This book has been written as a lament. But if it turns out that my tone is misconceived, and the European night trains will not disappear into a permanent darkness, I will be only too glad.
FOOTNOTES
1 For an account of a journey on the Caledonian Sleeper, see my book Belles & Whistles.
2 Most people would say six, but I suppose SNCF would know: they must be including Gare Bercy, which is a sort of spin-off from Gare de Lyon.
3 When I returned home, I phoned SNCF and asked the policy on dogs: ‘Generally speaking, they have to have a ticket and the owners must have sole occupancy of the compartment; otherwise the dog is classed as an illicit passenger.’
4 At the time of writing the premises remain empty.
5 When I returned home, I showed a picture of my accommodation to Brendan Martin (no relation), who is one of the leading experts on W-L history, and he diagnosed it as a Swiss-built carriage bought second-hand by Romania. He added that Romanian Railways owned more modern sleepers, bought second-hand from Germany, and that some of the compartments on those have en-suite WCs.
COLOUR PLATES
1. Anhalter Station, Berlin, towards the end of the Second World War. The most famous Wagons-Lits dining car, number 2419, was stabled nearby, having been stolen by Hitler from Paris in 1940.
2. Gare de Lyon in the modern day. As if the station were not exciting enough, the palm tree gives promise of the Riviera, lying in wait at the end of the PLM main line.
3. A Wagons-Lits dining car, as burnished to perfection for the Venice Simplon Orient Express. Note the lamp shades, interestingly suggestive of French knickers.
4. The cosy buffet at Budapest Keleti station (complete with Christmas decorations in February). Here the author drank two glasses of decent, cheap white wine with characteristic speed, whilst regretting he did not have time to order ‘mozzarella cheese grilled on lava stone’.
5. The bar car of the Blue Train, a promising chat-up venue, even for the rapidly balding. The year is 1950.
6. The Train Bleu restaurant in Gare de Lyon. Francophobes like to say, ‘Oh, you mean station the buffet?’
7. There was never much sleeper train action at Gare Montparnasse, which will always be associated with this accident, caused by a brake failure on 22 October 1895 (even though the station was called Gare de l’Ouest at the time).
8. Lisbon Oriente station, as photographed by the author at 07.20am, after a sleepless night on the Sud Express.
9. Passengers at Calais Maritime in 1951, about to exchange the pampered luxury of the Golden Arrow for the pampered luxury of the Fleche d’Or. Unfortunately, a little walking was required.
10. A cabin of the Night Ferry, the sleeper train that was put onto a boat. Somewhere in there is a lifejacket.
11. The author’s quarters on what is left of the Blue Train. On the seat are SNCF emergency rations, including four biscuits, a yoghurt and a drink that was potentially (if instructions were correctly followed) hot chocolate.
12. A Wagons-Lits sleeper of the Lx type, pictured in 1955. These offered ample facilities for one’s toilette. The actual toilet, however, was at the end of the corridor.
13. The Wagons-Lits company’s exotic magazine, The Continental Traveller, exciting counterpart to the dour (and monochrome) British publication, Travel, which tried to pretend that Wagons-Lits did not exist.
14. The badge of the British Railwaymen’s Touring club, as sported by the author’s father on his summer blazers, at the start of family excursions by sleeper in the 1970s. These badges, symbolising an excitement rarely surpassed in the author’s subsequent life, can be bought on eBay for about £3.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For supplying historical information and insight, I would like to thank, in no particular order: the International Railway Preservation Society, especially Brendan Martin, Christopher Elliott and Phil Marshall; the SNCF Society; Colin Rolle of the Railway Employees & Public Transport Association; Chris Jackson, editor of Railway Gazette International; John Scott-Morgan; Julian Pepinster; Dame Frances Cairncross; Tim Johnson of the Aviation Environment Federation; John Stewart of HACAN; Brian Riddle of the National Aerospace Library; Nigel Harris, editor of Rail magazine; Bob Gwynne at the National Railway Museum, York; the staff of the National Railway Museum, Shildon; Lars Igeland of Friends of the Earth, Sweden; Dr Werner Reh, of Friends of the Earth, Germany; Susie Cox, of the P&O Heritage Collection. All factual errors are entirely my responsibility. For supplying press tickets, I would like to thank Eurostar; Voyages SNCF; the Nordland Railway; Snälltåget.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1.Anhalter Station, Berlin, towards the end of the Second World War ©Bettmann/Getty Images
2.Gare de Lyon in the modern day ©Flo Smith / Alamy Stock Photo
3.A Wagons-Lits dining car, Venice Simplon Orient Express ©Katie Garrod/Getty Images
4.The buffet at Budapest Keleti station. Author’s photo
5.The bar car of the Blue Train, c. 1950 © Wagons-Lits Diffusion, Paris 2016
6.The Train Bleu restaurant, Gare de Lyon ©Kalpana Kartik / Alamy Stock Photo
7.Gare Montparnasse, 22 October 1895 ©Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
8.Lisbon Oriente station. Author’s photo
9.Passengers at Calais Maritime c. 1951 ©Science and Society Picture Library/Getty Images
10.A cabin of the Night Ferry ©National Railway Museum/Science & Society Picture Library. All rights reserved
11.The author’s quarters on the Blue Train. Author’s photo
12.A Wagons-Lits sleeper of the Lx type, 1955 © Wagons-Lits Diffusion, Paris 2016
13.The Wagons-Lits company’s The Continental Traveller. Public domain.
14.The British Railwaymen’s Touring club badge. Author’s photo
While every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders of illustrations, the author and publishers would be grateful for information about any illustrations where they have been unable to trace them, and would be glad to make amendments in further editions.
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Night Trains Page 24
