The Orient Express
Here are some pictures for your delectation.
Two exterior shots and detail from the Oriental restaurant car.
There are three restaurant cars and a bar car for 95 passengers. Two sittings each for lunch and dinner.
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There are eleven sleeping cars. All the cars are original 1920s build and were rescued from around Europe in the 1970s.
Each car has unique decorations.
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Thank you, Limey! Sooo envious! Please continue to post pics. For some reason I am fascinated by trains. I'd love to do a cross-country train trip here, with proper dining car, sleeping cars, etc. I guess I have to add that one to the bucket list, although I don't know anyone who likes trains enough to go with me.
Wow.
It's all vandal proof melamine and steel, nowadays.
Some fabric details. Upholstery in the Oriental dining car, in our cabin, and lace cushion covers in our cabin.
Each cabin has its own washbasin in a cupboard in the corner, too. This was ours.
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Each car has a little plaque briefly explaining its history. One was used as a brothel before being "rescued"!
And each has a loo at each end -this was our nearest.
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Details from two of the dining cars. Sorry for the reflections, the wooden panels are highly polished.
The glass panels are reproductions of the original Lalique because, even on this train, some things get stolen.
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Glorious!
Thank you for these lovely pictures and the stories that go with them, this is fascinating.
Some metalwork details from our cabin.
Luggage rack, ventilation grill between the ceiling lights, catch for the security chain, washbasin cabinet doorknob (about one-and-a-half by one inch).
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Thanks Glatt :)
There were (I disembarked this afternoon at 2pm) three restaurant cars, each with a very different decor. We ate one meal in each. I didn't get many pics of the Oriental. They're in this thread already.
My favourite was the Cote d'Azur.
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Brunch today was in the Etoile du Nord restaurant.
All of the seats in the restaurant cars were proper chairs.
More shiny marquetry.
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The bar car.
Yes, that's a baby grand piano. Played non-stop all day and night.
And a post box just at the entrance to the bar.
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I've saved the best til last. Our cabin was lined with mahogany panels decorated with white bakelite inlays. There were 17 round ones, all different, abd two rectangular ones. The line-and-spots panels were in the corridor.
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Just four roundels to finish.
Many thanks UT for giving me this opportunity to share. Sorry it's been such a picture-heavy thread.
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That's one wayyy classy train there.
Man, I'd kill to go on that thing. ;)
What a lovely place to be murdered. :blush:
Don't apologize for too many pictures, they were all great, and impossible to adequately describe in words.
I agree. The pictures of the woodwork, the fabrics, the glass, the metalwork, the dining cars ... everything ... you gave us a look at something that most of us will never have the chance to experience. I'd love to travel on that train one day, but if I don't get the chance, your pictures and commentary have made it accessible to me here on another continent. Don't apologize. I'm grateful that you took the time and trouble to share.
Wow. Thank you for the glimpse Limey. So beautiful.
Are the beds in the cabins bunk beds, queens, kings?
Amazing and very different from U.S. rail travel.
Bunks, Rich. The cabin is about 4 sq. metres, and the carriage attendant swaps it from day (an upholstered bench seat with fold-down table) to night (bunks) while you are at dinner. In the morning you have to vacate your cabin for 5 minutes while he swaps it back again.
Oh, and Wolf! It's very different from rail travel in the UK, too!
As a post-script here are some more shots of the Orient Express logo - it was everywhere. I'm sure they have a problem with cutlery going missing!
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And part of the train's colourful history!
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Thanks. I found these images. The classiest looking bunk beds I've ever seen, but you wouldn't find me up on that ladder. As for sex, if the lady is planning on going cowgirl, she should wear a helmet.;)
