NEW Caledonian Sleeper is UK now running

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VKurtB

Train Attendant
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
43
Location
Arab, AL
I have already booked a trip from London Euston to Aberdeen, Scotland for this autumn. The new rolling stock took over this past weekend. As an Amtrak LD Fan, I am “stoked” for the trip. Authentic Scottish haggis shall be consumed.
 
So, it is official...the Caledonian got its sleepers operating before Amtrak did ;-)
Given that the OEM for both is CAF, I suppose one could conclude from this that the problem with the delay in delivery in the US is not CAF. It is some combination of US and Amtrak?

BTW, those Mark 5 Cars are really nice riders too, I am told. While the Scots got theirs in the fo9rm of Sleeper consists, Trans-Pennine is getting theirs in the form of Coaches for day service. Theirs are called Mark 5A, and the OEM is again CAF.
 
Northbound out of Euston Station is 9:15PM, or 2115, with an expected arrival in Aberdeen of 7:35AM, 0735. Yes, there is a “seating” car or two, but its purpose is an early morning arrival at each terminus. The time of year I’ll be traveling, it’ll be all darkness.
 
These specific cars are purpose built for the Caledonian Sleeper service, for use by the Caledonian Sleeper TOC.

As I mentioned earlier, there are other version of Mark 5 cars being built by CAF for daytime service, to be deployed by the Trans-Pennine TOC, that incidentally includes services like service from Edinburgh Waverley to Manchester Airport.
 
I much prefer the design of Amtrak rooms, you can’t sit in your room and look out at the window with these designs.

Obviously they are brand new, which is nice, but the design looks just as sterile as the new Amtrak designs to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to travel on this train, but I’m not sitting here thinking “oh man this is what Amtrak needs!”
 
I much prefer the design of Amtrak rooms, you can’t sit in your room and look out at the window with these designs.

Obviously they are brand new, which is nice, but the design looks just as sterile as the new Amtrak designs to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to travel on this train, but I’m not sitting here thinking “oh man this is what Amtrak needs!”
I’m traveling late November, London to Aberdeen. It will be dark the entire trip. The windows and the view are of no concern to me. Getting some local food and local spirits leading to a restful sleep are my main concerns.
 
I much prefer the design of Amtrak rooms, you can’t sit in your room and look out at the window with these designs.

Obviously they are brand new, which is nice, but the design looks just as sterile as the new Amtrak designs to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to travel on this train, but I’m not sitting here thinking “oh man this is what Amtrak needs!”
Most European sleepers are designed with beds perpendicular to the windows like that versus the way Amtrak has theirs parallel to the window.
 
I totally agree with you and like the way Amtrak designed their beds mostly parallel with the windows. I have ridden in the bedrooms, roomettes and family room. You can sit in the collapsing chair in the bedrooms so the two occupants can view the scenery but it's very cool to wake up in the morning and watch the world go by from your bed.
 
I much prefer the design of Amtrak rooms, you can’t sit in your room and look out at the window with these designs.

Obviously they are brand new, which is nice, but the design looks just as sterile as the new Amtrak designs to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to travel on this train, but I’m not sitting here thinking “oh man this is what Amtrak needs!”

True. But it's also an apples and oranges comparison.

The Caledonioan Sleeper is a late departure / early arrival train so most of the time, passengers will be asleep. Daytime amenities are thus minimal. You can't comnpare that to most Amtrak LD routes that typically involve a fair bit of daytime travel in addition to the night bit.
 
But I prefer oranges over apples? Isn't that the point of comparison? ha.

More than the physical design I'm just surprised how sterile both the sleepers and the lounge appears. Again.. reminds me alot of the current amtrak designs. Compare them to the new train sets on the Great Western's Night Riviera.... just looks alot nicer design wise. (soft design... physical design is about the same.)
 
Those aisles seem very narrow. Could be a problem when two large passengers try to pass or when lugging your baggage into your bedroom.

Of course as mentioned above, these are more of a quick overnight service vs. a multi-day long distance voyage so maybe not much luggage is needed.
 
The US at present does not have any LD train that is a pure overnight service as its entire run, except perhaps if 65/66/67 is considered to be just a Boston - Washington DC train. And that currently does not even have a Sleeper.

In principle trains like the LSL and CL could be such trains, but they will need to be sped up by several hours and rescheduled into more appropriate slots.
 
I really like the sawtooth arrangement of seats in the new lounge car. The choice is there - swivel and chat, or stay straight ahead and don’t. Brilliant design.
 
The US at present does not have any LD train that is a pure overnight service as its entire run, except perhaps if 65/66/67 is considered to be just a Boston - Washington DC train. And that currently does not even have a Sleeper.

In principle trains like the LSL and CL could be such trains, but they will need to be sped up by several hours and rescheduled into more appropriate slots.
I've used the Crescent (Washinton to Greenville/Atlanta) and the Silver Meteor (Washington to Savannah) as pure overnight service.
 
I liked the coziness of the old lounge cars with the leather couches and the tables with freestanding chairs that you could move around. It felt like a real lounge that could be anywhere, not just on a train. These new ones look more utilitarian. The old ones lent themselves to socializing really well, don't know if these new ones will.
 
I liked the coziness of the old lounge cars with the leather couches and the tables with freestanding chairs that you could move around. It felt like a real lounge that could be anywhere, not just on a train. These new ones look more utilitarian. The old ones lent themselves to socializing really well, don't know if these new ones will.

That's what I was trying to say but everyone seemed to focus on my comment about the windows in the sleeper. The entire design seems less cozy than the previous version, or their direct competitor the Great Western's overnight train.
 
That's what I was trying to say but everyone seemed to focus on my comment about the windows in the sleeper. The entire design seems less cozy than the previous version, or their direct competitor the Great Western's overnight train.
This design seems to have a significantly higher total simultaneous capacity in the lounge car.
 
Looks like seating for 32 in both the new and old layouts. But more seating with tables in the new layout. This is the same direction Amtrak chose to go with new lounges. Which isn’t totally a bad idea, people want a relaxing place to work on their laptops.
 
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