When it comes to train travel nothing speaks quality like the Orient Express, but how did this train of luxury come into being?
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Georges Nagelmachers
The story of the Orient Express starts with Georges Lambert Casimir Nigelmackers. He was born on the 25th of June 1845 in Belgium.
His family were mostly made up of bankers so he was definitely born into wealth, and his family also had links to King Leopold the second of Belgium.
Georges set his sights on becoming a civil engineer and was trained to do just that. His story then turns into a slight love story. He fell in love with an older cousin which sounds very odd nowadays but back in the 1800s, and before, it was quite common practice.
People would marry cousins to preserve family wealth and strengthen family ties. Royal families around the world did it- and still do- fairly regularly.
Anyway, Georges’s cousin didn’t share his feelings of love so suffering from a broken heart he decided he didn’t want to remain in Belgium so he packed his bags and travelled to the United States.
During his 10 months travelling the States, he came across train travel on the luxury Pullman carriages. After travelling on the luxurious carriages he became convinced that a luxury style of travel would be popular in Europe.
He even gave George Pullman, the creator of the luxury Pullman carriages, the chance of a partnership – Pullman refused the offer.
History has moments which can change outcomes. I believe this is one of those moments. Pullman’s refusal of the offer could have been the best thing to happen in this situation – read about Pullman’s story and dramatic downfall and you’ll understand. Of course, I say all this but some say the two never met at all. One of those “you need a time machine to know the truth” moments.
You could compare this to the supposed meeting of George Hudson and George Stephenson in Whitby. When Hudson fell from grace nobody wanted Stephenson to be tainted with any sort of connection with him so his supporters started to deny the two were friends – I wonder if this is the same situation between Nigelmackers and Pullman? Anyway, if you’d like to know more about George Hudson then check out my book: The Not-So-Romantic Railways: The Railway King.
Nigelmackers- whose surname I’m still not sure I’m saying properly- published a proposal in 1870 to develop sleeper carriages for a European market and formed a new company “Georges Nigelmackers & Company” but eventually this company transformed into a far more catchier named company.
Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits … I told you it was a catchy title.
Alongside this new company, he also created a hotel company to build hotels along the proposed route. These weren’t going to be any old hotels though – they were going to be the height of luxury hotels.
One of his chief aims, with both the hotels and the trains, was to diversify the choice for passengers and ramp up the comfort levels. It would appear he had his customers at the heart of everything he did, which was quite rare in the railway world.
Before we move on I would just like to make a final mention to Georges Lambert Casimir Nigelmackers. He won a gold medal in the 1900 Olympics in the equestrian mail coach event. Long story short, the equestrian mail coach was an event where you had four horses attached to a mail coach. This was the only time the event was held so Nigelmackers is the only gold medal winner in the history of the event.
He died in France at the age of 60 on the 10th of August 1905.
The first journey
The first journey took place on the 4th of October 1883. The train left Paris for a seven-day round trip to Constantinople – which is Istanbul today- in Turkey. 40 passengers experience the ultimate luxury for the first time.
This journey put a different spin on what long travel looked like in mainland Europe as it was a stark improvement on the roughly 40 days it would take to make the 1750-mile journey by horse and cart.
This first journey didn’t have the name Orient Express attached to it as the service wasn’t renamed Orient Express until 1894.
Simplon Orient Express
A new route opened in 1919 as the Simplon Orient Express. This route connected Paris and Constantinople via Milan and Venice in Italy through the newly built Simplon tunnel. This extraordinary tunnel created a modern engineering marvel through the Alps. Fancy blue carriages were added to mark the occasion as well. Fancy midnight blue carriages I should say as that is more factually correct.
Whilst this new route was still running, I will just confirm that the Paris-Constantinople (Istanbul) original route was still in operation.
1920-1940
The luxury only increased during the 1920s with the introduction of longue cars. The Art Deco style was just beautiful. Pat on the eyebrows for decorator Rene Prou and glassmaker Rene Lalique who designed them.
Oh, and there was a certain novel called ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ published by Agatha Christie in 1934 which only boosted the train’s popularity.
If I ever get a time machine I would have to go back and travel on what I can only really see good things about. I just hope I can find a nice suit which fits me.
I’d avoid travelling on the 26th of October 1928 though. On this day a train from Bucharest in Romania was diverted onto the wrong track and collided with the Orient Express. 34 passengers were killed. Be sure to check out my book: The Not-So-Romantic Railways: Crashes and Accidents to learn and read about more railway accidents.
A new route was added in the 1930s. This new route the “Arlberg-Orient Express” ran from London to Calais to Paris. Then onto Zurich, Vienna, Belgrade and finishing in Athens. This route was paused during the Second World War (1939-1945) and then ran after the war until 1962.
The 1930s were the height of popularity for the Orient Express with all three services being extremely well booked. Money was good and luxury rail travel was at the height of its power.
End of the line
Sadly, all good things must come to an end and the same was true for the original form of the Orient Express. On the 20th of May 1977, the service made the final direct journey from Paris to Istanbul. The reason for this was down to the increase in plane travel. No matter how luxurious the trains were, they could never be faster than a plane.
A new service the “Venice-Simplon-Orient Express” ran from 1982 until 2005. This saw passengers travel from Calais to Paris through the Simplon tunnel to Milan and onto their final destination in Venice. Tickets did cost around £2500 towards the end of the running route which is a good amount more than a month’s wages for me. It’s annoying that luxury seems to mean “more expensive”. Where’s the affordable luxury in the world?
What’s next?
You might be wondering what is next for the Orient Express and new owners of the brand have announced they aim to relaunch the original Paris to Istanbul service in 2025. I dread to think of how expensive the tickets will be.
But it would appear the Orient Express is set to return to bring a certain elegance back to rail travel.
What to read next
Thanks for reading this Not-So-Romantic Blog – even though I do think this one was quite romantic. If you have enjoyed this blog and would like to keep reading.
Thank you once again for reading, and I’ll hopefully see you again soon!