I worked on night trains in France in the 1980s

300 night train journeys in five years!

In five years, I’ve accompanied almost 300 overnight trips and covered some 350,000 km, or almost nine times around the Earth. My employer was the famous Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme (CIWLT).

I still have fond memories of this period, one of the most memorable experiences of my life, both in terms of the openness it gave me to other horizons and the wealth of human contacts it brought me.

My ambition is to give you an idea of what night trains were like in those days, through my own experiences, with two articles:

• The first tells of my travels in France (this one).

• Secondly, my international travels to other European countries.

I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible, but forty years on, it’s not unlikely that a few errors have crept into my memory.

Above all, it’s a story I’d like to share with the younger generation, to show them what Europe was like when the night train was a fully-fledged mode of transport. And for the older ones, I hope my story will bring back fond memories of those days.

Nota bene: Illustration sources have been acknowledged wherever possible. In the event of a problem, please contact me for amicable resolution, including immediate removal if necessary.

It all began with a training course at the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits

It all began for me in October 1981, when I was recruited by the venerable Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme (CIWLT), already over a hundred years old.

It was founded in 1872 by a businessman from Liège, Georges Nagelmackers, whose ambition was to create a network of luxury trains spanning the entire continent of Europe.

For a long time, CIWLT owned its sleeping cars; however, by the 1980s, these had mostly been acquired by the railroads companies. CIWLT’s role had evolved into that of a responsible on-board service provider.

Students serving occasionally as sleeping car conductors or couchette attendants.

In those days, CIWLT recruited students in addition to its permanent professional staff. This enabled the company to adjust its workforce to seasonal fluctuations in demand. Another advantage was that student staff, paid at the minimum wage, were much cheaper.

Still, it worked out well for students. For example, a round trip from Paris to Rome, which involved two nights of work, earned us 39 paid hours—the equivalent of a full week on a regular schedule. On top of that came tips and meal allowances. It was hard to find another student job that paid as well.

Students were mainly recruited from business schools. While the employer enjoyed great flexibility, so did the students: they could travel whenever they wished. Of course, the most motivated were rewarded with a wider choice of trips.

The sleeping car conductor’s job

In the 80s, this profession still retained its prestige, as Jean des Cars, a writer with a passion for night trains, recounts in his book Sleeping Story (in French).

We weren’t ‘stewards,’ we were ‘conductors.’ This old-fashioned 19th-century term meant that we ‘conducted’—that is, we accompanied our sleeping car, providing both service and safety for our passengers.

The fact that the conductor was associated with the world of nightlife and travel contributed to his mystery. Until the 1960s, the sleeper conductor was a discreet figure who welcomed celebrities and the powerful aboard night trains. What happened in the sleeper stayed in the sleeper!

An all-male world

The first thing that struck me at the time was that the world of night trains was exclusively male. There were only men, whether on the management staff, among the travelling professionals, or the students! The presence of women on night trains was unthinkable. It had been that way since the CIWLT was founded, and no one had thought to question this principle, inherited from the 19th century.

After recruitment, we underwent a few days’ training. It was a real clash of generations: on the one hand, young students from the most prestigious business schools; on the other, a trainer at the end of his career, who had started working in sleeping cars at the end of World War II.

Red tape inherited from the pre-war world

Truth be told, the training didn’t quite immerse us in the romance of night trains, but instead in the maze of administrative paperwork that came with every trip. We’d set off with bundles of forms and return to file them into various boxes. This ritual was, somewhat ironically, known as the “paper game” or “jeu de papiers” in French.

The other part of the training, devoted to ticketing rules, was even more challenging to digest. Our role was to collect tickets from passengers, so we had to make sure they were valid.

Fortunately, our instructor—well aware of how tedious the training could be—would occasionally liven things up with anecdotes from his long career, along with tips for handling the unexpected in our future roles as sleeping-car or couchette attendants: what to do with a drunk passenger? How to deal with a double booking when the carriage is full? Who to alert in the event of a passenger’s death?

Ready for five years of night train work!

Finally trained, I could put on my occasional conductor’s uniform. It consisted of a navy-blue blazer and dark gray pants. Of course, a tie was mandatory at all times. We were immediately distinguishable from the professional conductors, whose uniform was brown and included a kepi.

I was given a Berne key, which gave me access to all the locks on the sleeping cars and couchettes, as well as to the technical cabinets.

My first shift was a standby at Gare de Lyon. I had to remain in the reserve lounge, ready to step in if a conductor was missing at the last minute. That evening, everyone showed up, and I had to head home, rather sheepishly, after daydreaming about going to Nice, Rome or Florence. But it was only a matter of time—many trips awaited me over the next five years, and I certainly made the most of them.

