Caledonian Sleepers

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The Caledonian Sleepers

ScotRail operate the largest sleeper operation in the UK between various Scottish stations and London Euston. Sleeper services operate 6 nights a week - Monday to Friday and Sunday. The service is greatly reduced from former times when sleeper services ran down the East and West Coast mainlines, as well as to the West Country and even some internal Scottish services.

Services now operate to and from Edinburgh and Glasgow (the Lowland sleepers) and Aberdeen/Fort William/Inverness (the Highland sleepers). These services all ran as individual trains until the late 1990s but are now operated as seperate portions. The Glasgow and Edinburgh services combine and split at Carstairs while the Aberdeen and Fort William portions meet and divide with the Inverness service at Edinburgh Waverly.

Headcodes can be found on the appropriate page while for timetables and fares see the https://www.sleeper.scot/ website.


In 2013 Transport Scotland announced their intention to seperate the Caledonian Sleeper operation from the main Scotrail franchise as a stand-alone 15 year franchise. During the tendering process three bidders emerged for the sleeper franchise - First Group, Arriva Night Trains and Serco. It was announced on 28th May 2014 that Serco were the winning bidder.

The new franchise commences on 1st April 2015 and will continue to be branded as "Caledonian Sleeper". Serco will be responsible for operating all aspects of the Caledonian Sleeper including marketing, sales, passenger services, station facilities and fleet maintenance (though the latter will be contracted to Alstom Ltd). To meet Transport Scotland's aim of transforming the service, over £100m will be invested in new rolling stock. This new fleet is expected to be introduced by the summer of 2018 and new coaches will be built by CAF, the Spanish rolling stock manufacturer. class 73s and 92s will used to haul the lowland and highland portions


Traction

DB Schenker owned class 90 electric locomotives haul the Highland sleepers between Edinburgh and Euston the Lowland sleepers throughout. The Highland sleeper portions are hauled North of Edinburgh by DB Schenker owned class 67 diesel locomotives. Detailed information about the loco operations can be found on the linked wiki pages.



90027 awaits departure at Glasgow Central in August 2006. Photo by 86242


The Rolling stock

The Caledonian Sleeper fleet is made up of 75 coaches - 22 Mk2s and 53 Mk3s. These are all based at Inverness Depot.

Mark 2 Coaches

Mk2e and Mk2f built 1972 were converted to the present specification. They are air conditioned, have B4 coil-sprung bogies, tread brakes and are 20.63m long.



Mk2 BUO coach 9801 at Glasgow Central in 2001. Photo by Dysgraphyk


BUO (Brake Unclassified Open) 'Seated Car'
Converted from Mk2e Open Standard in 1999.
31 reclining seats (2+1), Guards compartment. 2 retention toilets at one end.
Weight 34 tonnes. ETH index 4.
(11 vehicles in fleet)

RLO (Sleeper Reception car) 'Lounge Car'
Converted from Mk2f Open First in 1987.
Lounge seating area for passengers, a pantry with microwave cooking facilities. 1 toilet
Weight 33.5 tonnes. ETH index 5.
(9 vehicles in fleet)

RFB (Buffet Open First) 'Lounge Car'
Converted from Mk2f Open First in 1988
Buffet, 25 first class seats (2+1), 1 toilet
Weight 33.5 tonnes. ETH index 6.
(2 vehicles in fleet)

Mark 3a Sleepers

These carriages were built between 1980-1984. They are 23m long and have BT10 air-sprung bogies with disc brakes. The are air conditioned throughout and have retention toilets. The sleeping compartments have a fixed lower berth, and a hinged upper berth. When the upper berth is stowed away the compartment is marketed as first class. A hand basin is provided under the window. Each coach is fitted with a sophistocated fire alarm system and each pair of sleeper coaches is looked after by a dedicated attendant.



