Night Riviera - History

History

The first sleeping car train on the Great Western Railway was introduced at the end of 1877 from London Paddington to Plymouth. This had 7 ft 1⁄₄ in (2,140 mm) broad gauge carriages with two dormitories, one with seven gentlemen’s berths and the other with four ladies’ berths. These were replaced in 1881 by new carriages with six individual compartments.

An additional service was soon added from London to Penzance, which eventually became known as the Night Riviera. For example, in 1920 the two trains left London at 22:00 for Penzance and midnight for Plymouth; by 1947 they had been brought forward to 21:50 and 23:50. Under British Railways sleeping cars were limited to just the Penzance service.

On 6 July 1978 the up train left Penzance at 21:30 but never reached London. Approaching Taunton early the next morning the emergency brake was activated and it came to a stand short of the station with one of the carriages on fire. This had been caused by dirty linen that had been placed near a heater, which had been a standard and safe practice before the recent change from steam to electric heating. Twelve people died and 13 were injured. At this time the down train left London at 00:05.

On 11 July 1983 the Penzance sleeper was relaunched as the Night Riviera, designed to complement the long-established daytime Cornish Riviera. New Mark 3 air-conditioned sleeping cars were introduced with many safety features that had been lacking in the Mark 1 carriages that had caught fire at Taunton. These were the first on the route with controlled emission toilets, so discharge facilities were provided at Plymouth Laira and Penzance Long Rock depots where the carriages were serviced, although for a time being the carriages were taken from Paddington to Willesden Depot for discharging as Old Oak Common was not initially equipped. A new pricing scheme was also introduced. Instead of paying a sleeping berth supplement on top of the fare for the journey, all-inclusive fares were introduced that were set at competitive rates. The seating carriages that formed part of the train were mainly Mark 2 carriages. The train by now was again leaving London at midnight, shown in the timetables as 23:59.

Privatisation saw the service become part of the Great Western Trains franchise and the rolling stock was repainted into its green and white livery. Between 29 May 1995 and 26 September 1998 the service operated from London Waterloo. The business was sold in March 1998 and rebranded First Great Western.

The service was revised in December 2006. The carriage detached at Plymouth was withdrawn as it typically only carried four passengers: the train still calls but passengers need to alight on arrival rather than stay in their berths until ready to leave. The stop at Bristol Temple Meads was also withdrawn, to introduce flexibility to divert the service during overnight engineering works. The Class 47s were replaced in 2004 by Class 57s. In 2006 former Virgin West Coast Mark 3 carriages replaced the Mark 2 carriages. The carriages were refurbished by Railcare, Wolverton in 2008 and repainted in First's blue livery.

With the Great Western franchise up for renewal in 2013, the service's future was confirmed by the Secretary of State for Transport in June 2012.