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The Great Age of Train Travel: 1883 - 1977 |
With sleeping carriages and restaurant cars in place, Nagelmackers was finally able to fulfil his dream and on 4th October 1883 the first Orient-Express train service was inaugurated. The initial route ran from Paris to Giurgi (on the Danube in Romania), via Strasbourg, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest.
By the turn of the century, the great age of rail travel was in full swing. The Simplon Tunnel - at 12½ miles, the world's longest - was built in 1906, cutting the trip from Paris to Venice significantly, and by 1921 the Orient-Express was running an extended Simplon-Orient-Express route to Istanbul.
The 1920s and 1930s were the heyday of the legendary train - elaborate meals, decadent company and fine wines characterised this era of luxury rail travel. Royalty, celebrities, courtesans and spies intermingled as they travelled in opulence throughout Europe - small wonder that this provided the perfect setting for Agatha Christie's most famous work, Murder on the Orient-Express.
The Second World War put paid to all of this. Ferry services were cancelled and cross-frontier travel became impossible. In the depression that followed, economy not premier carriages were added to the rakes. Air travel was faster and cheaper and although the Orient-Express continued to operate until May 1977, its final run consisted of just one shabby sleeping compartment and three day cars. | | |
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