InterCity Sleeper (British Rail)

InterCity Sleeper was the collective name for overnight sleeper train services run by British Rail between London and Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, and Northern England in Great Britain. Services were not provided in Northern Ireland.

History

When the railways came into public ownership in 1948, British railways inherited a number of night train services from The Big Four. Sleeping car services were operated on the West, East coast routes and GWR mainlines to multiple destinations, that were, but not limited to London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside, Manchester Piccadilly to Plymouth, Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston and Night Ferry sleeper from London Victoria to Brussels and Paris.

The first sleeping car train on the Great Western Railway was introduced at the end of 1877 from London Paddington to Plymouth. This had broad gauge carriages with two dormitories, one with seven gentlemen's berths and the other with four ladies' berths. These were later replaced in 1881 by new carriages with six individual compartments.[1]

Rolling stock

British Railways and outside contractors built the British Railways Mark 1 sleeping car between 1957 and 1964. Three hundred and eighty cars of three different types were built, with a fourth type created later by conversion. None remain in front-line service and very few are preserved (this was due to asbestos insulation in most carriages). Three types were designed, based on the BR Mark 1 63 ft underframe and profile. All featured 11 compartments with side corridor, an attendants' pantry at one end, and two toilets at the other. There was one fixed berth in first class compartments and two fixed berths in second class. Thus the Sleeper First (SLF) slept 11 and the Sleeper Second (SLSTP) 22. The Sleeper Composite (SLC) had five first class and 6 second class compartments.

Early examples were fitted with BR1 bogies which were later replaced with B5 bogies. Later examples were fitted with Commonwealth bogies from new. The cars weighed 39 to 42 tonnes, with the First-class cars weighing one tonne less than the others, and cars with the fabricated B5 bogies also weighing one tonne less than those with the heavy cast steel Commonwealth bogies.

By 1978, the Mark 1 sleeping car, seen in late 1950s, as an improvement compared to vehicles built during the grouping era were seen as less than luxurious and revenue generated by sleeper trains decline. As a result, the second major build of new sleeping cars under British Rail came about in the early 1980s when 208 New Mark 3 air-conditioned sleeping cars vehicles were built at Derby. These included the Nightcap Bar carriage, which also appeared on Pullman services.[14] These new cars introduced many safety features that had been lacking in the Mark 1 sleeping car.[15]

Modifications

In order to overcome the lack of flexibility in the fleet of sleeping cars, Wolverton works modified some of the SLSTP cars with a stowable top berth. The resulting Sleeper Either class with Pantry (SLEP) cars could then be used to better accommodate the fluctuations in passenger demand. The SLEPs were renumbered in the 2800-series.

Replacement

The Mark 1 sleeping cars fleet continued to serve British Rail for many years. With no Mark 2 sleeping car design, the Mark 1s continued until the British Rail Mark 3 sleeping cars entered service in the early 1980s.

nameforarea	Region
regions	All
secregions	All
stations	190
parent company	British Rail
start year	1966
end year	1994
successors	First Great Western, Virgin CrossCountry, ScotRail

InterCity Sleeper (British Rail)

History

Routes

Rolling stock

Modifications

Replacement

Incidents

Popular culture

See also

Further reading

References