Boulogne - Milan motorail 1970's

[Czesziafan]

Looking through an old continental Motorail timetable from 1976 I notice a service from Boulogne to Milan and return. Does anyone know what route this took across France please? Did it head to Paris and the ceinture to get from the Nord main line to the PLM or did it meander along eastern France towards the Swiss border?

 

[Cheshire Scot]

My 1974 Cooks shows this train conveying a restaurant car from Boulogne to Dole, and I also note an intermediate call at Lille (Seclin) attaching Couchettes (and more cars).

From Lille to Dole the most likely option would appear to be round Paris on the Grande Ceinture (Petite Ceinture tended to be for moves between Paris termini) thence via PLM to Dijon, although a cross country route to Dijon could be a possibility via Reims. Routing via Dole points to an onward route via Lausanne and Brig and Simplon.

 

[30907]

a cross country route to Dijon could be a possibility via Reims.

Reims would be a considerable detour compared with the GC, so less likely.

 

[Czesziafan]

Thanks. That is most helpful. It was a long journey - some 15 1/2 hours. That must have been uncomfortable in a 6 berth couchette but tolerable in a WL sleeper.

 

[DerekC]

I recall travelling in a Motorail train in 1966 from Turin (I think, that's certainly where I had been staying) to Boulogne, but I am afraid I don't recall the route.