The Train In Our Life       Τhe "Orient Express"       The King of the Trains

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The Train In Our Life

Everything started on the railways. Even in Ancient Greece, the heavy loaded carts and the two-wheel cars, were running on two stoned furrows , for practical purposes, when the weather was wet. When two vehicles met coming in opposite directions, but still on that same furrow, unpleasant accidents did occur. When Oedipus met on such a street, somewhere at an area called Fokis, another car coming with an elder passenger and his driver, they came to disagreement on who will go first. Then, Oedipus killed the driver and the elder person tried to take revenge for the death of his servant. The truth is, that no other means of transportation, such as car, ship, or airplane, has the charms of the train and its unique environment. The train is like a special microcosm, indeed. There is no way out until the end of the trip.
Behind the close doors of the compartments, as the kilometers succeed one the other and the scenery changes, there is still a very important element: the other passengers. Who are they? What are their intensions? Are they some innocent travelers or some killers to be? This feeling and tension climaxes under the monotonous “clicketi-clack” of the train wheels which nourish the unsuspicious… with the sudden passage through the tunnels, which draws the compartments into deep dark… or with the sudden screaming of the steam engine whistle, which sounds so much like the scream of a terrorized victim. No wonder then, that the train actually prevails as the most ideal transportation means for a murder case. In all cases the common element prevails: that of a unique microcosm which provides the ideal environment for the murder and mystery, where the killer and the victim are restrained within the same space, until the train reaches its destination. Famous writers who employed with terror stories in trains: Agatha Kristi (Murder on the Orient Express), Ethel Lina White (The Lady Vanishes), Patricia Highsmith (The Strange of the Express), George Simenon (The Man who Watched the Trains Pass by), Elmor Leonard (The Ten Past Three Train for Yuma).

The "Orient Express"

The Nagelmackers and the first trip.

The idea of Georges Nagelmackers to unite Paris with Constantinople with a luxurious train gave birth to the famous Orient Express, which the literature, from time to time, has connected it with mystery and the charm of the East. But for Nagelmackers to make his plan come true, had to overcome a lot of difficulties, since to make the train travel through a lot of countries, under the auspices and promotions of the same company, was an idea rather revolutionary. For all of these to happen, communications and deals had to be carried out, including all companies through which The Orient Express was involved: the railways of Alsatian and Loraine, of Grand Duche de Bade, of Wurttemberg, of the Austrian – Hungarian Empire and of Rumania ’s Kingdom. The first route of Orient Express departed Paris on the 4 th of October, 1883 . This train contained only the saloons, the beds in the form of a car and a restaurant. The interior of these wagons, 17.5 meters in length, was invested by tropical trees wood, “equivalent in comfort and richness of a Parisian apartment”, as it was mentioned. The first trains of Orient Express could not get further than Giurgevo, a Rumanian town on Dunabe, at a point that the specific river borders with Bulgaria . Therefore, the travelers were crossing the distance up to the Black Sea by boat and they continued their trip from there with a more comfortable but unsafe train, to Varna and from there on, once again with a steam boat up to Constantinople . The whole trip lasted 81 hours and thirty minutes! Every week The Orient Express was departing from the Parisian Station of Strasbourg (in reality, the Gare de l’Est), on Wednesday at 19:30 and was reaching Constantinople on Saturday at 17:35 , with an average speed of 43 kilometers per hour. With the creation and development of The Orient Express, Nagelmackers had the inspiration of changing the whole system of the train routes throughout Europe . When Nagelmackers in 1869 visited America , it is possible that he met with Pullman and certainly he was impressed by the luxurious wagons which were used, with seats which could turn into beds. As he was thrilled by this, Nagelmackers went back to his home town in Belgium , determined to create an international company which would route luxurious trains in well organized stations in all Europe , crossing any national frontiers, a revolutionary idea for his era. While he ordered the first five wagon-lits to be made in Vienna , he, at the same time, came into deal with French and German railway organizations. At the beginning of 1873, Nagelmackers faced his first financial problems and he came into partnership with General William D’ Alton Mann, an American businessman, who had recently moved to London . Together, they established the “Mann’s Railway Sleeping Car Company Limited”. The following years, Nagelmackers made some important contracts of railway connection with almost the whole European Continent, disabling the effort of Pullman in 1874 for the creation of a European Network. Nagelmackers’ acquaintances with the Belgium Palace , the King Leopold the II, who was a known train fan, with high social contacts throughout Europe , helped him in his effort. After the first Orient Express (October the 4 th, 1883), things changed towards the better. From 1884 the routes had become daily as far as Budapest and in 1885 there were some other routes especially towards the East. In 1889 the route Paris – Constantinople was reduced to 67 hours and 35 minutes. The Nagelmackers’ period had given the best possible results.

