REVIEW | GWR Night Riviera sleeper train from London to Penzance

June 2022. Reconciling 4 weeks off, after the Mediterranean cruise for Danny and Mexico for Timothy, we arranged a train journey in England On the menu: Bletchley Park, the night train to Penzance, the Dartmouth Steam Train and the Island of Wight On the last day, we wandered around London to sample the Elizabeth Line

After our bog basic journey on Eurostar from Brussels to London and our brief check out to Bletchley Park we crossed London en route to Paddington station. In the early morning we had actually currently dropped our bags there at the left-luggage workplace, to prevent needing to carry them around all the time. Prior to we selected our bags up once again we had supper in a Peruvian dining establishment in the just recently redeveloped docklands around the canal simply north of Paddington. It was an okay meal, not as unique as we hoped when we reserved it.

Heading back to the station we got our saved bags and strolled throughout to the other station for the GWR First Class Lounge As we were reserved in a sleeper cabin on the famous Night Riviera over night train we were enabled access to it, to wait till boarding of our train would begin around 22:30.

The lounge includes 2 primary locations. The very first is the more modern-day primary location in which you go into the lounge having some various seating choices and some work desks, in addition to the bar location where you can get some beverages and treats.

The beverages and treats available where rather fundamental, with simply some coffee. Tea, water and juices available and some crisps and cookies. The 2nd location was the previous royal waiting location, going back to the reign of Queen Victoria This is a much better, more traditional embellished waiting location in which we chose to take a seat.

Power plugs might be discovered spread around the lounge, however you do need to try to find a location near to them as not all seating has access to power plugs. The lounge likewise provides 2 toilets.

The very first sleeper trains on the Great Western Railways out of London Paddington where initially presented back in 1877, and the name Night Riviera was offered to the sleeper train running all the method from London to Penzance. The latter is the last staying sleeper train on the Great Western network and among just a handful of sleeper trains left in the UK (The others are all branches of the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Scotland).

Today the train includes a Class 57 engine (initially developed as a class 47 by British Rail from 1964 to 1967 and reconditioned in between 1998-2004) and a rake of mark 3 coaches (developed in between 1975 and 1988, totally reconditioned for the Night Riviera service in between 2017-2018). Leading our train was 57604 ‘ Pendennis Castle‘ in an unique retro livery.

The very first coaches offered a products location to save bikes and a variety of seats for individuals choosing to take a trip on the less expensive seated tickets over night (not suggested). It is followed by a lounge cars and truck in which you can buy some beverages or treats and belong to sit beyond your sleeper compartment.

The rest of the train is comprised of similar Mark 3 sleeper cars and trucks. At one end of each coach you have 2 toilets beside each other. There is an extremely narrow passage along the side of the coach in which the doors to all cabins lie.

All cabins have 2 beds, a lower and an upper berth. We reserved 2 single cabins as they are rather tight, to offer us with some more space each, implying just the lower berth was offseted us.

The cabin is little and cosy however magnificently reconditioned and provides a modern store hotel design. Both power plugs with USB plugs, an attendant call button and light controls are used for both berths. There are 2 wall mounts on the wall in a little closet to hang up some things.

Each cabin likewise has a sink with both warm and cold water, in normal UK style it’s a different cold and hot tap.

A towel and soap are likewise offered in each cabin. The cabins can be locked from both inside and outside thanks to a hotel keycard system. Upon boarding the secret lies in your cabin, when deboarding you need to drop it off in the container situated at the end of the coach.

There is a little fold down table situated in the back rest in the middle of the bed, which can be utilized to have your breakfast in bed in the early morning.

After boarding the attendant happens examining your tickets and discussing whatever about your space. She likewise took down our breakfast order, we might select in between a variety of products like a croissant, some porridge or a bacon roll and at what time we want to have it provided. She then likewise asked for at what time we like it to be provided and whether we would like a shower in the early morning in the lounge in Penzance. As we quite liked to have a shower in the early morning she booked and offered us with a time slot.

After all the administration was completed we kipped down for the night as it was currently rather late at 23:00 UK time or midnight Belgian time. The train had an extremely smooth trip and really comfy bed linen so I had an outstanding night’s sleep.

In the early morning the attendant knocked on the door with the breakfast at precisely the time it was bought. I had some tea with a bacon roll and enjoyed it while depending on bed and watching out of the window, taking pleasure in the Cornish landscape.

All to quickly we got here into Penzance, last stop of the train as this is where the UK ends. We had a speedy deboarding and headed for the sleeper lounge in the charming little station of Penzance.

The lounge provides some seating where you can await your shower time slot and provides some more tea, coffee, juice, water, crisps and cookies. The attendant in the lounge truly liked her task and made us seem like we were simply checking out at some far-off relative.

The shower suites where huge and well geared up with a toilet, a washbasin and a big walk-in shower. There where toiletries in big multiple-use containers and they really smelled rather great. A GWR green towel was likewise offered, which is a great touch to have it in the business colour.

After a great and rejuvenating shower Timothy understood he left his passport and home secrets on the train. Naturally we right away went outside intending to have the ability to get them from the train. Sadly it was currently being shunted back to the depot. Fortunately the very friendly customer care representative in the station right away helped us by telephoning an associate in the depot and an hour later on we might get both passport and secrets.

The friendly and expert personnel truly conserved our day.

All in all we had a wonderful journey, all GWR workers was very friendly, consumer focused and caring. They all plainly liked their tasks and it revealed. The GWR Night Riviera provides a wonderful item, in spite of being kept up older devices. If you ever plan to take a trip in between London and Cornwall we can extremely advise it. In my viewpoint Nightjet might discover some things from this operation.