SLEP 10605 at London Euston in February 2007. Photo by Dysgraphyk


SLEP (Sleeping car Either class with Pantry)
12 sleeping compartments, plus attendant's compartment. 2 toilets at one end.
Weight 43 tonnes. ETH index 7.
(34 vehicles in fleet)

SLE (Sleeping car Either class)
13 sleeping compartments. 2 toilets at one end.
Weight 43.5 tonnes. ETH index 6.
(6 vehicles in fleet)

SLED (Sleeping car Either class, Disabled accessable)
Converted from SLE vehicles in 1999.
11 sleeping compartments, plus 1 for a disabled person. 1 disabled persons toilet.
Weight 43.5 tonnes. ETH index 6.
(12 vehicles in fleet)

Sets

The coaches are formed into 8 coach sets. To allow maintenance at Inverness, each individual set follows a strict 8 day rotation of workings as follows:

DayHeadcodeWorkingSee Note
11M16Inverness - Euston
21S26Euston - GlasgowA
31C11/1M11Edinburgh - EustonA
41S25/1Y11/1A25Euston - Fort William or AberdeenB
51B01/1B16/1M16Fort William or Aberdeen - EustonB
61S26/1B26Euston - EdinburghA
71M11Glasgow - EustonA
81S25Euston - Inverness

Notes

A - On arrival at Glasgow, the coaches are cleaned and serviced at Polmadie depot. The set then works empty to Edinburgh to form that portion of the sleeper. Coaches arriving in Edinburgh in the morning are taken to Polmadie for cleaning and servicing them form the Glasgow portion of the sleeper that night.

B - The Fort William and Aberdeen sets are formed slightly differently. 2 sleeper coaches are taken to Fort William, 4 to Aberdeen. A pair of lounge and brake coaches work through from London to Aberdeen while the Fort William pair stay at Edinburgh overnight.



67030 near Usan with 1B16, the 21:40 Aberdeen to Edinburgh service in September 2006. Photo by Humphrey Davie


Fleet List


NumberTypeLivery
1210RFBFU
1220RFBFS
6700RLOFU
6701RLOCS
6702RLOFS
6703RLOFU
6704RLOFS
6705RLOFS
6706RLOFU
6707RLOFS
6708RLOFS
9800BUOFS
9801BUOFS
9802BUOCS
9803BUOFS
9804BUOFS
9805BUOFS
9806BUOFS
9807BUOFU
9808BUOFU
9809BUOFS
9810BUOFS
10501SLEPFS
10502SLEPFS
10504SLEPFS
10506SLEPFS
10507SLEPFS
10508SLEPFS
10513SLEPFS
10516SLEPFU
10519SLEPFS
10520SLEPFS
10522SLEPFS
10523SLEPFS
10526SLEPFS
10527SLEPFS
10529SLEPFS
10531SLEPFS
10542SLEPFS
10543SLEPFS
10544SLEPFS
10548SLEPFS
10551SLEPFS
10553SLEPFS
10561SLEPFS
10562SLEPFU
10565SLEPFS
10580SLEPCS
10597SLEPFS
10598SLEPFS
10600SLEPFS
10605SLEPFS
10607SLEPFS
10610SLEPFS
10613SLEPFS
10614SLEPFS
10617SLEPFS
10648SLEdFS
10650SLEdFS
10666SLEdFS
10675SLEFS
10680SLEdFS
10683SLEFS
10688SLEFS
10689SLEdFG
10690SLEFS
10693SLECS
10699SLEdFS
10703SLEFS
10706SLEdFS
10714SLEdFS
10718SLEdFS
10719SLEdFS
10722SLEdFS
10723SLEdFS


Liveries
CS = Caledonian Sleeper
FS = First Blue, white waist stripe
FG = First Blue, gold waist stripe (10689 only)
FU = First Blue, no waist stripe
CS = Caledonian Sleeper, blue/violet/white (none since 2007)


CS: Caledonian Sleeper livery
(none since mid 2007)
FU: First blue - no waist stripe
 
FG: First blue with gold waist stripe
(10698 only)
FS: First blue with white waist stripe
(standard livery)