2004 - december

The Orient Express

Even aspiring to travel on the legendary Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul meant that you were a king, a peer, head of state, a celebrity or at least a wealthy man used to luxury. The “king of trains and train of kings” first set out on the more than three thousand kilometres of its route in 1883. The locomotive was driven by a train-mad emperor, was kidnapped by bandits, was stranded in the snow for days. These are just some of the legends that live on even today.

The interest of western European countries in the oriental world and the long-cherished wish to connect Europe from west to east by railway played a major role in establishing a rail link between Paris and Constantinople (Istanbul).
It was Georges Nagelmackers, a Belgian banker who managed to turn the legend into reality. Inspired by an American example, he founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the first European company to supply dining and sleeping cars in 1872. These carriages also followed an American model: Nagelmackers bought the latest, bogie carriages and fitted them out with all possible conveniences and splendour. His sleeping and dining cars turned out to be by far more elegant and comfortable than their American Pullman counterparts. The prestige of his company was further raised by the Belgian king (who was the main shareholder in the company) consenting to the use of the royal crest on the side of the cars.

The Orient Express was a true luxury train, first-class only. A train usually consisted of five carriages: a baggage carriage, two sleeping and one dining carriage and another baggage carriage followed the locomotive. One of these carriages, number 2347, which has a wooden frame encased in wood panelling and was the type used until the First World War, is displayed in Budapest, in the Park of Hungarian Railway History. The dining carriage, considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of its type, now runs on a nostalgia train.

In 1882, the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits made a test run between Paris and Vienna. It took 28 hours for this “lightening fast train” to cover the 1350 kilometres. After the successful trial run, the first train from Paris to Constantinople departed on June 5, 1883 and brought huge publicity to the Orient Express. This offered the fastest possible and the most elegant means of making the journey of 3186 kilometres. The railway track between Varna and Constantinople was only completed in 1889; until then passengers travelled by train from Paris to Varna initially and took ship from Varna to Constantinople. The entire journey took 83 hours and a half, 15 hours of which was spent on the ship. The first run was not without complications: the luxury train had to halt for a while due to flooding near Varciorova, somewhat later a landslide hindered the progress of the train. Even as early as the year when the Orient Express was launched, the train was a frequent target of gangs of robber gangs. In 1891, a Greek gang managed to kidnap the passengers and crew of the train, only releasing them for a huge ransom.

The first route taken by the Orient Express (until 1888) was Paris-Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Munich-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest-Szeged-Temesvár-Orsova-Bucarest-Rustchuk-Varna. Originally, the train ran for 690 kilometres in Hungarian territory, but with the completion of further lines in 1884, the length of the Hungarian section grew to 1048 kilometres, around one third of the entire route. In the seventh year of operation, the Orient Express took 67 hours and 35 minutes to reach Constantinople.

The Orient Express came into its full glory between 1889 and 1914, with its fame spreading worldwide and its carriages carrying kings and statesmen. Many of the kings indulged themselves in the luxury of travelling on the Orient Express in their own private carriages. The railway company was delighted to satisfy them and attached these royal saloon carriages to the Orient Express. This was how Ferdinand, the King of Bulgaria and self-styled tsar, travelled; many times he was even allowed to drive the locomotive when the train crossed Bulgarian territory. Friedrich the Second, Prince of Baden also travelled in his private carriage; it is said that once extra carriages with curtained windows were discretely attached to the Orient Express at the request of a maharaja, to provide pleasure and comfort for the privileged passanger and his seven wives en route from Paris to Constantinople.

Another story has it that a certain Count got off the train in Érsekújvár as the locomotive was taking on water and was so fascinated by the gipsy band playing at the station that he missed the train. To his good fortune, as it turned out later. For the train had an accident and it was the Count’s carriage that was worst damaged. Upon his lucky escape, he then created a fund for the benefit of the gipsy band, compelling the musicians to play for the passengers upon the arrival of the Orient Express. This is where the tradition of the gipsy band in Érsekújvár originates.

The Orient Express ceased to run during the First World War. After the war the function of the luxury train was taken over by the Simplon-Orient Express, which avoided Hungary altogether, using the route Paris-Basel-Milan-Venice-Trieste-Belgrade-Sofia-Constantinople. In 1924, the train returned to its original route, which it was still using until 1939, when the Second World War broke out. Another pause had to be made and trains only reverted to their normal schedule in 1948. In that same year, the Baltic-Orient Express was launched, connecting Stockholm with Sofia. After the Second World War, however, the Orient Express was no longer what it had been: the train lost its luxury character, running second-class carriages as well. Between 1951 and 1955, the train only ran between Paris and Vienna, though later it ran as far as Bucharest for a short period. By the end of the 1990s, Budapest had became the final destination of the Orient Express. Later still, the train was again back to Paris-Vienna route. In 1977, a nostalgia Orient Express was launched, on the Simplon-Orient route. From time to time, however, the Orient Express drops in on Budapest, Keleti railway station, where it is always received with due respect.

The legendary train inspired many novels and films, of which the best known is Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. This seems to have been based on an incident in 1929: the Express was stranded in a heavy snowstorm not far from Istanbul for eleven days out on the open track, with food supplied for its passengers from the surrounding villages.