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In literature and film, night trains are the setting for intrigue and romance, espionage and sudden death. And in real life too they\u2019re places of possibility and the expectation of new adventures. Writer Horatio Clare boards a train to Vienna for a night-time journey across Europe\u2026 and into the archive, aboard night trains of decades past.

His journey begins at the Gare de l\u2019Est in Paris, the departure point for the original Orient Express. He looks back to the golden age of the Wagons-Lits, sleeper trains with wood-panelled cabins, an attendant in every carriage ready to be summoned and dining cars where evening dress was obligatory. It was an era which provided rich inspiration for writers and Horatio evokes his predecessors who used night trains to tell stories of brief encounters, betrayal and, of course, murder.

But luxurious Wagons-Lits are only one part of the story. Other travellers find themselves on very different night-time journeys. There are the rucksack-lugging student inter-railers of the \u201870s and \u201880s, sleeping in train corridors on expeditions of discovery (and self-discovery); the perils of sharing sleeping compartments with strangers; and the Ukrainian refugees reluctantly taking the \u2018Rescue Express\u2019 westward as they fled the Russian invasion.

After a long period of decline, night trains are on the rise again as new routes open up across Europe. Maybe it\u2019s because we\u2019re tired of the indignities of budget air travel but it\u2019s also driven by the \u201cFlight Shame\u201d and \u201cTrain Brag\u201d movements - a growing awareness that travelling by train is better for the planet. \u201cI\u2019m on a train\u201d is no longer an apology for a poor phone signal. Now it\u2019s a claim to the moral high ground.

Horatio\u2019s journey doesn\u2019t quite go to plan. But as he overcomes the challenges and navigates his way to Vienna, he discovers that night trains have always taken our imaginations to new destinations.

Produced by Jeremy Grange for BBC Audio Wales and West