The new age of sleeper trains

It’s a fabulous combination: travelling by train and sleeping. And the good news is that the concept of sleeper trains is being revived. The bad news is that, like trams and trolleybuses, a wonderful form of travel was allowed to decline in the first place.

The first sleeper carriages – as opposed to trains you happened to fall asleep on – were introduced in the US in the late 1830s, but these provided little more than hard wooden benches. It was George Pullman who built the first luxury sleeper coaches when he founded his eponymous company in 1867. America, with its vast expanses and a newly opened transcontinental line, was fertile territory, and Pullman coaches were soon being attached to long-distance trains. They were staffed by black attendants who, bizarrely, were all instructed to say their name was George.

In Europe, the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits built up a large network of overnight services in the final quarter of the 19th century, with famous names such as Orient Express. In the UK, sleeper services were similarly established, mostly running between London and places as diverse as Milford Haven. Just two survive: the Night Riviera linking Paddington with Cornwall; and the Caledonian Sleeper between Euston and various Scottish destinations, which has just been renationalised by the Scottish government.

As a child, I managed to persuade my mother to take the sleeper train down to the Côte d’Azur by making spurious claims of car-sickness. The service started at Calais Maritime, next to the ferry, and after meandering through northern France and around Paris, we would enjoy an onboard meal of consommé and steak frites. Delicious as it was, waking up to a view of the Mediterranean nestled between the red rocks of the Estérel mountains while breakfasting on croissants delivered to the compartment was even better.