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Caledonian Sleeper discussion

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Philip Phlopp

Philip Phlopp

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fgwrich said:
It's not just any old Industrial facility at Warrington either - Next to the station is the rather large Unilever factory.

Have other 92s had issues passing through Warrington in the past or is it because their on Passenger duties and having to supply ETS at the same time that's causing the electronics not to cope?

(Edit - it didn't quote the original post)
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Yes, this seems to be going around and around, but the WCML isn't fed at Warrington.

The only electrical infrastructure I'm aware of on the WCML at Warrington is the ATF sectioning equipment. The grid connections in the area are both 400kV connections, one at Frodsham and the other at Hutton, feeding the Weaver Junction and Oxenholme Auto Transformer Feeder Stations.

If there's a voltage drop issue, it's going to be impacting on the entire grid until National Grid can have power stations of some sort meet the demand and return the frequency back to closer to 50Hz (which in turn returns the voltage back to 400kV, thanks to the way voltage and frequency are linked).
 
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captainbigun

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It's not a voltage drop issue. But it may be down to the quality of the supply and this may be outside of the railway's control. There are a lot of industrial sites fed from the same supply as this section (Weaver junction feeder) and this may be a factor. This section has also caused problems with 90s.

92s don't have a problem where ICMU isn't in play. They work quite happily on HS1 and in Bulgaria.
 
47271

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I had a chat yesterday with a very regular Cal Sleeper user.

Now that traction has been steadied, reliability and timekeeping seems to have recovered from the lows of the early summer.

Weird train makeups and carriages dropped out of formation seem to be the bugbear now - he thinks that they're taking them out rather than risk a failure en route. Apparently the Inverness left Euston fully booked minus TWO sleeper coaches on Thursday night last week. Through fantastic patience and good humour from crew and passengers alike everyone was found a bed and no lasting damage was done, but this particular surprise does seem to be happening quite a lot at the moment.

Did the rolling stock maintenance arrangements get changed when Serco took over, carriage oddities seem to be a bigger ongoing problem than the traction now?
 
Flying Snail

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47271 said:
Did the rolling stock maintenance arrangements get changed when Serco took over, carriage oddities seem to be a bigger ongoing problem than the traction now?
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Yes, they ditched Inverness who (it is now apparent) were doing a fantastic job keeping the stock running.

In theory Polmadie should be better able to keep the stock running as they have access to one full set every day rather than the half set Inverness got but that has not been the case so far.

I would guess that losing the intimate knowledge the Inverness maintenance crew had about the weaknesses of the stock is a big part of the issue.
 
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Bodiddly

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Flying Snail said:
Yes, they ditched Inverness who (it is now apparent) were doing a fantastic job keeping the stock running.

In theory Polmadie should be better able to keep the stock running as they have access to one full set every day rather than the half set Inverness got but that has not been the case so far.

I would guess that losing the intimate knowledge the Inverness maintenance crew had about the weaknesses of the stock is a big part of the issue.
Click to expand...

Spot on. We know this stock inside out.
 
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87015

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Flying Snail said:
Yes, they ditched Inverness who (it is now apparent) were doing a fantastic job keeping the stock running.

In theory Polmadie should be better able to keep the stock running as they have access to one full set every day rather than the half set Inverness got but that has not been the case so far.

I would guess that losing the intimate knowledge the Inverness maintenance crew had about the weaknesses of the stock is a big part of the issue.
Click to expand...

Polmadie had a, err, "interesting" reputation for looking after the Mk3 hauled sets based there
 
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Mag_seven

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There still seems to be no sign of the 92's returning to the main services (they are only being used on ECS and the Carstairs - Edinburgh portion) - has anyone any idea when they will return?
 
najaB

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Blindtraveler said:
Changed not for the better IMO. If the 92 issue has been known for a while then why in heck was it allowed to happen? Or was it done in hope more than out else?
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The issues with the locomotives are separate and distinct from the switch in rolling stock maintenance from Inverness to Polmadie.
 
