You’ve seen the movie, heard the stories, possibly read the book, but for most of us, the romantic dream of riding the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul has been just that: A romantic dream. But that may be changing!
SNCF, the French national operator, has begun refurbishing the rolling stock of 1930s-era cars, the last of the true Orient Express trains, and is seriously considering reviving it full-on as a tourism attraction on the original full route. SNCF has owned the cars and trademarks since 1977.
As a possible pre-cursor, a number of the cars are on display at Paris’s Gare de l’Est.
