Has anyone got this train before? Any advice you can give. Do you know if you get your own cabin on the train.
Cheers in advance.
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CABIN??.!!!
these drivers nowadays dont know their born…i rememer when…wafflewaffle,carryfast,harumph…brexit. 
If you call them you can reserve a single couchette with en suite, first come first served though
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Own cabin?!?
Oh dear Darrenb, this may not be as you expect. After YOU have finished chocking your vehicle you need to take your bedding or sleeping bag with you together with ANY food or drink which you may need on your trip, probably best to attend to any personnel hygiene matters before the train since unless it has improved greatly in recent times, well we’ll leave it there. Cabins are not allocated so it’s the luck of the draw, the only single occupancy are the German drivers who use it regularly and have cabin keys cut, they find an empty one and lock themselves in so that could leave some sharing 3 or 4, this doesn’t really matter since I have never actually gone to sleep, start, stop, backup, change engine, shunt about, it’s definitely an experience. The best advice is to get there as soon as you can and get on a day or evening service, enjoy the scenery it is stunning and sleep when you get to Novara.
It is a few years since I’ve been on it so hopefully it has become more civilised. On the other hand it is quick and cost effective compared to the Blanc.
Bring plenty of antiseptic wipes,if you plan to put your head down en route.
I`ll rephrase that-lie down,have a kip!
Follow the signs off the autobahn for the autohof. You’ll then see the signs for the train. It isn’t much of an autohof either, there’s next to no truck parking at all.
Basically it’s an in town petrol station which caters for trucks. There’s a cafe and a truckwash, but only parking for around 4 trucks, if you’re lucky.
It’s at least 14 years since I last used it, but I doubt it’s changed much.
There were two types of drivers coach, neither type of coach had comfortable beds.
The older version had three bunks per compartment and a three seater ‘settee’, compartments the full length of the coach plus a toilet at each end. The back rest of the middle seat folded down to make a table.
The newer version had four bunks per compartment and a kitchen area at one end, with a trestle type table and two long wooden benches. The toilet was at that end as well, there might be a toilet at both ends, I don’t remember.
The only kitchen type equipment was a water boiler.
You supply your own bedding and any food or drinks you think you might want. I used to take my own brew kit, complete with cooker and kettle.
The passage was a little over 9 hours when I used it, which was overnight, so my boss considered I’d had my rest time.
It’s a drive on, drive off facility. So the first truck on only has a short walk to the drivers coach, but a long walk back to their truck at Novara.
It starts off with a German Rail engine, then at the border that’s swapped for a Swiss engine. When you get to the mountains they hook another engine up.
At the Italian border the engines are swapped again for an Italian Rails engine.
At sometime during the passage the drivers coach is un-hooked, then moved to the back before being hooked back up.
For some reason it isn’t unheard of for the whole train to be turned around. I know because I helped a driver resheet his load. Obviously you sheet your load for driving forwards, because the train had been turned around we were going backwards, so the wind was getting under his front sheet and making it ballon. The engine was pushing and the train driver couldn’t see because of the balloning sheet. He wasn’t a happy bunny. All the shunting, turning around, putting engines on and off, moving the drivers coach from front to rear, etc, etc, it’s like trying to sleep in a double manned moving truck.
Simon:
Follow the signs off the autobahn for the autohof. You’ll then see the signs for the train. It isn’t much of an autohof either, there’s next to no truck parking at all.
Basically it’s an in town petrol station which caters for trucks. There’s a cafe and a truckwash, but only parking for around 4 trucks, if you’re lucky.It’s at least 14 years since I last used it, but I doubt it’s changed much.
There were two types of drivers coach, neither type of coach had comfortable beds.
The older version had three bunks per compartment and a three seater ‘settee’, compartments the full length of the coach plus a toilet at each end. The back rest of the middle seat folded down to make a table.
The newer version had four bunks per compartment and a kitchen area at one end, with a trestle type table and two long wooden benches. The toilet was at that end as well, there might be a toilet at both ends, I don’t remember.The only kitchen type equipment was a water boiler.
