Continental Trains Trivia

[pitdiver]

For some strange reason I am an avid listener of the "Paul Temple radio series on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The most recent series involves Paul and His wife travelling to Geneva by sleeper from Calais. Was there ever a sleeper service on that route. Sadly I have no idea of the age the series refers to.

TIA

 

[Gloster]

Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery was first broadcast in 1965 and novelised in 1971. I can’t find direct sleepers in the June 1965 timetable, so it could be going via Paris: the 23.05 from the Gare de Lyon had sleepers that arrived at Genève (Cornavin) at 07.20. Alternatively, from Calais Maritime the Direct Orient Express would get you to Lausanne at 07.00, from where there were trains to Genève (07.11, arriving 07.50, on Monday to Friday; 08.08 and 08.50 otherwise).

 

[pitdiver]

Another fictional incident involved Agartha Christie's Poirot. This was "The Mystery Of The Blue Train". In this story Poirot is supposed to have travelled on The Blue Train from Calais to the Riviera. Poirot was based in the 1920s. Am i right in saying that the Blue Train never went from Calais.
However in the December edition of the 1958 Cooks Continental table 16 has the Blue Train going from Calais. It was subtitled Calais- Mediterranean Express.
I find comparing Fictional train journeys to facts interesting.

 

[Gloster]

A quick look at the Wikipedia entry for Le Train Bleu shows that it ran through from Calais to the Mediterranean from 1922 on, although it might have officially been the Calais-Mediterannee Express, with the Blue Train name being a semi-marketing name. The book was published in 1928: it may be relevant that it was probably the one she was working on when she did her disappearing act, with all the surrounding emotional turmoil.

 

[pitdiver]

A quick look at the Wikipedia entry for Le Train Bleu shows that it ran through from Calais to the Mediterranean from 1922 on, although it might have officially been the Calais-Mediterannee Express, with the Blue Train name being a semi-marketing name. The book was published in 1928: it may be relevant that it was probably the one she was working on when she did her disappearing act, with all the surrounding emotional turmoil.

Thanks for that useful information.

 

[BJB123]

For some strange reason I am an avid listener of the "Paul Temple radio series on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The most recent series involves Paul and His wife travelling to Geneva by sleeper from Calais. Was there ever a sleeper service on that route. Sadly I have no idea of the age the series refers to.

TIA

Hi there, no, there were never direct carriages from Calais to Geneva, though other destinations in Switzerland were well served from Calais (Basel, Zurich, Chur, Berne, Interlaken, Chiasso), so it would have been a question of changing at Basel or getting to Paris and going direct from there.