I traveled for 2 weeks on a 1st class BritRail pass in June 1990. Took the Cornish Riviera to Penzance & returned on Night Riviera. Cheers from Vancouver.
We did the Night Riviera and Caledonian Sleeper just a few days apart and were so impressed with both! The beds on the Night Riviera beat the Caledonian Sleeper, though! Those mattresses were so plush! Love reliving the journey via videos like this one, so thanks for posting! We just shared our experience, too. So fun!
At 7:24, you hit the nail on the head when you say, "There's something absolutely wonderful about gliding through the darkness in your very own sleeper cabin."
Thank you for this wonderful journey. I like watching your videos because I like to travel with my son on the trains, and thanks to your comments I can learn English.
I remember as a lad sleepers all over the UK. So sad so few exist these days. Could you imagine the convenience of one from Inverness to Penzance via Glasgow and Birmingham...
a remodelled class 47, very nice indeed for the train buff. yup indeed Scot, green is mean, cant imagine their alternative for the green probably Fred Carnos Circus coloured.
I don't know how I remember but sleeping on the sleeper train going to Penzance is like being in a pram as a baby. Rolling and rocking all night very cosy and relaxing. Thanks for a great vid 🙏💎
In the BR days, there used to be a lot more. London to Liverpool and Manchester, London to Edinburgh and Aberdeen via the East Coast and Plymouth to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and they would convey your car too.
That one was fun. I like the colour, but then one of my favourite colours is British racing green. Looking forward to the video with the 7 ticket split. Cheers.
Well done GWR, very slack with the showers at both station but the dark green train looks the business. Loved the views from the rear carriage. It passes about a mile from our house every night, on the bucket list for sometime 👍
I hope when the time comes to replace the coaches, GWR will get a new sleeper fleet. Alstom now own the design rights to the MK3 and it would be fantastic if they could offer a updated version. I know that is unlikely though.
Thanks Scott. Yes the green looks good on Mk3s, DMUs, Castle sets and the EMUs. Much better than earlier First Group attempts. However the green does’t look so good on the Hitachi IETs. Maybe something a bit more dynamic is needed to cope with all the crevices and tapers on their bodywork.
Good luck with the journey back. CrossCountry have atrocious trains but if you're lucky you'll get the HST. Birmingham New St is a challenge as the poor design means you need to scan out of the station and scan in again, unless you happen to discover the "B" end of the station which the CrossCountry trains often don't stop at. I look forward to seeing how you fared.
Thank you so much for this! It's been 20+ years since I travelled on the Night Riviera Sleeper (heading the other way!). We've been wondering whether to have another go, so I'm grateful for the lovely review. I commute by train from Redruth to Penzance every weekday morning, and it's a great little journey, even when the weather isn't the best. I hope you had time to spend some time in lovely Penzance before heading back! For anyone else making the trip, if you look up 'Walking Tour of Penzance', there's a lovely lady called Anna who does walking tours (some free, some paid) from just outside the train station entrance.
Having travelled on both, the Night Riviera is, for me, far better than the Cal Sleeper, for all the reasons mentioned in this and other reviews. Also the First Class Lounge at Paddington (available for sleeper passengers) is like something out of a Victorian period drama. Just stunning and a great way to begin your journey.
You're so right about the colour of the train. The first time I saw that train it was like going back in time. A little memory of yesteryear. So much better than the garish colours that often assault our eyes on all sorts of things nowadays. Or maybe I'm just getting old. 😉
I think you're bang on about the heritage of the colour, and I think you're bang on about the need to show off split ticketing. Of the two sleepers that certainly seemed the more dignified, but I'm now impatient for the return leg.
Another great video from you, well done. Love a sleeper train. Have done 3 now. London to Edinburgh, Sydney to Perth and Singapore to Bangkok. Loved them all. Just one question if I may. Why is that loco on the rear end from London?
They’re OK if you have the need to arrive at your destination at 6am. Otherwise catch a day time train (much cheaper) and arrive in time for lunch when most civilised meetings occur!
i live and was born in Penzance and have used this sleeper up to london for many years its a very good experience even before the recent upgrade staff through out the years are always good..its like light years away from day time trains.
GWR still have a restaurant car on their services to Cornwall, which is quite rare these days. They do seem to be one of the better private rail companies and have improved massively since the Last Great Western jokes of the noughties. I didn't mind Virgin on Carlisle to London services, but seemingly Avanti are worse and have cut corners.
