Fiction or documentaries about sleeper trains
July 5, 2024 6:34 AM
I’m a big fan of fiction and documentaries (book, radio, podcasts and films) which are set on sleeper trains - and looking for recommendations for more.
I'm familiar with the big ones: The Lady Vanishes, Murder on the Orient Express, plus some BBC documentaries (Wireless Nights, Archive on 4).
Hit me up with suggestions that might scratch this itch. I suspect it's the feeling of being outside of everyday life and time, in a cosy environment, that I particularly enjoy.
Not looking for anything sci-fi or violent (murder mystery death is fine, but brutality is not...)
I'm familiar with the big ones: The Lady Vanishes, Murder on the Orient Express, plus some BBC documentaries (Wireless Nights, Archive on 4).
Hit me up with suggestions that might scratch this itch. I suspect it's the feeling of being outside of everyday life and time, in a cosy environment, that I particularly enjoy.
Not looking for anything sci-fi or violent (murder mystery death is fine, but brutality is not...)
Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal; it’s not cozy but it is very enclosed.
posted by vunder at 6:39 AM on July 5
posted by vunder at 6:39 AM on July 5
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson is a locked-door whodunnit that takes place on a train traveling across Australia. There are references to events that happen in his previous book, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a whodunnit that takes place at a snowed-in ski lodge, if that's up your alley. Both books have some descriptions of murders but are not overly gruesome or suspenseful. The audiobooks, narrated by Barton Welch and Megan Smart, are well done.
posted by SeedStitch at 6:46 AM on July 5
posted by SeedStitch at 6:46 AM on July 5
Not really _about_ per se but a sleeper train features prominently in North By Northwest.
Even more so in The Darjeeling Limited.
posted by rd45 at 6:47 AM on July 5
Even more so in The Darjeeling Limited.
posted by rd45 at 6:47 AM on July 5
Some Like It Hot - - Chicago to Miami by train courtesy of Billy Wilder in 1959.
posted by fairmettle at 6:49 AM on July 5
posted by fairmettle at 6:49 AM on July 5
Silver Streak
I can't omit the unintentionally campy TV series Supertrain. This was parodied in the intentionally campy movie The Big Bus. A bus is kind of like a train, right?
posted by adamrice at 7:12 AM on July 5
I can't omit the unintentionally campy TV series Supertrain. This was parodied in the intentionally campy movie The Big Bus. A bus is kind of like a train, right?
posted by adamrice at 7:12 AM on July 5
North By Northwest - and it's not merely a train, but the 20th Century Limited.
(Note that Eva Marie Saint celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday)
posted by Rash at 7:15 AM on July 5
(Note that Eva Marie Saint celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday)
posted by Rash at 7:15 AM on July 5
The Edge by Dick Francis takes place on a train across Canada.
posted by hoyland at 7:29 AM on July 5
posted by hoyland at 7:29 AM on July 5
How do you feel about music created on, inspired by and about sleeper trains? If you think you'd enjoy it, I'd recommend Cheryl B. Engelhardt's new age-y album "The Passenger." You can read about it here and listen to it here (YouTube playlist). Also! The brilliant podcast Railway Mania did an interview with Cheryl, which you can listen to here.
I know I'm veering slightly off-topic here, but I hope that's ok.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 7:50 AM on July 5
I know I'm veering slightly off-topic here, but I hope that's ok.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 7:50 AM on July 5
This is a little unusual but the Calm meditation app has stories designed to be listened to as you try to fall asleep. There are a number of stories narrating interesting, long train rides, some of them historical. I cannot tell you how much I love relaxing to these stories. I too find the idea of sleeper trains particularly cozy. The app itself is expensive but there are some stories on YouTube, including The Nordland Night Train.
