Robert Hampton

The Scottish Government today announced that the new operator of the Caledonian Sleeper franchise from 2015 will be Serco. It’s another blow to First Group, who currently run the service (as part of ScotRail) and were hoping to win the new standalone sleeper franchise. With this and the Thameslink announcement last week, First have managed to lose two lucrative rail franchises in the space of seven days. Maybe they should change their name to Last!!!111

The Scottish Government’s announcement is a welcome vote of confidence in the future of the service, whose future has often been in doubt. When Victoria Wood travelled on it in the 1990s, the Fort William sleeper had just been reprieved from closure by British Rail. Nevertheless, it did seem that this expensive train, which doesn’t get anywhere near covering its costs, would be an early victim of the brave new business-led railway that was ushered in by privatisation.

Fortunately, the Scottish Government has an enlightened attitude to railways and is now proposing to splash the cash. A glossy brochure points out the coming attractions. The new rolling stock will have a mixture of berths (some with en suite bathrooms) and “podbeds” (seats that can be reclined flat, with privacy screens).

I have to admit, the slightly faded splendour of the former British Rail rolling stock was all part of the charm for me, so I’ll be sad to see the Mk3 coaches retired. I’m not sure how many of my fellow non-enthusiast passengers will share that view, so new rolling stock is welcome. I’ll be interested to see how features like en suite toilets can be fitted in without reducing capacity or sacrificing the ambience of the trains. A lot of press attention has focused on Serco’s Australian train operations, which include several luxury sleeper trains, but the Scottish sleepers are a slightly different market – they don’t just serve tourists, but business travellers too.

In any case, if you’ve been considering a trip on the sleeper and have been putting it off, I think you should go now, before the experience changes out of all recognition in 2018 when the new rolling stock arrives. Tickets don’t have to be expensive – an Advance ticket to Fort William can be bought for under £70 if you book far enough in advance, and occasionally Bargain Berths are available for as little as £19. To whet your appetite, check out my blog from when I did the trip with my friend Ian, or Ian’s blog from when he did the trip with his friend Robert, or the video Ian and I made when we did the trip together.

The weather’s getting colder, the nights are getting longer and Ryan Giggs has won the X Factor (or something). It can only mean one thing: Christmas approaches, and as usual the broadcasters clear their schedules for some festive hijinks.

Here is my pick of the Christmas TV schedules. I actually thought I’d done this last year, but in fact it was all the way back in 2006 when I hand-picked some top Christmas telly, so it’s high time I did it again. There’s a lot of dross this year, and a big thumbs down to BBC Two who fill an hour of precious peaktime on Christmas Day with a repeat of the previous week’s Top Gear! Still, there’s some proverbial wheat to be found among the chaff. Here’s my choice.

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Today was apparently railway night on BBC Four, with a documentary by Ian Hislop about Dr Beeching’s infamous railway cuts, followed by Victoria Wood’s Crewe to Crewe, an epic journey across northern England and Scotland on early-1990s, about-to-be-privatised British Rail.

Surely the most promising night of telly in ages… and I completely forgot about the whole thing while watching Buzzcocks and Beautiful People on BBC Two. Fortunately, these shows were also good! Everybody wins!

Looks like I have a date with iPlayer at the weekend (Great Railway Journeys is unavailable, but I taped it off UK Horizons ages ago, so that’s OK; you can come round and watch it with me if you want).