Caledonian Sleepers by ScotRail > Reviews (1)

The Caledonian Sleepers are run by First Scotrail after the past 7 years of National Express ownership and offer the unique experience of basically travelling by train to the other end of the UK while you sleep in a bed! Its not quite the Orient Express but it is still something you have to experience if you plan a trip to Scotland, or indeed fancy a trip to London for some sightseeing.

One of the beauties of the service, especially heading south, is you arrive slap bang in the centre of the city / town you are visiting, and avoid all the hassle and expense of airport transfers, taxi's, trains etc. I mean, how much more into London do you want to get than Euston station!

National Express really worked hard to improve the sleepers with a number of innovations and cabin upgrades over the past 7 years, and they are now hugely popular as well as being a lot cheaper than before privatisation. The Sleepers were taken over by First Group in October 2004.

It remains to be seem how the sleepers will fair under First Group - they have experience of running sleepers down in the South on England on the Great Western Franchise, and they are committed to improving reliability and punctuality on Scotrail. However, the proposed investment in the sleepers (£1 million compared to National Express £7 million) and the reputation First appear to be quickly gathering in Scotland in the press and among passengers for already failing to deliver on promised improvements as well as declining punctuality figures are of great concern to us regular users of all their services. One can only hope the Sleepers I have got used to dont suffer the same fate - Or I will start flying again!

If you are a tourist visiting Scotland then for the full Scottish Experience there is no other way to get here. For the locals, its a smart move of commuting up and down the country to get the most out of your day at your destination - let me explain.

History -

The sleepers have suffered a lot in terms of reliability and punctuality in recent years and has marred their reputation - delays of 5 hours have not been unheard of and the press use the words breakdown-prone! First Group are introducing more reliable diesel locos onto the Far North services next year, which should help problems. There have been delays in introducing new locos because of weight restrictions and terrain on the West Highland Line. Network Rail have been desperately replacing track on the Fort William route to cope with the sleepers - the dividends of this should start to pay off soon. In the mean time, First have got engineers travelling on the trains and have stationed thunderbird locos at various vantage points along the journey (Carstairs, Carlisle, Preston) to reduce the impact of any breakdowns - This is known as International rescue! Again, that should at least help until the new stock arrives.

The sleepers run in both directions every night except Saturday - But a local group call friends of the Far North Line are campaigning to get the Saturday night trains reinstated.

I hope they are succesful - it would make the possibility of a Day trip to London for shopping on a Saturday a much more realistic possibility without having to worry about getting to and from airports. Or conversely, a weekend day trip to the Highlands a reality for the Londoners!

Routes -

The trains primarily run from Inverness, Aberdeen, Fort William, Glasgow and Edinburgh to London Euston and of course the return journeys. Now i will admit i am beind deliberately vague with times due to timetable changes, track work etc which can all have an effect on the timetables. The West Coast Main Line is still undergoing improvements for the HST trains, so it pays to check in advance on the website, station or phone for delays and diversions. All details are listed on Scotrail's website and in the timetables avaliable from most stations.

The Glasgow and Edinburgh Trains are fairly quick, being no more than about 8 hours in total. The sleepers do tend to travel slower but i suspect thats deliberate so you dont arrive too early (Is such a thing possible on the UK train network!). They have a very limited number of stops on this route - Watford Junction, Carlisle, Carstairs. They also work in tandem so Heading South the trains join together, Heading North they split on route. They tend to leave before midnight at either end, and arrive just after half seven in the morning at either end. These tend to be the most reliable and punctual of the fleet too.

The Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William trains are a different story - they stop everywhere and that is reflected in the journey times - Aberdeen 10 hours, Inverness 11 Hours, Fort William 12 Hours. As these trains all join up eventually, they also all stop at Preston, Crewe and Watford Junction to arrive in London Euston just before 8am. Heading North, they all tend to leave just after 9pm from London Euston.

The Aberdeen train leaves before 10pm, It stops at Stonehaven, Montrose, Arbroath, Carnoustie, Dundee, Leuchars, Kirkcaldy, Inverkeithing. The Aberdeen train I have been informed is used heavily by the Oil Industry.

