“THE train now arriving at platform one is the 09.01 sleeper train to London Paddington...”
Passengers at Oxford station were not seeing things yesterday morning when their train rolled in.
In place of the usual High Speed Train (HST) were the coaches of First Great Western’s Night Riviera Sleeper service, putting in some extra duty after their overnight run from Cornwall to the capital.
An FGW spokesman said the firm’s control room ordered the unusual scheduling after realising that, with several trains out of action because of faults caused by last month’s wintry weather, they were short of an HST to operate the 07.22 train from London to Oxford.
Instead of taking the empty sleeper train back to Old Oak Common depot in west London, Class 57 locomotive 57605 Totnes Castle set out for Oxford, with passengers carried in the train’s two seated coaches and buffet car.
Sister engine 57602 Restormel Castle then led the train back to London.
Sadly, for anyone who fancied a nap, sleeper berths were locked out of use during the run to Oxford.
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