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the travel and theatrical booking office at the Au Bon Marche department store in Paris, circa 1930
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits
something like the front and rear of a 1930s Orient Express ticket, print at 214 mm tall,
perforated on left edge, various tax stamps and stickers go on the large space near the bottom of the front;
this could be modified for the PLM, and other French railways. We have this as a layered, editable file.
Another ticket example, much simplified from a 1927 original; again, the left edge is perforated, and stapled into a booklet.
We have a layered, editable file of this.
Like the Pullman company, CIWL doesn't own any locomotives; the various state or private railways operate the locomotives, and sometimes add second or third class cars, mail carriages, etc.. They only own sleeping, dining, baggage and salon cars -- 2268 coaches in 1931. They also own the Thomas Cook guides.
London to Istanbul first-class fare is about £35 ($171); dinners cost about 10s each. Second class tickets, not available at all times, are £25 ($121); second-class dinners are about 7s.
An important feature of the Orient Express carriages: all baggage examinations and customs formalities are conducted aboard the train while underway. Typically, two customs agents and a police officer of the nation being traversed will be aboard the train, in the baggage car (fourgon); there's a compartment with four seats in each fourgon. The chef de train holds onto everyone's passports and visas, and collects a 10% gratuity for himself and the staff -- except in Italy and other nations that have made tipping illegal.
Keep in mind that CIWL doesn't operate the 3rd class coaches, or some other coaches attached to the Orient Express. Also, there are trains with CIWL coaches that aren't "Orient Express" trains -- the Nord Express and Sud Express, for example.
Luggage for people not actually leaving the train in a particular natioin is not often examined (although the customs agents certainly have the right to do so within their national borders).
Some items available aboard the train.
Here's a map of their services between 1919 and 1939.
Daily, Calais and Paris to Istanbul.
Daily, Instanbul to Paris and Boulogne.
Daily, Paris to Bucharest and back.
Daily, Paris to Athens and back.
Haydarpaşa Terminal (Asian side of Istanbul) to Mosul Mon., Wed. and Fri.
Mosul to Hydarpaşa Tues., Thurs. and Sat.
Haydarpaşa to Aleppo and Tripoli, Mon., Wed. and Fri.; returning from Tripoli, Tue., Thur. and Sat.
This company operates sleeping-cars and dining-cars in central Europe.
Chemins de fer de l'État
Before 1938, this is a relatively minor government-owned rail network mostly in the west of France. The other railways in France were taken over in 1938, and all merged into the state railway system.
Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée
The railway company is usually called the "PLM".
Le Train Bleu
Not the Blue Train logo, but it could be.
Technically this train is the Calais-Méditerranée Express, established in 1922 (previously it was the Côte d'Azur Extra-Rapide de Nuit). Carriages are a fourgon (baggage) car, then four or five Wagon Lits sleeper coaches, then a dining car, a salon-bar car, and four or five Wagon Lits sleepers, and sometimes a mail coach. In 1922 it was five sleepers, a restaurant car, and two fourgons (one at each end). Entirely pulled by steam locomotives at this time.
Text on the reverse of the above 1929 cigarette card: "When this fine train was built, the idea was to provide the most comfortable sleeping car possible, giving single-berth accommodation as well as double, and an interchangeable day or night compartment. Our picture shows the bed made up ready for occupation. The cars were built in England, of all-steel construction, and provide 8 single-berth and 4 double-berth cabins. The train runs between Calais and the Riviera towns, and the journey from Calais to Nice, 892 miles, is made in 21¼ hours. "Calais-Mediterranean Express" is the official name of the train."
The first-class fare Paris-Ventimiglia is 348 fr (or £3 3s 7d) in 1937, including tip to the conductor; divide by 1.35 for 1932 costs -- so probably 258 francs (or about £3). Second-class fares (only after 1936) are about two-thirds of the first-class fares. 30 kg (66 pounds) of luggage allowed for free. Third-class fares (only available from 1936 onwards) are about half of the first-class fare.
sort of like a ticket for Le Train Bleu ...print it about 1-3/4" or 2" high and about 3" wide
Very fast, very chic, with renowned haute cuisine in the dining cars. The prime season is November to April, when upper class Britons are escaping the winter weather.
The Golden Arrow from London sends two coaches around Paris to connect to Le Train Bleu.
The Buffet de la Gare de Lyon is probably popular for dinner before the train leaves Paris ... it's extremely ornate.
p.m. times in italics
|
day
|
arrive
|
depart
|
notes
|
---|
Paris
|
A
|
5:40
|
--
|
Golden Arrow arrives Gare du Nord
|
---|
Paris
|
A
|
--
|
8:00
|
departs from Gare de Lyon
|
---|
Dijon
|
A
|
11:59
|
12:05
|
restaurant car closes
|
---|
Lyon
|
B
|
2:28
|
2:35
|
|
---|
Marseille
|
B
|
7:00
|
7:05
|
St. Charles station; 862 km from Paris
|
---|
Toulon
|
B
|
8:06
|
8:09
|
major naval port
|
---|
St. Raphael
|
B
|
9:23
|
9:26
|
|
---|
Cannes
|
B
|
9:50
|
9:53
|
937 km from Paris
|
---|
Antibes
|
B
|
10:04
|
10:07
|
|
---|
Nice
|
B
|
10:23
|
10:30
|
968 km from Paris
|
---|
Monaco
|
B
|
10:54
|
11:01
|
also Monte Carlo; 984 km from Paris
|
---|
Menton
|
B
|
11:09
|
11:11
|
992 km from Paris
|
---|
Ventimiglia
|
B
|
11:32
|
--
|
Italy; 1003 km from Paris
|
---|
| day | arrive | depart | notes |
---|
Ventimiglia
|
A
|
--
|
4:55
|
Italy
|
---|
Menton
|
A
|
5:07
|
5:09
|
French customs officials board here
|
---|
Monaco
|
A
|
5:18
|
5:25
|
also Monte Carlo
|
---|
Nice
|
A
|
5:48
|
5:55
|
|
---|
Antibes
|
A
|
6:14
|
6:17
|
|
---|
Cannes
|
A
|
6:23
|
6:27
|
|
---|
St. Raphael
|
A
|
6:55
|
6:58
|
|
---|
Toulon
|
A
|
8:11
|
8:14
|
major naval port
|
---|
Marseille
|
A
|
9:16
|
9:21
|
|
---|
Lyon
|
B
|
2:03
|
2:06
|
|
---|
Paris
|
B
|
9:00
|
--
|
arrive at Gare de Lyon
|
---|
Paris
|
B
|
--
|
10:30
|
depart Gare du Nord as Golden Arrow (q.v.)