The Inverness train leaves before 9pm. It stops at Aviemore, Kingussie, Newtonmore, Dalwhinnie, Blair Atholl, Pitlochry, Dunkeld & Birnam, Perth, Gleneagles, Stirling.

The Fort William train leaves just before 8pm. It stops at Spean Bridge, Roy Bridge, Tulloch, Corrour, Rannoch, Bridge of Orchy, Upper Tyndrum, Crianlarich, Ardlui, Arrochar & Tarbet, Garelochead, Helensburgh Upper, Dalmuir, Westerton (Change for Glasgow). Some of these are request stops only and you need to inform the conductor when you travel.

Getting your Ticket -

The Bargain Berth system was introduced by National Express some years ago, and allow you to get a ticket for as little as £19 - £49 for a shared sleeping berth. It is like booking a flight e-ticket online and is very easy to navigate the booking page. It was one of the first ticketless train travel schemes in the UK. It has been continued by First Group, but the avaliability of bargain berth tickets does seems to be less nowaday - either more people have cottoned onto it or the TOC arent releasing as many of them any more, either way i am finding it harder to book them nowadays!

You can also get a seated ticket as opposed to a bed as there is always a seating carrage avaliable. These are usually avaliable for a pretty good price, and give you aircraft style reclining seats. I personally havent used them but they look comfortable enough, they recline, have loads of space. foot reats, tray tables, Bascially like being in a decent plane seat!

You can also book standard tickets online at the First Scotrail Website, Any Principal Staffed Station or by Telesales. Any passenger who wishes to travel to or from Fort William cannot book online. The train which runs up there is considerably smaller than the others (3 cars compared to at least 6) and is highly subscribed.

But no matter what way you intend to travel on it - You really should book in advance. It is not an easy service to just jump on and off. In fact i dont think they allow you to.

There are also packages avaliable to tie in a sleeper trip with the Eurostar - I havent done that (yet!) but the prices seem competitive enough and it does sound very grand doesnt it - I travelled from Inverness to Paris by Train!

Of course, if you are really smart you can tie a trip on The Fort William sleeper with a trip on the Harry Potter Steam train during the summer months - the sleeper basically connects with it. Then you can travel to Mallaig on the steam train, passing the infamous harry Potter viaduct at Glenfinnan - but that trip is definately another review.

Prices, Classes, Goodies -

This has to be one of my main problems witht he sleeper service. It is a vastly complicated service to run and not one I envy the operaters having to organise. But the number of different fares, classes, combinations, terms and conditions, ticket types is somewhat over whelming and difficult to navigate.

To give you an idea, this is what the current (Dec 2004, source - firstscotrail) fare structure comprises of (Abridged version!)

Bargain Berths = £19 - £49 single, shared twin berth
Sleeper Apex = £59 - £69 single, £89 - £99 return
Sleeper Standard = £95 - £115 single, £135 - £155 return
Family Ticket = £150 - £180 single, £260 - £290 return
Solo Upgrade = £49
Seated Sleeper Apex = £30 - £45 single, £40 - £55 return
Seated Sleeper Standard = £60 - £70 single, £80 - £95 return

And all this is of course before you start taking into account Eurostar through tickets, railcard discounts inc Terms and conditions, Dog fares for exclusive cabin use, Accompanying a disabled person discount, Business Tickets, Executive Returns, 10 Journey Flexipass ..............

Just stop it now Scotrail, just stop it! Please please please simplify this whole mess of a fare structure!

I wish they would simplify it, I hate to think what tourists make of it all. Seriously it is a nightmare picking what suits you best, and its the messiest part of the current Scotrail website.

But on the plus side there is plenty of luggae space, and providing you reserve in advance, there is cycle storage too! And it is good that people can take a dog with them providing they pay £40 extra for the cleaning and pay for an exclusive cabin too.

Disabled people should be ok as long as they are either mobile or take a companion to help them - the trains cant cope with scooters though according to the web site!

There are also numerous little deals avalaible with local taxi firms, car hire etc for sleeper customers, all listed on the web site ( I dont want to turn this review into a full on advert!)

