Caledonian Sleeper discussion

[fgwrich]

I used the seated sleeper between Fort William and Dalmuir on Monday evening. I had huge problems getting a reservation but eventually managed to get one from a very helpful clerk at York station on Sunday afternoon (I've no idea how she managed it but there was a fair bit of *******isation involved).

Anyway, seated the coach itself was the hired in DRS one in ex-Virgin Trains livery. Is this always the case these days? Frankly it was in a disgraceful state and hardly fit for a flagship overnight service with sky high prices.

Filthy dirty
Handwritten sign on the toilet door
Toilet paper holder held on with brown tape
Door between carriage and vestibule not working automatically

At least the train did run - last time I tried to do it I had to get a replacement coach as it was cancelled.

Those Mk2s are hired in from Riviera, so unfortunately expect that as standard from their stock unfortunately.

 

[Hadders]

Those Mk2s are hired in from Riviera, so unfortunately expect that as standard from their stock unfortunately.

Is it a permanent hire in? I could live with it as a short term thing but if it's on-going then to be quite honest it's disgraceful.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be fair the seated coach itself isn't a flagship service nor does it have a sky-high price. It's a budget service that competes with road coaches.

No excuse for it not to be cleaned though.

 

[Mag_seven]

Network Rail issues are the biggie.

This forum is obsessed with broken down locos.

Well there was ANOTHER class 92 failure last night - do you think we are just imagining it?

 

[TimboM]

Well there was ANOTHER class 92 failure last night - do you think we are just imagining it?

"Another" yes, but that's two in a week having hardly had any in the past few months, so again there's a perception that isn't actually backed up by the facts.

 

[47271]

Well there was ANOTHER class 92 failure last night - do you think we are just imagining it?

No, but I'm saying that traction problems simply don't register as a significant cause of Delay Repay amongst ultra regular users of the Highlander.

 

[Mag_seven]

No, but I'm saying that traction problems simply don't register as a significant cause of Delay Repay amongst ultra regular users of the Highlander.

Lets not tempt fate - we don't want the wires collapsing at Tebay tonight do we.

 

[DuncanS]

I used the seated sleeper between Fort William and Dalmuir on Monday evening. I had huge problems getting a reservation but eventually managed to get one from a very helpful clerk at York station on Sunday afternoon (I've no idea how she managed it but there was a fair bit of *******isation involved).

Anyway, seated the coach itself was the hired in DRS one in ex-Virgin Trains livery. Is this always the case these days? Frankly it was in a disgraceful state and hardly fit for a flagship overnight service with sky high prices.

Filthy dirty
Handwritten sign on the toilet door
Toilet paper holder held on with brown tape
Door between carriage and vestibule not working automatically

At least the train did run - last time I tried to do it I had to get a replacement coach as it was cancelled.

Sounds like the one I was on from Glasgow to Ft William the other week, at least you had power - we didn't. No lights or heating.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sounds like the one I was on from Glasgow to Ft William the other week, at least you had power - we didn't. No lights or heating.

I'd pay extra for no lights on the seated Sleeper coach. Bright orange unnecessarily blaring all night.

 

[DuncanS]

This was at 6am at Glasgow though - ex Virgin red livery, seats all in blocks of 4 with a table and no reservations set up in the coach which confused the 3 of us getting on at Glasgow.

We did all get a free tea/coffee and some shortbread but it was a disgrace on what is essentially a tourist route.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They never place the reservations ex Edinburgh IME.

 

[railhead56]

"Another" yes, but that's two in a week having hardly had any in the past few months, so again there's a perception that isn't actually backed up by the facts.

Does anyone know if the two failures mentioned involved the same carriages?

 

[Clansman]

This was at 6am at Glasgow though - ex Virgin red livery, seats all in blocks of 4 with a table and no reservations set up in the coach which confused the 3 of us getting on at Glasgow.

We did all get a free tea/coffee and some shortbread but it was a disgrace on what is essentially a tourist route.

Of all the MK2s available for hire, for what you're paying, you'd be entitled to expect that Serco would've hired an ex-First Class carriage in place of their out of service coach.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Of all the MK2s available for hire, for what you're paying, you'd be entitled to expect that Serco would've hired an ex-First Class carriage in place of their out of service coach.

"For what you're paying"? Next to nothing? The seated fares are very cheap indeed compared even to regular off-peak walk-ups, and a Mk2 TSO is perfectly OK for a local journey, no different than a 156, indeed in many ways nicer.

