Haggis, whisky ... Double Beds: The new romance of the sleeper train

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1. The UK is a different animal altogether.  They don't have the highways that we do.  I've driven from Edinburgh to Fort William.  Once past Stirling, you're on twisty, narrow two lane roads (I have a story about that) that would be termed county (maybe) roads here. The 4 lane road from Inverness down to Edinburgh was just completed in the last 12-14 years (I have another story about that).  The distance from London to Glasgow (the farthest apart two major cities in the mainland UK) is only 400 miles.  So within 400 miles, you have roughly 50-60 million people.  Sounds sorta like the NEC between Boston and Washington, doesn't it?

[SPSOT fan]

Well it’s nice to see that Gov’ts somewhere are putting money into some nice passenger trains. I sincerely wish Amtrak could get the kind of funding passenger rail gets in other parts of the world. Even up north in Canada Via runs a pretty nice Canadian service. Some days I feel a lot of folks in the Gov’t would celebrate Amtrak’s death.

In truth I feel Amtrak’s problems come from lack of Gov’t funding. While an Amtrak passenger gets about 20% of their ticket subsidizes, in Europe I think many trains get 50% Gov’t subsidy (don’t quote me in these numbers, but you get the point). That to me seems to be the reason Amtrak lacks great service and struggles to survive.

I feel like there is hope notheless that we can get a more competent Amtrak CEO and more funding for Amtrak in order to make a passenger network closer to those in Europe an other places.

Just my opinion, you have the right to disagree or agree.

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Flintlock76

I'll pass on the haggis, but that good Scottish whisky is another matter!    

 

I'm one of the rarity who actually likes haggis, and I don't have a drop of Scottish blood in me.  I've done most of this route in one form or another.  I've taken the West Coast Main Line from London-Euston to Glasgow and I've hiked the West Highland Way from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William.  I've seen the old sleeper cars at Fort William.  The problem is, although the route is beautiful, most of it will be traversed in darkness.

BTW-Crewe is an old shop town in the mold of Altoona with plenty of derelict equipment still around...at least it was in 2002.

[Flintlock76]

I'll pass on the haggis, but that good Scottish whisky is another matter!    

[samfp1943]

JPS1 asked the following:"...And the capital as well as operating taxpayer subsidies for this service are?"

 Apparently: The Scotish Government 'has stepped up to the plate' and put up the est of #150 M (Pound$ (?) mentioned in the article.

FTA:"...In 1995, it took a court order to halt British Rail from ending its sleeper service to Fort William, one of the world’s most beautiful rail lines; the London-Stranraer sleeper was axed in 1990; and Britain’s only other sleeper service – from London to Penzance – came near to closure a few years later. Since then, the Scottish sleeper service has limped on using increasingly decrepit carriages with sticky carpets and malfunctioning air conditioning, experiences made worse when travellers found themselves sharing sleeping cabins with heavy smokers determined to flout trains’ strict no smoking policies or with cabin partners who urinated in their communal wash basin in the night..."

 

Further from The Guardian article:"...Hence the Scottish government’s decision to invest heavily in the Caledonian refit. From now on, visitors should arrive for walking or fishing or shooting holidays or trips to the Edinburgh Festival having travelled in style and without fear of night-time disruptions, said Flaherty. “Cabin-sharing with strangers is certainly a thing of the past,” he insisted. In addition, travellers will be able to board the Lowlander sleeper at 10pm – far earlier than they can at present – even though the train is not scheduled to depart until almost midnight. “Quite frankly hanging round Euston station at 10 or 11pm is not that pleasant, so we will give people a chance to settle in long before the trains head off for the north.”

FTA:"...Even better, travellers will be able to sleep in a double bed, the first time such a luxury has appeared on a regular UK train service. Food on board will feature the best of Scottish cuisine including plates of smoked venison and haggis, neeps and tatties, as well an improved range of whiskies. In addition, new engineering technology, in the form of special couplers, should stop trains shuddering when carriages are uncoupled and coupled en route to the north. “It’s going to be much more gentle and should be imperceptible to guests while they are asleep,” said Flaherty.."  [Author of article, credits above quote to Ryan Faherty.]