Great video. As someone who has lived in the West Country it used to be one heck of a lot easier to get to/from Scotland when we still had the Plymouth to Glasgow and Edinburgh sleeper... They were always well used, but I believe they didn't fit with the 'map' of franchising as services were let, so had to go. Also wondering if the smoothness owes something to the better track engineering compared to the West Coast line - when trying to get work done while travelling, I always note that it's less bumpy on the routes out of Paddington than Euston.
Just catching up on your videos. Suggestion: how about a map showing where you are and where you are going. As an American, most of those city names, other than the big ones, are unfamiliar and make it hard to visualize your trip. Great videos anyway.
Great video, Kid at Heart, definitely. The 7 split ticket sounds interesting. Coincidentally few days back watched the identical journey by @GLovesTrains which was equally entertaining.
Usually the only complain I have on GWR is also the WiFi is something you can treat as non-existent. Prepare your mobile data, or you can only have the station WiFi the short time it stop at each station.
A shower at the beginning and/or the end would have elevated the journey to a peak civilization experience. It's so annoying that GWR thought of it but ruined execution.
You mentioned your split ticket number well on a day trip from Torquay to Crewe I ended up with 35 separate tickets! All different seats using split ticketing
Wonderful video; I literally watched it from start to finish, transfixed. I'm planning a weekend with my wife based around going on one of the sleeper services, so either the Caledonian Sleeper or the Night Riviera. On the one hand, the Night Riviera looks wonderfully smooth and comfortable but on the other, the Caledonian Sleeper has double-bed cabins which it seems the Night Riviera does not, am I right?
@@andysmart2379 The views though are what differentiate the journeys for us, though we loved both! Our Caledonian Sleeper train was running two hours late due to an incident in Newcastle and honestly, we were so happy to have the extra time to stare out the window!
Great Scott. I'm from Glasgow too and I expected your plumbing caption to read Taps Aff! (7 minutes). When I go to Penzance I usually use an all-line Rover then book a sleeper supplement which was £55 last year. Then you can return via London and avoid the horrible Cross-Country Voyagers. I agree that the GWR sleeper staff are amazing, but a pity you had issues with the shower. When I did the journey last June I had no trouble getting a shower at Penzance. By the way, why is there a loco attached to the rear as far as Reading?
The rear loco will bring the sleeper from the sidings and then detach at Reading where I would assume it attaches the next morning to the sleeper going other way so it can bring the empty sleeper from Paddington back to the sidings again.
Scott, great video of the overnight journey. Could I check one thing with you? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember as a kid making models of GWR locomotives and rolling stock and painting them in a livery of chocolate brown with yellow cream highlights. Dark green was the colour for the southern region. All the best from Mornington in 🇦🇺
At least you enjoyed the sleeping facilities overnight - we live in Pensans (Kernewek for Penzance) and tried to use the Pensans to Paddington Night Riviera service as the first leg of our rail journey to Köln for the Photokina 2018 trade show. We barely made it out of Cornwall before the hauling loco broke down - we were rudely awoken and informed that we had to transfer to a hastily arranged HST replacement and spent the next few hours (uncomfortably) trying to sleep across two seats - not the relaxing experience we were expecting!
Having travelled in the new sleepers operating to Scotland there is no doubt in my view that these older vehicles provide a far, far, superior and quieter ride and indeed now they have been refurbished hold up very well. The only issue is that they dont have en suite facilities.
Why dont they put the caledonian sleepers to london paddington instead of euston they could connect reading oxford birmingham to inverness glasgow edinbugh aberdeen and fort william
There is no point in my brother sleeping on one of these he would never get down that aisle " he is 28 stone (392 IIbs) or sleeping in one of them single beds Is there a weight ratio like there is on planes and coaches 🏴
The colour is cool. The problem is that they use it for uniforms. All staff on platforms have to wear high viz jackets because other wise they merge into the crowd. No such problems with LNER! As always with GWR its style over substance.
I traveled for 2 weeks on a 1st class BritRail pass in June 1990. Took the Cornish Riviera to Penzance & returned on Night Riviera. Cheers from Vancouver.
We did the Night Riviera and Caledonian Sleeper just a few days apart and were so impressed with both! The beds on the Night Riviera beat the Caledonian Sleeper, though! Those mattresses were so plush! Love reliving the journey via videos like this one, so thanks for posting! We just shared our experience, too. So fun!
You cannot beat a sleeper train with your own cabin. Great film Scott 👍👍
That's the truth!
At 7:24, you hit the nail on the head when you say, "There's something absolutely wonderful about gliding through the darkness in your very own sleeper cabin."