For the first two years, my pay slip was handwritten! It was proof positive that CIWLT was a venerable company from the 19ᵉ century.

The different ways to travel by night train

Passengers could choose between couchettes or beds.

In the first case, they shared their compartment with other people: four in first class and six in second. Bedding consisted of a sheet, pillow, and blanket. These spaces were always mixed. On domestic routes, there were no accompanying staff. On weekend evenings, military personnel, often conscripts doing their compulsory service, made up a significant proportion of passengers.

Sleeping cars were more comfortable, offering hotel-like sleeping accommodation and a private washbasin. The furnishings were more plush and elegant. Furthermore, passengers enjoyed the assistance of a conductor and a paid service that provided drinks, snacks, and breakfast.

Kilometre-based pricing from another era

The ticket, in second or first class, was calculated according to a rate per kilometer applied to the distance traveled. The fare remained fixed, whatever the day of the year.

Numerous discounts existed, but they were almost always subject to possession of a specific card: large families, paid vacations, members of parliament, and so on. We had to check their validity when travelers came to us.

Dynamic pricing principles, which allow prices to fluctuate according to demand, did not yet exist.

In addition to the ticket, you had to pay extra for a berth or bed. Today, a single fare covers all these services.

Sleeping car categories

Depending on their ticket, passengers did not have access to the same cabins.

With a first-class ticket, it was possible to purchase a supplement for :

• “Single: a single bed in a spacious cabin

• “Special: a single bed in a smaller cabin

• “Double: two beds in a comfortable cabin

With a second-class ticket, the options were limited to a :

• “T2″: a cabin for two people, more cramped than the double. There was a lower version with two bunk beds, and a higher version with two beds facing each other.

• “T3: a cabin with three bunk beds

It was possible to book just one bed and share the cabin with another unknown traveler, provided they were of the same sex.

Fortunately, the SNCF published a rather well-designed explanatory brochure to make these offers easier to understand. The illustrations are taken from this brochure.

Night trains from Paris to the provinces

Each season, we received an international indicator of all European sleeper car journeys. I’ve kept the winter 82/83 and summer 86 editions, which were very useful for writing my articles. In those days, railway companies cooperated within the TEN – Trans Euro Nuits – network. There was no talk of rail competition!

The network of night trains from Paris was still pervasive. On this map, I’ve indicated the destinations where I made at least one sleeper accommodation.

The Côte d’Azur: the queen of night train destinations

The Côte d’Azur was a key destination for night trains. From a geographical point of view, this is understandable, as the distance was ideal for many origins too far away to be served by a daytime train. Of course, it was already a major tourist destination, attracting French and European visitors eager to enjoy its mild climate and beautiful scenery.

Three to four daily trains from Paris

From Paris, there were between three and four daily night trains. There was, of course, the famous Train Bleu, which had already been democratized with the introduction of sleeper cars in addition to the traditional sleeping cars. Then there was L’Estérel and a sleeper-car train.

Some trains terminated in Nice, while others continued to Ventimiglia in Italy, just over the border. These trains provided services to Monaco and Menton, as well as connections with Italian railroads.

Source: SNCF media library – Yves Broncard (left) – TEN winter 82 83 indicator (right)

A Good Reservation Chart, a Good Trip

An hour and a half before departure, I went to the CIWLT office, located in the warehouse area southeast of the Gare de Lyon. It was a bit like a beehive, where we’d bump into our colleagues, all on their way out: some to Rome, Florence, or Milan, while others were headed to Nice, Grenoble, or Briançon. We picked up our set of administrative papers, rushing to get the most important one of all: the reservation chart.

An exemplary reservation chart was a sleeping car with unreserved compartments, and passengers going up to Paris only to get off after Saint-Raphaël at eight in the morning.

A bad reservation chart meant a full car, with passengers who, on a Paris-Nice trip, would be getting on at 1 a.m. in Dijon or getting off at 5 a.m. in Avignon. This meant sleeping uncomfortably in the service compartment, and an even choppier night dealing with passengers at intermediate stops.

Source: SNCF Media Library – Bruno Vignal (right)

About an hour before departure, we made our way to our train. We would conduct a quick inspection to ensure everything was in order: catering on board, compartments configured as one, two, or three beds, and heating or air conditioning in working order.

Welcoming travelers

Then we went to the platform to welcome our customers. We had to check their ticket, any discount cards they might have, their sleeper supplement, and, on international routes, their passport or identity card. We also helped passengers take their luggage into the sleeper and, if time allowed, to their compartment.

