The
Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Its route has changed many times, and several routes have in the past concurrently used the name (or slight variants thereof). Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name has become synonymous with intrigue and luxury travel. The two city names most intimately associated with the Orient Express are
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
, the original endpoints of the service.
The current Orient Express does not serve Paris or Istanbul. Its immediate predecessor, a through overnight service from Paris to
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
ran for the very last time from Paris on Friday, June 8, 2007. Since then, the route, still called the "Orient Express", has been shortened to start from
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
instead, occasioned by the inauguration of the
LGV EstThe LGV Est européenne is an extension to the French high-speed TGV network, connecting Paris and Strasbourg. , it is the newest high-speed line in France and still under construction, with 300 km of a planned 406 km in service...
which affords much faster travel times from Paris to Strasbourg. The new curtailed service leaves Strasbourg at 22.20 daily, shortly after the arrival of a TGV from Paris, and is attached at
KarlsruheKarlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border....
to the overnight sleeper service from
AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
to Vienna.
Train Eclair de luxe (the 'test' train)
Georges NagelmackersGeorges Nagelmackers was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company known for the Orient Express trains....
invited guests to a railway trip of on his 'Train Eclair de luxe' (lightning luxury train). The train left Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) on Tuesday, October 10, 1882, just after 18:30 and arrived in Vienna the next day at 23:20. The return trip left Vienna on Friday, October 13, 1882, at 16:40 and as planned entered Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) at 20:00 on Saturday October 14, 1882.
The train was composed of: 1. Baggage car, 2. Sleeping coach with 16 beds (with bogies), 3. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axles), 4. Restaurant coach (nr. 107), 5. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axles), 6. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axles), 7. Baggage car (complete 101 ton). The first menu on board (October 10, 1882): oysters, soup with Italian pasta, turbot with green sauce, chicken ‘à la chasseur’, fillet of beef with ‘château’ potatoes, ‘chaud-froid’ of Game animals, lettuce, chocolate pudding, buffet of desserts.
Routes of Orient Express
Original train
On June 5, 1883 the first 'Express d'Orient' left Paris for Vienna. Vienna remained the terminus until October 4, 1883. The train was officially renamed Orient Express in 1891.
The original route, which first ran on October 4, 1883, was from
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
Gare de l'EstThe is one of the six large SNCF termini in Paris. It is in the 10th arrondissement, not far from the Gare du Nord, facing the boulevard de Strasbourg, part of the north-south axis of Paris created by Baron Haussmann...
, to
GiurgiuGiurgiu is the capital city of Giurgiu County, Romania, in the Greater Wallachia. It is situated amid mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Rousse on the opposite bank. Three small islands face the city, and a larger one shelters its port, Smarda...
in
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
via
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
to
RousseRuse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria with a population of near 175,600. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, 300 km from the capital Sofia and 200 km from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...
in
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
to pick up another train to
VarnaVarna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in Northern Bulgaria, third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, and 77th-largest in the European Union, with a population of 355,450 .Commonly referred to as the marine capital of Bulgaria, Varna is a...
, from where they completed their journey to
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
by
ferryA ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Istanbul via rail from Vienna to
BelgradeBelgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
and
NišNiš is a city in Nišava District, Serbia situated at 43.3° N 21.9° E, on the Nišava River. With more than 253,077 inhabitants it is the largest city in southern Serbia and the third-largest city in the country, after Belgrade and Novi Sad, according to the data from May 2009...
, carriage to
PlovdivPlovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 380,312. Known in ancient times as Philippoupolis, it is the administrative center of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria and three municipalities and Bulgaria's Yuzhen tsentralen planning region , as well as the...
and rail again to Istanbul.
In 1889, the train's eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Istanbul. On June 1, 1889, the first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l'Est). Istanbul remained its easternmost stop until May 19, 1977. The eastern terminus was the
Sirkeci TerminalIstanbul Sirkeci is a terminus main station of the Turkish State Railways in Sirkeci, on the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. International, domestic and regional trains running westwards depart from this station which was inaugurated as the terminus of the Orient Express.-History:After the...
by the
Golden HornThe Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the superb natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of years...
. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosporus Strait to
Haydarpaşa TerminalHaydarpaşa Terminal is a terminus main station of the Turkish State Railways in the Haydarpaşa quarter of the Kadıköy district, at the Anatolian part of Istanbul, Turkey...
, the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman railways.
The onset of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
in 1914 saw Orient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of the
Simplon TunnelThe Simplon Tunnel is an Alpine railway tunnel that connects the Swiss town of Brig with Domodossola in Italy, though its relatively straight trajectory does not run under Simplon Pass itself. It actually consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 20 years apart...
allowed the introduction of a more southerly route via
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
,
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
and
TriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in north eastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south, east and north of the city...
. The service on this route was known as the Simplon Orient Express, and it ran in addition to continuing services on the old route. The
Treaty of Saint-GermainThe Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the new Republic of Austria on the other...
contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. The Simplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul.
The 1930s saw the zenith of Orient Express services, with three parallel services running: the Orient Express, the Simplon Orient Express, and also the
ArlbergThe Arlberg railway, which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only east-west mountain railway. The 135.7 km line is referred as Europe's most difficult mountain railway since it was always - and still is - threatened by avalanches, mudflows, rockfalls or floods...
Orient Express, which ran via
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
and
InnsbruckInnsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some south of Innsbruck...
to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest and
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their
cuisineCuisine is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. It is often named after the region or place where its underlining culture is present...
.
RoyaltyA royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term "imperial family" more appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress regnant, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate in reference to the...
, nobles, diplomats, business people and the
bourgeoisieHistorically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...
in general patronized it. Each of the Orient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run from
CalaisCalais is a town in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
to Paris, thus extending the service right from one edge of continental
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
to the other.
The start of the Second World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During the war, the German
MitropaMITROPA is a catering company best known for having managed sleeping and dining cars of different German railroads for most of the 20th century. Since its reorganization in 2002, the company only provides stationary food services for rail and road customers...
company had run some services on the route through the
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, but
partisansThe Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II resistance movement engaged in the fight against Axis forces and their collaborators in Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War from 1941 to 1945...
frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service.
Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between
YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
and
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
prevented services from running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of the
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
-
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As the
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991...
fell across Europe, the service continued to run, but the Communist nations increasingly replaced the Wagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services.
By 1962, the Orient Express and
ArlbergThe Arlberg railway, which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only east-west mountain railway. The 135.7 km line is referred as Europe's most difficult mountain railway since it was always - and still is - threatened by avalanches, mudflows, rockfalls or floods...
Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only the Simplon Orient Express. This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called the Direct Orient Express, which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens.
In 1971, the Wagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for the carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris-Athens direct service, and in 1977, the Direct Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris-Istanbul service running on May 19 of that year.
The withdrawal of the Direct Orient Express was thought by many to signal the end of Orient Express as a whole, but in fact a service under this name continued to run from Paris to Budapest and Bucharest as before (via Strasbourg, Munich, and Budapest). This continued until 2001, when the service was cut back to just Paris-
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, the coaches for which were attached to the Paris-
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
express. This service continued daily, listed in the timetables under the name
Orient Express, until June 8, 2007. However, with the opening of the
Paris-Strasbourg high speed rail lineThe LGV Est européenne is an extension to the French high-speed TGV network, connecting Paris and Strasbourg. , it is the newest high-speed line in France and still under construction, with 300 km of a planned 406 km in service...
on June 10, 2007, the
Orient Express service was further cut back to Strasbourg-Vienna, departing nightly at 22:20 from Strasbourg, and still bearing the name.
Today
It provides a convenient connection from the
TGVThe TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by VFE, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator. It was developed during the 1970s by GEC-Alsthom and SNCF, and is now operated primarily by SNCF...
arrival from Paris. Before December 14, 2008, this service provided an efficient connection between Paris and Vienna: departure from Paris at 19.24, arrival in Vienna at 8.35, in the other direction departure from Vienna at 20.34, arrival in Paris at 9.34.