100% agree!
Thank you for this wonderful journey. I like watching your videos because I like to travel with my son on the trains, and thanks to your comments I can learn English.
I remember as a lad sleepers all over the UK. So sad so few exist these days. Could you imagine the convenience of one from Inverness to Penzance via Glasgow and Birmingham...
❤ imagine that ❤
Can you imagine the cost
@@Oddly1970 split tickets 😂
@@mott2945 imagine that Roflmao 🤣
There used to be a Motor rail service from Newton Abbott to Inverness many moons ago.
a remodelled class 47, very nice indeed for the train buff. yup indeed Scot, green is mean, cant imagine their alternative for the green probably Fred Carnos Circus coloured.
I like GWR green too Scott. Great video. Really enjoyed watching this.
That's the best video you've made so far, in my opinion. I'm an avid follower, I love what you do.
I don't know how I remember but sleeping on the sleeper train going to Penzance is like being in a pram as a baby. Rolling and rocking all night very cosy and relaxing. Thanks for a great vid 🙏💎
Great Vlog...to the point..calling Spade a Spade and appreciating where one should....Always refreshing to watch your vlog....Keep it going..
Is there a need for more sleeper trains ? I think yes maybe London to Wales . London to Edinburgh via East Coast . The More competition the better.
In the BR days, there used to be a lot more. London to Liverpool and Manchester, London to Edinburgh and Aberdeen via the East Coast and Plymouth to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and they would convey your car too.
They should be a standard way of transportation in any major tourist destination everywhere in the world if you ask me
That one was fun. I like the colour, but then one of my favourite colours is British racing green. Looking forward to the video with the 7 ticket split. Cheers.
Well done GWR, very slack with the showers at both station but the dark green train looks the business. Loved the views from the rear carriage. It passes about a mile from our house every night, on the bucket list for sometime 👍
Dark green for the carriages? Never! Chocolate-and cream!
You cannot beat a BR MK3 coach. Better than anything else on the railway.
I hope when the time comes to replace the coaches, GWR will get a new sleeper fleet. Alstom now own the design rights to the MK3 and it would be fantastic if they could offer a updated version. I know that is unlikely though.
Great watch Scott, it’s on my bucket list as well 👍
Love this video. I travelled on the sleeper from Manchester to Penzance with a group of friends when we were 17. Loved it
A video on how you sorce and how much you pay for your multi ticket journeys would be most welcome .
Glad you had a nice smooth journey Scott! But why oh why can we not get the basics like functioning showers and available towels right? Very shoddy.
That was a beautiful journey to Penzance, very civilized being able to sleep well. Thank you. The scenery of the ocean was lovely also.
Thanks Scott. Yes the green looks good on Mk3s, DMUs, Castle sets and the EMUs. Much better than earlier First Group attempts. However the green does’t look so good on the Hitachi IETs. Maybe something a bit more dynamic is needed to cope with all the crevices and tapers on their bodywork.
Thanks for great video that is on my bucket list as well
Good luck with the journey back. CrossCountry have atrocious trains but if you're lucky you'll get the HST. Birmingham New St is a challenge as the poor design means you need to scan out of the station and scan in again, unless you happen to discover the "B" end of the station which the CrossCountry trains often don't stop at. I look forward to seeing how you fared.
its one amazing trip and welldone to you on doing the trip to penzance
Miss this train growing up in Penzance was always a life saver those seats are the old first class seats
Thank you so much for this! It's been 20+ years since I travelled on the Night Riviera Sleeper (heading the other way!). We've been wondering whether to have another go, so I'm grateful for the lovely review. I commute by train from Redruth to Penzance every weekday morning, and it's a great little journey, even when the weather isn't the best. I hope you had time to spend some time in lovely Penzance before heading back! For anyone else making the trip, if you look up 'Walking Tour of Penzance', there's a lovely lady called Anna who does walking tours (some free, some paid) from just outside the train station entrance.
It's like a British Racing Green eh? Very classy, makes me think of the Orient Express or something :)
Having travelled on both, the Night Riviera is, for me, far better than the Cal Sleeper, for all the reasons mentioned in this and other reviews. Also the First Class Lounge at Paddington (available for sleeper passengers) is like something out of a Victorian period drama. Just stunning and a great way to begin your journey.
Used to be Queen Victoria's waiting room.
