Decided to make a more elaborate post on the history of sleeper trains. They have a long history, and still are an amazing way to travel.
They started as early as the 1840s and are used for more comfortable overnight travel. They were used extensively in the US and a vestigial form remains in long distance Amtrak trains. The concept is simple: Leave one city in the evening, wake up in a new city in the morning. Some trips take multiple days, and in this case comfort is essential. They are still used extensively all around the world.
People talk about how high speed rail could never go to every city, and they might be right. But, just about every city in the world and even many towns could support sleeper train services. In the US, sleeper trains were once the main way to get between cities, and they could be again. I'll go even more into depth on sleeper trains in the US on a future post about the Pullman company and the labor activism surrounding it. This is just a basic primer.
I took a sleeper train from Stockholm to Oslo once. Wonderful experience. Chatted and drank with strangers in my car.
I then slept on a train from Oslo to Bergen - I didn’t pay for a sleeper compartment, but was still stunning to wake up and see the mountains rolling past.
Whenever I get back to the U.K., I’d love to take the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Edinburgh.