Caledonian Sleeper discussion

[12CSVT]

Nearly - they had us all allocated to specific berths and they had put me in with a female. As opposite genders sharing a berth if they're strangers is against their policy (I think) I was moved to a single berth

I'd have thought CS would be on dodgy ground doing that, especially if both yourself and your would-be female room-mate for the night both said your journeys were 'essential'

 

[PHILIPE]

Posts seem to have dried up on here from several a day to nil over the past week just when there is major news this morning. I don't know the actual details but the Aberdeen bound Sleeper failed in the Dundee area this morning stopping the job,as the saying goes, locomotive having to be scrambled to assist with disruption lasting all morning.

 

[Highlandspring]

73969 failed at Craigo (between Montrose and Laurencekirk, 36 miles north of Dundee) with a brake fault around 0700. The nearest loco was a DB Cargo 66 working 6A32 0707 Mossend to Aberdeen Waterloo which had only just departed so it was a couple of hours before it could get to Dundee, stable its train and head north as 1Z99 to assist the sleeper from the rear into Laurencekirk Down Loop to clear the line. The sleeper passengers were detrained after around 2.5 hours onto a bus via a lineside access gate and Single Line Working was introduced to run services past the failure over the Up line. The failed train is now inside at Laurencekirk and the rescue loco has returned to Dundee.

 

[PHILIPE]

73969 failed at Craigo (between Montrose and Laurencekirk, 36 miles north of Dundee) with a brake fault around 0700. The nearest loco was a DB Cargo 66 working 6A32 0707 Mossend to Aberdeen Waterloo which had only just departed so it was a couple of hours before it could get to Dundee, stable its train and head north as 1Z99 to assist the sleeper from the rear into Laurencekirk Down Loop to clear the line. The sleeper passengers were detrained after around 2.5 hours onto a bus via a lineside access gate and Single Line Working was introduced to run services past the failure over the Up line. The failed train is now inside at Laurencekirk and the rescue loco has returned to Dundee.

Thanks for filling in the details.

 

[swaldman]

What will happen when this sort of incident occurs with the new stock? Presumably a 66 wouldn't be able to couple to the back then? I guess any assistance will have to be from the loco end? (not sure if that's a big deal)

 

[Highlandspring]

What will happen when this sort of incident occurs with the new stock? Presumably a 66 wouldn't be able to couple to the back then? I guess any assistance will have to be from the loco end? (not sure if that's a big deal)

Assistance from the front will always be an option (depending on the exact nature of the failure, of course) but it may or may not be the quickest way of rendering assistance; today’s incident would have taken a fair bit longer to sort if the assisting loco had to couple to the front rather than the rear. I’ve not seen it mentioned in any of the documentation I’ve seen so far but I’m assuming a Dellner to Drawhook emergency adapter coupling will be carried on the new stock. There are certainly short brake and main res pipe extensions below and behind the Dellner to allow a loco to couple. If they don’t carry an adaptor then that will makes things significantly more difficult to resolve in the event of a failure.

 

[swaldman]

Assistance from the front will always be an option (depending on the exact nature of the failure, of course) but it may or may not be the quickest way of rendering assistance; today’s incident would have taken a fair bit longer to sort if the assisting loco had to couple to the front rather than the rear. I’ve not seen it mentioned in any of the documentation I’ve seen so far but I’m assuming a Dellner to Drawhook emergency adapter coupling will be carried on the new stock. There are certainly short brake and main res pipe extensions below and behind the Dellner to allow a loco to couple. If they don’t carry an adaptor then that will makes things significantly more difficult to resolve in the event of a failure.

Ah, thanks - wasn't aware that adapters were a thing!

 

[captainbigun]

Assistance from the front will always be an option (depending on the exact nature of the failure, of course) but it may or may not be the quickest way of rendering assistance; today’s incident would have taken a fair bit longer to sort if the assisting loco had to couple to the front rather than the rear. I’ve not seen it mentioned in any of the documentation I’ve seen so far but I’m assuming a Dellner to Drawhook emergency adapter coupling will be carried on the new stock. There are certainly short brake and main res pipe extensions below and behind the Dellner to allow a loco to couple. If they don’t carry an adaptor then that will makes things significantly more difficult to resolve in the event of a failure.

This is complex as pushing using the hook on a loco that is not designed is a problem as there's nothing in the drag box to absorb the load. You have the risk of folding the front of the loco in. Hence the 92s required modification.

 

[adrock1976]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned many pages back in this thread or not, but when I attempted to book a journey on the 23:40 Glasgow Central - London Euston for Wednesday 11 July, the webpage after the reservation stage (for additional options) was a blank page using my desktop computer (iMac running El Capitan).

However, when using my iPhone 5, I managed to book this journey no problem at all. Does anybody know why there were problems booking using a desktop computer?

 

[ScottDarg]

1M11 Glasgow/Edinburgh - Euston is currently running 216 minutes late at Shilton: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/G60097/2018/04/24/advanced

Posts on scot-rail are saying that there was a strong smell from the brakes in the back coaches of 1M11 with fire alarms sounding and smoke coming from the bogies when running. Pic on Facebook shows that the offending coach (SLEP 10529) was removed and left at Carstairs.

 

[najaB]

Pic on Facebook shows the offending coach (SLEP 10529) was removed and left at Carstairs.

