As my username suggests I do a round trip on the Night Riviera once every 2-3 weeks all year round, I found this thread while searching to see if its just me or does it really breakdown so often.
Many of the failures you discuss here I was on including the getting towed back to Plymouth by an engineering train last October (by the way the replacement IET▸ (Intercity Express Train) definitely did have first class) and this Thursday's failure to leave Plymouth as the breaks were stuck on (this is what we were told).
I am a huge fan of the Riviera when it works and have nothing but praise for the fantastic staff many of whom now recognise me, but the unreliability is becoming worrying to the extent that I often go up to London a day early if I have a meeting I can't miss just in case, which kind of defeats the point of a sleeper train.
Don't even get me started on how quickly the refurbished cabins are wearing out!
Many of the failures you discuss here I was on including the getting towed back to Plymouth by an engineering train last October (by the way the replacement IET▸ (Intercity Express Train) definitely did have first class) and this Thursday's failure to leave Plymouth as the breaks were stuck on (this is what we were told).
I am a huge fan of the Riviera when it works and have nothing but praise for the fantastic staff many of whom now recognise me, but the unreliability is becoming worrying to the extent that I often go up to London a day early if I have a meeting I can't miss just in case, which kind of defeats the point of a sleeper train.
Don't even get me started on how quickly the refurbished cabins are wearing out!
Breakdowns are quite rare now and the instance quoted in the last post was not actually a failure. It had actually struck a beer barrel on the track which could happen to any train anywhere.
Not sure if you've ever been to platform five at Plymouth, but I'm sorry I find your beer barrel explanation of the cause of Thursday's breakdown pure fantasy. Perhaps you should visit and speculate how it could possibly have got there and indeed quite how it could have disabled an entire train from a low speed frontal impact.