You're so right about the colour of the train. The first time I saw that train it was like going back in time. A little memory of yesteryear. So much better than the garish colours that often assault our eyes on all sorts of things nowadays. Or maybe I'm just getting old. 😉
I think you're bang on about the heritage of the colour, and I think you're bang on about the need to show off split ticketing. Of the two sleepers that certainly seemed the more dignified, but I'm now impatient for the return leg.
Another great video from you, well done. Love a sleeper train. Have done 3 now. London to Edinburgh, Sydney to Perth and Singapore to Bangkok. Loved them all. Just one question if I may. Why is that loco on the rear end from London?
This is on my bucket list. Looking forward to the return journey.
thanks fascinated to see the return journey and the reason for all those tickets!!!!
I have travelled on that several times, and it has always been a great experience. I usually stay awake until Reading too!
excellent again.
They’re OK if you have the need to arrive at your destination at 6am. Otherwise catch a day time train (much cheaper) and arrive in time for lunch when most civilised meetings occur!
i live and was born in Penzance and have used this sleeper up to london for many years its a very good experience even before the recent upgrade staff through out the years are always good..its like light years away from day time trains.
Yes I love that green too !
Good video, glad you had agood journey,
GWR still have a restaurant car on their services to Cornwall, which is quite rare these days. They do seem to be one of the better private rail companies and have improved massively since the Last Great Western jokes of the noughties. I didn't mind Virgin on Carlisle to London services, but seemingly Avanti are worse and have cut corners.
I love Kernow/Cornwall! This is on my bucket list!
Great video. As someone who has lived in the West Country it used to be one heck of a lot easier to get to/from Scotland when we still had the Plymouth to Glasgow and Edinburgh sleeper... They were always well used, but I believe they didn't fit with the 'map' of franchising as services were let, so had to go.
Also wondering if the smoothness owes something to the better track engineering compared to the West Coast line - when trying to get work done while travelling, I always note that it's less bumpy on the routes out of Paddington than Euston.
Just catching up on your videos. Suggestion: how about a map showing where you are and where you are going. As an American, most of those city names, other than the big ones, are unfamiliar and make it hard to visualize your trip. Great videos anyway.
To bad sleeper trains are so hard to book these days especially in summer and in combination with an Interrail pass. Ow yeah and getting to expensive.
Added to my bucket list. 🙂
Enjoyed your vid! Come to Japan and do a vid :) Japan is all about punctuality in transport.
hello buddy great video 🖐️ greetings 👍 have a nice day 🤜🤛😊
yeah man!
When are you doing the next timetable challenge? Rlly looking forward to it
Great video, Kid at Heart, definitely.
The 7 split ticket sounds interesting.
Coincidentally few days back watched the identical journey by @GLovesTrains which was equally entertaining.
Usually the only complain I have on GWR is also the WiFi is something you can treat as non-existent. Prepare your mobile data, or you can only have the station WiFi the short time it stop at each station.
Wow, it's almost Orient Express !
This is one i would love to do one day
Got the 600th like 🎉. Well done on the videos love them so much.
Agree. Shame the trip is relatively short.
This looks great. Is there any reason why the Caledonian Sleeper can’t have trains of this model?
They did. They got replaced with modern rolling stock. These ones are very old.
A shower at the beginning and/or the end would have elevated the journey to a peak civilization experience.
It's so annoying that GWR thought of it but ruined execution.
One on my bucket list also....
You mentioned your split ticket number well on a day trip from Torquay to Crewe I ended up with 35 separate tickets! All different seats using split ticketing
Wonderful video; I literally watched it from start to finish, transfixed.
I'm planning a weekend with my wife based around going on one of the sleeper services, so either the Caledonian Sleeper or the Night Riviera. On the one hand, the Night Riviera looks wonderfully smooth and comfortable but on the other, the Caledonian Sleeper has double-bed cabins which it seems the Night Riviera does not, am I right?
Yes you are right. But watch the cost of the Caledonian Sleeper. Its expensive and pound for pound not as good value as the Night Riviera.
@@andysmart2379 The views though are what differentiate the journeys for us, though we loved both! Our Caledonian Sleeper train was running two hours late due to an incident in Newcastle and honestly, we were so happy to have the extra time to stare out the window!
recent subscriber love the videos, wow reading station looks a lot different i worked in reading for 20 years left in 2010
Great Scott. I'm from Glasgow too and I expected your plumbing caption to read Taps Aff! (7 minutes). When I go to Penzance I usually use an all-line Rover then book a sleeper supplement which was £55 last year. Then you can return via London and avoid the horrible Cross-Country Voyagers. I agree that the GWR sleeper staff are amazing, but a pity you had issues with the shower. When I did the journey last June I had no trouble getting a shower at Penzance. By the way, why is there a loco attached to the rear as far as Reading?
