Caledonian Sleeper

[nlogax]

Prize for the first person with a photo of a homebrew kit set up in a Sleeper room

Pfft.. copper gin still, surely!?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Pfft.. copper gin still, surely!?

Surely if you're going to be distilling spirits, it'd have to be whisky. But will CS agree for you leaving the barrels on board to mature for years?

 

[vlad]

Surely if you're going to be distilling spirits, it'd have to be whisky. But will CS agree for you leaving the barrels on board to mature for years?

Is that why people keep asking about the whereabouts of the Mk 3 sleepers - because they put whisky barrels in some in the 1980s and it's not long now before the whisky will be ready?

 

[MrEd]

I got my morning coffee both times in December and again this week.
MI got my morning coffee both times in December and again this week.

What nonsense. Afaik the serving of morning hot drinks never stopped?


No. A false statement on the Internet again.

I last used the sleeper in September 2020 (the ban on non-essential travel came in soon afterwards) and there were no hot drinks being served to rooms in the mornings, just a bottle of juice, a muffin and in First Class either a bacon roll in a plastic box or a yoghurt. I believe this had been the practice since social distancing measures were introduced in March 2020; when I used the train in July and August there were no hot drinks at all then.

If they have started doing hot drinks in the mornings that must be a recent development, probably since the start of the second lockdown. I wonder whether they will have to get rid of them again once lockdown eases and the train starts to get busier? A shame if so but it depends what the health and safety regulations allow.

I doubt we’ll see the full catering service return until summer 2022, but it would be nice if they could bring back some elements of it at least (even if it is just takeaway) this year.

 

[D6130]

Pfft.. copper gin still, surely!?

......or 'mountain dew' on the West Highland Sleeper!

 

[xotGD]

I'm sure that someone heading off for a camping trip would be able to sort themselves a full fry-up in their berth on a Primus stove.

 

[185143]

I was on the final run to Aberdeen with a Mark 2 seated coach. Cold all night, and I didn't get any sleep.

At least I could open the droplight to fully appreciate the pair of 73s, and I've always found the sound of the brakes rather soothing.

I think I remember you posting. They locked the carriage out of use the following (and final) night southbound, though they said there were two doors locked out on the same side when I asked the team leader. Got me a free upgrade to a room, which was nice.

 

[paul1609]

I'm sure that someone heading off for a camping trip would be able to sort themselves a full fry-up in their berth on a Primus stove.

Being old enough to remember mk1 stock on the West Highland line, I have fond memories of a primus brew up and beers in the brake van in Moss End yard whilst we waited for the windows that had been bricked on the passage through Glasgow to be boarded up! I was monged on eventual arrival in Euston.

 

[AberdeenBill]

Personally I find almost all of the pleasure of the Sleeper to be the lounge car, so I'd be more likely to use it with an earlier departure time than a later one.

I used to think that with the old stock, but with the new stock (for whatever reason) it doesn’t seem quite as essential (for me). In the mornings it’s nice to have some picture windows to watch the scenery, granted. I think it’s a mixture of the fact that the new Mk5 berths are a much more pleasant place to be for a long period and the lounge cars somehow seem less cosy and inviting, though this is very much a personal preference and different passengers’ views may differ.

I only used the lounge in the new stock once and agree with Mr Ed that it just seems to be lacking something in atmosphere and cosiness that the old lounge seemed to have and the new one seems a bit 'sterile' to me. Whilst i don't think i could be classed as a 'tourist' of the type that the CS marketing is trying to attract, my journeys on the sleeper are generally for leisure purposes and i enjoy the 'experience' as well as the timing and environmental advantages. However last couple of (pre-covid) trips on the Mark 5's i simply purchased some snacks and a bottle of wine at Euston and just stayed in the room all night reading and watching a film on my IPad. Whilst the new berths are definitely more pleasant, i find the new fixed ladder very annoying when sitting on the bed. I'm sure someone posted on here previously that it can be removed and placed out of the way?

 

[Clansman]

Whilst the new berths are definitely more pleasant, i find the new fixed ladder very annoying when sitting on the bed. I'm sure someone posted on here previously that it can be removed and placed out of the way?

Yep it's very easy. Just give the ladder a wiggle and pull outwards from the lower half and it will release.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm sure that someone heading off for a camping trip would be able to sort themselves a full fry-up in their berth on a Primus stove.

Until the fire alarm went off...

 

[alangla]

Surely if you're going to be distilling spirits, it'd have to be whisky. But will CS agree for you leaving the barrels on board to mature for years?

Is an on-board whisky still not one of the things allegedly hidden in the abandoned bogs on ScotRail HST sets?

