Orient Express Runs

1883

Georges Nagelmackers's Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits inaugurated a through service from Paris to Constantinople in gilded sleeping cars. Diplomats, spies, demimondaines, and Agatha Christie's future victims boarded at the Gare de l'Est. For thirty-five years the train would be the glamorous spinal cord of Europe. It crossed seven borders and four time zones, serving five-course dinners while the Balkans slid past the curtained windows.