The Longest Sleeper Train in France – Paris to Nice with Intercités de Nuit “Train Bleu”

Do you know anything about those stainless steel cars in the last scene? They look very much like Budd-built streamlined cars built in the USA from the 30's to the 50's.

If you're going to provide VO commentary, I'd suggest you slow down the pace of your read so you can focus on enunciation. I'm happy to indulge the VO as long as you provide subtitles….but the ones you use here are set in very small type.

I took the train Paris simplon orient express to Milan early august 1946 to visit my grand mother whom was living in the mountains near Bergamo. I was 9 years old. I travelled in one few first international trains leaving Paris shorty after the reopening of France, Switzerland and Italy borders. It was travelling with a man I did not know never met before the Montparnasse railway station that evening and never heard of since. He had been recommended to my parents by my god mother. We had second class tickets the cheapest fare in that train Europe at that time has 3 classes plus of course sleeping car when available The compartment had 6 wide comfortable seats but we were seven assigned to it. The compartment door was not sliding door but had hinges and opened widely into the hallway. Our car was the last. There was a folding seat at the back facing the track and I spent the whole fascinated by the track and signal light. France and Switzerland were enjoyable but things deteriorated after Domodossola the Italy border. The train became a local train stopping at every station to be invaded by a horde of people with huge suitcase cardboard boxes and baskets with live chicken head sticking out. Pandemonium I have never seen since. By that time I had retreated back to the compartment were I stayed until Milan central. We changed train for Bergamo. The new train consisted of cattle cars (chevaux 8, hommes 40) with only a third class coach baptised First class by stickers in the windows. my companion complained to the controller who answered we lost the war. The cattle car with straw on the floor were second class, the bare wood board were third class. I was hoisted (no ladder) into the cattle car were I slept on the straw for the entire trip. I remember rhe whole trip like it was yesterday.

I really enjoy hearing your voice. Much appreciated.

I love your french accent!

I love your French accent, but do admit I turned on CC. Sorry. 🙂

Enjoy hearing your voice very much. Really adds to the video.

I like the talking. That wa6 I can see the video and not have to read the text.

SNCF FAILS again… This is a service most suitable to a low-cost Flixtrain, even after refurbishment. SNCF hates dining cars and bars/cafe service, while other places embrace them and bring them back. Time to learn from Amrak and Nighjet.

Great video and merci for sharing. but France deserves better on non-TGV services. VIVE LE FRANCE!!

Great trip. It's great to see this train back to operational again.

Last summer, I helped a friend book Paris-Toulouse on overnight. It is possible to book a 2 person room to yourself and it wasn't that mucy more epensive, but the number of rooms available for this is limited and you have to try over a number of days to find one becoming available.
SNCF had no chocie but to re-inroduce sleeping cars oetherwise ÖBB Nightjet would have invated France with these services and SNCF saw how popular they were. (and thsi is why they are hurrying to rejuvenate CORAIL cars instead of ordering new sleeping cars.

"transport" overnight trains (as opposed to vacation ones) should arrive early in destination to make it a good alternaative to flying. Arriving at 11:00 in morning is late.
Between Montréal and Toronto (Canada) we used to have the Cavalier which left at 23:30 and arrived about 07:30 at destination which was perfect for early start of business with breakfast meeting and beat what the plane could do. During its hetdays, it had both a bar car as well as a café car (but at the end, only sleeping and coach cars).
When it ran, the Amtrak Montréaler left Montréal at about 17:30, arrived New York Penn at 07:30 and Washington about 3 hours later. It had restaurant car (all one "heritage" equipment back in early 1990s). It was a very relaxing ride where you could meet interestig people in the dining car.

I agree with you about need to serve some breakfast. Interestingly for my friend, he had access to a shower facility at the Toulouse train station (well hidden and not yet open when train arrived). This was a nice touch, but would be getter if train had showers.

I took this train in 1991.

Really nice voiceover so much extra information!!!

Bravo Thibault, ce format avec voice over est beaucoup plus sympathique et on a plus l’impression de faire les trajets avec vous. Merci pour toutes les nouvelles informations communiquées. And the French accent is charming. Arnaud

Very nice video Thibault!
Very insightful, and I love the scenery around Saint Raphael. I totally agree that the refurbishment of SNCF night trains is a huge improvement over an actually unacceptable service (super old, no plugs, etc.) before. That was necessary but the service onboard is still lacking modern standards and is not client-oriented at all. As you mentioned, no breakfast included in first class, and the small corner where you can buy something is ridiculous. Come on SNCF, there is money to make here and provide a nice service to awakening passengers craving for a good croissant and coffee after the night! I am not sure if it’s still the case, but at some point they only accepted cash 🤣 I am talking about 2022, not 1980.
As you mentioned too, the 6 sleepers compartments are very outdated compared to what clients expect nowadays.
And I laughed when you said « Americans we owe you something. High speed trains maybe? » 😆 (well at least the service onboard the slow Amtrak trains is top-notch, and SNCF could learn from it)

The silent videos with subtitles were better. Can’t enjoy train vibe with someone’s voice.

With a train that is so special to you, it makes sense to do this video with commentary. It is obvious how passionate you are about it, and as train-nerds we of course love hearing these details!

Videos with and without commentary have slightly different vibes to them (both good; one is more chill and the other more actively informatic), is it plausible to do a mix? Videos with commentary for specialised subjects such as this where you have deep knowledge and can go in depth, with subtitled videos for thr videos exploring new routes/trains for example?

In regards to the train; It's good to see more of this continued investment into overnight trains. Also, the views looked lovely 😍 Seeing the vivid blue sea from the train in the morning must be wonderful.

I agree too, it is crazy to see a First Class ticket still in a 4-bed compartment, without breakfast!? Come on!!

Those classic blue carriages were gorgeous, and I now realise, these are likely the refurbished beautifullll carriages now used for the luxury Simplon Orient Express 🥰

Hi great video, love your personal experience. In my opinion you could do some videos with subtitles and some with voice over. Have you in plan to travel with treno turistici italiani, a new luxury company owned by ferrovie dello stato italiane, that uses refurbished old couchette and rolling stocks and offers a luxury night train experience?

I prefer subtitles but it is a question of getting used to👍

Thank you Thibault for this! While I prefer the other style video because it has more of the actual train sounds, etc , your narration is excellent. Maybe you can do videos like this for more in-depth discussions and explanation videos and keep the orginal format for regular ones… Remember, we are riding vicariously through you, LOL!!!