Experience -

Before you travel, some stations have lounges (Inverness, Glasgiow, Edinburgh) and some staions have arrnagements (Carlisle uses a local hotel, London Euston has arrangements with Virgin). This is a key flaw in the network - the longues are little more than carpeted waiting rooms in my experience, and i think they need improved with Tea / Coffee facilites, TV, More comfy seats, Free wash facilities. They do not present a good example of the sleeper service and i think they need pushed up in standards.

The train is air-conditioned which is always a good start. The cabins are well kept, clean and nicely laid out. Ok, they arent the spaciest of places to be in when there are two of you in the cabin (espeically the slightly larger framed of us! cough!). Its kind of like being in a travel lodge.

The twin berths are basically bunk beds, so you can fight over who sleeps where. They are reasonable comfortable, maybe a tad on the hard side for my back but hey ho, you cant have everything! You get purple blankets and sheets (just like granny used to make her beds!) instead of a duvet, and a nicely fluffed pillow. But they always feel clean and the beds are well made! The soothing tones of purple help too, creating a nice warm feeling. You have a lamp beside you, there is a small sink and a shaving socket.

There are toilets obviously, but no showers on the train, but some facilities are avaliable at Station Longues, which, according to the class of ticket you have you can maybe use (See I told you it was complicated!! Go to the website!) Towels are provided, and you get a pretty well appointed travel pack regardless of class you travel in. It usually contains soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, cloth etc. Morning calls are avaliable, and you get a complimetry small morning snack (usually a croissant or something) and a tea / coffee in a nice purple bag! Papers are given to the higher grade ticket holders, cabin service is also avaliable to them too. Even those who are on seated travel get a travel pack.

The Lounge Car is pherhaps the best bit of the train! They reserve the right to restrict the use of the lounge acr to first class customers only when it is busy but i havent experienced that yet! You can buy food and drink and eat it in the car or take it back to your cabin. They have a bar as well! The food prices are not too bad when i was last on the service pre First Group and it is obviously aimed at the tourists, with a very Scottish Focused Food and Drink Menu from Scottish producers eg Fruit Cake, Haggis on special Occasions, Scottish Burgers etc (Not a deep fried mars bar in sight though, thankfully!

). But the lounge car is well presented and has a nice ambeince, very relaxing and peaceful, especially during the early hours!

It can be a bit difficult to get to sleep on the trains - I find either a couple of small drinks help or a mild sleeping tablet. The gentle rocking motion of the train and the clickety clack of the tracks is quite soothing. But you are more than likely to get disturbed when the trains are splitting or joining together during the journey. The trains themselves dont travel too fast.

Using the bargain berth tickets, you may end up sharing a twin cabin with someone else of the same sex! Fortunately I have always travelled with someone i know. But the sleeper does tend to attract a respectable type of passenger I have to say - so safety and security should not really be an issue if you do have to share. There are plenty of staff on hand as well to help you during the journey.

My Thoughts -

My personal favorite (other than the Inverness one to get me home!) is the Fort William Sleeper - The views are amazing, no matter what time of year, but especially winter. Its worth getting up early just as the train starts to approach Rannoch Moor and admire the view. I Know, I Know, flying is faster but the way i see it is I can spend just a wee bit more on the sleeper, travel while i sleep so I dont miss the time, and have a full day ahead of me as opposed to a mid morning - mid afternoon day before i need to start heading back again!

One huge word of warning - all these services are packed to capacity in the Summer, and I mean packed! Tourists seems to love (just as much as I do) leaving from London late at night, falling asleep and then waking up in the early morning to the view of some spectacular Highland Countryside out of your porthole!

If the reliability is sorted out and the prices stay competitive, I will keep using the sleeper. It is an absolute must for anybody travelling on a tourist trip to Scotland - It has a certain panache and style that you just dont get by trvaelling on a plane. It is a good use of your time, and gives you maximum advantage of a full day at your destination. The prices are comparable to that of a decent hotel too, so it makes sense to pay for a sleeper and get your accomadation and travel rolled into one.

The main areas which need improved in my opinion are -

Fare structures.
A slightly more plush toiletries bag (if onyl because i am bored of the same ones!)
Improve the station lounges.

But dont let those three small things stop you - they are niggles. This is the best way to travel to the Highlands i promise!