First great western sleeper

[anthony263]

so since there isnt any engineering work on between reading & London paddington, then i can expect the sleeper to arrive around 04:45 then

 

[devon_metro]

No.

 

[anthony263]

Glad i am taking a lot of food with me.

Should have an interesting time then, anyway not to worried about the coldo, just make sure i have thick clothes on.

 

[anthony263]

I have just noticed, that when i have journey details for my trip on the sleeper that i leave Taunton at 02:33 then arrive into Reading around 04:27 then i seem to have a departure time from Reading at 04:41 withan arrival time into London Paddington at 05:41.

I thought i was only traveling on 1 train so my question is that is it that do i have to catch a different train from Reading or am i still on the sleeper service?

 

[90019]

I think that it will just be the sleeper stopped in the station for 14 minutes.

 

[anthony263]

Thanx i thought that but just wanted to be sure

 

[merlodlliw]

We have some ATWs here in the north that idle in Chester for almost 30 mins
then have an hours run between Bangor & Holyhead,which only takes half that time, I think the word is efficiency or something to make the figures look
good. I am sure a lot of tocs play this game.

 

[MCR247]

We have some ATWs here in the north that idle in Chester for almost 30 mins
then have an hours run between Bangor & Holyhead,which only takes half that time, I think the word is efficiency or something to make the figures look
good. I am sure a lot of tocs play this game.

whats that got to do with anything?

 

[anthony263]

How unreliable has this sleeper service been lately, isnce all i seem to be hearing is how bad FGW'S class 57's are.

I certainly hope they dont decided to fail on the night i intend to travel, otherwise i wont be very pleased

 

[Bittern]

Is it true that in the event of a 57 failing, a 43 sometimes helps out?

 

[anthony263]

I have read the story about the sleeper being replaced with a HST and i remember a few years ago the sleeper was hauled by 2 class 43's coupled back to back pulling a failed class 47/57

 

[90019]

Is it true that in the event of a 57 failing, a 43 sometimes helps out?

It has been done with two back to back HST powercars, towing the consist using the towbar, but they were taking a big risk doing this, and AFAIK, it has only been done once because of this.

 

[jamesontheroad]

It has been done with two back to back HST powercars, towing the consist using the towbar, but they were taking a big risk doing this, and AFAIK, it has only been done once because of this.

For the beautiful sight of an (almost) class 43 pulling a sleeper, you need to head down under to ride the CountryLink XPT. The XPT was derived for the HST design and built in Australia. Sleeper accommodation is available nightly between (IIRC) Sydney and Melbourne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XPT_(Train)

 

[anthony263]

For the beautiful sight of an (almost) class 43 pulling a sleeper, you need to head down under to ride the CountryLink XPT. The XPT was derived for the HST design and built in Australia. Sleeper accommodation is available nightly between (IIRC) Sydney and Melbourne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XPT_(Train)

I must say that it looks very similar to the Class 43's looks like some australians decided to copy and slightly modify the design

 

[90019]

For the beautiful sight of an (almost) class 43 pulling a sleeper, you need to head down under to ride the CountryLink XPT. The XPT was derived for the HST design and built in Australia. Sleeper accommodation is available nightly between (IIRC) Sydney and Melbourne

The XPT powercars are similar, but they are shorter and used a detuned VP185, and I think the cooling system had to be altered for the climate.
The coaches are a Budd design, I think, but IIRC they're very different from Mk3s.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I must say that it looks very similar to the Class 43's looks like some australians decided to copy and slightly modify the design

It was done under license from BREL.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I must say that it looks very similar to the Class 43's looks like some australians decided to copy and slightly modify the design

The XPT PCs were built under licence from BREL, it's an evolution rather than a copy.

 

[anthony263]

The XPT PCs were built under licence from BREL, it's an evolution rather than a copy.

Yes and u do have to admit they have done a good job

 

[90019]

Yes and u do have to admit they have done a good job

I wonder if the Australian people on here would agree with that.

 

[Techniquest]

It has been done with two back to back HST powercars, towing the consist using the towbar, but they were taking a big risk doing this, and AFAIK, it has only been done once because of this.

