Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi All

I was on the Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh on Friday night,  26 May. We awoke on  the Saturday  morning to find ourselves still at Preston.
We were told that a power line had been brought down by a freight train ahead of us, and that we would need to find another route. We Managed to get to Edinburgh by 14.30 by going Preston-York ( very crowded 2 carriage train, due to York races)  and York Edinburgh, ( horribly overcrowded Virgin train, due to WCML closure).

Anyway, it turns out that the WCML was closed north of Preston that weekend due to engineering works. I wondered if, rather than the line being " brought down", if in fact there had been some communication failure, and that the sleeper had set off  despite the line  being closed. Maybe just my suspicious mind ?!

We got 100%  compensation , very easy and quick system TBF, although the service from the Sleeper on the Saturday morning was pretty mediocre really. Just  the standard cup of tea, and a rather slow  offer of the two train option to Edinburgh, or wait and see what time coaches might turn up.

Be interested in your comments.
Thanks.

I suspect that the sleeper had a path prior to the closure north of Preston, but missed the slot as soon as the wires came diwn & possession soon taken.

Feel for Cally sleeper. Hardly their fault

One of the FOC has started to run double headed freights (2 x class 90) the problem is each loco draws 300Amps the OLE system is not designed for a 600Amp loading.  I believe NR have raised objections to these trains run double headed

Has something changed with the infrastructure in recent years? IIRC there were double headed class 87 workings on the northern part of the route from their introduction onwards (certainly 2 x cl.86) and they are very similar to class 90's, with the exception of the control system - their may of course be differences in the current draw.

That surprises me.  Surely they wouldn't be able to just run them without NR agreeing in advance?

87's when double headed limited the power taken between the 2 locos ................. BR DM&EE know what the system they designed was capable of.



Train and route planning do not always go through the asset engineers, especially if the route was already cleared for double headed trains  ................... the planners just don't understand the limitations of the system.

Also there quite a lot of "politics" involved