EN468-469 Orient-Express
Since 14 December 2008 the Orient-Express (with a hyphen) has run as
EuroNightEuroNight, abbreviated EN, denotes all main-line national and international night train services within the European inter-city rail network. Unlike the equivalent day-running counterparts EuroCity and InterCity trains, the EuroNight trains tend to run during the nighttime and are equipped with...
services EN468 and EN469 between Vienna and Strasbourg. Four through carriages operate from
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
to Frankfurt am Main and three additional carriages Vienna - Frankfurt. The trains operate daily.
Route:
- Wien Westbahnhof in Vienna
- St. Pölten Hbf
- Amstetten
Amstetten can refer to several geographical terms:*Amstetten , a municipality in the Alb-Donau district of Germany*Amstetten, Lower Austria, a municipality in southwest Lower Austria...
- Linz Hbf
- Salzburg Hbf
- Ulm Hbf
is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Ulm, which lies on the Danube, on the border of the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. It is on ICE line from Stuttgart to Munich and the Paris –Budapest Magistrale for Europe line that is supported by the European Union as part of its...
- Stuttgart Hbf
is the Hauptbahnhof of the city of Stuttgart in southwestern Germany. It is the largest regional and long-distance railway station in Stuttgart, the main node of the Stuttgart S-Bahn network, and, together with the halt at Charlottenplatz, the main node of the Stuttgart Stadtbahn.Located near the...
- Pforzheim Hbf
- Karlsruhe Hbf
is the central railway station in the German city of Karlsruhe. The station is classified as one of the major Category 1 stations in Germany, due to its function as a hub connecting several railway lines with each other.- History :...
- Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.- History :The German word 'Baden' translates as 'to bath/bathe'...
- Kehl
Kehl is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg.-History:...
- Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
The train consists of sleeper cars, couchette cars and saloon cars of the Austrian (
ÖBBThe Austrian Federal Railways is the national railway system of Austria. Additionally it administers Liechtenstein's railway system....
) and Hungarian (MÁV) national railways.
Though the current service only runs from
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
to Vienna, it is possible to retrace the entire original Orient Express route with four trains:Paris-Strasbourg, Strasbourg-
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, Vienna-
BelgradeBelgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
and Belgrade-
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
, each of which operate daily. Other routes from Paris to Istanbul also exist, such as Paris-
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
-
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
-
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
-Istanbul, or Paris-
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
-Belgrade-Istanbul, all of which have comparable travel times of approximately 60 hours without delays.
Privately run trains using the name
In 1982, the
Venice-Simplon Orient ExpressThe Venice Simplon-Orient Express is a private luxury train service that travels from London to Venice that is popularly referred to as the Orient Express....
was established as a private venture, running restored 1920s and 1930s carriages from London to Venice. This service runs between March and November, and is firmly aimed at leisure travellers, with tickets costing over $3,120 per person from London to Venice including meals. Currently (October 2009) the company offers once a year service from Paris and Istanbul in August and Istanbul to Paris trip in September. Other routes include:
- Istanbul - Bucharest - Budapest - Venice
- London - Venice
- London - Venice - Rome
- Paris - Budapest - Bucharest - Istanbul
- Paris - Venice
- Rome - Venice
- Venice - Budapest - London
- Venice - Krakow - Dresden - London
- Venice - London
- Venice - Paris
- Venice - Prague - London
- Venice - Vienna - London
- Venice - Rome
The company also offer similarly-themed Express in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand & Laos called the Eastern & Oriental Express.
The American Orient Express operated across the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as parts of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It was advertised as a sort of combination of a
cruise shipA cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year...
and a five-star
hotelA hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
. After several years of operation it was sold in 2007 to new owners and its name was changed to GrandLuxe Rail Journeys. In late August 2008, GrandLuxe Rail Journeys abruptly ceased operations. The entire set of luxury train cars was put up for sale in September 2008. In June 2009, it was reported that 25 trains cars had been purchased by Xanterra Parks and Resorts, and would be used to "enhance the national parks experience".
