mjkerr

Yes, the en-suite berths include a shower A generic toilet has been used in all of the drawings, but it is in there! If you look at the berths you will see a handbasin In the en-suite there is no handbasin

The InterCity West Coast franchise is due for renewal in April 2017 The Class 390 units were built 2001 to 2004, and are due for repainting in 2016 to 2019

Yes, it is now a new franchise requirement that advance tickets are (depending on franchise, and eventually) available up to 12 months in advance VTEC have started off with Edinburgh and Newcastle available up to 5 months in advance (as this is all Network Rail could guarantee as at January 2015) All other routes are currently limited to the next timetable change The next batch of availability should commence from the middle of April and VTEC should then initially be offering 6 months in advance and by the end of the first year of the franchise will extend to 12 months in advance

Similar to the old East Coast online 10% discount If you read the VTEC price match, it's no wonder VTWC is more expensive, after all they want to keep the two operations separate this time I suspect your cheaper Advance Fares will appear once the fare box has been loaded It looks as if it has only been loaded to the end of March 2015

In the short term nothing is going to change with on-train services, they are fairly similar to VTWC

Those are the actual drawings, but whether the bogies are technically correct won't be known until the first appears! CAF appear to have used two different designs for the bogies on coaching stock, so they are probably for illustrative purposes As above, this is currently in the Lounge Car and for the new rolling stock is in the Club Car

This is one of the questions I submitted to Serco Caledonian Sleeper, but they did not answer the question directly, only that all staff accomodation was provided in the Seated Coach and Club Car Also note that one of the toilets in the Seated Coach is for public use, the other is for staff use One of the down sides with the new rolling stock is the withdrawal of at-berth breakfast for all passengers First Class ticket holders will get a breakfast included, served in either the Club Car or their berth All other passengers can pre-purchase or purchase subject to availability on boarding, but they will be served in the Club Car All the staff are based in the Club Car There is a small storage locker in each sleeper coach for staff equipment, but that is it! At the moment the fire alarm control panel is in the Lounge Car, each coach has its own monitoring system Nothing changes with this respect Yes, the doors are similar to Mark 4 coaches and are external plug doors

Here we go, coach plans Password : visitor Sleeper Club Car Seated Pod Combined

The only specification is that when seated (seat, Pod or Club Car) is that the seat has a view of the horizon From what I can work out, this is the case in every seat, although with some that view is restricted but you would still be able to see the horizon!

Yes, the press release is currently under embargo Most of the bays aren't that bad, but two of the seats in the Club car appear to have restricted views However, the seated coach is even worse, but that is due to the all airline style seat configuration

There are only 30 sleeper coaches for use Edinburgh - Fort William + Club Car - Seated Euston - Fort William Sleeper - Combined + Euston - Aberdeen Sleeper - Sleeper - Club Car - Seated - Pod - Combined Euston - Inverness / Glasgow / Edinburgh Sleeper - Sleeper - Sleeper - Sleeper - Club Car - Seated - Pod - Combined Some other info : Coach maximum speed 110mph Coach service interval 250,000 miles Coach failure interval 1,500,000 miles (passengers moved to another coach or another train) Train failure interval 5,000,000 miles (one or more coaches removed from train in formation in passenger service) External paint interval 12 years Seated coach : All seats fitted with 230v socket Revised boarding times (within 18 months) - Aberdeen : Boarding 20:00 Departure 21:43 Edinburgh : Boarding 21:00 Departure 23:40 Fort William Boarding 19:20 Departure 19:50 Glasgow : Boarding 21:00 Departure 23:40 Inverness : Boarding 19:45 Departure 20:44 Euston (Inverness) : Boarding 20:00 Departure 21:15 Euston (Edinburgh) : Boarding 21:45 Departure 23:50 Stations : Live totems to be installed within 2 years Capable of rail information and live video to help centre 24 hours per day Partnerships and arrangments within 2 years : Hotel arrangements at Crianlarich and Aviemore, for use of facilities Showers to be installed at Perth, Dundee and Stirling Waiting Room and Toilets to be installed (if not already available) at Dundee, Perth, Motherwell, Carstairs, Leuchars, Kirkcaldy, Inverkeithing, Aviemore, Kingussie, Newtonmore, Carrbridge, Dalwhinnie, Blair Atholl, Pitlochry, Gleneagles, Dunblane, Stirling, Falkirk Grahamston, Crianlarich, Ardlui, Arrochar & Tarbet Coaches : Each coach will be named after famous Scots (from 2018) Library and on board games available in Lounge Car and Club Car Special themed evenings in Club Car (from 2018) Children meals served in Club Car at no cost to passenger

Here are details for the 5 coach types : Seated coach (11, 9-1-1) - 2 toilets 5 sets of 2+1 seating 4 sets of 2+1 seating 2 sets of 2+0 seating storage cabinet Train Managers office Train Crew storage area, bicycle storage, and safety equipment Total seating 31 (30 plus 1 wheelchair space) Pod coach (10, 8-1-1) - 2 toilets 8 twin pods 8 single pods Total pods 24 Sleeper coach (31, 30-1-0) - 2 toilets 3 berths (single or twin) 2 en-suite 2 en-suite 4 berths (single or twin) Total 7 berths / 4 en-suite Combined coach (11, 10-1-1) - 1 disabled access toilet 1 toilet 1 disabled access berth 5 berths (single or twin) 3 twin pods 2 single pods Total 8 pods / 1 disabled access berth / 5 berths Club Car (11, 9-1-1) - 2 toilets Train Stewards office Catering area 6 bar stools 3 twin seats at fixed table 4 quad seats at fixed table 1 quad seats at fixed table in booth Bad news, the Club Car windows do NOT line up with the tables! Note the complete lack of areas for the train crew, other than offices All meals, food and drink are prepared from the Lounge car The numbers XX(XX-X-X) Number built, number in service - maintenance - spare

