Just Finished Reading: Night Trains – The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper by Andrew Martin (FP: 2017) [248pp] 

Sleep trains used to be common – in the UK, Europe, America and across the world. Even in Britain it could take a considerable time to travel between cities, so why not sleep your way to your destination and arrive fresh and fed? Some of the sleepers became culturally famous, like the fabled Orient Express, whilst others became notorious for questionable assignations and sought out by the rich and shameless. But all good things must come to an end and the few remaining sleeper trains may not be long for this world. The reasons are pretty obvious – trains are a lot faster than in decades gone by so there’s little time or opportunity to bed down, commercially sleeper coaches lose money and have always lost money so they’re no longer economically viable and, of course, long distance trains need to compete with airlines which are quicker and also tend to be cheaper. But the sleepers still have their fan base and that includes the author of this interesting little book. 

Travelling on a variety of lines including Paris to the French Riveria, the Nordland Railway in Norway, Paris to Venice, a cobbled together ‘Orient Express’ journey and the Berlin Night Express the author experiences (or at least in some cases tries to experience) what it was like to travel across Europe in a wheeled hotel. Looking at the history (and troubled future) of the sleeper the author delves into the dreams of railway enthusiasts and the complicated political maneuverings it took for sleeping passengers to cross borders in the dead of night. Within the EU such issues have long been overcome so his present-day travels were much easier although choosing to travel shortly after the notorious terrorist attack in Paris probably wasn’t his best idea.  

Told with self-deprecating humour and an obvious deep love of trains this was a fun and often fascinating read which I enjoyed a great deal. I’ve travelled on trains extensively in the UK – never having learnt to drive – and also in various parts of Europe (France and Italy) and have (largely) enjoyed the experience and have met some interesting people asnd had some interesting experiences along the way. I still chuckle about the street entertainer who showed his table a VERY large snake he was carrying much to the astonishment and sometimes horror of his fellow passengers, especially a bunch of school children from another carriage! More from this author (both fiction and non-fiction) and more train stories to come. 

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