Further Afield ~ Caledonian Sleeper and FGW Sleeper Trains.

92 018 at London Euston - © Andy.
On Friday 31st August, I was lucky enough to see the first sleeper trains I've ever seen at London Euston and London Paddington.

After an hour or so at Clapham Junction, I headed back in to the Capital and took the London Underground Northern Line train terminating at High Barnet direct to London Euston. From the Underground, a brief walk to the platforms was required. I couldn't remember if it was Platform 1 or Platform 15, so I first walked to Platform 1, but the sleeper stock was Platform 15! So a walk down to Platform 15 was greeted with my first 92 in Caledonian Sleeper livery.


A walk up to the front of the train to get the front loco also saw 2 or 3 coaches having the Caledonian Sleeper stock, pictured to the right.

90 039 - © Andy.
The locomotive on the front of the train was DB Schenker's 90 039, which departed 3 minutes late of the schedule 21:15 departure from London Euston to Inverness, Aberdeen and Fort William - many of the passengers were looking forward to the journey, while the staff were very friendly and helpful!




Serco took over the franchise from First ScotRail on 31th March 2015, and will run the franchise until the 31st March 2030.

Serco operates two sleeper trains from London Euston on six nights per week, on Sunday to Friday on the WCML. Trains are limited to up to 80mph, but can travel at more if required.

There are two different types of sleepers, the Highland Sleeper serving Aberdeen, Fort William and Inverness and the Lowland Sleeper serving Edinburgh Waverly and Glasgow Central.

The next trip was a trip on the Underground to London Paddington via the Northern Line to Kings Cross St Pancras and then the Hammersmith and City line to Paddington.


On arrival at Platform 1, the sleeper stock had already arrived, with 57 605 hauling in the Empty Coaching Stock and 57 602 leading the Sleeper down to Penzance.


The Night Riviera is one of two sleeper services operated in the UK ( the Serco sleeper being the other service, mentioned above.) The Night Riviera runs Sunday to Friday between London Paddington and Penzance and in the other direction (one train each way.) Pictured to the right is 57 602 Restormel Castle sat at London Paddington awaiting the 23:45 departure to Penzance. This loco also worked the summer hauled service on the next day.


57 605 has recently returned from repaint and had been used on bringing the sleeper stock in to the station the previous day (Thursday 30th). 57 605 is now in GWR green, while 57 603 is at Derby RTC for repaint/overhaul in to GWR green as part of the company's GWR rebrand next month.

Pictured to the right is 57 605 "Totnes Castle" under the lights of London Paddington after detaching from the FGW Night Riviera Stock.









Right; Another angle of 57 605 © Andy.


Eventually all 18 MK3'S (9 per set) will turn green as some have already done so, and pictured below is the MK3 Catering carriage in GWR green.


That's all for now,

All photos used in this post are strictly Copyrighted.




^Andy



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