The Golden Age Of The Train

A JOURNEY ABOARD THE VENICE SIMPLON-ORIENT-EXPRESS IS A JOURNEY INTO THE PAST — TINGED WITH GLAMOUR, LUXURY AND INTRIGUE WORDS: PAT RIDDELL

- Pat Riddell

Resplendent in its pristine blue-and-gold livery, our faces reflected in its polished-to-perfection paintwork, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express greets us in all its glory. The immaculately uniformed staff line up in welcome — chefs, cabin stewards, waiters, porters... One of the world’s most alluring travel experiences lies ahead of us.

A glass of sparkling Blanquette de Limoux arrives next, as we marvel at this spectacularly restored train: an invitation to travel back in time on what’s effectively a living, breathing homage to the past.

The most famous train in the world. The most glamorous train in the world. The most luxurious train in the world. The superlatives come thick and fast on the Venice Simplon-OrientExpress, and little wonder, given its long history — not to mention its impressive cinematic and literary stature, thanks to a certain Agatha Christie.

Created back in 1883 as the Orient Express, by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits — and originally running between Paris and Istanbul via Vienna and Budapest — the service’s glamorous heyday was during the interwar period. This was the era of the Simplon Orient Express, a more southerly route from Calais and Paris to Istanbul via the Simplon Tunnel — under the Swiss Alps — and Venice. This incarnation ran until 1962, when it was replaced by the Direct Orient Express — a slower service, withdrawn in 1977.