Night Trains

ANDREW Martin’s many fiction and non-fiction books are based around railways.

Sleeper trains conjure stories of romance and drama, and many authors, notably Agatha Christie and Grahame Greene have set their tales of crime and intrigue on trains.

The reality could be just as thrilling as the fiction; early British travellers on the Orient Express were advised to carry a revolver (as well as a teapot).

Night trains have fallen on hard times and the services are fast disappearing.

Martin’s intriguing story relives the golden age of the great European sleeper trains as he travels on their modern-day equivalents. 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 and reveals much of Europe’s recent history.

The original sleepers helped break down national barriers and brought together very diverse passengers.

Nowadays one experiences the Orient Express by taking three separate sleepers; however as in Agatha Christie’s day, the author meets intriguing characters and relives the exotic atmosphere of this famous train.

He describes the magnificent railway stations of Paris from where most of the sleepers departed; the Blue Train to Nice on the Riviera, the Orient to Venice, Budapest and Istanbul, the Sud Express to Spain and Portugal, and the Berlin Night Express originating in Malmö.

Martin takes us back in time to the glamorous 1920s; a more leisurely era that is now superseded by air travel. However, trains retain their fascination because the journey with its often magnificent scenery is the thing; not the destination.

Originally conceived as a lament, Martin ends on an optimistic note; his hope is that night trains will endure.