You supply your own bedding and any food or drinks you think you might want. I used to take my own brew kit, complete with cooker and kettle.
The passage was a little over 9 hours when I used it, which was overnight, so my boss considered I’d had my rest time.It’s a drive on, drive off facility. So the first truck on only has a short walk to the drivers coach, but a long walk back to their truck at Novara.
It starts off with a German Rail engine, then at the border that’s swapped for a Swiss engine. When you get to the mountains they hook another engine up.
At the Italian border the engines are swapped again for an Italian Rails engine.
At sometime during the passage the drivers coach is un-hooked, then moved to the back before being hooked back up.
For some reason it isn’t unheard of for the whole train to be turned around. I know because I helped a driver resheet his load. Obviously you sheet your load for driving forwards, because the train had been turned around we were going backwards, so the wind was getting under his front sheet and making it ballon. The engine was pushing and the train driver couldn’t see because of the balloning sheet. He wasn’t a happy bunny. All the shunting, turning around, putting engines on and off, moving the drivers coach from front to rear, etc, etc, it’s like trying to sleep in a double manned moving truck.
Brilliant Simon! that is just how I remember it, 4 years ago with a flat bed sheeted trailer & yeah, you guessed it I was that driver trying to rescue my sheets as it hadn’t occurred to me that we would be going backwards at high speed! the train driver/guards were not best pleased
Not pleasant but got my daily rest in (although nowhere near refreshed when we arrived in Novarra!) so onwards to Lake Garda, tip, reload and back for the next nights train! it was an experience I can tell ya.
lakesidelee:
Brilliant Simon! that is just how I remember it, 4 years ago with a flat bed sheeted trailer & yeah, you guessed it I was that driver trying to rescue my sheets as it hadn’t occurred to me that we would be going backwards at high speed! the train driver/guards were not best pleased
Not pleasant but got my daily rest in (although nowhere near refreshed when we arrived in Novarra!) so onwards to Lake Garda, tip, reload and back for the next nights train! it was an experience I can tell ya.
Apparently, if you do the trip in daylight, it’s bloomin’ fantastic. Obviously you can look out and see the scenery rolling by, and what scenery 
As a night trip, you can’t see a thing. Your boss sees you’ll get at least 9 hours off, so you’re expected to get on with the job when you reach the other end (whichever way you’re going). A good nights kip is not going to happen though.
It is an experience. I wouldn’t mind doing a day time trip, but I’d want to go straight into one of the Novara area truckstops for some decent grub, with wine and probably a beer or two and a good nights kip.
Is The Sisters or Alcatraz (at Arluno?), or both, still open? Or Carisio?
I haven’t been to Italy for a long time, I was using the old original ASTM motorway, the one where you had to dodge those bridge supports 
If you’ve used it, you’ll know what I’m on about.
They’ve built and opened a new ASTM, more or less parallel with the old original one I believe. I’ve never used it though.
It’s very narrow, so take your time when driving on it.
Geoffo:
It’s very narrow, so take your time when driving on it.
That’s probably the first thing you notice as you approach to drive on, especially if you’re No1 on. It’s a bit “I’ve got to drive onto that 
?”
You do fit btw
Bit of a late response but years ago there was a good long distance diary in T&D about an H&S foodstuffs driver who used the train you mention, I remember him saying that he’d parked the truck on the train with plenty of spare time and decided to go for a beer at a bar nearby but he couldn’t relax because he kept having visions that the train was gonna pull out the station…without him on it So he thought better of it, supped up and waited on the train.
chris:
Bit of a late response but years ago there was a good long distance diary in T&D about an H&S foodstuffs driver who used the train you mention, I remember him saying that he’d parked the truck on the train with plenty of spare time and decided to go for a beer at a bar nearby but he couldn’t relax because he kept having visions that the train was gonna pull out the station…without him on it
I don’t believe everything I read but Freiburg has two trains, one goes to Novara, the other goes to Milan, its possible if you work for Norman Lewis to get in the wrong carriage. Apparently there is a reliable taxi service from Novara to Milan but you do get a bollocking if you use a taxi. That is right isn’t it Peter?
A 2013 view of the truck train.