Ablaze

[music] Train travel has always carried with it an air of romance and adventure.

The mention recalls stories of Wild West heists and far-flung excursions into the unknown.

But there are few trains that have captured the imagination of the world quite like the Orient Express.

Since it first departed from Paris' Gare de l'Est on June 5th of 1883, this legendary railway service has been synonymous with luxury, intrigue, and perhaps a little touch of murder.

The Orient Express was the brainchild of Belgian engineer and entrepreneur George Nagelmackers, who had recently visited the United States and experienced the Pullman sleeping cars firsthand.

Impressed by the concept, Nagelmackers saw the opportunity to bring the concept of luxury train travel to Europe.

And on that October afternoon in 1883, a crowd of political figures, journalists, and writers gathered to watch the first train depart Paris for Constantinople, now Istanbul.

The maiden voyage carried 40 passengers, taking them on a journey across Europe through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest.

Newspapers dubbed it the Orient Express, although Istanbul was hardly considered the Orient, even by 1883 standards.

But Nagelmackers embraced the name, seeing the draw in its exoticism.

Over the following decades, the Orient Express earned another nickname, the King of Trains and the Train of Kings.

Its passengers included an impressive selection of 20th century luminaries from high society and underworld alike, kings and thieves, millionaires and refugees, businessmen and smugglers all rode its rails, making deals across sumptuous meals in the dining car.

Spies and diplomats rode side by side, shaping the world as they traveled.

The original route of the Orient Express would operate from 1883 all the way to 1914 when it was halted with the start of the First World War.

But it continued service at the war's end in 1919 and was only halted again for the Second World War.

The train operated to some extent after that all the way until 2009 when its services were finally retired.

The train's aura of mystery inevitably attracted the attention of artists of all stripes.

The most famous literary association, of course, belongs to one Agatha Christie.

You see, in 1929, the Orient Express became trapped by a blizzard outside of Cherkesk in Turkey, and it remained in place surrounded by deep snow drifts for six days, marooning all of the people inside and lighting the famed mystery author's brain alight with what would become her most successful novel.

That 1934 novel was titled Murder on the Orient Express.

Christie drew on her real-life experience and current events using the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby to weave a tale of a kidnapped child, a dangerous fugitive, and an unlikely murder plot.

And in the story, her iconic detective, Hercule Poirot, boards the train in Syria bound for London, only to find himself investigating the stabbing of an American passenger when the train becomes stuck in a snowdrift.

The novel's ingenious resolution made it one of the most celebrated detective stories ever written, with film and television adaptations continuing even today.

Christie's novel would even make the Orient Express a household name.

And today, that very name lives on through the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.