In popular culture
The glamour and rich history of the Orient Express has frequently lent itself to the plot of books and films and as the subject of television documentaries.
Literature
- Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.Dracula has been attributed to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Structurally it is an epistolary novel,...
by Bram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.-Early life:He...
: whilst Dracula escapes from England to Varna by sea, the cabal sworn to destroy him travels to Paris and takes the Orient Express, arriving in Varna ahead of him.
- Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach. The UK edition retailed at seven...
(January 1934) by Agatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE , was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays...
is probably the most well known story related to the Orient Express. It takes place on the Simplon Orient Express.
- The short story Have You Got Everything You Want?, first published in the US in the April 1933 issue of Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
magazine and in the UK as On the Orient Express in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine in June 1933, before reverting back to its original title when published as part of the collection Parker Pyne InvestigatesParker Pyne Investigates is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Collins and Sons in November 1934. Along with The Listerdale Mystery, this collection did not appear under the usual imprint of the Collins Crime Club but instead appeared as...
in November 1934.
- Stamboul Train
Stamboul Train is a novel by author Graham Greene. A thriller set on an Orient Express train, it was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United States.-Plot introduction:...
by Graham GreeneHenry Graham Greene OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
- Travels With My Aunt
Travels with My Aunt is a novel written by British author Graham Greene.The novel follows the travels of Henry Pulling, a retired bank manager, and his eccentric Aunt Augusta as they find their way across Europe, and eventually even further afield...
by Graham Greene
- Flashman and the Tiger
Flashman and the Tiger is a 1999 book by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the eleventh of the Flashman books.-Plot introduction:Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's Schooldays...
by George MacDonald FraserGeorge MacDonald Fraser, OBE was a British author of both historical novels and non-fiction books, as well as several screenplays.-Early life and military career:...
: Sir Harry Paget Flashman travels on the train's first journey as a guest of the journalist Henri BlowitzHenri Georges Stephane Adolphe Opper de Blowitz was a Bohemian journalist.He was born to a family of Jewish ancestry at Blovice in Bohemia, and left home at the age of fifteen to travel, acquiring a wide range of languages in the process. When financial constraints led him to plan emigration to...
.
- From Russia With Love
From Russia with Love is the second spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Ian...
by Ian FlemingIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author and journalist. Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling Bond's adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories...
Film
- Orient Express (1934): film adaptation of Graham Greene's Stamboul Train
Stamboul Train is a novel by author Graham Greene. A thriller set on an Orient Express train, it was renamed Orient Express when it was published in the United States.-Plot introduction:...
.
- Orient Express (1944): Germany; released on March 8, 1945, likely the last date a new movie was shown in Nazi Germany.
- Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express
Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express is a 2000 thriller film about a group of international terrorists who, a few days before the start of the new millennium, lure a group of very rich celebrities and businesspeople on board the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul in order to...
' (2000)
- Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days is a 2004 comedy/adventure film based on Jules Verne's novel of the same name. It stars Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan and Cécile de France. The film is set in 19th-century Britain and centers on Phileas Fogg , here reimagined as an eccentric inventor and his efforts to...
(2004): Mr. Fogg rides aboard the train to Istanbul.
- From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love is the second spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Ian...
(1963): James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
's troubled escape in is also set aboard the train.
- Istanbul Express (1968): thriller, made for television, starring Gene Barry
-Early life:Barry was born Eugene Klass in New York City, New York, the son of Eva and Martin Klass; all of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He exhibited early skills with his singing and violin playing.-Career:...
.
- Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet and based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.-Overview:The film features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot...
(1974) and (2001): Film adaptations of the Agatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE , was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays...
novel.
- Romance on the Orient Express (1985): TV movie with Cheryl Ladd
Cheryl Ladd is an American singer, author and actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the 1970s television series Charlie's Angels.-Career:...
.
