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Caledonian Sleeper
- Thread starter Essexman
- Start date
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RailUK Forums
Class15
On Moderation
Now showing as 1Z99. Doesn’t exactly look great.
Described onboard as issues with the "wheels" - there was a sharp brake application when stopping so I suspect probably more likely a brake problem.
Will return to Euston, affected coach will be removed and now expected to depart Euston after midnight.
What an utter farce. Landed at Heathrow at 18:45 and still no closer to getting home
If I'd known it was going to be like this I would have just booked a hotel.
Struner
Member
Landed at wrong airport? just wondering…
Why have they sent a set out in that condition... beggars belief.
D6130
Established Member
Could it possibly be that the wheelflats occurred after leaving Euston with the sudden stop on a badly-contaminated rail head?
There was a severe racket from the wheelflats as the train passed the Railcam camera at Camden prior to the abrupt stop near Willesden.
D6130
Established Member
In that case, perhaps the brakes on at least one of the wheelsets failed to release on departure from Euston and released a short time later and started to rotate with major flats. Is there a Network Rail 'wheelchex' detector in the Willesden area? If so, it could have caused a short notice signal reversion to danger precipitating an emergency stop by the driver. Since the Petteril Bridge derailment at Carlisle last year, NR will be taking any incidents of wheel surface damage very seriously.
The online signalling diagram I was looking at at the time appeared to show clear signals at the time the train stopped. Perhaps the stop was actioned by someone on or around the defective coach who had concerns regarding the noise and ambience?
D6130
Established Member
Yes....quite possibly a passcom activation.
The Puddock
Member
Gotcha/Wheelchex monitoring systems are not connected directly to the signalling system in the way you suggest. They are linked to NR Control, who will contact the signaller to arrange for a train to be stopped if necessary. There are different levels of alarm which require different levels of response. Either way the train will be brought to a stand, if necessary, with the normal signal aspect sequence and the driver will be given instructions on how to proceed.
In the case of 1S25 tonight, the train was stopped by the traincrew rather than the signaller.
D6130
Established Member
Thanks for the explanation.
Butts
Veteran Member
Described onboard as issues with the "wheels" - there was a sharp brake application when stopping so I suspect probably more likely a brake problem.
Will return to Euston, affected coach will be removed and now expected to depart Euston after midnight.
What an utter farce. Landed at Heathrow at 18:45 and still no closer to getting home
If I'd known it was going to be like this I would have just booked a hotel.
Or a connecting flight to Scotland ?
Falcon1200
Established Member
As long as the airports were open - Glasgow was not on Saturday morning! Disruption can affect any mode of transport.
Butts
Veteran Member
Tell me about it - I spent a night in aT5 Hotel Saturday on my to Norway after my EDI-LHR flight was delayed by 3 hours.
Had to travel on Sunday Morning Service to Oslo.
The ASLEF strike drove up the cost of connecting flights to ridiculous levels. I'd certainly have flown otherwise.
This is nonsense. Flights are cheaper than trains in many cases! They are almost always cheaper than the Caledonian Sleeper berths!
156421
On Moderation
I may have misread but the user "watershed" doesn't seem to have said they were in a berth
I must have been imagining seeing a figure of £360 in that case...
Flights are indeed usually cheaper but when stuff like this happens, cash prices go through the roof as airlines try to sell off the remaining seats at the highest possible price.
There are strikes tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - yet you can still fly to any of three major Scottish airports from London for under £80. The CS is a great means of transport but it is never the cheapest option when assessed on purely on the travel component alone.
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Perhaps you might care to explain how a strike on, say, Island Line affects demand for London to Scotland flights?
As opposed to yesterday when Euston was effectively shut due to strikes, Kings Cross was shut due to engineering works and the Midland Mainline was operating with its usual Sunday timetable of five car units and queuing in place for all EMR departures to the north of England.
12LDA28C
Established Member
Not on London - Scotland routes there aren't.
The Island line is hardly a good example - as I am sure you know - but CrossCountry is striking on Thursday for example and you can still cheaply fly from Birmingham to Scotland that day. For less than £90. The idea that flights are inflated when there are train strikes just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Nor does the idea of using the Caledonian Sleeper for its financial value.
Although if you don't mind sleeping during the day at either end or don't have problems sleeping on the move £30 with a railcard for a seat a few weeks in advance doesn't seem uncommon, which seems cheap enough to me.
Yeah, the seats do seem cheap. But, for those in that market, a Megabus is cheaper still!
I'm afraid you can imagine what you want, but I saw those prices with my own eyes. I wouldn't have been on the Sleeper if the flights had been reasonably priced.
The fast trains from Birmingham to Scotland are Avanti not XC.
Or Southern or SWR or Greater Anglia or GWR…
And that answers that.
As long as you are content to arrive after half ten at night and take no luggage.
Google seems to think that demand is higher than usual this Thursday.
[The attached screenshot shows a flight search for Birmingham to Edinburgh on Thursday 7 December and states that prices are “high”.]
The key point is that dynamic airline pricing adapts to even modestly higher demand (including searches which don’t complete) so it doesn’t take that many additional bookings to ratchet up airfares.
And the business model of airlines like easyJet relies to a greater or lesser degree on not running spare capacity if it can be avoided.
The sleeper was still offering fares for the Sunday departures for less than £80 when I looked last week.
JamieL: nil; @Watershed and @InOban: 2
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Butts
Veteran Member
They are certainly a lot quicker....
I took off from London Heathrow at 1600 this afternoon and landed in Edinburgh 50 minutes later.
I was in a catatonic state as this was my first on time arrival in Edinburgh for yonks.
The icing on the cake I was upgraded from Economy to Club Europe at the 1st Wing in T5.
Does CS ever upgrade people at the gate as it were ? - ie from a Seat to a Berth.