The idea of ​​a luxurious journey by train was first carried out by the British Queen Victoria, for whom they built a salon car furnished with blue moire sofas with pads, wide armchairs with ottomans and footrests. The walls were draped with the same blue moire, and the ceiling resembled a silk quilt. However, it is believed that the main inventor of the trains for the rich was an American, John Pullman, who built in 1864 the first comfortable train, which was called, of course, Pioneer. English company manager MIDLAND RAILWAY James Allport, having appeared in America and having swept on "Pioneer", came to delight and invited Pullman to England. In 1882, the world-famous PULLMAN PALACE CAR COMPANY was founded, that is, the Pullman Palace Cars company. At that time, trains were the fastest way to get around - passenger planes were still far away. Therefore, the company waited incredible success. All English aristocrats and members of the royal family traveled only in the Pullman carriages. It was not possible to transfer business to continental Europe, because there was its own “palace carriages” specialist - Belgian George Negelmakers, founder of the WAGONS-LITS COMPANY, who firmly held a monopoly on the Orient Express trains that ran from Paris to Istanbul. Orient Express is perhaps too often called the "train of kings and the king of trains." But the fact is a fact. Dark blue trains carried the kings of Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Britain across Europe. It happened in him to travel and the now healthy Queen Elizabeth the Second. The Orient Express saw presidents and Hollywood stars, top businessmen and great writers. This is not just the composition of luxury cars, but the embodiment of the train, which, by the way, could not miss the cinema. Express was not only the hero of the famous detective story based on Agatha Christie’s novel directed by Sidney Lumet. He was chosen by Alfred Hitchcock for the film "The Lady Fades." In it and nowhere else could James Bond go in the series "From Russia with Love." Finally, the history of cinema began with the Orient Express, as it was he who arrived at the Paris station in the first tape of the Lumiere brothers.

To East East trip: from Russia to China by train Nostalgie Istanbul Orient ExpressTravel Notes Interiors of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and British Pullman trains, following the route Venice-Paris-LondonBlue carbuncle Journey through South Africa by train Blue TrainRoyal Express for the New WorldClub car Six days from Paris to Cannes by train "Palladium", owned by French Rail Cruises