The Orient Express: History's Most Glamorous Train

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one of my favorite sponsors really do enjoy their stuff so give them a try and now today's video [Music] for most of us the name orient express conjures up images of romance intrigue adventure and even murder used as a setting by authors like agatha christie and ian fleming it's become arguably the most famous train line in western culture nevertheless despite the train's fame and ubiquity there's actually a lot of confusion about where exactly it traveled and when officially running from 1883 to 1977 and traveling 2740 kilometers or 1700 miles between paris and istanbul or constantinople as the city was known for much of the train's service the orient express was the first transcontinental express in europe however over its history its route evolved and added additional routes connecting other distant cities like london and athens plus the name was used or leased by various companies over the years making the title of the real orient express a subject of debate among enthusiasts [Music] in 1876 a belgian businessman named george mclemack has founded le comornier internationale de wagons lit wagons lit being the french term for sleeper cars the plan was for the company to produce and operate first class sleeper and dining cars on european trains his idea was that the cars would be attached to trains operated by other national railway companies using their own engines tracks and stations passengers would pay for a ticket on the train as well as an extra fee for the wagon's lit's car wagonslitz then officially began operating the orient express in 1883. well it was technically called the express de oriole at the time but i think that means the same thing in french the original route ran twice a week starting in paris and it passed through major cities including strasbourg munich vienna budapest and bucharest at the time it didn't make it all the way to istanbul but instead ended at wagner bulgaria on the black sea from there passengers who wanted to continue on to istanbul or constantinople had to catch a steamship operated by the austrian lloyd company and then take the 14-hour trip across the western edge of the black sea during its first years the arent express pushed the limits of europe's railroad infrastructure the decline of the ottoman empire and the political strife in the balkans delayed railroad construction and in addition to the necessity of steamship travel along the last leg of the journey to constantinople there were other hiccups in the beginning for example the train had to stop in jeju romania on the danube river there passengers had to take a ferry to ruse bulgaria on the other side where they could continue to vana similarly once a week the wagon splits began operating a route that diverged at vienna to reach constantinople via belgrade and nice in serbia instead of bucharest and varna but the track wasn't quite finished in these passengers had to take horse-drawn carriages over 300 kilometers or 190 miles to plovdiv bulgaria where train service resumed for constantinople [Music] despite the initial problems with infrastructure the orient express became increasingly popular especially over the paris to vienna stretch for which their wagons lit service increased daily in 1885. by 1889 the track was completed from paris to constantinople the orange express left paris as guard strasbourg now known as gar de la este for vienna every evening at 6 25 pm on sundays and wednesdays the train then continued on to constantinople where it arrived three nights after leaving paris at four in the afternoon in 1891 the line was officially named the orient express the developments of this transcontinental rail line coincided with the era known as labella park in french which means the beautiful age and refers to the time period starting at the end of the franco-prussian war in 1871 and going until the start of world war one in 1914 similarly referred to as the gilded age in the united states this period saw dramatic economic growth technological innovation cultural development and social optimism for example in the united states real wages rose 60 from 1860 to 1890 and developed 37 from 1890 to 1914. along with this prosperity came the development of travel and tourism as a leisure activity and the thirst for romantic adventure in exotic lands constantinople was an attractive destination because its location right in between europe and the ottoman empire and middle eastern cultures made it a melting pot ripe for new and diverse experiences nevertheless the orient express wasn't exactly the go to vacation for your average 19th century working class family the ticket on the inaugural journey in 1883 cost 700 francs while the average wage for a frenchman at the time was under four pranks a day indeed it's estimated that a ticket on the orient express in the 1890s cost roughly 1 750 euros or 2 000 in today's currency a quarter of an average frenchman's yearly income during the same period rather the orient express was a luxury line for aristocrats diplomats successful artists and europe's increasingly wealthy bourgeoisie take for example the first menu served on the train it had seven courses featuring oysters turbot and fine wines and champagne overall the train was well known for its manatees including lalique chandeliers a piano and high-class dining for instance famous french journalist aureopa de bluetz remarked on the variety and sophistication of the train's food and described the elaborate detail of the dining cars saying the bright white tablecloths and napkins artistically and coquettishly folded by the sommeliers the glittering glasses the ruby red and taupe has white wine the crystal clear water decanters and the silver capsules of the champagne bottles they blind the eyes of the public both inside and outside de blovitz was actually born in the bohemia region of the austrongarian empire but he was naturalized in france in 1870. he was connected with many important european diplomats and government officials and his journalism often boarded on espionage for instance in 1875 he obtained and published german plans to attack france thereby thwarting them and in both 1877 and 1888 he exposed conspiracies within the french government dublo it wasn't the only spy to take the orient express though in fact the train was sometimes referred to as the spies express because of the access it gave intelligence operators to both ends of europe the famous example was robert baden-powell the british spy who started the boy scouts and wrote the orient express during his operations in the balkans prior to world war one posing as a lepidopterist someone who studies butterflies he claimed to be sketching butterfly wings when he was really drawing enemy fortifications on the dalmatian coast and who wouldn't have questioned that cover [Music] world war one only proved a minor hang up for the orient express though service was suspended during the war the train began running again in 1919. however it changed its route to avoid germany by travelling to zurich and then through the arberg pass in austria to reach vienna it was during this time period between the world wars that the orient express really expanded also in 1919 the simplen orient express opened as an alternate