I'm sure I seem to recall that some VTWC guards or drivers operated the sleeper also, up until the point where ScotRail took over, then again I could be imagining that!
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Caledonian Sleeper
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VTWC traction as well in the early days. Moved to EWS after a while
43096
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Virgin provided the traction and crews under contract, just as EWS/DB Cargo did after that and GB Railfreight do now.
adrock1976
Established Member
Was the Sleeper stock's home depot Wembley before the operations were transferred to Scotrail?
Cheshire Scot
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Can't answer that one but would the stock just have been part of the InterCity Sleeper fleet and network?
HamworthyGoods
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In Intercity days Wembley was home to the sleeper fleet. Inverness at that point was a railfreight loco depot.
Didn’t the Western mk3 sleeping cars at one point use Wembley for servicing?
Scotrail84
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That ended in 2004 when ScotRail took over and provided guards for every sleeper service until Serco took over.
bluesfromagun
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Even up until 2004, it was ScotRail Waverley and Central Conductors who worked it with VWC Polmadie drivers between Edinburgh/Glasgow Central and Carlisle, before handing over to (presumably) VWC Preston crew once over the border and vice versa.
Not forgetting that the Fort William / Edinburgh (37 then latterly 67) legs were worked by ScotRail Queen St and Fort William drivers, right up until Serco took over. Presumably because EWS / DBC didn't have enough drivers with the route knowledge for the WHL sleeper to be part of their contract.
PG
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Wonder why Serco didn't just continue that arrangement?
TimboM
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Serco partnered with GBRf as traction provider in their bid - was then up to GBRf how to resource the traction/crews. GBRf already had the Alcans running to Fort William, so had crews and "depots" covering that route - so more sense to utilise/expand that resource than hire it in.
That's not really how the Sleeper franchise bids worked - each bidder partnered with a traction provider up front and that was part of the 'package' they put forward. It wasn't a case that Serco won it, then went out looking for who could provide the traction the cheapest.
The Serco bid was the only one of the three bids that proposed brand new ETS-guzzling stock and the 92s were (and still are) the only locos that could provide the sort of ETS supply required for a full Load 16 rake. Hence the tie-in with GBRf as traction provider and use of the 92s was fundamental to the Serco bid and based on more than just cost.
PG
Established Member
Makes much more sense now, thanks.
Dave1954
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Viewed 23:50 1S25 Departing Crewe from Platform 12 tonite ,I was quite chuffed seeing it leave on crewe 5 cam as i have never saw it from there before , would this be regular Departure from there ??
Regards Dave54.
Regards Dave54.
TimboM
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It usually goes in / is booked for P6. Only tends to go in P12 when something is in the way on P6 that probably shouldn’t be there (eg. late running empty units).
Steddenm
Member
Looking on Realtimetrains.co.uk it seems that it was rerouted into Platform 12 for some reason.
Realtime Trains - 2117 London Euston to Inverness
Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Platform 6 had a late running ECS move in the Platform (Transport for Wales)
Platform 11 had a TfW Chester service due.
Deafdoggie
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The sleeper only fits in 6 & 12, so what is in 11 doesn’t matter (or what’s in 1 & 5 come to that)Looking on Realtimetrains.co.uk it seems that it was rerouted into Platform 12 for some reason.
Realtime Trains - 2117 London Euston to Inverness
Realtime Trains provides live realtime running information for the Great British railway network using open data.
Platform 6 had a late running ECS move in the Platform (Transport for Wales)
Platform 11 had a TfW Chester service due.
185143
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I had the sleeper on platform 1 in August 2019 on a Manchester divert. I was in the Inverness seats right at the back. We were so far off the platform it took me a few minutes to work out why we'd stopped! Despite me knowing Crewe station well.
Scotrail84
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The sleeper can use any through platform at any station because it has ASDO.
It isn't very helpful if it blocks up junctions though. It typically sits at Crewe for a while to fit its slot south of Euston at a time when there are other trains moving.
Does the ASDO actually work?
ASDO doesn't seem to work correctly on other CAF stock (even in manual overide).
philthetube
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I would have thought that that would be a safety critical failure and so immediately out of service.
theironroad
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Certainly if the default/manual override system is faulty then a train should only be stopping at platforms that can fully accommodate the trains length.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
All the stations/platforms CS normally use can.
Scotrail84
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Not strictly true.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Which platform does CS normally call at which doesn't accommodate all the doors?
Dalmuir
Altnabreac
Established Member
Corrour for a start.
Watford Junction
Cheshire Scot
Established Member
Falkirk Grahamston, also the up platform at Dalwhinnie
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
How did they deal with those in Mk3 days, or did that have grandfather rights to release doors off the platform?