The rear loco will bring the sleeper from the sidings and then detach at Reading where I would assume it attaches the next morning to the sleeper going other way so it can bring the empty sleeper from Paddington back to the sidings again.
@@baseballfan99 Thanks. Where are the sidings - Reading?
@@Clivestravelandtrains Yes Reading Depot. it used to be Old Oak Common till it closed.
Brilliant, I’d love to do this. I hope the breakfast was good
“ 3 inches makes all the difference “ that’s what she said 😂
Lovely class 57
6:40 so it's not just me then. 🤣
Like your information. .abouth UK ..with witticisms..... greetings from Flanders...!😉
Why do showers never seem to work correctly in this country?
How much was the ticket?
Scott, great video of the overnight journey. Could I check one thing with you? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember as a kid making models of GWR locomotives and rolling stock and painting them in a livery of chocolate brown with yellow cream highlights. Dark green was the colour for the southern region. All the best from Mornington in 🇦🇺
Did you not fancy having a look at Queen Victorias waiting room when you were in the 1st class lounge at Paddington?
Just watched another review video filmed recently and apparently that part is or was closed off for some reason.
Geddon bey into Devon and then onto them over the water
A Journey much better done in the day time, miss all the fantastic scenery at night.
At least you enjoyed the sleeping facilities overnight - we live in Pensans (Kernewek for Penzance) and tried to use the Pensans to Paddington Night Riviera service as the first leg of our rail journey to Köln for the Photokina 2018 trade show. We barely made it out of Cornwall before the hauling loco broke down - we were rudely awoken and informed that we had to transfer to a hastily arranged HST replacement and spent the next few hours (uncomfortably) trying to sleep across two seats - not the relaxing experience we were expecting!
Having travelled in the new sleepers operating to Scotland there is no doubt in my view that these older vehicles provide a far, far, superior and quieter ride and indeed now they have been refurbished hold up very well. The only issue is that they dont have en suite facilities.
How much was this journey?
Those are the same sleeper carriages as the caledonian sleeper had until 4 or 5 years ago. The new ones are far worse, progress!
Need the barber shop visit Scott, keep the video's coming
WiFi issues are dependent on mobile phone coverage, I wonder if the WiFi will still work when they switch off the 3g network?
I don't live in the UK. So could you explain why it is cheaper with split ticketing in your next video.
That sink was like Ur nose running 😢😢😂Choo choo
The night Riviera is better than the caledonian sleeper it's quiter
what do people say about Penzance?
Going further would be S(c)illy…
explainer: South of Cornwall there are islands called Scilly.
7 Tickets cheaper than 1? That is bullshit, oh pardon, capitalistic market efficiency I wanted to say...
Shame you didn't get the ferry to Scilly
Looked lovely but how slow is that train, not for me
95mph max speed 👍
Slow? Why is speed an issue when you're asleep?
They don't do a breakfast?
Why dont they put the caledonian sleepers to london paddington instead of euston they could connect reading oxford birmingham to inverness glasgow edinbugh aberdeen and fort william
Why the rear loco?
Rear locomotive detaches at reading then goes back to Paddington on the Penzance to London Paddington then goes to reading train care depot 👍
There is no point in my brother sleeping on one of these he would never get down that aisle " he is 28 stone (392 IIbs) or sleeping in one of them single beds
Is there a weight ratio like there is on planes and coaches 🏴
They stations are the inside of your nose 😂😂 Choo Choo lol
Not a great advert for GWR. First class lounges were poor. Tap running for 7 minutes. Narrow bed.
It was probably just stuck and would have probably stopped if he'd pulled it back out......
you should be reading in Reading
The colour is cool. The problem is that they use it for uniforms. All staff on platforms have to wear high viz jackets because other wise they merge into the crowd. No such problems with LNER!
As always with GWR its style over substance.
No hot water.....3rd world comes to mind.
"he didn't speak much English". What, employed here in Britain ? Geez...
Sorry Scot but feel the colour scheme is old dull and drab plus they use obsolete stock and obsolete locomotives Time for some serious investment.
I know where I would rather wake up, fort William looking at Ben Nevis or Penzance.
It’s definitely not Penzance
Sir which ferry is good from
London to
Ballfast
Great episode Scott! Can't wait for the 7 way split ticket episode to come either!