East Coast Sleeper Diversions

[rail-britain]

I'm not sure about staff usage on FGW
I would assume the drivers go :
Paddington - Plymouth - Penzance

In common with FSR, the onboard staff stay with the train

FSR is slightly more complicated
From what I understand the driver of the Edinburgh - Euston starts at Polmadie and on arrival in Edinburgh signs off
Another driver then takes the set to Carstairs detaches the loco, stays with that loco, then returns back to Edinburgh with the Euston - Edinburgh
One further driver then takes the set back to Polmadie
I've not seen any driver change on the Glasgow / Edinburgh - Euston, but I assume it must take place at Crewe (sadly I've been asleep on each occasion)
The drivers of the Inverness and Aberdeen go as far as Edinburgh, and the same northbound
It used to be the case that the Fort William driver went as far as Dalmuir, where another driver took the train to Edinburgh, but this may have changed (I'm on this next week so can update if necessary)
The combined Aberdeen/Inverness/Fort William has a driver change at Crewe

 

[1D53]

On FGW the drivers/guards are all Exeter high speed crews. They work a normal service to Paddington or Penzance and work the sleeper back to Exeter. Another crew take it over to the destination and then work a normal service back to Exeter.

 

[rail-britain]

On FGW the drivers/guards are all Exeter high speed crews. They work a normal service to Paddington or Penzance and work the sleeper back to Exeter. Another crew take it over to the destination and then work a normal service back to Exeter.

Cheers for clarifying that, I did notice the driver on the HST then came over and put his stuff in the 57 cab

 

[rail-britain]

1B16 / 1M16 Aberdeen - Euston : 28 June 2009

Seems a rather short formation tonight

67009
10529
10548
10689 - my coach
6706
9806

Aberdeen - 21:42
Edinburgh - 01:10
Newcastle - 02:55
Doncaster - arrive 04:45

10565 was the culprit, going to Fort William instead
Complete train formation :

90021
10719
10544
10561
10675
10523
10722
6705
9808
10531
10501
10565
10529
10548
10689
6706
9806

With 67002 between Wembley and London Euston
Arrived at 08:50, 30 minutes early

 

[yorkie]

Extra coaches on the Fort William perhaps?

 

[rail-britain]

For the Fort William it would be one extra sleeper coach, not coaches...
I'll check when we arrive at Euston, but I suspect the train has been made one coach short, the same as the Glasgow / Edinburgh last week

 

[glynn80]

For the Fort William it would be a coach, not coaches...
I'll check when we arrive at Euston, but I suspect the train has been made one coach short, the same as the Glasgow / Edinburgh last week

Err, the Fort William portion has four coaches during most of the year, two sleeper coaches, one buffet/lounge car coach and one seated coach. However, in the summer months of May to September, when the route generally sees increased traffic, one of the sleeper coaches from the Aberdeen portion is transferred to the Fort William, making the service five coaches in all.

I can only presume you have never travelled on the route, if you believe there to be only one portion to the entire service...

Four coach version: http://trains-are-hell.photos.me.uk/p57616539.html
Five coach version: http://jandjcottrell.fotopic.net/p50830513.html

 

[rail-britain]

Yes, I know the Fort William sleeper is normally four coaches (two sleepers, lounge car, brake/seats), however it can only be increased by one coach
I see the scottish sleeper quite regularly at various locations along the route in the UK

 

[glynn80]

Yes, I know the Fort William sleeper is normally four coaches (two sleepers, lounge car, brake/seats), however it can only be increased by one coach
I see the scottish sleeper quite regularly at various locations along the route in the UK

Yes and being increased by one coach and therefore the Aberdeen portion reducing by one coach, fits perfectly with the scenario you posted about.

Seems a rather short formation tonight

67009
10529
10548
10689 - my coach
6706
9806

The Aberdeen in the months October to April, is usually seven coaches; five sleeper coaches, one buffet/lounge car and one seated portion (http://northeastrailways.fotopic.net/p55826286.html). This reduces to six coaches during the May to September months due to one of the sleeper coaches transferring to the Fort William service. That fits with the six coach formation, I have quoted you as posting above.

 

[rail-britain]

Yes, but as above there are only THREE sleepers!
Turns out the Aberdeen / Fort William get modified season to season and mid-week to weekend

Winter :
5 sleepers + RLO + BUO

Summer northbound Sunday to Thursday
Summer southbound Monday to Friday :
4 sleepers + RLO + BUO

Summer northbound Friday
Summer southbound Sunday :
3 sleepers + RLO + BUO

Fort William :
plus one sleeper -
northbound Friday
southbound Sunday

The confusion occured as the Glasgow has been short a lounge car each Sunday and I was wondering if the sets were short formed in order to reduce the train load due to the diversion

 

[EltonRoad]

The Highland Sleeper went past Sandy on Sunday evening at 22.15, in case anyone's interested.