This was the most stressful part of our job, especially if the train was “turned away” at the station just before departure, resulting in a sudden influx of passengers. We also had to be diplomatic with those unhappy with their placement. It wasn’t uncommon for a passenger in a shared cabin to ask for a single cabin, sometimes trying to bribe us with a 50-franc bill… which we could only invariably refuse.

Alarm clock with sea view!

I loved opening my curtain in the early hours of the morning to a whole new landscape, especially when it came to trains heading for the Mediterranean. On our way to Nice, we’d pass the sea before we arrived. With the azure blue and the sun often shining, it was magical!

We offered our travellers breakfast in two different ways:

• Simple: a pastry and a hot drink.
• Complete: plus industrial orange juice, bread and jam.

Alas, it was expensive and of mediocre quality. Serving breakfast could be a source of stress if travelers all requested it at the same time.

I would then return the passengers’ tickets and, if they wished, reconfigure their compartment into a daytime version, featuring a sofa instead of beds. This was also the time when we hoped for a tip—a practice that was already disappearing. Only the oldest travelers or the few Americans were still generous.

Before arrival, we were supposed to unpack the bedding and put it in bags. But a habit had taken hold: conductors would tip the maintenance man in charge of cleaning, who would take care of this task for us. The tip economy was fluid!

Rest at destination before returning the same day

On arrival, we are accommodated either in dormitories belonging to SNCF travelling staff or in modest guesthouses.

More often than not, we had to share a room with other colleagues, with showers and toilets on the landing. I recall that in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, we had to ask the surly owner of the establishment for the key to the shower. Of course, she never had the key, and we had to make do with a toilet at the sink, just like in our grandparents’ day.

On some destinations, no accommodation was provided, so I had to rest in my sleeping car.

At twenty, we weren’t too picky. But for our more seasoned colleagues, who had been doing the job for decades, such accommodation conditions were harder to accept.

We had the day to rest up and stroll around town before resuming our evening train service back to Paris.

At the end of the day, we would board the train again to handle the return journey to Paris. The next morning, after two consecutive nights on the move, I’d arrive fairly exhausted, despite my youth. If it was a Monday morning, I’d head straight to university and wait until evening for a proper night’s rest. But I wouldn’t have traded that journey for a quiet weekend in Paris for anything in the world!

Paris-Nice by night train: 40 years on

In 2023, I returned to Paris-Nice with the night trains of today. I tell the story in a dedicated article: “Paris-Nice: in the footsteps of the Train Bleu.”

While the pleasure of waking up in the early hours of the morning with the train skirting the sunny Mediterranean is still there, the sleeper cars have been replaced by simple couchettes, offering simpler service.

Trains to the Pyrenees

Several night trains left every day for the Pyrenees, on the French-Spanish border.

The Languedoc coast

From Paris, trains ran daily to the Languedoc coast: Montpellier, Béziers, Narbonne, Perpignan and Cerbère, at the foot of the Pyrenees on the Spanish border.

In the north-south direction, the train went a bit further, to Portbou, five kilometres beyond the border, in Spain. Once the passengers connecting to Barcelona had disembarked, it would reverse back to Cerbère. In the evening, heading northbound, we would depart directly from Cerbère, while Spanish trains came up to the French village to handle the connections.

This particular system was explained by the difference in track gauges between the two countries, which prevented trains from going beyond their national network. As a result, Cerbère and Port-Bou were large terminal stations, totally disproportionate to the size of the small villages they served.

My pleasure was to stroll along the customs paths along the steep coast, where the Pyrenean chain plunges spectacularly into the Mediterranean Sea.

Source: 1. photo of Cerbère station Jordi Verdugo – 2. photo of Cape Cerbère Frédéric Hedelin

La Palombe Bleue: Paris-Hendaye-Irun or Tarbes

On the Atlantic side, the same rail organization applied between Hendaye in France and Irún in Spain.

Another train, La Palombe Bleue, served Pau and Tarbes, deep in the heart of the Pyrenees. On that train, I remember a memorable conversation with a minister from François Mitterrand’s socialist government. We talked about the introduction of the foreign exchange booklet—a measure that limited spending abroad to 2,000 francs per person.

Source : Médiathèque SNCF – Michel Henri

The Alps: a major destination for winter night trains

In winter, skiers flocked to Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Saint-Gervais on the night trains.

Destinations in the Alps

The most important line was Bourg-Saint-Maurice, at the end of the Tarentaise valley, serving France’s biggest ski resorts such as Les Trois Vallées, La Plagne, Tignes and Val d’Isère.