- 102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians is a 2000 live-action film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It is the sequel to 101 Dalmatians, a live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name. In the film, Cruella de Vil attempts to steal puppies for her...
(2000)
- The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson. Ruth and Quin Somerville travel via the Orient Express and reach England.
Television
- Mystery on the Orient Express: a television special featuring illusionist David Copperfield
David Copperfield is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist described by Forbes in 2006 as the most commercially successful magician in history...
. During the special, Copperfield rode aboard the train and, at its conclusion, made the dining car seemingly disappear.
- Minder on the Orient Express
Minder on the Orient Express is a comedy/thriller television film made in 1985 as a spin-off from the successful television series Minder...
(1985): a special episode of the long-running ITV sit-com MinderMinder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
.
- Whicker's World
Whicker's World is a British television documentary series that ran from 1959 to 1988, presented by journalist and broadcaster Alan Whicker....
- Aboard The Orient Express: Travel journalist Alan WhickerAlan Donald Whicker, CBE has been a British journalist and broadcaster for the last fifty years.-Background:...
joined the inaugural service of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express to Venice in 1982, interviewing invited guests and celebrities along the way.
- Gavin Stamp
Gavin Stamp is a British writer and architectural historian. He is a trustee of the Twentieth Century Society, a registered charity which promotes the appreciation of modern architecture and the conservation of Britain’s architectural heritage...
's Orient Express: in 2007 UK's Five broadcast an arts/travel series which saw the historian journey from Paris to Istanbul along the old Orient Express route.
- The 1987 cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an joint-venture between American/Japanese animated television series produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Shogakukan Studios. It premiered December 28, 1987, first as a five-part mini-series animated by Toei...
had an episode entitled Turtles on the Orient Express. As the title suggests it is primarily based on the train.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Created about 21 years after the original Star Trek, and set in the 24th century about 80 years after the orginal series, the program features a new crew and a new...
, "Emergence"Emergence" is a seventh season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which featured many surrealist elements.Quick Overview: The Enterprise shows signs it is developing an artificial intelligence.-Plot:...
": the train appears on the Enterprise's holodeckA holodeck is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases in the fictional Star Trek universe. An episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, "The Practical Joker", formed the groundwork for the idea in the 1970s by portraying a recreation room capable of holographic simulations...
.
- In the British
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEndersEastEnders is a long-running, popular and award-winning television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985...
, in 1986, characters Den and Angie Watts spent their honeymoon on the train. It was also where it was revealed that AngieAngela "Angie" Watts is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anita Dobson from the first episode of the show until 1988 when the actress decided to quit and the character was written out....
was lying about her illness, preceding the ultimate storyline in ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
1986.
- Aboard the Orient Express Get Smart Series 1 - Episode 13 set on the Orient Express. However, filmed on set.
- Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
travels on the Orient Express in travel documentary series Around the World in 80 DaysAround the World in 80 Days is a BBC television travel series first broadcast in 1989. It was presented by comedian and actor Michael Palin. The show was inspired by Jules Verne's classic novel Around the World in Eighty Days, in which a character named Phileas Fogg accepts a wager to...
in which he retraces the footsteps of Phileas FoggPhileas Fogg is the main fictional character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days. In some adaptations of the Jules Verne novel, he is known as Phineas Fogg, not Phileas Fogg.-Around the World in Eighty Days:...
.
- The Restaurant (Series 2)
The second series of The Restaurant is a television series that aired in the United Kingdom on BBC Two in the autumn of 2008. Auditions took place in Manchester and London during March and April 2008...
: The final challenge is set on the train, with each pair of contestants cooking for 40 customers.
Music
- Orient Expressions: Musical group from Turkey who combine traditional Turkish music with elements of electronica.
- The Jean Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is regarded as a pioneer in the electronic, synthpop, ambient and New Age genres, as well as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music which feature lights, laser displays and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon...
album 'The Concerts in ChinaThe Concerts in China is a live album by Jean Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus...
