In 2015 I was writing a book, Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper. This “rise” — the development, in the late 19th century, of a network of sleepers, each with its cargo of wealthy passengers being lulled in lambent cabins — I evoked from historical material. The “fall” I experienced personally.
In attempting to duplicate the original Orient Express route, I got as far as Bucharest on two sleepers, but made the final approach to Istanbul’s fabled Sirkeci station (which was closed) on a rail-replacement bus service. I was more often in a couchette compartment than a sleeper properly so-called. (Couchettes don’t have sinks.) Dining cars were a rarity on my trips: one fellow traveller told me, “The key to using sleeper trains these days is a good Marks and Spencer’s salad.