 

[marks87]

Is an on-board whisky still not one of the things allegedly hidden in the abandoned bogs on ScotRail HST sets?

A peated whisky?

 

[PG]

A peated whisky?

Any attempt at unauthorised access gets you turfed off

 

[MrEd]

I only used the lounge in the new stock once and agree with Mr Ed that it just seems to be lacking something in atmosphere and cosiness that the old lounge seemed to have and the new one seems a bit 'sterile' to me. Whilst i don't think i could be classed as a 'tourist' of the type that the CS marketing is trying to attract, my journeys on the sleeper are generally for leisure purposes and i enjoy the 'experience' as well as the timing and environmental advantages. However last couple of (pre-covid) trips on the Mark 5's i simply purchased some snacks and a bottle of wine at Euston and just stayed in the room all night reading and watching a film on my IPad. Whilst the new berths are definitely more pleasant, i find the new fixed ladder very annoying when sitting on the bed. I'm sure someone posted on here previously that it can be removed and placed out of the way?

I agree with you, the new lounge car simply doesn’t have the charm of the Mk2 ones. I can’t quite put a finger on it but ‘clinical’ or ‘sterile’ is definitely a word that I would use too. For whatever reason it looks cold (almost like a hospital waiting room which acquired some knock-off Harris tweed) and just not appealing on a cold winter night, whereas the berths are always very inviting. I think it’s because it has lots of hard surfaces, bright colours and harsh lighting which do not allow a cosy atmosphere. Perhaps some of these are dictated by health and safety requirements but I wonder if at the next refit a softer design might be an idea?

I finally discovered last summer how to do the ‘wiggle’ to remove the ladder. It’s quite easy to stash against the wall, particularly if you have a heavy coat on one of the hangers which you can wedge it under, or you can sandwich it between your luggage and the wall.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I agree with you, the new lounge car simply doesn’t have the charm of the Mk2 ones. I can’t quite put a finger on it but ‘clinical’ or ‘sterile’ is definitely a word that I would use too. For whatever reason it looks cold (almost like a hospital waiting room which acquired some knock-off Harris tweed) and just not appealing on a cold winter night, whereas the berths are always very inviting. I think it’s because it has lots of hard surfaces, bright colours and harsh lighting which do not allow a cosy atmosphere. Perhaps some of these are dictated by health and safety requirements but I wonder if at the next refit a softer design might be an idea?

That's quite interesting, as it looks quite cosy to me from pictures (not used it yet). Definitely better than the Mk2 buffet first open which tended to be used on the FWs, I've never had the privilege of one of the ones with loose seats.

 

[Journeyman]

That's quite interesting, as it looks quite cosy to me from pictures (not used it yet). Definitely better than the Mk2 buffet first open which tended to be used on the FWs, I've never had the privilege of one of the ones with loose seats.

Personally I'm not buying this nostalgia for the Mark 2 lounges. In latter days, you were lucky if the heating and lighting was even vaguely functional. I'll take "sterile" over "locked out of use due to defects" any day.

 

[JModulo]

Personally I'm not buying this nostalgia for the Mark 2 lounges. In latter days, you were lucky if the heating and lighting was even vaguely functional. I'll take "sterile" over "locked out of use due to defects" any day.

Over around 80 journeys in 2 years, I've never once turned up and had the lounge out of use on the old stock.

I've had 14 trips on the MK5s so far with no working lounge on 5 of them.

 

[Journeyman]

Over around 80 journeys in 2 years, I've never once turned up and had the lounge out of use on the old stock.

I've had 14 trips on the MK5s so far with no working lounge on 5 of them.

I used to work for CS. Can't comment on the new stock as I left before they entered service, but I know how many times Mark 2 lounges were complete failures, and it was far too frequent an occurrence.

 

[gingerheid]

I'm sure this thread tends to emphasise the negative views, because not many people post "I went on the sleeper and everything was fine and I have nothing interesting to say about the okayness"

I get that the new lounge is more modern and maybe it is a bit meh. But the old ones, for all the charm of their faded glory, really were not of this era. It was time.

I think I just wish that they'd sell the sleeper as "really good modern sleeper train" (which it is) rather than "hotel on wheels" (which it's clearly not and realistically can't be).

 

[GlitterUnicorn]

That'll be because pickup times going south are too late, and drop off times going north are too early, and mitigate against a decent night's sleep. You're better off using local services to connect with the Lowland at Edinburgh.

Apologies for betraying my ignorance here, but would it be possible to drop off or pick up coaches on route?

