Caledonian Sleeper will be nationalised by the Scottish Government on 25th June.
They say it will be the same. We'll see.
Caledonian Sleeper provides overnight sleeper trains between London Euston and both Glasgow and Edinburgh and also up into the Highlands.
The Royal Scotsman is as expensive a train as the Orient Express. But it does look a wonderful train. Even if someone bought me a ticket I'm not sure that I would want to travel on her. Just not my travelling style at all.
I did go on the Direct Orient Express from Trieste to Boulogne (or might of been Calais) way back in 1967
It was a single car added and taken of different trains
Definitely not luxury
Is there is a reason that everybody wanted to talk about any other railway but the one in the OP?
Hey Nigel,
We are taking the Caledonian sleeper April 7th to Edinburgh from London. Is this train effected by labor strikes? We’re in London from April 1st thru the 9th. And hoping we won’t have any issues. I’ve been keeping an eye on your post about the strikes
Is there is a reason that everybody wanted to talk about any other
railway but the one in the OP?
Welcome to travel forums. Thanks for the news about the nationalization. The only thing I would say is this trip is just barely long enough to be a sleeper in the first place. I took it a year ago, and barley had enough time to eat, sleep (very briefly) and arrive. Unfortunately, the era of super high-speed trains means that most train rides are very short. I personally like a long, romantic train ride.
I suspect that Phil did the Lowland sleeper to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
The better service (a longer journey) is the Highland service to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William (the 3 sections join/divide at Edinburgh). Fort William especially is a 12 hour journey. There are few better travel experiences than a Scottish Dinner in the Diner (it is always Haggis, Neeps and Tatties for me, but many other choices) and a dram (or two) as the train makes it's way through the superlative scenery, a lot of which has no road access, so only reachable by train. The Fort William section is colloquially known as "The Deerstalker Express". You really do have a good chance of seeing wild deer from the train in all their majesty.
Coming the other way, from London, you have breakfast as the dawn unfolds, then a cross platform change at Fort William onto the Jacobite steam train.
While I always say to use the service train over the Jacobite route (aka Harry Potter train)- sleeper then steam train is undeniably one of the world's great train journeys. Something everyone should do once, if they have the time.
Inverness is 11 hours from London.
I once was lucky enough to do a through Kyle of Lochalsh to London Kings Cross (as it then was ) sleeper as part of an Inter City Land Cruise (their name, not mine). That was a stunning opportunity (on the old Mark 3 stock, not the modern trains).
UK sleepers do not make passenger stops in the wee small hours, and we are not constantly blowing train horns like American railroads, so your chances of meaningful sleep are far better than in mainland Europe.
[PS Nigel- think this was more your expectation from this thread].
regarding the question about the Caledonian Sleeper -
Until they are nationalized they are operated by Scot Rail who have settled with the Unions. Unfortunately they can be and are affected by Network Rail, the folks who provide the signalling and maintain the tracks and provide the paths to virtually all trains. Network Rail are still participating in the strikes.
You need to follow the Caledonian Sleeper strike page, known as service alterations. https://www.sleeper.scot/service-alterations/
Currently there is the nationwide strike announced for the 1st of April but that won't affect Caledonian Sleeper because they don't operate on Saturdays anyway. There are not yet any other strike days announced for April. They need to give 14 days notice.
If I were you I'd have a read of the page I linked and see how they are planning to respond to the other days of the upcoming sequence of strikes - it will help you understand what might happen if they call a nation wide strike during the days you need.
You'll see that they handle different days differently.
I hope that helps. I realise that certainty is what you want and what is lacking.
The Network Rail strike action on 16 April is now suspended after a new pay offer so Cal Sleeper will not be affected next week.
Unless it’s changed recently the sleeper used to stop at Preston on the way north at c12.30 to 1am. It’s something I have often hoped to do but not managed it yet.
They say it will be the same. We'll see.
Personally I've never noticed any difference, apart from some branding, between the different operators in the UK. So I would not expect any large changes. But that's just me.
It's the Highland sleeper which calls at Crewe and Preston. The Lowland calls at Preston for crew change purposes only but the first pax stop northbound/last southbound on the Lowland service is at Carlisle at around 5am north, 0045 southbound.
Time was when Carlisle has its own section, detached there, so you could board and detrain at a civilised hour, as did Preston, Manchester and Liverpool into the 1980's.
There used to be a Barrow in Furness sleeper then which picked up the other 3 sections on its way - at Preston, Crewe and Stafford.
Then that ended at privatisation when the service became part of Scotrail, then it later became its own franchise.
I've done Fort William and Inverness to London on the old £19 bargain berths before the Cal Sleeper franchise stopped all that bargain pricing.
I suspect that Phil did the Lowland sleeper to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
If you meant me, I most definitely did the Caledonia Sleeper from Edinburgh.
regarding the question about the Caledonian Sleeper -Until they are nationalized they are operated by Scot Rail who have settled with the Unions.
No it isn't. It is (was) it's own franchise with no link at all to Scotrail.
The transfer to Nationalisation has happened today. Already the website has been made much more intuitive with a lot more information on it.
Tonight is the first night of operations by Scottish Rail Holdings.
