Night Riviera - merged posts, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Knock on effect is the 07:41 Penzance to London Paddington will start from Exeter St David's because the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) planned to run the service was used for the sleeper.

[grahame]

Additional Information:

Cross Country have kindly agreed for those First Great Western ticket holders who would have travelled on this altered train service to travel on their 08:28 Penzance to Glasgow service between Penzance and Exeter St Davids in order to connect with alternative train services.

[LiskeardRich]

Not much help taking the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service if trying to get to work anywhere East of Camborne for 9am though. I imagine a lot of late people to work in Cornwall this morning.

[Super Guard]

The XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service also stopped at Hayle and 1A81 is stopping at Saltash & St. Germans additionally.

[JayMac]

ITV Westcountry were invited aboard the up Night Riviera on 11th July 2013.

Report and video at the following link:

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/search/?q=all+aboard+the+night+train

Sleeper carriages have a few more years left in them. But those Class 57s? Parts of them are nearly 50 years old. It's always them that cause cancellations of the Sleeper service. Time that alternative traction was looked at.

[Electric train]

The Mk111 sleepers were introduced as a consequence of the Taunton Fire in 1978 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taunton_sleeping_car_fire the Mk1 sleeper were not destined to be replaced BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) and the DoT and particularly the MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)'s did not want to go through the flak that withdrawal of the service would have caused.

[chrisoates]

Sleeper set went through Dawlish mid morning on the up.

[LiskeardRich]

It ran in the path of the 0740 although was approx 20 early at Saltash due to non stop.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The tragic Taunton sleeper train fire in 1978 was also discussed on this forum at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3153.0 

[Umberleigh]

Was this a 57 fault again? If so FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seriously need to look at alternative motive power, as there are only so many times you can let your customers down before they look elsewhere e.g stay in a hotel

[Super Guard]

And what options would there realistically be to replace the 57s, as HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power cars are not an option yet?

[LiskeardRich]

Was this a 57 fault again? If so FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seriously need to look at alternative motive power, as there are only so many times you can let your customers down before they look elsewhere e.g stay in a hotel

But if they use a hotel, they will use a day train to get there. Guess what they are operated by the same company so irrelevant to FGW really.

[ROGace]

if the sleeper class 57 problems are getting more frequent then surely retire them and hire class 67's?
i do not know if class 66 could be used for sleeper coach hauling?

what do you need, 3 of them?

pity you cannot use HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power cars, something to do with 2 different voltages and electric wiring on HST mk3 coaches and normal mk3 coaches...totally incompatible..hmmm what a great way to build things

[Super Guard]

Power Cars will no doubt be used in the future after IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) happens, however even if they were compatible, are there even any spares to use?

[BerkshireBugsy]

On arrival at Paddington this morning (Friday 4th October ) the overnight sleeper was parked on p1 as normal but at the main concourse end it was fronted by two back to back class 43 power units

Was there a problem with the normal power unit on this service?

Thanks out of curiosity

Dave

Mod Note: Thread title changed for accuracy and ease of future reference.