Sleeper trains make so much sense for travel over land. They are often competitively priced with air travel, they pollute a lot less and the time saved can be huge when you consider that you spend time travelling when you would otherwise be asleep (although this is sometimes true for air travel, many/most people find it difficult to get quality sleep in economy class).
The London - Edinburgh sleeper train (Caledonian Express) has been running pretty much since 1873 and is an amazing way to get between the two cities. You arrive at the station in London between 10-12pm, depending on if you want to have a few snacks or glasses of wine, then wake up in Edinburgh around 8am the next day.
Worth pointing out that the sleepers don't terminate at Edinburgh - they continue further north to Fort William and Inverness - the former being the "Deerstalker":
The Highlander (to Aberdeen, Fort William, and Inverness) splits at Edinburgh Waverley (though that's not a passenger call); the Lowlander (to Edinburgh and Glasgow) splits at Carstairs Junction.
Beware: The Caledonian Sleeper is experiencing severe teething problems, including delayed boarding times (e.g. past midnight) and last-minute service cancellations. The trains were clearly rolled out with insufficient testing.
If you're travelling on it in the next few months, hope for the best – but plan for the worst.
The Caledonian Express is in the process of refreshing all their rolling stock as well. There have been some growing pains (the introduction has been delayed a few times, and isn't fleet-wide yet), but it seems like a significant upgrade.
Excited for our first overnight train ride in their new hotel-room style sleeper cars (with a private bath and shower) later this summer. Even for a family of 6, when you factor in the (saved) cost of overnight acommodations in either London or Edinburgh, it was one of the most affordable ways to travel between those two cities.
The Caledonian Express is definitely on my list of trains to travel by some day. Pretty soon (when the customs part is sorted out on the Amsterdam end) it will be possible to travel from Amsterdam to London directly on the Eurostar without transferring in Brussels, so that helps too for me as a Dutchman.
I've been on a fair amount of sleeper trains and the Caledonian has been the most comfortable so far.
For the opposite, the most uncomfortable one to sleep in was the Hong Kong to Shanghai one. I paid extra for the Deluxe option, can't even imagine how hard the bed would have been on the lower classes. Still, was a pretty cool journey.
I think that's just an (northeast) Asian bed thing. Preferences trend firm for mattresses and you can see this in traditional or luxury places that don't cater to Westerners. The most deluxe ryokans in Japan still have relatively thin mats on the floor, business hotels in China and Japan often have former mattresses, and so on.
I took a 44 hour train from Delhi to Bombay. The "bed" was a plastic-covered sheet of wood, like a cheap kitchen worktop. That was uncomfortable. I think it was standard class.
I took the train direct from London to Rotterdam a few days ago so I assume it goes straight to Amsterdam also. No customs required (unless brexit) and passport control was done at the point of departure.
> They are often competitively priced with air travel
I traveled in sleeper trains in China, and while the experience was interesting, I can't really say it was comfortable or even pleasant. People would keep moving around at night, making noise, and the train would stop now and then and create noise on its own. It's slow and it only works if you are not too far from where you want to go anyway, unless you are ready to waste a long time to get there.
Problem is they really don't quite make as much sense for city pairings that don't fall into the narrow window of roughly one night of travel time. This severely limits the amount of mainstream awareness sleeper trains can reach, so people who don't routinely travel such a route won't have them on their radar when they do.
Many sleeper trains stop at several places (just like a normal train does) until, say, 10pm. Then they travel for a long time overnight, and stop in several places in the morning.
You can see the Caledonian Sleeper timetable at [1], it's also reasonable to catch it at Watford. It then stops at both Edinburgh and Glasgow (they have split the train in two further south). You can see the Highland train stops at many towns and villages.
You do need to be a bit more alert if you're getting off the train before the terminus, but the attendant will almost always wake the passengers who are due to alight.
Well, pairings that fall below the window of 6 to 9 hours are short enough you don't need a sleeper train: sitting in a train for 3 to 5 hours is not that bad. Pairings that are above the window are turned into a 6 to 9 hour sleeper train ride plus a regular 3 to 5 hour ride that's not that bad.
I traveled from NY to LA via train with one planned stop-over. We had coach seats which were a little less expensive than air travel, so it's not really worth doing unless you're in it for the experience of it.
It was an enjoyable experience tough, and we'd probably do it again on another route. While it would have been nicer to have a sleeper, the coach seats were pretty comfortable.
As someone who's done lots of long-haul (Texas–Chicago and Texas–Maryland) rides, one (or a few) long-distance coach trip is perfectly doable, and even enjoyable if you like train rides; but I feel that it gets unbearable pretty quickly as a regular occurrence. Also a big factor: travelling with an intimate (someone you can literally lean on) makes sleeping much easier, even in coach.
> many/most people find it difficult to get quality sleep in economy class
I've only taken a sleeper train once (from Paris to Marseille), but i found it difficult to get quality sleep on that. There's noise, there's movement, and the mattress isn't terribly good. Train schedules don't necessarily fit well with your normal sleeping schedule. I'd much rather to the trip in a TGV and then spend the hours saved having a shower and a rest on arrival.
I've taken the Amtrak Autotrain from DC to Florida many times with a car and family. It is somewhat expensive (about $2,200 roundtrip for a family of four and car) and very unpleasant but I keep WISHING this time will be different...the US sleeping cars are ancient and covered in a film of grime. The tracks in the Carolinas are very rough and bumpy, sleep is difficult. Maybe someday we'll have sleeping cars like this but I think we'll have luxury self-driving sleeping buses displace America's terrible sleeping car rail option.
> They are often competitively priced with air travel
Not at all. London-Edinburgh is £65 on EasyJet and a 1 hour trip. A regular seat on the Caledonian Express is £45 for an 8 hour trip. The Caledonian Express en suite twin room is £280.00
> when you consider that you spend time travelling when you would otherwise be asleep
I could fly Easy Jet for 1 hour for £65, and have money left over for a very comfortable hotel and a nice meal.
I take sleeper trains occasionally between Germany and Austria. A plane ticket would be 30-50 EUR, a basic six-person sleeper cabin is 90 EUR, a private 2 person sleeper cabin is 160 EUR (x2, obviously). It's a great way to travel, but competitively priced it ain't.
The London - Edinburgh sleeper train (Caledonian Express) has been running pretty much since 1873 and is an amazing way to get between the two cities. You arrive at the station in London between 10-12pm, depending on if you want to have a few snacks or glasses of wine, then wake up in Edinburgh around 8am the next day.