Most meetings I go to commence between 10:00 and 11:00 This means you need to have arrive, signed in, setup at least 20 to 30 minutes before that A few times I have scraped by using the 04:25 Glasgow to Euston I then travel back on the 16:30 Euston to Glasgow The saving on accomodation allows me to travel First Class, so enjoy breakfast (you actually get two southbound) and a light evening snack (wouldn't call it a meal any more) However, once the southbound service was late running and all kind of questions were asked; why not travel down the day before, flight, etc More recently I had a meeting which started at 08:00 There was no way a flight would have been suitable, the only options were travelling down the day before or the sleeper The cost between the two was almost identical, so planned on the sleeper Sadly with the ticket options I had to return on the sleeper As a result I travelled down on the last Glasgow to Euston service the day before, again allowing me to upgrade to First Class

It's a slightly different version The red extends much further along the loco / DVT, logos are slightly smaller Unlike VTWC there will be logos on each coach (more like the transfer in and initial VTWC livery)

91103, ready to roll If it is indeed operating 1S13 then will be in Edinburgh on Sunday, then working 1E01 on Monday morning Quite common for this diagram to be used for publicity at Kings Cross, due to the 1 hour 20 minute layover, and timing for press to attend for lunch and evening release

Class 47 locos are now permitted between Helensburgh and Fort William, but the restrictions are horrendous (quite similar to a Class 67) Odd if there has been yet another change as the latest press release from Serco was quite extensive However, they have suddenly gone quiet with nothing this week, so far

Your choice, use them or lose them 7 months is plenty of time to redeem the exisiting points Equally any newly acquired points will be under the new scheme

This is the between duties routine maintenance only There is a similar agreement in place at Aberdeen with East Coast (soon to be VTEC) Oddly, there is no mention of the admin staff based at Inverness, just a change in the job title of the on-board staff, nor the existing admin staff at Fort William who will transfer to Abellio This might explain why Serco advertised for new admin staff in Inverness, as noone in Fort William wanted to transfer to Inverness However, the next paragraph suggests those staff that currently work mostly on First sleeper duties will transfer to Abellio : In special arrangements that it is proposed Abellio enter into, they will accept those staff under a TUPE transfer and continue to provide those services to Caledonian Sleeper under contract This confirms very little will change until 2018, when the new rolling stock arrives, both at Abellio and Serco

First ScotRail need to remove at least 80% of the logos from the rolling stock by Tuesday 24 March Caledonian Sleeper have no plans, at this time, to relivery any of the coaches In the interim period basic logos will be applied However, some of the station improvements will be applied in the new livery; Network Rail have already given approval for these The first of these should appear at Euston and Edinburgh in time for Tuesday 31 March (I suspect on the night of Saturday 28 March) GBRf should have completed two Class 92 locos in Caledonian Sleeper in time for Tuesday 31 March One will be used northbound on the Inverness The other will be used southbound on the Edinburgh The franchise commences at the end of operations which commenced on Monday 30 March In effect this is midday on Tuesday 31 March Caledonian Sleeper Services operate from Tuesday 31 March

The Mark 3A sleepers looked good in the NatEx version (almost monochromatic) From what I have seen of the Caledonian Sleeper livery it looks like an improvement over the current livery Most liveries have to work around an almost identical proportion of windows to body panels The sleeper coaches are almost like a locomotive with majority body panels

I always have Odd, even when using the same username, this is the only forum where I am refered to as Mike Even at work some people call me Mike, then wonder why I ignored them! Perhaps I should change my name from Mr Magorium to Mr Mike

He's backistan!

When you look at what they have completed for Intercity Ireland, there are four different coach designs for 67 vehicles This isn't much different to the Caledonian Sleeper order Caledonian Sleeper have ordered five different internal coach layouts, based on four different structural designs (if that makes it clearer) As an example, if you see a Mark 3A FO and TSO from a distance you cannot tell them apart until you see the interior Initially Serco did not respond, but recently they have been very informative and quick to respond There are currently two items on embargo, but these relate to the actual public service launch on 01 April 2015 Another is due to follow, which I suspect is the launch of the livery Equally, Abellio ScotRail have recently been very informative On the other hand Virgin Trains East Coast have gone quiet...

That is correct, there are eight consists, which are typically : BUO-RLO-/-SLED-SLE-SLE(P)-SLE-/-SLEP-SLE Each of these consists is made up three sets, the split between the SLE and SLEP varies depending on the split between the Aberdeen and Fort William sleeper (see below) In total there are 24 sets in use each night The only time they are split into sets is at Inverness The four Glasgow / Edinburgh consists are straight forward Two each of the above join/split The four Inverness / Aberdeen is slightly more complicated The Aberdeen portion includes the two sleepers for the Fort William service (increases to three sleepers on Friday northbound and Sunday southbound) The seated passengers normally travel in the Inverness portion

Can someone please advise me where it says Mike... This is about the tenth time now that Mike has been quoted from one of my posts My name is NOT Mike, it never has been