In the summer of 2017 a friend and I took the Caledonian Sleeper train from London to Scotland. Overall the experience was delightful, with excellent service, great food, and a relaxing journey up into the Scottish Highlands.
The First Class cabin was good, but definitely lagged behind some of the other, more modern offerings elsewhere. We were told at the time that new coaches were going to enter service next year. Well, it’s next year, and while they were due to enter service this month, delays have pushed that until the spring.
So starting then on London-Edinburgh and London-Glasgow routes, and May for all routes, new coaches with redesigned cabins will, according to the company, offer “the most civilized way to travel between Scotland and London.”
New Cabins
The new coaches have multiple new accommodation types and levels, all of which look like big improvements over the current cars.
At the top of the range is the Caledonian Double, which not only has its own toilet and shower, but a double bed (image at top). This is a first, apparently, for a UK train.
The next step down is the Club Room, which still looks better than the First Class rooms on the old train. It has stacked single beds, but a toilet and shower. It looks similar in size and layout to the great room on the NightJet train, actually.
The Classic Room looks nice, though lacks the toilet and shower of the more expensive rooms.
At the bottom of the price tier is what they call Comfort Seats. Personally I think if you’re going to take an overnight train you should splurge for a cabin, but I’m sure this option will be useful for some people.
The Club Car is new as well. I rather liked the old-school look of the old club car, but it would have stuck out like a sore thumb if it remained while the other coaches were brand new.
The Delay
While more than half the new sleeper carriages have already been delivered, the company points out that these are the first new sleeper cars in over 35 years. So testing and regulatory approvals are taking longer than expected. Seems understandable. They’re also offering refunds or rebooking for anyone due to travel now on the new cars, and who want to wait until they’re available next year.
You can find out more info about this, and the train itself, at newtrains.sleeper.scot.