posted by bookish at 9:55 AM on July 5
posted by bookish at 9:55 AM on July 5
I'm sure he's on your list already but for completeness there is Paul Theroux. The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express are great, despite his misanthropy.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 10:07 AM on July 5
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 10:07 AM on July 5
You've probably read Andrew Martin's Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper, but if not, it's a while since I read it but I think it was quite readable. There is a sleeper train scene in Josephine Tey's The Singing Sands. Hugh Morrison has Death on the Night Train which I think was ok - sorry for vagueness. There is a recent television episode of the Famous Five, Peril on the Night Train, though I have not and will not watch it. There is Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar, which I loved in about 1982, but not sure how it has dated. There is also Monica Rajesh, in the Guardian, on her blog, and a podcast interview. Finally, Skimbleshanks.
posted by paduasoy at 10:16 AM on July 5
posted by paduasoy at 10:16 AM on July 5
Inside No. 9, the horror/comedy series, has an episode that takes place in a sleeping compartment.
posted by carrienation at 10:37 AM on July 5
posted by carrienation at 10:37 AM on July 5
Do you like speculative fiction? Timothy Zahn’s Quadrail Series takes place on an intergalactic train.
posted by AMyNameIs at 10:39 AM on July 5
posted by AMyNameIs at 10:39 AM on July 5
Near-future sci-fi, but John M. Ford's Growing Up Weightless has a group of teenage friends taking a sleeper train journey halfway across the Moon.
Ford really liked trains, and wrote a whole essay on how trains on the Moon would work, which can be found in his short story collection, From the End Of the Twentieth Century.
His final, unfinished book, Aspects, also includes a sleeper train sequence.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:43 AM on July 5
Ford really liked trains, and wrote a whole essay on how trains on the Moon would work, which can be found in his short story collection, From the End Of the Twentieth Century.
His final, unfinished book, Aspects, also includes a sleeper train sequence.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:43 AM on July 5
Outside your requested media, but Norman MacCaig's poem “Sleeping Compartment” describes the UK sleeper train experience perfectly
posted by scruss at 12:25 PM on July 5
posted by scruss at 12:25 PM on July 5
Noir: The Narrow Margin (1952)
Documentaries:
I took a cross-country train trip! Alec rode the Southwest Chief a couple years ago, and documented his journey. To see what riding that route was like, back in the day, watch this Santa Fe Super Chief 1950s Railroad Promotional Film.
posted by Rash at 4:27 PM on July 5
Documentaries:
I took a cross-country train trip! Alec rode the Southwest Chief a couple years ago, and documented his journey. To see what riding that route was like, back in the day, watch this Santa Fe Super Chief 1950s Railroad Promotional Film.
posted by Rash at 4:27 PM on July 5
Wes Anderson did an ad for H&M set on a sleeper
https://youtu.be/XRDMyPIBaAs?si=GvNf6R2zpbgZMQh1
I don't know where you'd find a copy, but The Ghan, Australia's Greatest Train Journey (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9481862/ ) is a 3 hour slow tv documentary about a sleeper train, in googling for it quickly I saw there are a few other documentaries on YouTube about the train.
I also love poking around the ViaRail website and social media and daydream about taking a sleeper train journey across Canada.
posted by freethefeet at 6:48 PM on July 5
https://youtu.be/XRDMyPIBaAs?si=GvNf6R2zpbgZMQh1
I don't know where you'd find a copy, but The Ghan, Australia's Greatest Train Journey (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9481862/ ) is a 3 hour slow tv documentary about a sleeper train, in googling for it quickly I saw there are a few other documentaries on YouTube about the train.
I also love poking around the ViaRail website and social media and daydream about taking a sleeper train journey across Canada.
posted by freethefeet at 6:48 PM on July 5
Twentieth Century - John Barrymore is a past-his-prime Broadway producer trying to convince his now movie star ex (Carole Lombard) to be in his latest play. Comedy ensues when they both end up on the eponymous train.
posted by chrisulonic at 7:04 PM on July 5
posted by chrisulonic at 7:04 PM on July 5
Railway Sleepers is a lovely, meditative documentary about sleeper trains in Thailand, moving across all social classes and experiences.
posted by LeeLanded at 7:16 PM on July 5
posted by LeeLanded at 7:16 PM on July 5
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posted by number9dream at 6:37 AM on July 5