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The Caledonian Sleepers

ScotRail operate the largest sleeper operation in the UK between various Scottish stations and London Euston. Sleeper services operate 6 nights a week - Monday to Friday and Sunday. The service is greatly reduced from former times when sleeper services ran down the East and West Coast mainlines, as well as to the West Country and even some internal Scottish services.

Services now operate to and from Edinburgh and Glasgow (the Lowland sleepers) and Aberdeen/Fort William/Inverness (the Highland sleepers). These services all ran as individual trains until the late 1990s but are now operated as seperate portions. The Glasgow and Edinburgh services combine and split at Carstairs while the Aberdeen and Fort William portions meet and divide with the Inverness service at Edinburgh Waverly.

Headcodes can be found on the appropriate page while for timetables and fares see the https://www.sleeper.scot/ website.


In 2013 Transport Scotland announced their intention to seperate the Caledonian Sleeper operation from the main Scotrail franchise as a stand-alone 15 year franchise. During the tendering process three bidders emerged for the sleeper franchise - First Group, Arriva Night Trains and Serco. It was announced on 28th May 2014 that Serco were the winning bidder.

The new franchise commences on 1st April 2015 and will continue to be branded as "Caledonian Sleeper". Serco will be responsible for operating all aspects of the Caledonian Sleeper including marketing, sales, passenger services, station facilities and fleet maintenance (though the latter will be contracted to Alstom Ltd). To meet Transport Scotland's aim of transforming the service, over £100m will be invested in new rolling stock. This new fleet is expected to be introduced by the summer of 2018 and new coaches will be built by CAF, the Spanish rolling stock manufacturer. class 73s and 92s will used to haul the lowland and highland portions

Traction

DB Schenker owned class 90 electric locomotives haul the Highland sleepers between Edinburgh and Euston the Lowland sleepers throughout. The Highland sleeper portions are hauled North of Edinburgh by DB Schenker owned class 67 diesel locomotives. Detailed information about the loco operations can be found on the linked wiki pages.

The Rolling stock

The Caledonian Sleeper fleet is made up of 75 coaches - 22 Mk2s and 53 Mk3s. These are all based at Inverness Depot.

Mark 2 Coaches

Mk2e and Mk2f built 1972 were converted to the present specification. They are air conditioned, have B4 coil-sprung bogies, tread brakes and are 20.63m long.

BUO (Brake Unclassified Open) 'Seated Car'

Converted from Mk2e Open Standard in 1999.
31 reclining seats (2+1), Guards compartment. 2 retention toilets at one end.
Weight 34 tonnes. ETH index 4.
(11 vehicles in fleet)

RLO (Sleeper Reception car) 'Lounge Car'

Converted from Mk2f Open First in 1987.
Lounge seating area for passengers, a pantry with microwave cooking facilities. 1 toilet
Weight 33.5 tonnes. ETH index 5.
(9 vehicles in fleet)

RFB (Buffet Open First) 'Lounge Car'

Converted from Mk2f Open First in 1988
Buffet, 25 first class seats (2+1), 1 toilet
Weight 33.5 tonnes. ETH index 6.
(2 vehicles in fleet)

Mark 3a Sleepers

These carriages were built between 1980-1984. They are 23m long and have BT10 air-sprung bogies with disc brakes. The are air conditioned throughout and have retention toilets. The sleeping compartments have a fixed lower berth, and a hinged upper berth. When the upper berth is stowed away the compartment is marketed as first class. A hand basin is provided under the window. Each coach is fitted with a sophistocated fire alarm system and each pair of sleeper coaches is looked after by a dedicated attendant.