Are there even any aircon Mk2 BFOs in existence?

Edit: this very old link: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/uk.railway/zuu0PlEsnIk/PZAXMNKBxvoJ suggests that none were ever built. I suppose they could use a BG and a FO though.

 

[Clansman]

"For what you're paying"? Next to nothing? The seated fares are very cheap indeed compared even to regular off-peak walk-ups, and a Mk2 TSO is perfectly OK for a local journey, no different than a 156, indeed in many ways nicer.

Are there even any aircon Mk2 BFOs in existence?

Edit: this very old link: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/uk.railway/zuu0PlEsnIk/PZAXMNKBxvoJ suggests that none were ever built. I suppose they could use a BG and a FO though.

Regardless of the fare, if you're paying for something shouldn't you expect to receive it? Ok, at the end of the day you're paying for a seat, but don't you think Serco are misleading their advertising with the seated sleeper - ie "Spacious seats" "Reading Lights" etc, when in reality what turns up is a massive downgrade from what you initially expect when booking the journey.

 

[najaB]

Regardless of the fare, if you're paying for something shouldn't you expect to receive it? Ok, at the end of the day you're paying for a seat, but don't you think Serco are misleading their advertising with the seated sleeper - ie "Spacious seats" "Reading Lights" etc, when in reality what turns up is a massive downgrade from what you initially expect when booking the journey.

You get that for ⅔ of the journey.

 

[Hadders]

Sounds like the one I was on from Glasgow to Ft William the other week, at least you had power - we didn't. No lights or heating.

We left Fort William with no lights. Sounds good but I can assure you that at 8pm in the evening people don't want to sleep, so a carriage with no lights is of no use. I had to find the steward to get him to switch them on. It was getting a bit chilly by the time we got to glasgow so I doubt there was any heating.

If they're using this hired in coach permanently why can't they update the seating plan to match. Or is that too hard for them to manage. Much confusion at Fort William when passengers were boarding.

 

[TimboM]

We left Fort William with no lights. Sounds good but I can assure you that at 8pm in the evening people don't want to sleep, so a carriage with no lights is of no use. I had to find the steward to get him to switch them on. It was getting a bit chilly by the time we got to glasgow so I doubt there was any heating.

If they're using this hired in coach permanently why can't they update the seating plan to match. Or is that too hard for them to manage. Much confusion at Fort William when passengers were boarding.

Whilst it's hired in long term, I'm not sure it always get used so may not be feasible to change the seating plan.

On a matter potentially related to the not-so-good Virgin coach (but equally may be unrelated), after completing Glasgow ECS duties last night 86401 went straight to Waverley on a last-minute VSTP (2345 OD11), arriving at the platform also used by the southbound Fort William. It then left c.40 mins after the FW got in with an ECS move (also a VSTP - 5B11) back to Polmadie. I cannot see anything coming back the other way. No idea what it was taking back (presumably a duff coach?) or how that was replaced for the leg north a few hours later?

 

[route101]

I'd pay extra for no lights on the seated Sleeper coach. Bright orange unnecessarily blaring all night.

I took the seated sleeper to London and was surprised they left the lights on , on buses they switch them off maybe its a safety thing .

 

[route101]

I used the seated sleeper between Fort William and Dalmuir on Monday evening. I had huge problems getting a reservation but eventually managed to get one from a very helpful clerk at York station on Sunday afternoon (I've no idea how she managed it but there was a fair bit of *******isation involved).

Anyway, seated the coach itself was the hired in DRS one in ex-Virgin Trains livery. Is this always the case these days? Frankly it was in a disgraceful state and hardly fit for a flagship overnight service with sky high prices.

Filthy dirty
Handwritten sign on the toilet door
Toilet paper holder held on with brown tape
Door between carriage and vestibule not working automatically

At least the train did run - last time I tried to do it I had to get a replacement coach as it was cancelled.

I had a bit bother getting reservation for seated between Fort William and Glasgow . Queen st ticket office said no as its another company , caley sleeperon twitter said no reservations as its a walk up service but when i phoned them i got a reservation .
Was a normal seated coach though i think the lounge car was wrong way round as you walked through the lounge and used the kicthen door as buffet . No toilets were in order on seated coach too

 

[Hadders]

It's as though they really don't want passengers to use the seats between Fort William and Glasgow/Edinburgh.