Obviously every movement adds complexity, but I can't help imagining there might be a case in some places (perhaps Perth for example) there might be a market for a detached coach or two to alleviate the issues with pickup and drop off times.

If the great shuffling of coaches in Edinburgh can be avoided, maybe there'd be time to fit in another move?

 

[Ianno87]

Apologies for betraying my ignorance here, but would it be possible to drop off or pick up coaches on route?

Obviously every movement adds complexity, but I can't help imagining there might be a case in some places (perhaps Perth for example) there might be a market for a detached coach or two to alleviate the issues with pickup and drop off times.

If the great shuffling of coaches in Edinburgh can be avoided, maybe there'd be time to fit in another move?

The problem is the cost of employing a loco/shunter (plus driver) to shift the coach(es) out of the way once passengers have alighted, that otherwise has no use in the area.

The last place that occurred was the Cornwall sleeper at Plymouth, until around 15 years or so ago.

 

[43096]

I used to work for CS. Can't comment on the new stock as I left before they entered service, but I know how many times Mark 2 lounges were complete failures, and it was far too frequent an occurrence.

The maintenance (or lack of) is rather different to the internal fit out and atmosphere, which is what we’re talking about.

 

[Bald Rick]

I think the new lounge car is great, personally. A great mix of seating available for couples, groups of 4-6, and people on their own who just want to sail into the whisky.

 

[Ianno87]

I think the new lounge car is great, personally. A great mix of seating available for couples, groups of 4-6, and people on their own who just want to sail into the whisky.

I additionally found the individual "stools" useful for laptop working over a bacon butty in the morning before arrival.

 

[47271]

Whilst suffering from the same problems as other mk5s, the frequent terrible knocking ride being the main one, I prefer the Club Car ambience to the broken down 1980s nightclub atmosphere of the mk2 lounges with the loose chairs and lilac coloured settees. More than once I heard people laugh out loud when they walked in and saw that decor for the first time.

In my view the most comfortable and pleasant lounges of all were the mk2s that retained their original First Class seats. The few times I've sat on the banquette type things in a mk5 Club Car I've found them so flat, firm and upright that I've literally had a pain in the backside after 20 minutes. Not something you got in a slightly buckled and saggy chrome plated dining chair in a mk2. Maybe it's deliberate to encourage customer turnover...

 

[peteb]

I've not managed to travel in the club car yet but from all the publicity photos it seems CS has made the same mistake that Travelodge made a few years ago when introducing low energy lighting. The "colour temperature" of the lights used is towards blue white and that makes for a colder, more sterile environment. Now that low energy lighting is available with much warmer white LEDs it should be quite a simple manner to retrofit warmer white lights. The snag is the LED lights are designed to last for years so unless CS (or indeed Travelodge) gets masses of negative customer feedback this issue will persist. However the impact on CS is nowhere near as bad as on preserved mk1 stock on heritage railways, that ambience is positively awful when blue white LEDs replace the yellow tungsten bulbs!

 

[Ianno87]

I've not managed to travel in the club car yet but from all the publicity photos it seems CS has made the same mistake that Travelodge made a few years ago when introducing low energy lighting. The "colour temperature" of the lights used is towards blue white and that makes for a colder, more sterile environment. Now that low energy lighting is available with much warmer white LEDs it should be quite a simple manner to retrofit warmer white lights. The snag is the LED lights are designed to last for years so unless CS (or indeed Travelodge) gets masses of negative customer feedback this issue will persist. However the impact on CS is nowhere near as bad as on preserved mk1 stock on heritage railways, that ambience is positively awful when blue white LEDs replace the yellow tungsten bulbs!

I didn't get that sense at all. It felt like a pleasant enough environment to me.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I didn't get that sense at all. It felt like a pleasant enough environment to me.

FWIW "cool white"/"daylight white" can be pleasant, it's just about not making it excessively bright. Both the Night Riviera vehicles and the Irish InterCity DMUs use a "blueish" white, but they use it at quite a low level so it's not unpleasant.

Daylight white is mainly unpleasant when it's bright, i.e. the old GWR HSTs.

Having said that, I think it's a missed opportunity not using LED tech to do a "fake dusk" like on planes to encourage sleep. Don't the DB ICE4s do it, as possibly the first rail application I know of? I really do think the light level regs which are designed around "daytime" trains need revisiting for this sort of service.

 

[Martin222002]

Don't the DB ICE4s do it, as possibly the first rail application I know of? I really do think the light level regs which are designed around "daytime" trains need revisiting for this sort of service.

I know from photo's Eurostar staff have shared on Twitter that the E320s (at least in the buffet bar from memory) have ambient lighting. Definitely a trick CS missed for the Club Car.