Orient Express question

It's a good question. But I think the real answer will be much more complicated. The train, I believe would divide and take different routes, and travellers would rarely travel the entire route. I'll see what I can dig up. It's a trip that has always interested me. Although I've not travelled on the actual Orient Express, I have covered Paris to Trieste. A very beautiful journey.

Here's a good site with quite a bit of history.

http://www.seat61.com/OrientExpress.htm#.UcUn0OskiSM

I believe that the C.I.W.L. operated the service 3 times a week in either direction, with the journey taking 3 nights from Paris to Constantinople.  

I think the "Seat 61" site sums it up nicely.

It would appear from reading capsule on-line bio's of Ms Christie that she took some of her journeys on the [ daily ] Simplon-Orient prior to the summer of '32, when the thrice-weekly sleeper from Istanbul to Paris Est [ eg, the Orient Express per se;  Nicole, this may be what you're thinking of ] was added, and that her experiences were reflected in the novel even though it was written [ or at least finished ] in '33,  perhaps using a 1933 timetable. And I believe I read that her most recent prior journey on the train originated in Athens rather than Istanbul. 

Perhaps a detailed reading of the novel, which I don't have, will tell us otherwise, but I think the train she's describing was daily.

Best regards, SZ

I am curious to learn how the Orient Express, Simplon Orient Express, and Arlberg Orient Express schedules were all coordinated.  Speaking of which, since the VSOE travels through the Arlberg Pass instead of the Simplon Pass, shouldn't it have been renamed the Venice-Arlberg Orient Express?  No, it doesn't have the same ring, but it would be more accurate.

Speaking of Murder on the Orient Express, thanks for the reminder--I still need to finish that book.

Aaron

Thank you to all of you.  I think my question has now been answered.  It appears to me to be mainly thru cars as opposed to a dedicated train set (like the CZ).  Pleas correct me if I am wrong.

George Lasley

The Orient Expresses were just a few services among the routes operated all over Europe and the Middle East that appear to have drawn the carriages from a pool of rolling stock.  I have a book on the Venice Simplon Orient Express, and in the front is a map with 33 different former routes, including the three Orient Expresses, that the Continental carriages in the VSOE were assigned to throughout their lives.  According to the legend, The Simplon-Orient Express had the most carriages assigned to it, and Sleeping Car 3425 was assigned to ten of those routes throughout its regular service career (including the three Orient Expresses).

I think a good description for the 'between-the-wars' train, when it was composed of Wagons-Lits vehicles exclusively, would be "dedicated train sets with multiple portions";  you can think of numerous North American examples both pre- and post-Amtrak, ranging from "The City of Everywhere" to the Pioneer's SLC shufflings.

In the postwar era, I agree "through cars" is the best description for the trip as a whole.

Best regards, SZ

'Back in the day' there were yearly meetings of the major railways of Europe, plus CIWL, Mitropa [ DSG ], at which the following year's timetable for international trains and the provision of through cars for them [ "Wagenbeistellung"] would be arranged.  Of course there would be other discussions and paperwork, both formal and informal, before and after the annual meeting, but the European Timetable Conference was the basic mechanism.

SZ

You mean CIWL and Mitropa actually talked to each other!?  I guess they had to if the original Orient Express, which ran through Germany, was reintroduced.  I didn't think they would have anything to do with each other because I thought Mitropa was originally formed with reclaimed CIWL stock.