It was done once in 2007 IIRC, it was also done in 2008 and I even had the heads-up on it (sadly couldn't get there for that).

There was a farce not long ago (in the last couple of weeks) thanks to a 57 failure. Involved getting a HST off Laira to Par (picking up the passengers in Plymouth first) then running rather late all the way. Amazingly, it was only 91 minutes late arriving into Paddington though! Gen curtousy of the WNXX forum.

Generally speaking though, the sleeper is pretty darn reliable.

As for the XPTs, what I've seen on YouTube on them is quite impressive. Whether the Australians would think highly of them is something I have no idea on, but I really do want a trip to Australia to find out for myself. We need megaplane.com!

 

[90019]

As for the XPTs, what I've seen on YouTube on them is quite impressive. Whether the Australians would think highly of them is something I have no idea on, but I really do want a trip to Australia to find out for myself. We need megaplane.com!

The problem with the XPTs is that they can only do 100mph, and when you take into account the distances, including Sydney to Brisbane which is almost 600 miles, they're pretty slow.

 

[merlodlliw]

whats that got to do with anything?

responce to thread number 27 etc,

 

[anthony263]

I have had a look at the timetable for this service and it looked like its going via Bristol according to the timetable and not via Westbury like it did back when i last used in in january

 

[paul1609]

The problem with the XPTs is that they can only do 100mph, and when you take into account the distances, including Sydney to Brisbane which is almost 600 miles, they're pretty slow.

Are there actually many lines in Australia that have a line speed of 100 mph?
I've done Sydney to Melbourne on a XPT and much of the line in NSW seems to have a line speed of 60 km/h due to the curvature (yes that is about 38 mph!). I dont recall doing more than (I'd Guess) 100km/h on the whole journey.

 

[90019]

Are there actually many lines in Australia that have a line speed of 100 mph?
I've done Sydney to Melbourne on a XPT and much of the line in NSW seems to have a line speed of 60 km/h due to the curvature (yes that is about 38 mph!). I dont recall doing more than (I'd Guess) 100km/h on the whole journey.

I knew I'd missed something out in my post, but yes, there isn't that much 100mph on that route AFAIK.
I haven't done much travelling by train in Australia, only Cityrail stuff in Sydney, but I don't think I'd want to do XPT from Melbourne to Sydney, because it takes an age to do.

 

[MCR247]

responce to thread number 27 etc,

yeah, that still hasnt really got anything to do with it

 

[paul1609]

I have had a look at the timetable for this service and it looked like its going via Bristol according to the timetable and not via Westbury like it did back when i last used in in january

I think the service has always been timetabled so it can use a number of routes due to engineering works. Im on the down service Monday night to Plymouth. If I'm awake I'll report back!

 

[Techniquest]

Booked after Taunton to go via Westbury station (where it apparently stops for a short time to kill time on the short sleeper journey) then back to the Berks and Hants.

Unless engineering works force otherwise that is. They used to go via Bristol then through Trowbridge to Hawkridge Junction, but they haven't done that for quite some time apparently.

 

[anthony263]

It looks like something has happened tonight since there are no sleeper berths available on tonights 23:50 departure from London to penzance

 

[87031]

i did the 2115 ex Penzance on Sunday couldnt get a birth fully booked had to go in the seated sleeper had 2hrs sleep! The coach was freezing so was hard to sleep plus the wheel had a flat which didnt help. They where giving away free teas coffes etc but there was no chief steward so one of the attendants was doin both. Overall not a patch on the Caledonian sleeper but maybe i just got it on a bad night. At least the 57 didnt fail, was quite busy but apparantly Fridays and Sundays are the 2 busy days of the service. If i was on again i would make sure of a berth as the seated option isnt ideal cos u get woken up with the noise of ECS and platform staff at Paddington and at 5am theres nothing open. You can stay on board till 730am but its just too noisy to get any sleep. A review of the times would maybe be an idea with later start from Penzance even just 1 Hr

 

[devon_metro]

The reason its early from Penzance, is so that it isn't picking up in Devon at unearthly hours.