Pyjamas on a sleeper train?

Agreement with MawBroon here as well. And some surprise that the OP did not anticipate this aspect of sleeping on trains to crop up.
Not easy to understand why those who self-identify as female should be expected to have priority over the comfort of others. And the context here is self-identification, not those who have had gender-reassignment surgery.

We took the Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria a couple of years ago - I wore a nightie (don't usually wear anything except knickers) just in case we needed to leave the cabin

Nodding Gan Gan; As I'm clearly a gentleman, as approved although spurned by that canny Scot MawBroon, and also as a computer Nerd, I think I should warn you to be suspicious of any letters purporting to be from doctors
They are too easily generated as fakes using a computer.
The only way to resolve your doubts is to insist on a frisk search as seen on airport security TV progs.
That could be called real Safeguarding.
Good Luck

I'm with MawBroon as well and Amma54 is absolutely spot on with the "perverts' charter" comment. I don't care what people do in their private lives and they can identify as a cabbage for all I care but I don't want to share a room with anyone who still possesses balls and penis and nor do I want them sharing changing facilities with me or my DDs or especially my DGD.
As things stand, if they've lived as a woman, embarked on hormones and/or surgical treatment and have a doctor's letter then fair enough, I'm happy to share but if they've just put on a dress and said, "I identify as a woman" then no! For the simple reason that we have no idea if they're genuine or not. It's called "Safeguarding"

GrabriellaG - arriving in St Petersburg was magical but the loo on the train was unbelievably awful!

My dear rufus the thing is I just might get the “twinkle in the eye”, or worse still, there might not be one
You would be spared my dreadful snoring however and I would have no fears about unwelcome attentions from you as you are clearly a gentleman (?) but I am perhaps the product of my conservative Scottish upbringing. So let’s get separate compartments/cabins or whatever they are called and keep the illusions

Oh dear, MawBroon! You're not the first lady to spurn me.
The trouble with emails is you don't get the body language, (excuse the term), and twinkle in the eyes.
As you might know from other posts, I'm in my nineties so I could not wish you any harm.
What I had in mind, however, would be for me to lull you to sleep reading railway almanacs, just like Michael Portillo.!
You could even lay back and think of him if you liked.
I wouldn't mind in the least,
You'd probably be snoring your head off before the train reached France, anyway.

Good night, Good Health and Sweet dreams

Hi all. Some big misunderstanding here about the Gender Recognition Act & proposed amendments. It hasn't been necessary for some years now to have surgery or hormone treatments to be legally the opposite sex. You have to live in role for 2 years & intend to stay that sex for ever. You have to get a certificate from a panel. It costs £140 but most people don't pay. About 5000 people have done this I believe.

This is set to change. All you will need to do is fill in a form. Self ID. Its estimated 600,000 will do this. Biological sex will be a thing of the past, it's how you feel on the inside that will count. Gender NOT sex. So all women's sex-based rights will disappear. A man can claim he feels that he is a woman and get on All Women Shortlists, claim prizes meant for women, use women's private spaces like public loos, changing rooms etc. And Yes, share sleepers on trains. While being a physically unaltered man. So you could book a sleeper on Caledonian trains as a female sole traveller and find the other berth occupied by a man with a beard and intact genitalia who 'identifies' as a woman. Happy with that? I'm not. It's a pervert's charter.

I'm with you MawBroon.

Going somewhere on a sleeper train, but with private cabin has always been a fantasy of mine. Sigh.

A 2 night journey. From Chiangmai Mia in Thailand to Penang in Malaysia with my OH and two young teenage gd. We shared a carriage with loads of other people and slept on bunk beds that converted to couches and tables in the day. Also had a a curtain and light. We all slept in pjs, changing behind our curtains and the girls said it was the best bit of the holiday especially the early morning when the came into my bottom bunk and we lay there at 5.30 in the morning watching the sun rise over the rice fields. OH just slept on!

We travelled across from Toronto to Vancouver on The Canadian, and it was magical. I have so many wonderful memories of the journey, but can't for the life of me remember what I wore in bed! We had our own little toilet and basin cubicle anyway, but had to share a shower just down the corridor. I do remember splashing the clothes I'd taken to wear once and having to scamper back wrapped in a towel - and naturally that was the only time I bumped into another traveller (male, of course). My favourite memory is of rocking gently in my bunk, hearing the ghostly train whistles across the prairie - it brought me out in goosepimples.

You haven’t answered the other question Rufus but I expect I know the answer.
No, with all possible respect, I would not be comfortable sharing with you

When my daughter was quite small (five or six -ish), we travelled on the Kings Cross/Aberdeen sleeper two or three times and both thought it a great adventure! That was nearly 40 years ago and, for the life of me, I can't remember what either of us wore to bed. It's going to niggle away at my brain forever now until I remember ...

