Night Riviera

Night Riviera Sleeper

57605 at Paddington in December 2015
Overview
Service type	Overnight passenger train
First service	11 July 1983
Current operator(s)	Great Western Railway
Former operator(s)	InterCity Great Western
Route
Start	London Paddington
End	Penzance
Average journey time	7 hours 30 minutes
Service frequency	6 x weekly
Train number(s)	1C99 (westbound) 1A40 (eastbound)
Line used	Great Western Reading to Taunton Taunton to Exeter Exeter to Plymouth Cornish
Technical
	4 Class 57 locomotives 10 Mark 3 Sleeping carriages 8 Mark 3 Seating carriages
Route map

Route map

[ ] Night Riviera route map
London Paddington Readingpick up only westbound, set down only eastbound Tauntonno service on Sundays Exeter St Davids Newton Abbot Totneseastbound only Plymouth Liskeard Bodmin Parkway Lostwithielwestbound only Parwestbound only on Sundays St Austell Truro Redruth Camborne Haylewestbound only St Erth Penzance

The Night Riviera is a sleeper train operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). It is one of only two sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom (the other being the Caledonian Sleeper). It runs six nights a week (Sunday - Friday) between London Paddington and Penzance with one train in each direction.

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 (2,134 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 5 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 thirteen were injured.

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 while 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.