2 hours+ from Euston! Not bad ..

rail-britain where did you get the above info from, just as a matter of interest?

 

[rail-britain]

rail-britain where did you get the above info from, just as a matter of interest?

Which bit of information?
If there is something you need me to clarify, just ask

I've been travelling on the sleepers for the last 10 days
http://www.rail-britain.co.uk/wordpress/?page_id=2

I was on last nights Euston - Fort William, which had an additional BUO for the Inverness at the rear, and I am now on my way for the Aberdeen - Euston, although from what happened at Edinburgh this morning the Class 67 has a fault which resulted in them swapping the Inverness and Aberdeen ones at the last minute

 

[EltonRoad]

Wow that's some itinerary!

I was just wondering how you found out about the seasonal / weekend variation in Sleeper coach formation.

Looks like you and I were at Great Yarmouth on 27 June. Several photos of 47 802 ..

 

[northernrail2009]

Which bit of information?
If there is something you need me to clarify, just ask

I've been travelling on the sleepers for the last 10 days
http://www.rail-britain.co.uk/wordpress/?page_id=2

I was on last nights Euston - Fort William, which had an additional BUO for the Inverness at the rear, and I am now on my way for the Aberdeen - Euston, although from what happened at Edinburgh this morning the Class 67 has a fault which resulted in them swapping the Inverness and Aberdeen ones at the last minute

Good luck to you but I dont think i could do all that trip.

Are you Sleeping ok? How much Sleep have you had in the last 2 weeks?

I didnt know they Did that ticket does that mean that you can travel all over the UK at any time of the day with that Rover Ticket?

What is the reason for you to do it?

You are doing well keep it up.

 

[rail-britain]

I started researching as soon as the May 2009 timetable came out
I looked at each weekend firstly to see what is likely to be a blockade (hence avoid) and which were diversions (which may be of interest)

The last two weekends showed the best chance of completing many journeys, with very few blockades, plus the last few weeks of the ScotRail sleepers on the ECML diversion

There was then the issue of getting to/from Scotland with no sleepers on the Satruday night
One advantage is the All Line Rover starts at midnight, so I was able to travel on the 00:23 from Falkirk to Euston (even though it leaves Inverness the day before!)
This was something I clarified very early on and was one of the first reservations I made

Yes, sleep was an issue
Also planning them in turned out to show that most of the journeys would be Scotland - Euston
I tried to avoid Euston - Scotland ones, as missing a connection and having to spend a night in London did not appeal to me

Sleep deprevation kicked in towards the end of the first week
This was mainly due to staying awake through the day, to then experience the locos during the night, and some sleep between about 01:00 and 05:00, which is quite near my normal amount
Even the Saturday night at home I didn't get much sleep, as I had to stick the washing machine on and clothes ready for the next week!

[I'll update this in a minute, just getting breakfast on the 08:30 Euston - Glasgow]
14 days is just a bit too much, 10 would have been enough
As you can see by the plan, the last two days are just filling in time
However, the point here is to experience the 13:30 Glasgow - Euston and 04:25 Glasgow - Euston which was quite difficult to fit in hence why two days are effectively wasted

The trick is to stay flexible and allow for delays
I noticed a slight error in my planning, which had me walking from Paddington to Euston
I later realised in the time I had available (subject to no trains being late or delayed) I could bail at Reading, travel via Oxford, Birmingham New Street, back to Euston!
Ironically I had done it in reverse just a few days earlier (although via Bristol)

The ticket itself allows you to travel on just about anything
I looked at Standard and First Class
I then weighed up what "goodies" could be had in First Class (breakfast, snack, dinner), valued each at £5 and found the cost was about the same
Due to an error early on I was not charged for two of the sleeper bookings, having been booked as a Single First rather than the Rover First
When checking the prices for Standard I assume they would be ScotRail solo or FGW single bookings (First Class are automatically single but you do need to ask for a FGW single!)

