The Orient Express serviceis the ultimate in luxury travel. Passengers aboard this lavish train must remember they are riding with the elite of Europe. Heiresses and decayed nobles, high-powered gangsters and millionaire philanthropists are the stuff of the Simplon-Orient Express passenger list along with everyone ambitious enough or rich enough to pay for entry. American and Argentinean businessmen and every sort of foreign official or diplomat also swell the train’s ranks. The proximity of the mighty brings with them those who feed on their vanity, hangers-on, almost-weres, and might-have-beens. Many parasitic companions are more snobbish than those whom they flatter. Respectable’ extends to appearance and comportment, not to function. Passengers include paramours and would-be paramours of the super wealthy, gigolos and mistresses and ‘actresses’ on the way up or down, revolutionaries and autocrats, slaveowners, criminals, drug pushers, psychotics, spies, and assassins. At root, the Orient Express can be no more selective than is humanity.Second-class carriages have been recently introduced. Orient Express dining services continued to be perceived as the equivalent of first-class restaurants, with the same kind of impeccable formal service.
The Simplon-Orient Express has no standard-seat coaches at all. Every one of its passengers has an entire sleeping compartment, alone or possibly shared with one other. Its dining facilities are as elegant and its cuisine as mouth-watering as the greatest of Parisian restaurants, even if its menus are necessarily more limited. The capability and aplomb of its staff is legendary throughout Europe: the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits hires only the best chefs, conductors, and managers.
The Staff of the Orient Express
Aboard the train, all staff are uniformed. Staff uniforms are individually blue or white, depending on the position of the person. In inclement weather, great coats are to be worn when any staff need to alight on a platform.
Brigadier-Postier
The Brigadier-Postier is in charge of the fourgon or van. There are two or more of these cars, one for passengers’ luggage, another for small parcels to be delivered to outlying areas through which the train passes. In the latter case, station-drops are sometimes the only way these places can get important machinery parts and the like. The Brigadier-Postier sees that each parcel is documented and signed-on, for delivery at the appropriate station. He berths in a fourgon.
Cleaner
The cleaner is in charge of all clean-up aboard the train. Once a car has reached its destination, it is removed from the train. Cleaners stationed at the terminal take it to a siding and completely overhaul it. These men are Wagons-Lits staff, not locals. The car is then ready to rejoin the service on the return journey.
<u>Chef de Brigade</u>
The Chef de Brigade is in charge of the dinner staff under the Maitre d’Hotel, and of the sleeping-car conductors.
Chef de Cuisine
The Chef de Cuisine is the magician in actual charge of the kitchen, among the greatest chefs of Europe.
Chef de Train
The Chef de Train is in overall charge of the train of sleeping cars, the commander-in-chief.
Controleur
Aboard train, the Controleur is the Chef de Brigade’s assistant. He also countersigns conductors’ papers at important stops to attest that everything is well and that movements of passengers are as planned. At each main terminal station, a controller assists the train staff in repairs or tasks for which extra staff or equipment may be needed, band organizes the workmen who make up the Small Repairs staff. He and his assistant control such emergency equipment as two bshotguns, the medical kit, and the tool box.
Conductor
The Conductor is the most famous job on the Orient Express. Conducting is hard work and the men picked by Wagons-Lits for the Orient Express are the very best in the trade. Each must speak at least three languages to assist with international passengers and staff. A night conductor is scheduled for a car which will be stopping at platforms during the night; he makes certain that the appropriate passengers are awake and ready to leave the train. Usually a conductor is based in a country other than his native one, to increase his international experience. This worthy fellow bears a pass key allowing entry into any compartment.
Head Waiter
The Head Waiter manages the moment-to-moment service in the dining car. He always presents the bill. The Maitre d’Hotel is the Chief of the dining car. They are responsible for the quality of staff, the orderliness of the car, and the service. They always wear tails.
The Waiter is the dining car attendant under the Head Waiter. Both white jackets and blue jackets are issued to dining car staff because engine smuts and kitchen smoke often soil white jackets, yet white is the traditional color.
Arrangement of the Cars
The train cars aresteel shell mounted on standard iron and-steel rockers, supporting the wheels and suspension units. Most interior doors are wooden and not intended to do much more than delay forced-entry. Doors leading between cars are steel, and very strong.
Sleeping Car
The passageway of the sleeping car is finished elegantly, in dark woods. At one end of the passage is a folding conductor’s seat, his normal station while the train is in operation. The sleeping car has sixteen berths, some with upper and lower berths making shared compartments, and four single compartments. Each compartment is finished in lacquered wood and beautiful marquetry by the English designer, Morison. During the day, the berths fold into seats and are lowered for night-time configuration. A small faucet and washstand within or adjoining the compartment in a separate washroom allows the passengers to freshen up. Water closets exist at either end of the car. Both water closets and washrooms lock, for privacy, as do the compartments themselves. A conductor and dining-car attendant bring morning papers and breakfast as required to the cars, always on silver serving trays. Passengers wishing to meet their fellows do so at table, in the dining car, or in the salon car.
Dining Car
The dining car has tables and chairs, a kitchen, a pantry, and a wine cellar. It seats fifty-six passengers, providing chairs for slightly more than three full firstclass sleeping cars. The door mid-way down the center aisle. Smokers and non-smokers alike might dine with pleasure. The finest dishes and the best French wines are available for luncheon and dinner. A Maitre d’Hotel presides over the car, as in the best restaurants. Elegant table lamps sit on each dining table and suffuse the car with warm glows. In the kitchen, all food is prepared fresh. The kitchen has its own coal-fired grills and ovens. Food, silver, blinens, and china are kept in the adjoining pantry. Coolrooms for wine also exist.
Baggage Car
Two baggage cars are part of the train, one for passenger luggage and one for express package delivery. Both include berths where staff sleep. The express-package baggage car has a berth also for the Chef de Brigade.
Engine Cab
The cab of the engine is the size of a closet. Few instruments or controls are needed for a locomotive. The most important control is the regulator handle, which adjusts the amount of steam driving the wheels. Thus the regulator handle controls the speed of the locomotive and therefore of the entire train. The most important gauge is that for steam pressure. Too low, and the engine does not provide enough pull. Too high, and the safety valves open to bleed off pressure which otherwise would build to a cataclysmic explosion.
If the water level is kept up and the fuel constantly shoveled in, and if an investigator knows that the regulator handle is the key to operation, then the engine could easily be driven by an amateur.
Communications
The end doors connecting the cars open inward. The platforms on which passengers stand to step from one car to the next are covered, and specially mounted on rockers for maximum stability. Opaque accordion-fold coverings expand and bolt together to protect passengers from wind and weather, and to prevent deadly falls. An emergency cord signals the engineer to stop exists in each car. Telegraphs and telephones are available at station stops, but not aboard train. Ladies and gentlemen do not raise their voices, but should one shout in a compartment, the occupants in the compartments to either side will hear the cry clearly, as will the conductor and anyone else in the passage.
