mjkerr

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

Seated passengers currently have to change at Edinburgh The proposal is that passengers in the cradle seats and Lie Flats will still be required to change at Edinburgh

I sent a request to Serco for the rolling stock specification I have also been advised technical diagrams will follow in a few weeks time, some minor details are still being finalised I've had to send up a follow up request, which confirms I would be interested in these technical diagrams These technical diagrams will then confirm the coach lengths and passenger capacity I suspect they mean Mark 3, as the new rolling stock will be closer to that than the existing Mark 2 coaches, rather than Mark 4 which also confirms each coach will have buffers allowing them to be marshalled in any order if required

Not sure this is an improvement, but it will be for the sleeper passengers (no longer being disturbed between Edinburgh and Fort William, other than to transfer between trains at Edinburgh) ScotRail will be operating an additional local service, ironically suggests it may operate to/from Edinburgh, and by 2018 they will have additional Class 156 / 158 units to cover this

The Fort William is not losing one coach, it is effectively gaining one coach At present (April to September) : two sleepers northbound Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday three sleepers northbound Friday (removed from Aberdeen portion) two sleepers southbound Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday three sleepers southbound Sunday (removed from Aberdeen portion) RLB / RFB and BUO between Edinburgh and Fort Wiliam Proposed change : Increase the portion between Edinburgh and Fort William from two to three coaches The compromise is the Aberdeen portion is shortened on Friday / Sunday

er, see post #130, the number of coaches per consist is remaining the same at 8, total train length departing Euston and Scotland (Carstairs and Edinburgh) remains at 16

I did ask for the coach specifications and configurations, but so far that is all they have provided I have therefore sent some follow up questions However, given all the coaches appear to be based on the current Mark 3 coaches, it looks like they are all going to be the same length This does present a small issue at Euston, but as I understand all departures will be from one specific platform As an aside, GBRF now have the sector codes for their Class 92 locos GBSL Caledonian Sleepers GBST Caledonian Sleepers / Channel Tunnel This confirms that one Class 92 loco will remain spare at Mossend and Wembley

Update from Serco : There are going to be four different coach designs The first is very similar to a Mark 3B BFO / Mark 3 TGS This will include the Train Manager area and Lie Flat beds There will be one such coach per consist The second is similar to a Mark 3 seating coach The will include the cradle seats There will be one such coach per consist The third is similar to the Mark 3 TCC This will include the staff area, Club Car, and storage area There will be one such coach per consist The fourth is similar to the Mark 3A SLEP This will allow the three remaining different accomodation types There will be five such coaches per consist This leaves the Fort William portion which will normally contain two coaches of the fourth type Three coaches will then be used between Edinburgh and Fort William Caledonian Sleeper will not be carring passengers within Scotland, passengers change at Edinburgh and Glasgow QS only Passengers in cradle seats and Lie Flat Beds will be served from the counter Passengers in berths and First Class ticket holders (reserved in Lie Flat bed) will have access to the Club Car Proposed ticket arrangements from 2018 (subject to change) : Passengers with Standard tickets may make reservations for the cradle seats Passengers may pay supplements for Lie Flat Bed, shared or single berth Passengers with First Class tickets may make reservations for the Lie Flat Bed Passengers may pay supplements for single berth Breakfast is included

Serco already have the passenger loading and fare basket details from the previous three years and last year (April 2013 to March 2014) and will shortly be receiving the mailing list All the new rolling stock will be DAA compliant, so there is no need for a specifically modified vehicle Instead the four cabins nearest to the Club Car will be set up for disabled access, but it could be increased to nine depending on demand

Abellio have now responded to this question Inverness will cease maintaining the Sleeper coaches from 01 April 2015, allowing them to concentrate solely on ScotRail rolling stock HST maintenance will be split between Craigentinny (Hitachi) and Inverness EGIP rolling stock will initially be allocated to Millerhilll and maintained at Craigentinny (Hitachi) This is due to the increase in rolling stock between 2015 and 2019 Replacement rolling stock contracts are required by March, so full details should be available shortly afterwards This therefore makes sense that Serco have signed a new contract with Alstom, for maintenance at Polmadie and Wembley (removing Inverness)

There are currently five (six if you include the spare RLO/RFB) different types of vehicles : BUO - Brake Unclassified RLO / RFB - Lounge Car SLEP - Sleeper with Pantry SLED - Sleeper, Disabled specification SLE - Sleeper

I have today sent a request to Serco (sleeper.scot) for details of the rolling stock, along with some other questions I have

er, the point being raised was sleepers on Saturday nights, arriving into destination on Sunday morning

Who wants to see the return of Sleepers on Saturday nights? When I worked on the sleepers in the 1990s they were almost a waste of time The journey time didn't help, plus delays on top I even remember working on an Inverness service which had just three passengers southbound As a result we bumped them up to First Class, using just the first two sleeper coaches, out of nine! They couldn't believe they were the only passengers However, it was no surprise as the train departed at about 19:00 and didn't arrive into Euston until about 10:00