[Travel] Hotels on Rails

[Chicken Run]

Red death and cheese and onion crisps all the way [emoji1303][emoji23]️


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With the Police Service of Scotland’s finest waiting to help us to a room inside one of their stations [emoji23]


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[Madafwo]

The West Highland Railway is a thing of beauty.

Did the Jacobite last week for the first time in a couple of years and it's just as beautiful as I remember.

Those trains, The Nightstars, were specifically built for the tunnel. But the government pulled out. Cost millions back then. They were eventually sold to Canada. It would very much be an issue now.

Safety standards are still set though so stock would just need to be built to meet those specs, just like any rolling stock that goes through the tunnel.

 

[Chicken Run]

Did the Jacobite last week for the first time in a couple of years and it's just as beautiful as I remember.



Safety standards are still set though so stock would just need to be built to meet those specs, just like any rolling stock that goes through the tunnel.

I did the Jacobite back in 2008, Halfway through a boating holiday from Inverness to FW and back, a wonderful holiday!


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[A1X]

If they're going to Edinburgh they also need to factor in loading gauge, HS2 isn't planned to go that far so it'll need to be a hell of a lot smaller than they'd need on most continental lines to go anywhere beyond London (or Birmingham / Crewe once HS2 phase 1 is open)

 

[Jim in the West]

I love night trains, but the quality of sleep you get is not often that great! We did the Arctic Circle train last year (February 2020 - funnily enough, it was the last train journey I took!), which was fantastic as it hardly stopped during the night. However, a year before I did Bucharest to Budapest overnight, and it was horrendous - loads of stops during the night - one particular stop involved uncoupling some of the carriages, and a whole load of shunting, at around 3am. We then just waited in a station - which was very brightly lit - for about an hour! I also did Vienna to Cologne a few months earlier, and that was also a pain, with loads of stops during the night. Despite all that, traversing Europe by night train has to be one of the best travel experiences you can have.

 

[Knocky's Nose]

Will it stop in Georgia?

... only if it's to a simpler place and time. Unless you mean the country, in which case it'll probably stop at Tblisi - so yes.

 

[Cian]

I did Munich-Milan and Verona-Paris (train started in Venice) in late 2019 on various older, but still better specced night trains

The Munich-Milan had absysmal service - no dining car, most of the food menu wasn't available and what was available required wheedling the carriage attendant to go ask another carriage attendant if he had any food left - cause what was in the kitchen for our carriage was a single carrot and cheese sandwich! Couldn't get an en-suite as they were booked out, so just had a sink in the cabin and a shower/toilet at the end of the carriage

The Verona-Paris one had en-suite cabins available and these were a lot nicer - they were built for four, but only ever book for three max and we had booked for two; so there was much more space. Proper restaurant/bar car open all night. But then we got woken up by the Swiss border guard at about 3am, which did in any chance of a full nights sleep.

If you can get a service like the latter one that has any border checks during waking hours, it should be quite enjoyable.

There's still plenty of absolutely awful services around - no en suites available, no showers available, no food offered at all - sometimes not even proper cabins, just couchette shelves (for want of a better term) available. Rural Italy and Eastern Europe has these.

 

[GT49er]

Those trains, The Nightstars, were specifically built for the tunnel. But the government pulled out. Cost millions back then. They were eventually sold to Canada. It would very much be an issue now.

Not a problem at all. The Eurostar trains are built to the British loading guage - before St. Pancras was opened as the Eurostar terminal than ran over 'ordinary' lines to Waterloo. Some were also used between King's Cross and York and Leeds (leased to the Great Northern franchise). The units have 18 (long) coaches, so would be far too long for British stations (except possibly Gloucester - we have a ridiculously long platform!) but no reason why they couldn't be made up into shorter units.
Or they could builld more similar to the Caledonian stock. Expensive, yes - all trains are - issue, no.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

I caught the Istanbul-Sofia sleeper train about 10 years ago (when I was young and flexible).

Shared the cabin with about 5 other people, was all very sociable and I slept fine apart from when we were all woken up to show our passports in the ticket office on the Turkish side of the border.

The major issue was that I had food poisoning at the time, and the toilet at one end of the carriage was one of those where you have to squat over a hole in the ground.

 

[Yes Chef]

I recently found out about the GWR 'Night Riviera' train, overnight from Paddington to Penzance, and have stuck it on the 'things to do' list. I've read about it on seat61.com but anyone on here done it, and have any advice? I love the idea of a night out in London, and then waking up in Cornwall and having a day or two down there.

 

[Yes Chef]

I caught the Istanbul-Sofia sleeper train about 10 years ago (when I was young and flexible).

Shared the cabin with about 5 other people, was all very sociable and I slept fine apart from when we were all woken up to show our passports in the ticket office on the Turkish side of the border.

The major issue was that I had food poisoning at the time, and the toilet at one end of the carriage was one of those where you have to squat over a hole in the ground.

I feel your pain. I once got a third class Indian rattler from Hosapete to Hyderabad overnight, suffering from Mughal's revenge, and I would have loved an Armitage Shanks to cradle.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

I feel your pain. I once got a third class Indian rattler from Hosapete to Hyderabad overnight, suffering from Mughal's revenge, and I would have loved an Armitage Shanks to cradle.

I've still got the scar on my chin where I fainted face first on the platform

Still had to pay to use the toilet with blood running down my face

 

[Yes Chef]

I've still got the scar on my chin where I fainted face first on the platform

Still had to pay to use the toilet with blood running down my face

I'm sorry for your travails but that did make me

 

[A1X]

Only ever done one sleeper train, from Moscow to St Petersburg, was a lousy experience. All the beds were around 5 feet long, which for someone over 6ft tall like I am made for an extremely uncomfortable experience. Reckon Dan Burn would have to stick his feet out the window.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

I'm sorry for your travails but that did make me

This story normally comes up quite quickly after I meet people. I'm completely aware of the funny side.

Did I mention it was my birthday?

 

[GT49er]

Before the advent of cheap flights (and cos me dad worked for British Rail) we used to go all the way from Scotland to Alicante by train. Astoundingly super adventure for little kids who had previously never been any further than Millport for their holidays. The final France-Spain leg was on a sleeper train called the Mare Nostrum. Which at the time seemed impossibly exotic. Still remember it vividly to this day

We had some wonderful trips from London to various parts of Scotland back in the day - Glasgow, Oban, Inverness, Edinburgh. Dad workedon the railway - weren't those priv tickets and free passes wonderful - shame the pay was so sh*t!

 

[jackalbion]

Did the sleeper up to Inverness back in 2019, with the old mk2 and mk3 stock, was a superb trip, went up to Kyle of Lochalsh. The best way to travel in the country by far.

 

[zefarelly]

If you could take bikes/scooters it would be ace to train to Southern France/Italy, tour for a week, then train home. Eurostar is a great way to travel quickly, and in a civilised fashion.

 

[BBassic]

I've wanted to do a trek across America by rail for many years so something like this is pretty appealing. Would definitely use.

 

[Goldstone1976]

I may well have some time off coming up. I've often fancied the Trans-Siberian Express. I'm thinking of doing the Mongolian branch (Moscow-Beijing) next summer. Anyone ever done it? Any tips? TIA.

First thought re route: Tube to London, Eurostar to Paris, Paris-Frankfurt-Moscow-Beijing (stopping off in Ekaterinburg, Irkustk, & Ulan Bator), Beijing-Shanghai, ferry to Osaka, pootle around in Japan...then... I'm not sure yet.