Overnight from Madrid to Barcelona and then from Barcelona to Paris. Sleeper train was quite an adventure.

When we crossed over to France, the train stopped (Province?) at 4 am to have its rails adjusted ( French track with a different gauge). We heard muffled voices and a lot of thumping and we couldn't sleep after that. A short while later, we got to watch he sun rise from the moving train which was an unexpected bonus...Great memories!!

We had comfortable yet very small, compact (private) sleepers on both legs of our journey. DH and I were able to change into more comfortable nightwear without any issue. In a less private setting, I would recommend using the restroom to change into a T shirt with flannel pants and socks.

I did Interail around Europe when young/er. Couchette or not, we slept fully clothed in jeans and tops, maybe the bra was slipped off in the loo. Money belt was hidden on my person as we had been warned when sleeping, some were skilled at getting it off you.
Great fun we had, never lost money and boy did I appreciate a bed with sheets in between long train journeys.

MawBroon. I don't have a beard; so would I pass your stringent standards? I'm not very strong
these days either.

Please keep this thread going. It's cheered me up no end.
Sweet Dreams and Good Health.

I’d wear PJ’s and be damned! I don’t remember what I wore on the school trip to Interlaken in 1963 but I can still recall the delicious smell of fresh coffee when the train pulled into Basel. I thought I was in another world!

Having been in a job where I've met both sex change and transsexuals I would say there is a world of difference between the one who is born into what they feel is the wrong sex body, and the one who dresses in the opposite sex style in order to shock and call attention to themselves.

Neilspurgeon0, I love the sound of your honeymoon trip, how exciting. Lots of splendid trips on here. I have never travelled on an overnight train journey but would go for leggings and baggy Tshirt in winter, loose shorts and T in summer.
Long train journey now added to bucket list you paint amazing pictures

Well, I'll probably get shot down in flames for this but the truth will out. I don't hold with any trans or gender dysphoria nonsense. IMO you are male or female and that is determined by the chromosomes in your DNA at birth. I absolutely would not accept a person, looking like a male but claiming to be female, sharing toilet facilities, changing rooms or sleeping arrangements (wherever such things occur)
I wouldn't feel threatened, just angry.

MawBroom, why would someone who has a penis and beard worry you to share with? After all, someone who appears completely female might be a lesbian and make a pass at you, if that is what is worrying you . As long as people are respectful of each other it should work ok. I use a swimming pool in a club and in the changing room females often walk around with nothing on or are at various stages of dress and undress. I also see males in the pool. I can look at both lots and have any thoughts about them. They don't know and are not bothered. You never know how people think or identify, m/f/bi or any thing else.

Oh dear, I started this thread as something lighthearted, and it seems to have become very serious! I've loved all the comments from people who have or wish they had travelled on a sleeper, and to the latter I'd say, give it a go! The man in seat 61 ( seat61.com ) is the fount of all knowledge about trains-despite being a fairly seasoned traveller, I always look to him before I book any tickets.
So, after reading all your comments, I think the silk pyjamas are out and a vest top and loose shorts or leggings are the way to go.
By the way, years and ago I used to buy disposable knickers from Boots for travelling-must see if they still do them. The only problem, I seem to recall, is that they disintegrated fairly quickly in the heat. I remember hitchhiking in the south of France and arriving at the Youth Hostel wearing little more under my skirt than the elastic around the waist and legs.

Thanks, NanaRayner, was juts about to reply. Yes, it's a difficult concept to get your head around, and I had to look up "cisgendered" when I first came across it, but it's good that people can now talk about it. People don't spend years having hormone therapy and painful gender reassignment surgery on a whim, it's not something you "decide on a wet Monday", because it's not a lifestyle choice, its a real condition. Imagine being told something is real when you know it isn't, and when you spend your whole life feeling you are in the wrong gender. And a single girl travelling with Conchita Wurst would probably have a ball!
Perhaps we should all read Jan Morris's autobiography to understand.

We once did motor-rail to the south of France, horrible, never again. Uncomfortable and noisy, told to make sure car alarms were disabled but most didn't. I think I just stripped down to my underwear, not important because only DH in with me.

grandtanteJE65...Me too I was just about to respond when I read your post. I do exactly the same, except for skirt read trousers. Last trip I did like this was in India. I was bunked up beside a family with three young children, all fascinated by this weird 'white' woman (i.e. Scottish...and pale with it) Amazing how well you can communicate with smiles, mimes and shared food/drink