Vintage photos show how first-class train travel has changed over the past 100 years

• First-class train cars used to include gramophones and leather armchairs.

• Travelers would dress up in suits and fur coats for their trips.

• Celebrities like Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger traveled in first class.

Modern first-class train tickets include perks like lounge access and meals, but trains used to be even more luxurious.

Train travel has experienced a renaissance in recent years, with more passengers opting to avoid rising airfare costs and the environmental impact of flying. Amtrak reported its ridership reached 28.8 million in 2023 — a 24.6% increase from the previous year.

Here's a look back at how glamorous first-class train cars once were and how they've changed through the years.

In the early 1900s, first-class train carriages featured club cars with sumptuous leather furniture.

This ornate 1905 club car was part of the British railway company Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.

In 1912, meals on the Great Eastern Railway's first-class dining cars were served on fine china and silverware embossed with the GER logo.

The carriages also featured upholstered leather booths with covers, known as antimacassars that were embroidered with "GER."

First-class lounges looked more like living rooms aboard the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway in 1928.

First-class lounges on LMS trains were furnished with leather armchairs, drapes, and carpeting.

Passengers dressed to the nines in hats, gloves, and fur coats in a first-class London North Eastern Railway car in 1930.

The lounge also included a gramophone and decorative wood panels.

Travelers on the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1930 passed the time by reading newspapers or listening to the radio.

The first-class car featured plenty of windows, as well as striped furniture and tabletop lamps.

In 1937, sleeping carriages on luxury Pullman trains included perks like being served breakfast in bed.

The carriages included clothing racks and shelves for storing luggage, as well.

In 1951, waitstaff served food and drinks in a first-class dining saloon on a train at Marylebone Station in London.

The tables were set with white tablecloths and patterned china.

Lunch was also a dressy affair in British Railways' first-class dining car.

Passengers wore suits and ties, as did the waitstaff.

Glamorous Golden Arrow trains, operated by Pullman, ran between London and Paris from 1929 to 1972.

The Golden Arrow's Trianon Bar, the first-class bar car pictured above, debuted in 1951.

Pullman offered rides on restored Golden Arrow trains in 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of its final run.

Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger traveled in style in first class in 1967.

The musicians rode the train from London's Euston Station to Bangor.

King Charles (then Prince of Wales) also rode in first class in 1978.

Charles chatted with a journalist in a first-class cabin on a train in the UK.

In 1992, the first-class lounge on Indian Pacific trains offered entertainment in the form of board games like Scrabble.

Passengers were photographed playing Scrabble as an Indian Pacific train pulled out of the Broken Hill station in Australia.

In 1997, British Prime Minister John Major and his wife, Norma, ate a meal in first class as they rode a train from King's Cross Station in London.

Their table featured a rose in a vase and blue linen napkins.

Today's first-class cars on Amtrak don't look much different from the rest of the train.

Business Insider's Joey Hadden rode in a first-class Amtrak Acela car in 2022 and concluded that while she enjoyed the meal service and travel experience, she didn't feel it was worth the $270 price tag.

Some trains still offer the old-world glamour of yesteryear, like the Venice Simplon-Orient Express.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express consists of vintage luxury train cars from the 1920s and 1930s that transported passengers through Europe as part of the Orient Express.

The sleeper trains now travel to 17 European cities on 60 routes. Prices for a private cabin range from $9,000 to $26,000.

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