You are NOT permitted to travel on the Heathrow Express nor can you sample the South East Trains Javelin at the moment
If you want to travel on those you need to buy a separate ticket

 

[northernrail2009]

I started researching as soon as the May 2009 timetable came out
I looked at each weekend firstly to see what is likely to be a blockade (hence avoid) and which were diversions (which may be of interest)

The last two weekends showed the best chance of completing many journeys, with very few blockades, plus the last few weeks of the ScotRail sleepers on the ECML diversion

There was then the issue of getting to/from Scotland with no sleepers on the Satruday night
One advantage is the All Line Rover starts at midnight, so I was able to travel on the 00:23 from Falkirk to Euston (even though it leaves Inverness the day before!)
This was something I clarified very early on and was one of the first reservations I made

Yes, sleep was an issue
Also planning them in turned out to show that most of the journeys would be Scotland - Euston
I tried to avoid Euston - Scotland ones, as missing a connection and having to spend a night in London did not appeal to me

Sleep deprevation kicked in towards the end of the first week
This was mainly due to staying awake through the day, to then experience the locos during the night, and some sleep between about 01:00 and 05:00, which is quite near my normal amount
Even the Saturday night at home I didn't get much sleep, as I had to stick the washing machine on and clothes ready for the next week!

[I'll update this in a minute, just getting breakfast on the 08:30 Euston - Glasgow]
14 days is just a bit too much, 10 would have been enough
As you can see by the plan, the last two days are just filling in time
However, the point here is to experience the 13:30 Glasgow - Euston and 04:25 Glasgow - Euston which was quite difficult to fit in hence why two days are effectively wasted

The trick is to stay flexible and allow for delays
I noticed a slight error in my planning, which had me walking from Paddington to Euston
I later realised in the time I had available (subject to no trains being late or delayed) I could bail at Reading, travel via Oxford, Birmingham New Street, back to Euston!
Ironically I had done it in reverse just a few days earlier (although via Bristol)

The ticket itself allows you to travel on just about anything
I looked at Standard and First Class
I then weighed up what "goodies" could be had in First Class (breakfast, snack, dinner), valued each at £5 and found the cost was about the same
Due to an error early on I was not charged for two of the sleeper bookings, having been booked as a Single First rather than the Rover First
When checking the prices for Standard I assume they would be ScotRail solo or FGW single bookings (First Class are automatically single but you do need to ask for a FGW single!)

You are NOT permitted to travel on the Heathrow Express nor can you sample the South East Trains Javelin at the moment
If you want to travel on those you need to buy a separate ticket

It must have taken a lot of Planning?

What are better out of the 2 sleepers the FGW ones or the scotrail ones.

I have never done the scotland sleepers but have done the FGW ones.

 

[EltonRoad]

How's this?

The Highland Sleeper at St Neots, taken approx 1 hr ago.

Apologies for the quality, but it was nearly dark, and I've used ISO 25 600, 1/125, f 5.6.

 

[rail-britain]

It must have taken a lot of Planning?

The planning was done by listing all the services I wanted to travel on first...
Saturday 10:00 Liverpool Street - Great Yarmouth, and return
Sunday Glasgow - London Euston sleeper
Sunday Aberdeen / Inverness - London Euston sleeper
EMT HST
Kings Cross - Inverness (for sleeper connection)
(Kings Cross) Edinburgh - Aberdeen (for sleeper connection)
FGW sleeper
WSR service
ATW service
Euston - Manchester
Liverpool - Euston
GC Kings Cross - York -> York - Leeds - Preston
13:40 Glasgow - Euston
04:25 Glasgow - Euston
16:30 Euston - Glasgow

The next step was to work out which was possible and in what order

The final step was to fill any gaps
As such I found the last day was a waste, so I changed it at the last minute by using a route I had completely ignored!

What are better out of the 2 sleepers the FGW ones or the scotrail ones.
I have never done the scotland sleepers but have done the FGW ones

The ScotRail sleeper is the better journey, value for money in terms of time spent on the train
However, if you've never been thrown round the curves in Lancashire then it can be bumpy ride resulting in a poor sleep!

The FGW sleeper leaves far too early
It basically serves as a local service between Penzance and Exeter
Ordinary ticket holders using the "lounge" is an issue and passengers unaware of this were asked to move after almost every stop, even with the enormous notices!
The stop at Reading is good, however it is probably more useful when travelling southbound
A longer stop at Exeter northbound would probably be a better use of the time

The onboard video is more of a gimmick than useful
The choice was very limited, but good enough to pass an hour
Equally, this is something the ScotRail sleepers would benefit from (especially the Fort William and Inverness!)

ScotRail and FGW offer very similar breakfast
However, the FGW bacon roll is aweful!
On my next journey I would opt for the continental
Equally, the ScotRail breakfast varies depending on route and how the host is feeling!
I had everything from a tea in a paper cup and bag, right up to a tea pot on a tray

Overall the sleeper carriages are of very similar standard
However, the FGW lounge car is clearly in better trim condition
The ScotRail sleeper lounge cars are now showing their age
The Fort William sleeper lounge is basically an ex-Cross Country First Class lounge, with fixed seats and power points at some tables