' has a track entitled 'Orient Express' as track 1 of disc 2, though the relation to the train is unknown.
Games and animation
- The role-playing game Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos.The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium.-Setting:...
RPGA role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines...
used the train for one its more famous scenarios.
- The Orient Express plays host to an adventure game by Jordan Mechner
Jordan Mechner is an American game programmer, game designer, screenwriter and movie director. Mechner was born in New York City. He graduated from Yale University with a BA in Psychology in 1985...
: The Last ExpressThe Last Express is a video game created by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, published in 1997. It is an adventure game that takes place on the Orient Express, days before the start of World War I. It is noted as being one of the few video games that attempts to realistically simulate...
is a murder mystery game set around the last ride of the Orient Express before it suspended operations at the start of World War I.
- The Adventure Company
The Adventure Company, a branch of DreamCatcher Interactive, is a major publisher of adventure games. Their first released game,The Cameron Files: Secret at Loch Ness, was released in 2002...
developed a point-and-click adventure based on Agatha Christie's novel, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient ExpressAgatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is the title of a 2006 point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. The game is the second installment in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series...
.
- The 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an joint-venture between American/Japanese animated television series produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Shogakukan Studios. It premiered December 28, 1987, first as a five-part mini-series animated by Toei...
spent the best part of an episode on the train.
- In 1994's Season 1 episode of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? is an American animated television series based on the series of computer games. It should not be confused with the PBS game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. The Earth show was made by DIC Entertainment and originally aired Saturday mornings on FOX...
called, "The Gold Old Bad Days", Carmen SandiegoCarmen Sandiego is a fictional character featured in a long-running edutainment series of the same name. As a criminal mastermind and the elusive nemesis of the ACME Detective Agency, Sandiego is the principal villain of the series and head of ACME's rival organization V.I.L.E. Most of her crimes...
and her V.I.L.E. gang are give a challenge to do something low tech by The Player robbery. Carmen's goal is the train.
- In the Lord Darcy
Lord Darcy is a detective in an alternate history, created by Randall Garrett. The first stories were asserted to take place in the same year as they were published, but in a world very different from our own.-Magic:...
alternate history series of detective stories, one story takes place on board a fictional train clearly modeled in the Orient Express, though its name and route are different.
- The train is featured in Microsoft Train Simulator
Microsoft Train Simulator is a train simulator for Microsoft Windows, released in July 2001 and developed by UK based Kuju Entertainment. On January 19, 2007 Microsoft informed the community about the development of Train Simulator 2 based on the Microsoft Flight Simulator X platform...
, where its route is a 101 km (63 mile) section from InnsbruckInnsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some south of Innsbruck...
to St. AntonSankt Anton am Arlberg is a village in Tyrol, western Austria, with a population of c. 2,800. It is a prominent ski resort situated at 1,304 m above sea level in the Tyrolean Alps with dozens of Aerial tramways, chairlifts up to 2,811 m...
in Austria.
- The Orient Express was shown in the game Railroad Tycoon 3
Railroad Tycoon 3 is a computer game in the Railroad Tycoon series, released in 2003. It continues to have a small but active community of players and modders.-New features:The game interface is in full 3D, with free camera movement...
in which you need to go from ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
to IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
.
- The Orient Express cars were made available for download to use in Auran
Auran is an Australian video game developer and publisher based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was established in 1995 by Greg Lane and Graham Edelsten and released its first game, Dark Reign: The Future of War, in 1997...
's TrainzTrainz, fully Trainz Railroad Simulator or Trainz Railway Simulator, is a 3D computer game and train simulator created by Australian games developer Auran. The game was rated well by the gaming community. It received a rating of 8.7 from GameSpot and a user score of 8.0-Modules:*Surveyor is the...
Railroad Simulator 2004 or later versions by the content creation group: FMA.
Further reading
- Orient Express: The Life and Times of the World's Most Famous Train by E H Cookridge.
Detail from a copy of the first publication of the book with black and white plates by Allen Lane London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1979 (ISBN 0 7139 1271 7)
External links