Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper

Description

Night trains have long fascinated us with the possibilities of their private sleeping compartments, gilded dining cars, champagne bars and wealthy travellers. Authors from Agatha Christie to Graham Greene have used night trains to tell tales of romance, intrigue and decadence against a rolling background of dramatic landscapes. The reality could often be as thrilling: early British travellers on the Orient Express were advised to carry a revolver (as well as a teapot). In Night Trains, Andrew Martin attempts to relive the golden age of the great European sleeper trains by using their modern-day equivalents. This is no simple matter. The night trains have fallen on hard times, and the services are disappearing one by one. But if the Orient Express experience can only be recreated by taking three separate sleepers, the intriguing characters and exotic atmospheres have survived. Whether the backdrop is 3am at a Turkish customs post, the sun rising over the Riviera, or the constant twilight of a Norwegian summer night, Martin rediscovers the pleasures of a continent connected by rail. By tracing the history of the sleeper trains, he reveals much of the recent history of Europe itself. The original sleepers helped break down national barriers and unify the continent. Martin uncovers modern instances of European unity - and otherwise - as he traverses the continent during 'interesting times', with Brexit looming. Against this tumultuous backdrop, he experiences his own smaller dramas, as he fails to find crucial connecting stations, ponders the mystery of the compartment dog, and becomes embroiled in his very own night train whodunit.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper

  • 2018-02
  • 256 pages
  • Paperback
  • Profile Books(GB)

Similar books

• 

  Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City in the New South

  By William Bruce Wheeler

  In the early 1970s the Boeing Corporation had sent planners to the region for the purpose of building a new city , to be named Timberlake , near the Tellico ...

• 

  Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British

  By Leslie Banker, William Mullins

  Robbie Williams Like Justin Timberlake, Robbie Williams got his start in a boy band then parlayed that success into something much bigger.

• 

  New England, 1999

  By Wayne Curtis, Herbert B. Livesey, Marie Morris

  Frost lived in a cabin on a farm across the road for 23 summers . ... but it's also open to the public at rates of about half what you'd pay at Killington .

• 

  Frommer's New England 2003

  By Wayne Curtis, Marie Morris, Laura M. Reckford

  You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert...

• 

  Frommer's? New England 2002

  By Wayne Curtis, Marie Morris, Laura M. Reckford

  "Using the expertise of knowledgeable travel writers and editors, Frommer's New England is stuffed like a turkey, with slivers of information spilling out as soon as you open the cover.Even...

• 

  The Rough Guide to Peru

  By Sara Humphreys, Steph Dyson, Todd Obolsky

  S/620 01 446 9414, HI Hostel Lima Casimiro Ulloa 328 hihostels.com; map. A great deal, this is the top-rated HI hostel in the capital.

• 

  Chicago - Frommer's Travel Guides

  By Todd A. Savage

  The most authoritative, easy-to-use guide a traveller can buy

• 

  French By Heart: An American Family's Adventures in La Belle France

  By Rebecca S. Ramsey

  In a year or so, y'a.ll will move back home andTodd'll buy you some big house in Crawford Creek and you're ... But what is the deal with hotel rooms here?

• 

  Sons of Thunder

  By James Timberlake

  Book One: Sons of Thunder is the first of two books based on one summers 2000 mile trek across southern Europe.

• 

  Food Artisans of Alberta: Your Trail Guide to the Best Locally Crafted Fare

  By Karen Anderson, Matilde Sanchez-Turri

  Owners J.P. Fortin and Danielle Black Fortin have a base camp and café in Capstone at Riverlands in Red Deer. Check them out at pursuitadventures.ca.