Which depots supply the drivers for the Caledonian Sleeper and the Night Riviera (in both directions)? Are these lodging turns? Are there many driver changes en-route? How does it all work? I've had a search and didn't find anything relevant.
I ask as a lowest link driver myself. For me, a night turn consists of a series of train preps and trips through the carriage washer, between two very short local drives at the beginning and end. Normally there is time after the last prep for a doze, but if I am very ??lucky?? I get to drive an empty ghost train in the middle of the night to the limits of my route knowledge to break the ice off the conductor rails.
Traditionally night turns have been the work of the lowest link, the new guys who only sign routes local to the depot. Once you have gained seniority and moved up a link you don't have to do the menial work and unsociable shifts anymore, and you get to learn routes further from home. However the sleeper services do not fit this pattern in that they require higher link route knowledge (particularly if the sleeper is diverted due to engineering works), and yet are naturally night turns.
I ask as a lowest link driver myself. For me, a night turn consists of a series of train preps and trips through the carriage washer, between two very short local drives at the beginning and end. Normally there is time after the last prep for a doze, but if I am very ??lucky?? I get to drive an empty ghost train in the middle of the night to the limits of my route knowledge to break the ice off the conductor rails.
Traditionally night turns have been the work of the lowest link, the new guys who only sign routes local to the depot. Once you have gained seniority and moved up a link you don't have to do the menial work and unsociable shifts anymore, and you get to learn routes further from home. However the sleeper services do not fit this pattern in that they require higher link route knowledge (particularly if the sleeper is diverted due to engineering works), and yet are naturally night turns.