Night Riviera - merged posts, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Having just refurbished the fleet and opened sleeper lounges in Truro and Penzance I doubt the sleeper service is going to be stopped anytime soon.

I also understand GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) hope to get some of the redundant sleeper coaches from the Caledonian service so the trains can be longer as they are frequently fully booked.

[TaplowGreen]

Flybe now fly NQY^▸ (Newquay (Station))-LHR daily. A 1 hr 20 min flight landing at 0830.....the convenience & speed of this option will hoover up a lot of Cornish customers who previously may have used the sleeper. Problems like this one will drive even more people away from the train & onto the plane

[bobm]

Flybe now fly NQY^▸ (Newquay (Station))-LHR daily. A 1 hr 20 min flight landing at 0830.....the convenience & speed of this option will hoover up a lot of Cornish customers who previously may have used the sleeper. Problems like this one will drive even more people away from the train & onto the plane

Except on Sunday they didn't and put everyone on a coach to Heathrow.  Works both ways.

[broadgage]

I am well aware that the proximate cause of this was an engine failure.
However such failures seem to be a common event, and a cynic might suspect that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are giving a low priority to obtaining a small fleet of engines that can make the journey reliably.
A failure affecting one nights service often seems to also affect the following night, suggesting perhaps that mending the broken engine, or obtaining a substitute is not a priority.

[bobm]

Due to the shortage of Class 57s one has been sent down from Reading and will arrive at Par shortly.  Then in an hour's time it is due to take the whole train to Plymouth.   

I assume it is easier to put the loco on the back of the train and keep the failed on the front.   However I assume some staff from Long Rock have had to be sent up to make the beds and clean the train.

The easy option of course would have been to cancel tonight's train. 

[IndustryInsider]

The easy option of course would have been to cancel tonight's train. 

That would certainly have been the cynical thing to do.

[eightonedee]

A (probably ill-informed) thought from someone who passes the stock most working days on my commute, and sometimes see it departing for duty on the way home.

Has anyone thought about adapting one of those driving trailer coaches to put at one end, so they do not spend all the time dragging the trailing locomotive at the rear? They could then deploy the freed-up locos at strategic points on the route to provide emergency cover when (as all too often seems to be the case) there is a failure, and presumably save the fuel in hauling 100 tons plus of dead weight.

Or is that a stupid idea?

[LiskeardRich]

Flybe now fly NQY^▸ (Newquay (Station))-LHR daily. A 1 hr 20 min flight landing at 0830.....the convenience & speed of this option will hoover up a lot of Cornish customers who previously may have used the sleeper. Problems like this one will drive even more people away from the train & onto the plane

So presumably requiring being at NQY by 0630. No public transport will get you to the airport anywhere close to that early. The first bus to the airport from Newquay is just before 0900 departing Newquay bus station, and that’s if you can get to Newquay in time for it.

Public transport links to Newquay airport is poor, but as a regular driver of 1/6 of the daily bus services from Newquay to airport I rarely drop or pick up at the airport so can see why the links are poor.

[broadgage]

A (probably ill-informed) thought from someone who passes the stock most working days on my commute, and sometimes see it departing for duty on the way home.

Has anyone thought about adapting one of those driving trailer coaches to put at one end, so they do not spend all the time dragging the trailing locomotive at the rear? They could then deploy the freed-up locos at strategic points on the route to provide emergency cover when (as all too often seems to be the case) there is a failure, and presumably save the fuel in hauling 100 tons plus of dead weight.

Or is that a stupid idea?

I see no obvious flaw in the suggestion, though the coaches might need additional control cables for through control.

[johnneyw]

Not having been on one, I presume train horns are not seen (heard?) as a problem on night sleepers.

[grahame]

Not having been on one, I presume train horns are not seen (heard?) as a problem on night sleepers.

Ah - you have reading the "train horns wake me at night" thread.

When we ran a hotel, we heard considerable comment about elements of sleep - softness of beds, temperature, ambient light level, and sound.  And everyone is different.   We had guests who complained it was too noisy to sleep. We had other guests (no real difference on provision) who complained it was too quiet. And I should add that 99 guests out of 100 slept well!

Personally, no problem on a sleeper.

[stuving]

A (probably ill-informed) thought from someone who passes the stock most working days on my commute, and sometimes see it departing for duty on the way home.

Has anyone thought about adapting one of those driving trailer coaches to put at one end, so they do not spend all the time dragging the trailing locomotive at the rear? They could then deploy the freed-up locos at strategic points on the route to provide emergency cover when (as all too often seems to be the case) there is a failure, and presumably save the fuel in hauling 100 tons plus of dead weight.

Or is that a stupid idea?

I think you'll find that that they only drag that extra locomotive between Paddington and Reading, so as to make the reversal at the platform slicker. It is added and removed at Reading, where it quite likely does spend its time doing not a lot. If the sleeper did drag a second locomotive all the way, then of course that would be a spare, available on the spot.

[martyjon]

I am amazed that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) continue to persevere with the class 57's. With the run down of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s surely GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) could retain 6 HST power cars for haulage of the sleeper stock. It should not beyond the wit of engineers/electricians to design and fit to these power cars a 'conversion box' to convert the power/electrical supplied to the jumper cables of the sleeper stock with each item of sleep stock fitted with a conduit to carry the power car control system.

The 57's are rebuilds of the class 47's which may factually be OLDER than the oldest of the power cars being displaced.

The ROSCO^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about)'s say all the GWR redundant HST stock is spoken for but I have not seen any posts on this forum where this stock is going except for the Scottish conversions and the 2 + 4 GWR retentions.

Still, I'm no engineer, electrician or accountant, I'm only the proverbial 'village idiot', what do I know.

[broadgage]

HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power cars could be used but the sleeper stock would need modification in order to accept the electric train supply from the HSTs.
This has the merit of keeping the power cars standard and therefore interchangeable with those used on the short HST passenger sets.
Use of a power car at each end would provide "get you home redundancy" when one of them breaks.

Modifying the power cars so as to provide standard ETS^▸ (Electric Train Supply) would remove this interchangeability with the daytime passenger trains.

Or simply obtain some reliable locomotives ? It cant be that hard can it ? to obtain a few locos that can reliably make the journey, with a trailing load that is modest by freight standards, and at a speed that is modest by passenger train standards.

Use of a heavy locomotive or power car at the front of the train is arguably very slightly safer than push-pull operation with a lightweight Driving van trailer at the front.
Overnight trains are probably at slightly greater risk of striking obstructions than are most daytime services.

[martyjon]

Then fit ALL GW^▸ (Great Western) power cars with the suggested 'converter box' which would then provide interchangeability, even with those going/gone to Scotland.