It was also one of the most sought-after routes by student conductors, as, thanks to the funicular to Les Arcs, it was possible to go skiing quickly during our time off. As for me, at that time, I had yet to try downhill skiing and took, instead, the opportunity to enjoy cross-country skiing in the valley or by heading up to Les Arcs 1600.”

Source: SNCF Media Library – Bruno Vignal

Summer journeys to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Evian reminded me of the night trains of yesteryear. Instead of skiers, we welcomed an older clientele, adept at spa treatments. It was a vacation that had its heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

My favorite destination was Briançon, as the journey was longer and we didn’t arrive until around 9 a.m., allowing us to admire the magnificent mountain scenery. In 2025, it’s the only town in the French Alps to have kept a night train, but without a sleeping car.

Block trains

During the Paris school vacations, the SNCF and CIWLT had to cope with considerable demand in a very short space of time.

This was an opportunity to bring out the oldest U-type sleeping cars. Additional trains, made up entirely of these cars, were scheduled. They were called “block trains,” and the professionals refused to work on them. So it was just us students, and we soon realized why the venerable U-type sleeping car was a nightmare!

February 1984: social conflict with truckers

In February 1984, the truckers decided to block road and rail access to the winter sports resorts. That time I had to accompany a sleeper car from Paris to Saint-Gervais, not knowing if I’d reach my destination.

In Paris, I had to deal with the anguish of passengers who didn’t know what to do and to whom I couldn’t give any reliable information, as it was fragmentary and, above all, changeable. In some places, the SNCF had been able to clear the tracks or set up replacement buses. Elsewhere, new roadblocks were appearing. Some travelers kept a portable transistor glued to their ear to keep abreast of the news as closely as possible.

Source : https://www.fierdetreroutier.com/humeur/chroniques/greve1984.php

At the last minute, just before my train was due to depart, half the passengers decided to cancel their journey, fearing they would be stranded in the open countryside by angry truck drivers.

The next morning, due to the conflict, we discovered that our train’s terminus was the small station of La Roche-sur-Foron, 50 km from Saint-Gervais. Our passengers had to disembark without knowing how to reach their destination, and our train was turned back at Annemasse to await further developments.

Fortunately, there were four of us working on that train, supporting each other along the way. It wasn’t until the following evening that we returned to Paris by train, empty. It was a strange feeling—just the four of us, doing nothing, in a train built to carry several hundred passengers!”

Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille or Grenoble: business destinations

The major French provincial cities still benefited from night services from Paris.

The most efficient means of transport…

Travel was fast, with departures after 11 p.m. and arrivals before 8 a.m. Such schedules not only allowed the travelers to enjoy a full day’s work, but also to spend the evening on site.

It couldn’t have been more efficient, since this mode of transport corresponded precisely to the travelers’ sleeping time. No time wasted!

Source: SNCF leaflets

… but on the verge of extinction

However, the 80s marked the end of overnight business travel.

It was the golden age of Air Inter, then in its heyday, operating a vast network of domestic flights with wide-body aircraft with 200 to 300 seats. Businessmen – not yet businesswomen – preferred air travel, which was considered more modern than night trains, now considered “has-been”.

Source : Wikipedia

From Paris, a few destinations were still holding out, such as Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille, and Grenoble, but not for much longer.

Indeed, the first TGV entered service in 1981 on the new Paris-Lyon high-speed line. The SNCF was far more enthusiastic about this project than about night trains.

With the expansion of the TGV network in the 90s and 2000s, trains gradually regained the advantage over planes for domestic journeys in France, but without night trains.

Source : Wikipedia

Peaceful travel

These trips to business destinations were generally quiet. We saw very little of the travelers, whose primary concern was to get as much sleep as possible. It also allowed me to discover new cities in France.

Personally, I regularly asked to work on the Grenoble line, as this was the hometown of one of my two grandmothers. My job allowed me to combine business with pleasure!

Cross-country provincial routes (bypassing Paris)

At that time, many night train routes still connected the French provinces. These journeys were handled by small teams of professional conductors based in cities like Bordeaux, Nice, or Lyon. In case of illness or holiday leave, CIWLT would call in an occasional conductor sent from Paris. These assignments—known as haut-le-pied (or deadhead trips in English)—were especially sought after, as they were highly paid: the hours spent travelling without working were paid at the same hourly rate as time on duty.

Nantes – Lyon, Metz – Nice, Calais – Portbou, Irun – Lyon, Strasbourg – Quimper are just a few examples of routes that offered sleeper cars.

I had several opportunities to work aboard these interprovincial sleeping cars. On the map below, you can see the routes I took (in blue). I’ve added a few routes that existed at the time but which I was unable to make (in grey).