route to the main line this line took a more southerly route to constantinople traveling through milan venice belgrade and sophia and also connected the line past paris in the west to calais this route was facilitated by the simplen tunnel which connects brig switzerland to isle italy by cutting through the alps opened in 1906 it's almost 20 kilometers or 12 miles long and was the longest railway tunnel in the world from its construction until 1988 when the saikon tunnel opened in japan additionally the tunnel lies only 705 meters or 2 300 feet above sea level meaning that there are over two kilometers around 1.3 miles of rock on top of it as a result temperatures of 56 degrees celsius or 133 fahrenheit have been recorded inside it the simple orient express ended up becoming a more attractive route to constantinople because the western allied nations were still suspicious of germany and liked the fact that they could avoid it entirely in fact the treaty of versailles that followed world war one gave the simplon orient express a 10-year monopoly on the paris to constantinople route and forced austria to accept the train as a result the simple orient express became even more popular than the original route and is often the line portrayed in literature and film for example it's actually the simplon orient express that detective hercule puerto takes in agatha christie's famous mystery murder on the orange express in the book poirot is trying to return to london from istanbul which has been renamed as such in 1930 when a snowstorm strands the train between vinkovsky and broad in what is now croatia along the route of the simplon orient express borrow must then solve a murder that occurs on the train by the time murder on the orient express was published in 1934 the orient express had reached its peak in 1922 wagons lit began replacing the old wooden r-class sleeper cars with steel s-type cars designed in the art deco style painted blue with old lining and lettering these were manufactured in england by leeds forge the network expanded and different routes reached numerous cities throughout europe the orange express became a popular means of travel for diplomats artists and writers as well as just the wealthy the first murder on the orange express didn't actually occur until a year after the fictional detective hercule poirot solved his in 1935 a wealthy romanian woman named maria farcasano was robbed and thrown out of the window of the train by 23 year old student carl strasser strasser was captured and sentenced to life in prison in austria but the incident can be seen as a kind of beginning of the end for the orange express's heyday soon thereafter world war ii began and the line was suspended operations resumed in late 1945 but the war had destroyed many of the carriages not to mention a great deal of europe's railway infrastructure the us marshall plan helped rebuild much of this but the cold war still created mostly insurmountable obstacles for the train line the communist countries of the eastern bloc controlled immigration heavily and forbade their citizens from emigrating as a result people from those countries were often unable to travel west on the orient express and people from the western bloc were often prevented from entering eastern europe the exception was diplomat something that added to the orient express's mystique of espionage in fact in 1950 captain eugene simon carp a u.s naval officer in romania fell off the train in austria the us government was suspicious of the circumstances and spent a decade investigating the death although a romanian student confessed in 1952 to murdering carr but the behest of a foreign organization no official conclusion was ever reached the incident ultimately inspired ian fleming's 1957 james bond novel from russia with love by the 70s though the orange express was a shadow of its former glory it had few passengers and the train no longer even had a dining car people had to bring their own food for the length of the journey in 1971 the wagonlitz company decided operating their sleeper car services was no longer financially viable so they started selling them or leasing them out to other operators the orange express survived for a while but in 1977 direct services from paris to istanbul had stopped altogether for many the last train to arrive in istanbul was considered the end of the orient express however services actually still ran using the orient express name and the cars and staff from wagons lits they were attached to trains operated by companies like austrian federal railways french railways and hungarian railways initially service reached as far as bucharest but by 2001 it was cut down to just paris to vienna in 2007 due to the introduction of a high-speed train between paris and strasbourg it was further reduced to just strasbourg vienna this was an ordinary euro night sleeper train operated by obb or austrian federal railways but even that made its last trip on the 12th of december 2009 after which the orient express disappeared from the europe-wide timetable [Music] there is however a way you can still get the orient express experience in 1977 james sherwood an american entrepreneur living in the uk started buying classic train coaches at auctions including vintage 1929 wagons let's sleeper cars he restored them and in 1982 began operating a service called the venice simplon orient express running from london and paris to venice this was eventually expanded to reach istanbul just like the original orient express taking five days and traveling through budapest and bucharest the train is less of a practical means of transportation a more a luxury travel experience while a few train enthusiasts would consider it the real orient express it does get you from paris to istanbul in style departing just once a year in august it includes five nights aboard the train 24-hour steward service hotel stays meals and city tours in both budapest and bucharest a danube river cruise and of course multiple course meals to rival those of the original a twin cabin on the venice simple on orient express will cost you seventeen thousand two hundred fifty pounds per passenger which is about twenty thousand euros or twenty three thousand dollars the suite double that price considering that in 2019 the average annual wage in france was about 39 000 euros even the cheapest ticket is relatively speaking more than twice as much as passage on the original orient express so what was the real orient express the original train of lubellapoc that chauffeured europe's growing wealthy class across the continent the post-world war one simplenorian express that inspired artists and writers or the failing cold war line that took spies and diplomats to and from enemy territory did it end in 1977 with its last run to istanbul in 2009 when the last cause of its name rolled into the vienna west vanhoof on a gray winter morning perhaps the orange express is more than any one train and instead a cultural symbol of europe's history and thirst for adventure in this way it's sure to live on in novels films and the zeitgeist for years to come so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 131,914

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Id: wg6g09MMeDU

Length: 16min 28sec (988 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 28 2022