that delay by the time it reaches Edinburgh.
 

Bald Rick

Veteran Member
Joined
28 Sep 2010
Messages
29,176
What is the cheapest way to book a trip? I really fancy doing it just so I can say I have done it, but a double room was £400+ when I went to book it for October.

Did look at the Night Rivera but the idea of sleeping on a thin bunk wasn’t appealing either....

Double rooms are the top price premium product. £400 is the price.
 

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