Problems with the Night Riviera sleeper - December 2014 onwards

[whole diary]

[grahame]

And again ...

21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03
21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03 will be delayed between Freshford and Chippenham.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.

... timetable clash on the line section that needs to be "two tracks, now!"??  Sleeper should easily make up the delay again if that guess is right.  On a scale of 1 to 10 of how much of a concern to passengers on the train, probably a 0.

Went through Melksham 5 early ... sat at Swindon for 15 minutes.   The stone empties scheduled in the opposite direction on the single line at the same time (!) went through Melksham nearly 30 minutes early, so were back on to respectable double track at Bradford Junction some 12 minutes before the sleeper passed into the bottleneck.

[martyjon]

Oh dear, at 06:00 a clean JourneyCheck sheet spoiled by last nights service ;-

23:50 London Paddington to Penzance due 08:55 will be starting late from London Paddington and is expected to be 1 minute late.
This is due to congestion.

[TaplowGreen]

Oh dear, at 06:00 a clean JourneyCheck sheet spoiled by last nights service ;-

23:50 London Paddington to Penzance due 08:55 will be starting late from London Paddington and is expected to be 1 minute late.
This is due to congestion.

Perhaps it's intended to be ironic - "congestion" after all the space created by yesterday's cancellations!

[martyjon]

Oh dear, at 06:00 a clean JourneyCheck sheet spoiled by last nights service ;-

23:50 London Paddington to Penzance due 08:55 will be starting late from London Paddington and is expected to be 1 minute late.
This is due to congestion.

Perhaps it's intended to be ironic - "congestion" after all the space created by yesterday's cancellations!

More ironic, according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), the service left RT.

[grahame]

The 1 minute delay reported to the sleeper is probably a side effect from some internal change being flagged up - it reminds me of the changes we used to see on the Westbury - Southampton 11:11 train on days that it was provided by a 153.  153s could not be routed through platform 3 at Salisbury after some works had been done on the platform, and the signalman was alerted by changing the class 2 train into a class 9 train.  Something similar with last night's sleeper??

[bobm]

The up sleeper failed near Ivybridge last night and had to be rescued by the Rail Head Treatment train.  Carriages were taken back to Plymouth and passengers moved to an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train).  Arrival in London was just over two hours late.

[Rob on the hill]

The up sleeper failed near Ivybridge last night and had to be rescued by the Rail Head Treatment train.  Carriages were taken back to Plymouth and passengers moved to an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train).  Arrival in London was just over two hours late.

The failed sleeper has been returned to Reading as 5Z70, hauled by 2 back-to-back class 43 power cars.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/O49687/2019-10-18/detailed

Picture on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10219751223748490&set=gm.2329623273832401&type=3&theater

[metallikat75]

The up sleeper failed near Ivybridge last night and had to be rescued by the Rail Head Treatment train.  Carriages were taken back to Plymouth and passengers moved to an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train).  Arrival in London was just over two hours late.

I was on this train; the replacement IET had only standard class carriages and set off around 4am, so not much sleep on that part of the journey. Unfortunately history repeated itself last night, when the night riviera broke down again at Plymouth around midnight. They offered hotel rooms, but most people seemed to opt for the replacement IET. This time it had a few first class carriages and the reclining seats made sleep a bit more possible. I’m glad I took my winter coat; it made for a good blanket. Appalling behaviour from some of the passengers towards the onboard staff, I’m sorry to say. Unfortunately I’m now put off using the sleeper in future and am probably going to change the couple of pre-booked tickets I have for it daytime tickets instead.

[broadgage]

An ongoing very poor performance.
How hard can it be to purchase or lease a handful of locomotives that are able to reliably make the long and perilous journey between London and Penzance ?

The load is modest compared to many freight trains that run reliably day after day. The timings are relaxed, so no startling performance is needed.

The anger of passengers is well justified, though I am very sorry to hear that this was taken out on the staff, who hopefully did what they could.

Also don't understand the bit about the substitute IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) having only standard class seats on one occasion? First class is minimal and rather basic but present on every unit.

[JayMac]

I suspect we are in a period of make do and mend with the Night Riviera fleet. It'll probably be so until such time as a new franchise tender (or whatever form of passenger railway operation the future holds) is enacted.

The sensible thing to do would be to order Mk5 Sleeper carriages from CAF. The bugs have/are being ironed out by Caledonian Sleeper.

They should then be hauled by electro-diesel Class 88s with an uprated diesel generator capable of completing the off wire runs between Newbury/Chippenham/Bristol and the South West.

[TaplowGreen]

21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03
04/11/19 21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03 has been previously delayed and is now 68 minutes late from Taunton.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03
04/11/19 21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03 has been previously delayed and is now 68 minutes late from Taunton.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Rolled in to Paddington 27 minutes late, having been up to 96 minutes late at Newton Abbott and 53 late arriving in Reading.   Shocking record at the moment, but I don't expect too many passengers arriving at Paddington actually want to get off before 05:30.   Of course, if you're headed for an early flight from Heathrow ...

[TonyK]

An ongoing very poor performance.
How hard can it be to purchase or lease a handful of locomotives that are able to reliably make the long and perilous journey between London and Penzance ?

Probably not too hard, but expensive.

[martyjon]

Didn't occasionally an ex-Pendolino Thunderbird class 57 loco get drafted in to haul this stock and why can't they revert to that situation again

[Celestial]

21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03
04/11/19 21:45 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:03 has been previously delayed and is now 68 minutes late from Taunton.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Rolled in to Paddington 27 minutes late, having been up to 96 minutes late at Newton Abbott and 53 late arriving in Reading.   Shocking record at the moment, but I don't expect too many passengers arriving at Paddington actually want to get off before 05:30.   Of course, if you're headed for an early flight from Heathrow ...

You'd be ill-advised to have a schedule that doesn't allow for a half hour delay if travelling from LHR (or most airports unless you've a very short journey to it), particularly on a journey of several hours, even before allowing for the sleeper unreliability.

My other half always used to complain I wanted to leave too early when making such journeys, but those grumbles stopped after we got held for an hour at Swindon due to a fatality ahead.  We still made the flight, though it was a bit too close for comfort.