hidden europe 29

Orient Express: end of the line

by hidden europe

Summary

The news that the Orient Express will be withdrawn from mid-December 2009 brings to an end the 126 year history of Europe's most celebrated scheduled train service.

Sospel, the small town in southeast France featured in this issue of hidden europe, yields all manner of surprises. Not least among them are four antique Wagons-Lits railway carriages stabled near the town’s train station. They are said to have done sterling service for many years on the Orient Express. Quite how and why these four carriages ended their days in Sospel is a mystery.

But they deserve a mention as the Orient Express is in the news this autumn.

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