The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, with terminal stations in Paris in the northwest and Istanbul in the southeast, and branches extending service to Athens, Brussels, and London.
Orient Express dining car from 1911
CIWL logo
The first Orient Express in 1883
Poster advertising the winter 1888–1889 timetable
Luxury trains are a premium passenger rail service. Some luxury trains promote tourism in destinations across a region, while others take passengers on a ride through a single country.
1888 poster for the Orient Express
An illustration from the 1885 Chicago & Alton Railroad timetable
Venice-Simplon Orient Express in Switzerland
Class 67, no. 67,006 Royal Sovereign hauling the Northern Belle