A solitary job that required resourcefulness

The sleeping car conductor’s job was a solitary one. Aboard his car, he was alone, taking on all tasks, whether technical, commercial, or administrative. This distinguished it from the job of a steward or stewardess. In an airplane, flight attendants are supervised by a purser and follow a strictly standardized activity plan.

The conductor was master of his own car and could organize it as he saw fit. On cross-country routes, this was even truer, as there was usually only one sleeping car per train. Moreover, initially, we did not benefit from the assistance available in Paris. So we had to be resourceful.

What could I do, for example, when I had sold the fifteen breakfasts indicated on the delivery note in the evening, and the next morning found only ten? I’d salvage what the first travelers hadn’t eaten, or dilute the coffee from two cups to make three! Then I’d flash my warmest smile as I served them.

Source: Mediathèque SNCF – Patrick Olivain (left) – Michel Henri (right)

I’ve also encountered more complicated situations. On one occasion, I was on a Lyon-Nantes service at the height of the winter sports season. On arrival in Nantes, a woman called out to me, looking for the ambulance that was supposed to pick up her daughter.

The day before, I had seen her arrive on a stretcher after a bad fall on skis. After some investigation, I realized that the assistance company had made a mistake, indicating a 9 a.m. arrival instead of 6 a.m.. The stationmaster, unable to leave the train on the platform, had pushed us back onto a siding to wait for the ambulance. To avoid draining the batteries, I had to reduce the heating to a minimum for three hours. Finally, as there was no platform, disembarking was particularly tricky and painful for the young girl.

Rail solidarity

Our employer was CIWLT in France, but we had to cooperate with employees from many other railway companies or subcontractors responsible for cleaning the sleeping cars on arrival. Despite our different statuses, we all belonged to the same world of railway workers.

With a few exceptions, I have always felt that the railway workers we met were friendly and cooperative. For example, on “deadhead trips” where we only had a second-class ticket, the ticket inspector would often allow us to travel in first class.

One of my fondest memories of solidarity was in Bordeaux. It was 10:09 p.m. and I had just finished a long and tiring journey from Nantes to Ventimiglia, with a changeover in Bordeaux.

Source: Ferrovissime J.M. Eich

So when I got off at Bordeaux, I hoped that the ticket inspector on the Bordeaux-Paris night train would give me a first-class berth. But I was soon disillusioned, as the train was full and he could only offer me a second-class seat! Knowing that I had to go to university the next morning, I felt a little desperate to spend another sleepless night.

It was then that I saw the Biarritz-Brussels auto-train sleeper train arrive on the opposite platform, with a sleeping car. I asked the Belgian conductor if he had room and if the train stopped in Paris. He told me yes, but that the train was only making a technical stop, not intended for passengers, the next morning at 6.10 a.m. in Bobigny, a city in the suburbs. Thanks to him, I found myself in a single, for a short but comfortable night!

Auto-train sleepers

Today, the auto-train sleeper service has disappeared in France. It had its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.

Extensive logistics

The auto-train sleeper service allowed passengers to load their car onto special car-carrier wagons, then travel comfortably in a sleeping car or couchette. The operation required significant logistics. Travelers had to arrive in advance to hand over their car to SNCF staff, who were responsible for loading it onto the train. Then, a locomotive would attach the car-carrier wagons to the rest of the train. Upon arrival, the whole process was done in reverse.”

Source: Mediathèque SNCF – Michel Henri (left and center)

For this reason, auto-train sleepers, known as TACs, were limited to specific stations equipped with them. In Paris, TACs departed from the Gare de Bercy, slightly off-center from the Gare de Lyon.

I’ve worked on a few of these trains, including those from Paris to Avignon, Narbonne, and Rimini in Italy, as well as from Boulogne to Avignon, primarily serving British passengers.

Customers were either families or retirees who wanted to avoid long hours of highway driving.

Source: Mediathèque SNCF – Michel Henri (right)

A costly niche for SNCF

This service was a costly niche for railway companies. It required a lot of manpower, and each car-carrier wagon could only hold eight vehicles.

In the mid-80s, SNCF was transporting around 350,000 vehicles a year with its TAC service, a tiny fraction of motorway traffic. So there was no real ecological justification for it.

The abandonment of the auto-train sleepers was inevitable.

My international night train journeys to Europe

In the 80s, night trains crossed many borders. Low-cost airlines didn’t yet exist. So it was the best way to travel in Europe. I worked on several of these trains.

This is the story I tell in a second article: “I worked on international night trains in Europe in the 80s”.

Source: Mediathèque SNCF – Patrik Olivain (below)