The History Of The Orient Express

Recently, I was lucky enough to be treated to a trip on the Orient Express

, it was quite an experience absolute luxury combined with excellent service. If it werent for the modern dress and occasional buzz of a mobile phone I could have been back in the heyday of the infamous train. History oozes from the carriages and it got me thinking about all of the people who have travelled on that train over the years.

As with most things in the Victorian era the British were leading the way when it came to train travel, by the 1870s luxury coaches were in service offering the novelty of dining on board a train. By 1881 there was a service from London to Paris offering luxury all the way.

Around the same time, a Belgian railway entrepreneur George Nagelmackers started making luxury coaches and started a service running between Paris and Giurgi in Romania, the first continental train to offer a restaurant service. After some teething problems Nagelmackers vision of a train that crossed continents made its first journey from Paris to Istanbul (then Constantinople). It was dubbed the Orient Express by the press although Istanbul is as far into the Orient as it ever went.

The first journey was attended by the press and prominent members of society, the savvy Nagelmackers had arranged for dilapidated old coaches to be left on the adjacent tracks when leaving Paris as a comparison to the luxury on board the Orient Express.

The trains popularity grew and grew over the years and became a haven for royalty, celebrities and others in the upper-echelons of society. It is reported that the train became a favourite of spies (it was also known as the Spies Express) as it made travel through Europe easy, no inconvenient border controls to contend with and provided luxurious surroundings after a hard days spying.

The train went from strength to strength adding more services to more destinations but the outbreak of War in Europe soon changed that, World War One meant that travel between countries became more difficult and the service was therefore suspended. One of the luxurious coaches played a key part, it was there that the Germans signed a document surrendering to the Allies in November 1918. The coach was proudly displayed by the French until 1940 when it was destroyed by the Nazis lest it become a trophy of the Allies once more.

In between the wars the service was as popular as ever so much so that an alternative route to Istanbul through Germany was added in the thirties. The service was again supended in WW2 and afterwards never quite returned to its once great status. It became less popular as it was overtaken by air travel which was the new, fashionable way to travel.

What remains today is a shadow of what it once was, it is run by private companies and some see it as old-fashioned and stuffy. Personally I dont agree with that point of view, it is a great way to sit back, relax and be waited on hand and foot whilst watching the countryside roll by which is just not possible on a plane or a car.

by: Bruno Blackstone

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