I never had problems getting seat reservations when First and National Express ran the service. The timetable and booking sites say it's compulsory reservations. I know that n practice there isn't an issue just turning up but a casual user wouldn't know that. I complained to CS and received the following reply

Dear Hadders

I can advise that you can get the day service from Fort William down to Edinburgh or Glasgow as you are aware. You are at present unable to reserve seats on the day service as it a walk on service only. This part of the service has normally a Scotrail Guard on it.

Kind Regards
Caledonian Sleeper

I really don't get why they think the employer of the guard is relevant. Is it asking too much to be able to reserve a seat for a journey of potentially over 5 hours?

 

[Blindtraveler]

As I have said before on this thread but as we are entering tourist time again its worth repeating, Scotrail staffed stations are glad to do sleaper seats for you on this leg despite the service no longer being theirs. Hope this helps.

 

[Hadders]

As I have said before on this thread but as we are entering tourist time again its worth repeating, Scotrail staffed stations are glad to do sleaper seats for you on this leg despite the service no longer being theirs. Hope this helps.

That's great if they can do them but my nearest Scotrail station is over 300 miles away.

Any station dealing with reservations should be able to do it and every station I've asked has said 'yes, no problem'but then couldn't actually do it when they tried. The exception being the excellent clerk at York but she had to use a workaround.

 

[Blindtraveler]

A sad state of affairs really. I know we have a number of members who work in booking offices on here, if any are around can they enlighten us on the following; Do the seated day services appear in the system at all and if so are they shown as iether non reservable or already full or some other permitation?

Really curious also as to what Serco would do if a load of people, more than their were seats for pitched up iether at FortBill or somewhere further down with the intention of riding home on this non reservable yet reservations essential service?
Would they let you stand for 5 plus hours? Or put you in a taxi? Or does the guard just happen to carry a supply of tents, sleaping bags and cooking guear so you could pitch camp and more than likely get eaten alive by midges or dy of hypothermia on the platform at Ranoch?

 

[louis97]

I really don't get why they think the employer of the guard is relevant. Is it asking too much to be able to reserve a seat for a journey of potentially over 5 hours?

They can't even get that right, Scotrail no longer provide conductors as of the timetable change last month. Serco have their own Train Managers now based at Edinburgh and Dalmuir.

Although I think there might be one service still with a Scotrail conductor on an as required basis, one direction of the Aberdeen rings a bell.

 

[Clansman]

Although I think there might be one service still with a Scotrail conductor on an as required basis, one direction of the Aberdeen rings a bell.

Perhaps incase the Inverness portion needs to divert via Aberdeen? Has been done on a few occasions when the HML has been choked with snow.

 

[adrock1976]

A sad state of affairs really. I know we have a number of members who work in booking offices on here, if any are around can they enlighten us on the following; Do the seated day services appear in the system at all and if so are they shown as iether non reservable or already full or some other permitation?

Really curious also as to what Serco would do if a load of people, more than their were seats for pitched up iether at FortBill or somewhere further down with the intention of riding home on this non reservable yet reservations essential service?
Would they let you stand for 5 plus hours? Or put you in a taxi? Or does the guard just happen to carry a supply of tents, sleaping bags and cooking guear so you could pitch camp and more than likely get eaten alive by midges or dy of hypothermia on the platform at Ranoch?

Although I am not a member of railway staff, a friend of mine who resides a bus ride away from Garelochhead has had to explain to the booking office at London Euston how to fudge the workaround when booking seats northbound.

My friend had to explain that it is 2 reservations owing to there being no seated coach from London. The first reservation is from London to Inverkeithing, then Edinburgh to Garelochhead. This was in the days when First Group operated the sleeper - unsure if that workaround is still possible or not nowadays.

 

[Hadders]

I really don't think Serco are interested in operating the 'day' service between Fort William and Glasgow/Edinburgh. We need to watch this situation when the new trains come in.

It's worth noting that I counted 20 passengers in the seated coach upon departure from Fort William. Only 13 remained after Dalmuir where I got off.

 

[BRX]

My friend had to explain that it is 2 reservations owing to there being no seated coach from London. The first reservation is from London to Inverkeithing, then Edinburgh to Garelochhead.

I don't understand this. Why is the existence or not of the seated coach from London relevant to bookings between edinburgh and fort william?

 

[adrock1976]

I don't understand this. Why is the existence or not of the seated coach from London relevant to bookings between edinburgh and fort william?

It most certainly is if doing it as a through journey.

Did you actually read all of the previous post?