Domh245

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captainbigun said:
As different locos have differing adhesion, torque curves and gearing.
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It's probably worth noting that they shouldn't have different gearing, as the only 86 regearing was 86501, unless someone has ordered different parts to whatever was stated in the manual! Your other 2 points are more likely, but these come from general wear and the age of different components. Older locos tend to have more 'character' than the modern ones.
 
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ainsworth74

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With the 92s isn't one of the main reasons for opting for a supplier which only has 92s rather than sticking with the old locomotive supplier down to the new Sleeper stock needing a lot more power (both in terms of being hauled and for ETS)? In which case what alternative is there to finally fettling the 92s? Doubled up 90s?
 
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captainbigun

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Domh245 said:
It's probably worth noting that they shouldn't have different gearing, as the only 86 regearing was 86501, unless someone has ordered different parts to whatever was stated in the manual! Your other 2 points are more likely, but these come from general wear and the age of different components. Older locos tend to have more 'character' than the modern ones.
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Err, 86/1, 86/2/7, 86/5 and 86/3/4/6 all have completely different gearing.

86/1, 86/2/7 and 86/3/4/5/6 also have different motors, though the torque curve for the latter two sets of classes is the same.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
ainsworth74 said:
With the 92s isn't one of the main reasons for opting for a supplier which only has 92s rather than sticking with the old locomotive supplier down to the new Sleeper stock needing a lot more power (both in terms of being hauled and for ETS)? In which case what alternative is there to finally fettling the 92s? Doubled up 90s?
Click to expand...

You cannot combine ETS. 92 is the right tool, it just requires some work to make it viable long term.
 
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captainbigun

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ainsworth74 said:
So you think they can be made workable in the long term but it just requires some bedding in?
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You either fix the source of the issue in the supply or re-engineer the part of the loco that's causing grief. It's doable either way subject to spend.
 
38Cto15E

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I travelled First class to Fort William from Euston on Monday evening, my first trip with Serco. My carriage was the very last one at the far end of Platform 15, plus a walk back to the Lounge car. :)
The train was on time throughout, the staff were excellent as was the Haggis and Cheeseboard and indeed the Bottle of Red.
I was fortunate to have a centre cabin and the ride was excellent, even on the West Highland line, at times I didn't know if we were stationery or moving.
My only disappointment was there were no Arran Aromatics in the cabin, just a cheap toothbrush/ear defenders/ eye cover.
Seat reserved for brekkie, I had the Scrambled Eggs and Smoked Salmon which I enjoyed although the Orange Juice was not chilled, my ticket cost £132 with railcard.
 
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kingston_toon

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Saw my friend off on the 23:50 Glasgow earlier. As it turns out, it left 70 late due to a broken down freight train up the line, but more annoyingly, they were short a few coaches so her lower bunk in coach E (gone!) had become a top bunk in coach D. Lots of staff and BTP were on hand to advise a number of speculative passengers that the train was full and they wouldn't be getting on.
 
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Norther Monkey

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kingston_toon said:
Saw my friend off on the 23:50 Glasgow earlier. As it turns out, it left 70 late due to a broken down freight train up the line, but more annoyingly, they were short a few coaches so her lower bunk in coach E (gone!) had become a top bunk in coach D. Lots of staff and BTP were on hand to advise a number of speculative passengers that the train was full and they wouldn't be getting on.
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Were they really expecting trouble from walk up passengers on being turned away from a service with mandatory reservations? A midnight run to Glasgow wouldn't seem to the most likely for a large number of spur of the moment travellers.

Edit: Having thought about it, I suppose there could be demand from those who missed the last Virgin service and spent the intervening time refreshing themselves.

The rolling stock seems to be an issue though. Monday's from Aberdeen was a sleeper coach light, resulting in more than usual sharing.
 
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jopsuk

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Friends were on the lowland from London last night. As they were booked to Edinburgh, they were surprised when they woke up in Glasgow
 
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