[JPS1]

samfp1943

 The title of this Thread was also the headline published in The Guardian's article by Robin McKie [ dated: 27 Apr2019]

       In these days and times, when as a railfan community, and embroiled in discussions about where our National Rail Passenger net work is headed.

     To some, it seems we're on a fast track to perdition(?) with the proverbial handbasket in the hands of the current Amtrak  management, and seemingly being strangled financially, with some of the equipment being used, possibly ready to be retired, along with some of the employees ?  Are we being put on a path, along with the airlines; who seem to be harkening back to the days of WWI, [ie: the packing the troops into those '40/8  Boxcars' or maybe the way the Jews were transported to 'The Camps', not exactly passenger comfort being considered...Regarding the next level of passenger comfort to be considered for airline travel [ semi- reclined, standing 'seating' or the other alternative, a seat like one finds on a bicycle?]  

See link @https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/avioninteriors-designed-standing-seats-for-airplanes.html

But I digress... Back to that new English sleeper service, London to Scotland

aww linkws @ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/27/london-scotland-revamped-train-sleeper-romance-revival?utm_

FTA:"...“Once travellers set foot on the train, they are going to experience Scotland’s best, from luxury toiletries to good food and drink,” said Ryan Flaherty, managing director of Caledonian Sleeper..."

“We are aiming to create a luxury hotel experience. After all, we couldn’t add any more coaches to the service because 16 is the upper limit for Euston’s longest platform – making the Caledonian Sleeper train the longest in the UK. So instead, we went for quality not quantity.”

It has cost £150m to build 75 new coaches, a remarkable change in fortunes for Scotland’s oft-threatened sleeper services. Once the acme of romance, overnight train travel – which featured in so many books and films, from John Buchan’s The 39 Steps to Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest – dwindled in the latter half of the 20th century thanks to cheap air travel, and came close to extinction in the UK..."

 [ Article also includes a map of the  Cities/lines to be serviced by the new trains.] 

And the capital as well as operating taxpayer subsidies for this service are?

 

[samfp1943]

The title of this Thread was also the headline published in The Guardian's article by Robin McKie [ dated: 27 Apr2019]

       In these days and times, when as a railfan community, and embroiled in discussions about where our National Rail Passenger net work is headed.

     To some, it seems we're on a fast track to perdition(?) with the proverbial handbasket in the hands of the current Amtrak  management, and seemingly being strangled financially, with some of the equipment being used, possibly ready to be retired, along with some of the employees ?  Are we being put on a path, along with the airlines; who seem to be harkening back to the days of WWI, [ie: the packing the troops into those '40/8  Boxcars' or maybe the way the Jews were transported to 'The Camps', not exactly passenger comfort being considered...Regarding the next level of passenger comfort to be considered for airline travel [ semi- reclined, standing 'seating' or the other alternative, a seat like one finds on a bicycle?]  

See link @https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/avioninteriors-designed-standing-seats-for-airplanes.html

But I digress... Back to that new English sleeper service, London to Scotland

aww linkws @ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/27/london-scotland-revamped-train-sleeper-romance-revival?utm_

FTA:"...“Once travellers set foot on the train, they are going to experience Scotland’s best, from luxury toiletries to good food and drink,” said Ryan Flaherty, managing director of Caledonian Sleeper..."

“We are aiming to create a luxury hotel experience. After all, we couldn’t add any more coaches to the service because 16 is the upper limit for Euston’s longest platform – making the Caledonian Sleeper train the longest in the UK. So instead, we went for quality not quantity.”

 

It has cost £150m to build 75 new coaches, a remarkable change in fortunes for Scotland’s oft-threatened sleeper services. Once the acme of romance, overnight train travel – which featured in so many books and films, from John Buchan’s The 39 Steps to Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest – dwindled in the latter half of the 20th century thanks to cheap air travel, and came close to extinction in the UK..."

 [ Article also includes a map of the  Cities/lines to be serviced by the new trains.]