Caledonian Sleeper Seats Euston to Fort William

[3rdClass]

Hi

I have sent this enquiry to the Caledonian Sleeper company but i have not had a reply from them so im trying here instead. I did a quick search here but couldnt easily find the answer. I did see a Caledonian disussion thread but its 215 pages long so, err, sorry but im not reading through all that Im hoping that some people here will have experience of this route.

Ive booked Caledonian Sleeper seats for six people (3rd class ) from Euston to Fort William and i understand that the Sleeper seat carriage for Fort William does not run from Euston (something to do with the train being too long?) so we hitch a ride in the (Inverness?) Sleeper seat carriage as far as Edinburgh where the Fort William Carriage will be waiting for us. What im curious to know is exactly what the change of carriages actually involves. Im sure that doing this day in day out, the train company will do this efficiently and nobody (or their luggage) will end up in Inverness but i would still like to know what to expect when we are woken up at silly oclock. The prospect of stumbling bleary eyed with our luggage down platforms and across footbridges to find the Fort William coach is slightly worrying.. or do they place our carriages opposite each other on adjacent platforms?.. or even better, do they temporarily hitch the two carriages together to allow us to transfer without ever stepping outside into the cold night air? Any previous experience of this carriage change would be great. Thanks.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It involves, as you suspected, ensuring you wake yourself up, getting out, walking down the platform (same platform) with your luggage and getting on. There's plenty of time to do it, but nobody will nanny you as you do, you have to make sure you do it including waking yourself up. Being a night train there are no on board announcements.

It's fairly obvious which coach it is, as it is shunted on at Edinburgh. It's also usually freezing cold until the heating has kicked in, so wear some jumpers!

A few pics of the process attached, it's the ones you can see being added to the back. Not particularly good as I was half asleep, being 4am and all that!

 

[3rdClass]

It involves ensuring you wake yourself up, getting out, walking down the platform (same platform) with your luggage and getting on. Nobody will nanny you as you do, you have to make sure you do it including waking yourself up. Being a night train there are no on board announcements.

Oh right!.. so, you (or your luggage) could end up in Inverness.. we had better all set our alarms then.

Its all done on one platform though, thats good.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Oh right!.. so, you (or your luggage) could end up in Inverness.. we had better all set our alarms then.

Its all done on one platform though, thats good.

Thanks for the reply.

No probs...yes, best set an alarm!

Your luggage will end up wherever you put it, there is no checking in or handling service.

 

[Kite159]

It be the Aberdeen seats part you will be in from Euston to Edinburgh, rather than the Inverness part.

It involves, as you suspected, ensuring you wake yourself up, getting out, walking down the platform (same platform) with your luggage and getting on. There's plenty of time to do it, but nobody will nanny you as you do, you have to make sure you do it including waking yourself up. Being a night train there are no on board announcements.

It's fairly obvious which coach it is, as it is shunted on at Edinburgh. It's also usually freezing cold until the heating has kicked in, so wear some jumpers!

A few pics of the process attached, it's the ones you can see being added to the back. Not particularly good as I was half asleep, being 4am and all that!

When I did it a few weeks ago (heading to Aberdeen) on arrival of Edinburgh the guard came in to say "This is Edinburgh, passengers for stations towards Fort William please change here" making sure any FW passengers got off.

Agreed with taking jumpers, maybe even a blanket as those coaches can get cold

 

[gazthomas]

Sleep to Inverness and get the coach, it won’t be much slower and less disruptive!

 

[3rdClass]

It be the Aberdeen seats part you will be in from Euston to Edinburgh, rather than the Inverness part.

Oh, ok, my Father came from Aberdeen and ive always wanted to see it.. maybe i will sooner than expected.

When I did it a few weeks ago (heading to Aberdeen) on arrival of Edinburgh the guard came in to say "This is Edinburgh, passengers for stations towards Fort William please change here" making sure any FW passengers got off.

Thats good to hear.

Sleep to Inverness and get the coach, it won’t be much slower and less disruptive!

Already booked for the summer, hopefully in the new carriages. The plan (for my first time ever) is to leave cars/bikes at home and do a holiday purely using rail transport. The railway village we are staying in has no shops at all so even shopping trips will be by rail. We are also booked on The Jacobite.

 

[gazthomas]

Oh, ok, my Father came from Aberdeen and ive always wanted to see it.. maybe i will sooner than expected.



Thats good to hear.



Already booked for the summer, hopefully in the new carriages. The plan (for my first time ever) is to leave cars/bikes at home and do a holiday purely using rail transport. The railway village we are staying in has no shops at all so even shopping trips will be by rail. We are also booked on The Jacobite.

Sounds idyllic!

 

[3rdClass]

Well, back now and we had a great time. Unfortunately theyre still using the old seated carriages which are certainly showing their age.. the seats are not that good for such a long journey and i couldnt sleep (so no drama therefore with the carriage change) plus we only had one toilet that was only half working but.. im glad that we were in seats for the spectacular views between Glasgow and Fort William. On the way home, we arrived at FW station to be told that there was a problem with the seated carriage so we were to be given a free upgrade to three sleeping bed cabins!!!.. what a result!.. so much more civilised, i stood at the rear end of the train to take in the views until it was dark outside then retired to bed and i actually slept! We were informed on arrival that we could claim compensation for arriving an hour late but i wont be doing that, thank you Caledonian for the much appreciated upgrade to 2nd class and for an hours lay-in. We also enjoyed our first class seats on the Jacobite steam service. This is a low-res video i took from our perfect holiday cottage...