Three hours to remove one carriage? Seems a bit excessive.

 

[TimboM]

Three hours to remove one carriage? Seems a bit excessive.

Attempts will have been made initially to repair the coach - taking it out of the train will have been a last resort after other options explored.

Removing the coach, stabling it in a siding, reforming the train, brake tests etc., all with passengers on board (including some needing to be relocated from the defective coach) isn’t a quick job.

 

[TimboM]

Fly through of the new stock on CS’ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caledoniansleeper/posts/1828503320535337

 

[BRX]

Fly through of the new stock on CS’ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caledoniansleeper/posts/1828503320535337

The corridor windows in the sleeper carriages look a bit low! I hope it'll actually be possible to see the view out of them whilst standing up.

Also, I noticed in the facebook comments, CS initially forgetting that they are actually supposed to provide a 'day' service....

 

[87015]

Attempts will have been made initially to repair the coach - taking it out of the train will have been a last resort after other options explored.

Removing the coach, stabling it in a siding, reforming the train, brake tests etc., all with passengers on board (including some needing to be relocated from the defective coach) isn’t a quick job.

It isn’t a three hour job either! Presumably two locos on hand to do it as well - three hours plus is verging on pathetic. Still a good thjng we are told maintenance is absolute spot on.

 

[Mag_seven]

It isn’t a three hour job either! Presumably two locos on hand to do it as well - three hours plus is verging on pathetic. Still a good thjng we are told maintenance is absolute spot on.

I recall a defective mark 3 coach being removed from a loco hauled set at Carlisle in about thirty minutes, but those were the days when there used to be a gronk hanging about the station.

 

[Kite159]

One little thing on my wish-list for the new stock, is blinds being fitted in the seats rather than curtains. As I find blinds do a much better job at keeping the light out than curtains which don't tend to stay still

 

[xotGD]

I recall a defective mark 3 coach being removed from a loco hauled set at Carlisle in about thirty minutes, but those were the days when there used to be a gronk hanging about the station.

Back in the day, around 15 minutes to remove a Mark 1 at Newcastle. Several of us boarded to get the shunt into the parcels sidings beside the old Platform 10 and back - then got off again!

 

[Highlandspring]

The shunt to remove the defective coach, 10529, from 1M11 and place it in the Up Through Siding started at 0300 and was complete by 0345.

 

[TimboM]

The shunt to remove the defective coach, 10529, from 1M11 and place it in the Up Through Siding started at 0300 and was complete by 0345.

So the other 2.5 hours will have been spent trying to fix the coach in situ and avoid the last resort of shunting it out, and relocating the guests in 10529 (which I'm making a wild assumption was done before it was shunted off the train). I also saw reports the adjacent coach had some issues too, so possibly an on-site repair was required for that one during that period too. Can't imagine fitters are that close at hand to Carstairs at 1am in the morning either.

 

[Highlandspring]

Yes indeed, it wasn’t just as simple as knocking out a single coach.

 

[pitdiver]

Good afternoon one and all. A query regarding Lounge Coaches on the Fort William portion. Is it possible to know in advance what type of Lounge will be on the FTW portion. Will be travelling up to FTW on the 15/05 and coming back on the 17/05. Will it be the "Club" style one or the "Restaurant" style one.
Thanks in advance for any info.

Rob

 

[johnr57]

whats happened to this thread - has everyone moved on somewhere else? from many informative posts a day we have gone more than 4 days without a post. Sad times i say. at risk of lampooning my pun - is the Caledonian Sleeper discussion sleeping ?

 

[pitdiver]

whats happened to this thread - has everyone moved on somewhere else? from many informative posts a day we have gone more than 4 days without a post. Sad times i say. at risk of lampooning my pun - is the Caledonian Sleeper discussion sleeping ?

They have all caught the Highlander but it failed on Rannoch Moor so they are having to find their own way back.

 

[johnr57]

They have all caught the Highlander but it failed on Rannoch Moor so they are having to find their own way back.

Like...

 

[Domh245]

Perhaps the sleeper has just had a run of trouble free (note that I don't use the word normal ) nights and so there hasn't been much to report on!

 

[ScottDarg]

whats happened to this thread - has everyone moved on somewhere else? from many informative posts a day we have gone more than 4 days without a post. Sad times i say. at risk of lampooning my pun - is the Caledonian Sleeper discussion sleeping ?

I would say there's not been much to report, but I notice there's been no mention of 67002 experiencing issues on 1S25 on Tuesday. Arrived at Inverness 74L at 09:53: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/G60105/2018/04/30/advanced

67030 took over from it on Wednesday I believe after 002 worked 1M16 back to Edinburgh on Tuesday night.

 

[theironroad]

Well they've still not sorted the issue with the berth selector when booking online and they've refused to answer the question in a tweet I sent them last week. I followed up and they apologized for not replying and then still didn't answer or even refer to the question. Quite bizarre.

 

[glenbogle]

£140 first class from Fort William leaving on Sunday 24th June seemed very good value considering you’ll be on board for over 13 hours if you board at 1830 for 1900 departure.

 

[E6007]

£140 first class from Fort William leaving on Sunday 24th June seemed very good value considering you’ll be on board for over 13 hours if you board at 1830 for 1900 departure.

So we measure the value of a service by how slow it is?