Shunting the Northbound Sleeper at Edinburgh Waverley (The Highlander service)

Filmed whilst travelling as a seated passenger from London to Fort William, the process of splitting the northbound "Highlander" Caledonian Sleeper into the 3 portions that carry on to Inverness, Fort William and Aberdeen. Early hours of 21st June 2018.
The part of the process where the Fort William 'day coaches' are added is not seen in this video (because I can only film in one place at once!) but you can now see this in a separate video:
• Shunting the Northboun...
For the reverse process on the southbound service, see the companion film here:
• Shunting the Southboun...

[@M124M]

I love that the Scotrail staff are there working away doing an amazing job😊

[@BevMattocks]

Like the southbound video, this is fascinating! As a child in the 60s, I used to find coupling & uncoupling scary - maybe I worried the man would get squashed? Dating right back to the last days of steam when the process would be very noisy & dirty, uncoupling a tank which had brought the train in from Bradford and attaching a Black 5 to pull our train from Leeds to the southwest. I remember the yellow oil cloths between coaches, inside, and the way the underfoot plates used to move around. I never liked walking from coach to coach! Smoother these days.

[@CambriaJunction]

Thanks for your comments. As you might have already realised, there's part of the process that isn't covered in this film but you can find it here:. ruclips.net/video/kMqNgPO3yRA/видео.html
I sometimes find it slightly alarming to see the shunter stand between vehicles as they are buffered up, too!
But always quite enjoy walking through old style gangways where you can see glimpses of the track rushing past below. Still possible in some trains in continental Europe.

[@BevMattocks]

@@CambriaJunction thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I remember seeing the track rushing below - terrifying as a kid!

[@vincentmacgillivray8594]

I remember the yellow oil cloth between the coaches and the moving plates too. As a child I found these a bit scary and would jump across the plates just in case... Happy days, long train trips from Glasgow to visit relatives in Corby who had been tempted south by Stewarts and Lloyd.

[@CambriaJunction]

@@vincentmacgillivray8594 I have another video where I travelled on the last HST from Inverness which features a bit of mk3 oilcloth and moving plates footage ... ruclips.net/video/70pFoPxu7BM/видео.html

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Over the years I've had loads of things on those sleepers;86,90 and 92 and on the diesel front;37,47,60,66,67,73.I might have had 87 and possibly a 57 when the Glasgow was diverted via Dumfries too but I can't remember for sure.It was a Colas one and I couldn't see it properly but most likely a 47 or 57 or a slim chance a 56 but lacking ETH a 56 would need another loco to power up the train which I don't think it had.

[@polishstick0609]

Caledonian Sleeper looks great, the livery matches it, how comfy and nice it is and operating in the night

[@train4905]

Fasinating

[@mrandrewbowden]

This is very interesting. I've taken the Highlander a few times, and have been vaguely awake whilst some of this happens. But it does make you think about how much effort goes in to splitting that train.

[@mickboakes7023]

Nice to see the 73s are still around. Not many in their old stomping ground now down here in the south. Always thought they were a great loco.

[@mitchellhurd8958]

I love the MTU power units in the 73's which remind me of an MTU-powered HST :)!

[@BuzzLightyear66]

Coming to think of it, they do actually sound a bit like MTU HSTs. I always wondered why the diesel engines on Caledonian sleeper class 73s sound different to other ones. Do you know the horse power and max speed of these Caledonian sleeper class 73s?

[@tonysrailwayadventure2729]

great video

[@DysonTim]

Excellent!

[@ThermoMan]

Interesting video, thanks

[@davidsaxon8660]

Which is the lead portion of the highland sleeper the mid portion and the rear portion

[@MSmifffy]

What a nightmare for the Operator - you can see why they don't want to run these services. Great video :-)

[@1jamyanglalu]

Nice

[@cutiel7237]

So do you have to get off while it splits

[@CambriaJunction]

Only if you are travelling in the seated coach to fort william, because it gets added to the train at this point. Everyone else can stay asleep.

[@stuew6]

in Canada Via Same way for Some Trains

[@trainreviewsbymelon1415]

WHO GOES TO WAVERLY AT 4AM?

[@donthitmeimwoozy]

Text is too fast