SLEP (Sleeping car Either class with Pantry)

12 sleeping compartments, plus attendant's compartment. 2 toilets at one end.
Weight 43 tonnes. ETH index 7.
(34 vehicles in fleet)

SLE (Sleeping car Either class)

13 sleeping compartments. 2 toilets at one end.
Weight 43.5 tonnes. ETH index 6.
(6 vehicles in fleet)

SLED (Sleeping car Either class, Disabled accessable)

Converted from SLE vehicles in 1999.
11 sleeping compartments, plus 1 for a disabled person. 1 disabled persons toilet.
Weight 43.5 tonnes. ETH index 6.
(12 vehicles in fleet)

Sets

The coaches are formed into 8 coach sets. To allow maintenance at Inverness, each individual set follows a strict 8 day rotation of workings as follows:

Day	Headcode	Working	See Note
1	1M16	Inverness - Euston
2	1S26	Euston - Glasgow	A
3	1C11/1M11	Edinburgh - Euston	A
4	1S25/1Y11/1A25	Euston - Fort William or Aberdeen	B
5	1B01/1B16/1M16	Fort William or Aberdeen - Euston	B
6	1S26/1B26	Euston - Edinburgh	A
7	1M11	Glasgow - Euston	A
8	1S25	Euston - Inverness

Notes

A - On arrival at Glasgow, the coaches are cleaned and serviced at Polmadie depot. The set then works empty to Edinburgh to form that portion of the sleeper. Coaches arriving in Edinburgh in the morning are taken to Polmadie for cleaning and servicing them form the Glasgow portion of the sleeper that night.

B - The Fort William and Aberdeen sets are formed slightly differently. 2 sleeper coaches are taken to Fort William, 4 to Aberdeen. A pair of lounge and brake coaches work through from London to Aberdeen while the Fort William pair stay at Edinburgh overnight.

Fleet List

Number	Type	Livery
1210	RFB	FU
1220	RFB	FS
6700	RLO	FU
6701	RLO	CS
6702	RLO	FS
6703	RLO	FU
6704	RLO	FS
6705	RLO	FS
6706	RLO	FU
6707	RLO	FS
6708	RLO	FS
9800	BUO	FS
9801	BUO	FS
9802	BUO	CS
9803	BUO	FS
9804	BUO	FS
9805	BUO	FS
9806	BUO	FS
9807	BUO	FU
9808	BUO	FU
9809	BUO	FS
9810	BUO	FS
10501	SLEP	FS
10502	SLEP	FS
10504	SLEP	FS
10506	SLEP	FS
10507	SLEP	FS
10508	SLEP	FS
10513	SLEP	FS
10516	SLEP	FU
10519	SLEP	FS
10520	SLEP	FS
10522	SLEP	FS
10523	SLEP	FS
10526	SLEP	FS
10527	SLEP	FS
10529	SLEP	FS
10531	SLEP	FS
10542	SLEP	FS
10543	SLEP	FS
10544	SLEP	FS
10548	SLEP	FS
10551	SLEP	FS
10553	SLEP	FS
10561	SLEP	FS
10562	SLEP	FU
10565	SLEP	FS
10580	SLEP	CS
10597	SLEP	FS
10598	SLEP	FS
10600	SLEP	FS
10605	SLEP	FS
10607	SLEP	FS
10610	SLEP	FS
10613	SLEP	FS
10614	SLEP	FS
10617	SLEP	FS
10648	SLEd	FS
10650	SLEd	FS
10666	SLEd	FS
10675	SLE	FS
10680	SLEd	FS
10683	SLE	FS
10688	SLE	FS
10689	SLEd	FG
10690	SLE	FS
10693	SLE	CS
10699	SLEd	FS
10703	SLE	FS
10706	SLEd	FS
10714	SLEd	FS
10718	SLEd	FS
10719	SLEd	FS
10722	SLEd	FS
10723	SLEd	FS

Liveries
CS = Caledonian Sleeper
FS = First Blue, white waist stripe
FG = First Blue, gold waist stripe (10689 only)
FU = First Blue, no waist stripe
CS = Caledonian Sleeper, blue/violet/white (none since 2007)

CS: Caledonian Sleeper livery (none since mid 2007)

FU: First blue - no waist stripe

FG: First blue with gold waist stripe (10698 only)

FS: First blue with white waist stripe (standard livery)