|
---|
Minor stops for fuel and water not shown.
Côte d'Azur Rapide
From Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Mentone (just past Monte Carlo). Not as fast or fashionable as Le Train Bleu. Coaches departing Paris are two fourgons (one at each end), a smoking car/salon, and two sleeper cars. At some point along the line -- Lyon? -- a restaurant car would be picked up. Fares are about 15% less than for Le Train Bleu. The schedule below is taken from Cook's Continental Timetable, pub. August 1939.
p.m. times in italics
|
day
|
arrive
|
depart
|
notes
|
---|
Paris
|
A
|
--
|
10:15
|
departs from Gare de Lyon
|
---|
Lyon
|
A
|
3:44
|
3:49
|
|
---|
Marseille
|
A
|
7:29
|
7:34
|
Gare St. Charles
|
---|
Toulon
|
A
|
8:24
|
8:30
|
major naval port
|
---|
St. Raphael
|
A
|
9:28
|
9:33
|
|
---|
Cannes
|
A
|
9:55
|
10:00
|
|
---|
Nice
|
A
|
10:26
|
10:31
|
|
---|
Beaulieu
|
A
|
10:42
|
10:47
|
|
---|
Cap d'Ail
|
A
|
10:51
|
10:53
|
just outside of Monaco
|
---|
Monaco
|
A
|
10:55
|
10:57
|
|
---|
Monte Carlo
|
A
|
11:00
|
11:05
|
most passengers disembark here
|
---|
Menton
|
A
|
11:10
|
--
|
|
---|
| day | arrive | depart | notes |
---|
Menton
|
A
|
--
|
9:27
|
|
---|
Monte Carlo
|
A
|
9:32
|
9:37
|
most passengers board here
|
---|
Monaco
|
A
|
9:40
|
9:42
|
|
---|
Cap d'Ail
|
A
|
9:45
|
9:47
|
just outside of Monaco
|
---|
Beaulieu
|
A
|
9:51
|
9:53
|
|
---|
Nice
|
A
|
10:05
|
10:10
|
|
---|
Cannes
|
A
|
10:32
|
10:37
|
|
---|
St. Raphael
|
A
|
10:59
|
11:04
|
|
---|
Toulon
|
A
|
12:03
|
12:09
|
major naval port
|
---|
Marseille
|
A
|
1:03
|
1:08
|
Gare St-Charles
|
---|
Lyon
|
A
|
5:03
|
5:10
|
|
---|
Paris
|
A
|
10:45
|
--
|
arrive at Gare de Lyon
|
---|
Minor stops for fuel and water not shown.
Bombay Express Mail
Connects at Marseille with Indian mail ships (not every day). Non-stop, and definitely the fastest trip between Paris and Marseilles. No dining car services by 1932, and only a limited number of first-class sleeping cars (probably not more than five). In 1922 the train was 6 sleepers, a restaurant car, and two fourgons (one at each end) -- it wasn't quite so fast.
A similar train, the P&O Express, leaves Marseille with passengers from the Orient -- usually only on Fridays. It departs at 4:52 p.m., and arrives in Paris at 6:50 the next morning; most of the coaches continue on at 7:10 a.m., bound for Calais (arriving at 11:18 a.m.) and eventually London (3:21 p.m., at Victoria Station).
p.m. times in italics
|
day
|
arrive
|
depart
|
notes
|
Paris
|
A
|
--
|
midnight
|
from Gare de Lyon
|
Marseille
|
B
|
8:00
|
--
|
|
|
day
|
arrive
|
depart
|
notes
|
Marseille
|
A
|
--
|
11:00
|
|
Paris
|
B
|
7:00
|
--
|
at Gare de Lyon
|
Riviera Express
This de luxe train connects Marseille and Milan; in the summer at least a half-dozen more express trains connect various Central European capitals with the French Riviera. It's listed on the page for the Italian State Railways.
sources: Mitropa Railway Guide - Summer 1937 (pub. May 1937 by Mitropa Berlin), and ditto for Winter 1938/39; Bradshaw's General Railway, Steam Navigation, & Hotel Guide (October 1936); Bradshaw's Continental Guide (May 1937), Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium, 1991); "Prices on the Orient Express", Unspeakable Oath #5, 1992; "Orient Express", Time 29 April 1935; Kurier Poznanski (63 page insert of Polish state railways information), 17 May 1938; Railway Wonders of the World, pub. by Amalgamated Press, 1935-36.
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