History, Mystery,

(I've never read it, and I prefer the Peter Ustinov movie version)

Today marks the anniversary of the first run of the fabled railroad the Orient Express. On this date in 1888 the OE made its maiden run from Paris to Istanbul in 81 hours, 41 minutes, an unheard of cross continental speed at the time. It immediately became the preferred escape route of European refugees.

Fabled for its luxury and the elegance of its passengers, the OE became THE way to travel. Agatha Christie may have mentioned it somewhere or another.

While today marks the anniversary of the first trip, the OE has not been in continuous service. World Wars have periodically interfered. OE Dining Car 2419D has played a momentous roll in both world wars.



November 11, 1918 at 11:11 AM local time the German army surrendered to the allied forces in car 2419D. The French government had the car transfered to a museum shortly after the war. Placing this plaque on the door.

"HERE ON THE ELEVENTH OF NOVEMBER 1918 SUCCUMBED THE CRIMINAL PRIDE OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE... VANQUISHED BY THE FREE PEOPLES WHICH IT TRIED TO ENSLAVE."

In June 1940, as a thumb in the eye gesture, Hitler had Dining car 2419D moved from its museum and had it transported to Paris for the signing of the French surrender. In their haste the German soldiers overlooked the sign.

William Shirer, then a CBS radio correspondent who was present that day had this to say:

Hitler reads it and Goring reads it. They all read it, standing there in the June sun and the silence. I look for the expression on Hitler's face. I am but fifty yards from him and see him through my glasses as though he were directly in front of me. I have seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But today! It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph. He steps off the monument and contrives to make even this gesture a masterpiece of contempt. He glances back at it, contemptuous, angry - angry, you almost feel, because he cannot wipe out the awful, provoking lettering with one sweep of his high Prussian boot. He glances slowly around the clearing, and now, as his eyes meet ours, you grasp the depth of his hatred. But there is triumph there too - revengeful, triumphant hate. Suddenly, as though his face were not giving quite complete expression to his feelings, he throws his whole body into harmony with his mood. He swiftly snaps his hands on his hips, arches his shoulders, plants his feet wide apart. It is a magnificent gesture of defiance, of burning contempt for this place now and all that it has stood for in the twenty-two years since it witnessed the humbling of the German Empire.

Mr. Shirers full account of the day may be read here.

As prospects for winning the war dimmed, Hitler had the car destroyed. It has since been rebuilt and is again in a French museum.

After the war, air travel, and the cold war took their toll. The Orient Express fell out of favor. However luxorious, a small rail car was no place for an elegant woman to dress for dinner, and the one loo down the corridor..

Oddly, for all its luxury, it's still a miserable place to sleep, railroads being what they are.

Toad