The King of the Trains

This is the only train that could be given this name, the Orient Express, the dream train, which wooden and fine investment protected the sleep of the high ranked people of this world. Emperors at the zenith of their glory, banished princes, English bankers and Bulgarian spies, the aristocrats of Paris and Berlin, ladies of the Mediterranean palaces, Generals without their armies who were fighting for the Balkan minorities, unmerciful adventurers, buying and selling canons to the Armenian revolution peasants, Austrian dukes, slobbish American millionaires, Russian dukes, fans of the French glamour, all and each one of them were passengers on this train, which in reality was not exactly Express and did not quite go to the Orient. On the 4 th of October, 1883 , in one of the docks of the railway station “Gare de l’Est”, which then was named “Gare de Strasbourg”, one train is ready to depart for “Stamboul”. Little after the departure, one could dine. It is not difficult to get to the restaurant. The train does not have more than three-four wagons, besides the luggage wagon, the corridors are wide enough as to allow the passengers to cross each other and still get in their way just by apologizing, something that was heard in almost all languages, because of its international and cosmopolitan atmosphere. In the morning you would be waking up in Germany and still be eating the French croissant and the Belgium chocolate and at the same time glancing at the shadowed and mysterious forests. Breakfast is a long lasting ritual. The world of the train is a world of successful businessmen, haughty diplomats, not only because of their personal wealth, but because of the official secrets that they hide in their briefcases, people who are in a hurry to reach their destination, for them the luxuriousness of the train is used for spending their time somehow pleasantly. And since these people have to do with princes and kings, someone could easily observe the few women on the train; this is why there is a myth around them, which myth wants them to be beautiful and mysterious, spies looking for any kind of adventure, something like Mata Hari. The Orient Express reaches Vienna at evening, at 20 hundred hours and thirteen minutes sharp. In the new passengers there are British, who have come with the express train route Ostande – Vienna and with the direct wagon Kale – Vienna . Late at night the train reaches Budapest at 2:10 a.m. The Austrian-Hungarian peace domains Europe and that makes the city look like a tranquil outskirt, where no opposition as the one of Russian and Austrian in the Balkans or the reactions of the Slavic and German minorities which have already started to shake this huge empire, can touch it. At 9:09 a.m. it reaches Belgrade , the capital of the Serbian Kingdom . The arrival is punctual, since the crossing of the boarders is short. The armed soldiers, though, notify the increasing intension between Belgrade and Vienna . The train stays for some time at the dock , while the Serbian customs check thoroughly and with a degree of suspiciousness the passports of the passengers, which are shown by the authorized personnel of the wagon-lits. Meanwhile the soldiers are guarding the train.
There after, follows the crossing of Serbia during the day and the entrance in Bulgaria , a country with highly intense political environment. Dinner is served right after the departure from Sofia, at 9:03 while the train rolls peacefully on the Bulgarian railways, which during the winter time are kind of lost as they are covered by the Balkan snowstorms. There are times that the train is stopped because of the heavy snow and the personnel with the engineers seek help in the neighboring villages, of which the habitants come on their donkeys to admire the most beautiful train in the whole world. When they arrive, they get to see the train which is stopped next to a pigsty, where they can hear the voices of the animals. Voices that penetrate the quiet snowy night, which are getting into the wagons through the windows and the heavy curtains, interrupting the sleep of the daughter of List, of Kozima Wagner, daughter and wife of musicians who are used to listening to other kind of sounds. Meanwhile, in the middle of the night, the Orient Express preferring the dark and mysterious borders, starts its passage in the Ottoman Empire, of which the Sultan Abdul Hamit the B’ slaughters the disturbing minorities, while at the same time he is trying to hold back the revolution of the new Turks. The suspicious customs officers, the soldiers and the border guards, create a night-shift team in welcoming the train who could be handled only by the experienced train personnel. At last, Constantinople , at 4:00 a.m. according to the route. The double zero showing the minutes, give sharpness as well as a romance. The last night of the route is the hardest one. The train gets off the rail; there is an attack by bandits, who demand ransom, snowstorms… The passengers, after the arrival of the train, are brought to the hotel “ Peran Palace ”, which the train company itself has constructed. The adventure of the 3.186 kilometers is over. It lasted almost three days. The passengers leave somehow sad the luxury of their small compartment and they tip the personnel, who help them by carrying their leather luggage. They glance at Bosporus and they direct their look towards Asia .