The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express , or VSOE, is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. Currently owned by Belmond Ltd. Belmond operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises in 24 countries.
The VSOE service is not to be confused with a regular train schedule called the Orient Express, which runs nightly between Paris and Bucharest - in recent years the operation cuts back between Strasbourg and Vienna - until December 11, 2009. The latter is normal EuroNight and is a lineal descendant of regular daily Orient Express departures from Paris to Vienna and the Balkans. While this breed is primarily used for every type of passengers to Central and Eastern Europe, applying only international standard train fares, the VSOE train is aimed at tourists who want to ride luxury trains. Rates in Venice Simplon-Orient-Express are high because the service is not intended as a regular train service, but as a leisure occasion with a five star meal included.
The train was founded in 1982 by James Sherwood of Kentucky, USA. In 1977 he had purchased two original carriages at an auction when Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits withdrew from the Orient Express service, forwarding services to the national trains of France, Germany and Austria. Over the next few years, Sherwood spent a total of US $ 16 million to buy 35 beds, restaurants, and Pullman cars. On May 25, 1982, the first London-Venezia show was made.
VSOEs have separate restored wagons for use in the UK and for continental Europe, but all of the same models (mostly from the 1920s and 1930s). Passengers delivered through the English Channel by trainers on Eurotunnel aircraft through the Channel Tunnel. In Britain the Pullman carriages were used; in continental Europe, sleeping cars and used dining cars Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits are used.
Video Venice-Simplon Orient Express
Destination
VSOE runs services between March and November. The London - Paris - Milan - Venice (and back) classical route through Simplon Tunnel was changed in 1984 to serve ZÃÆ'¼rich, Innsbruck and Verona via Brenner Pass. This trip is offered once or twice a week, depending on other trips. Two or three times a year Prague or Vienna and Budapest are also accessible, starting from Venice, and returning to Paris and London. Every September, trains also travel from London and Paris to Istanbul via Budapest, Sinaia and Bucharest - in the last three cities, tour tours (and in the capital's two overnight stays at hotels) are also underway - the journey returns the same route ending in Venice.
Although the above-mentioned routes are available almost every year, some seasons also include unique destinations, including Cologne, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, High Tatras, Cracow, Dresden, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Such a trip is currently reserved for Berlin.
Maps Venice-Simplon Orient Express
Continental Train
The VSOE continental foot consists of 18 carriages - 12 sleeping cars, three dining cars, a barrel and two people who have slept, which provides accommodation for staff and storage space for luggage and supplies as well. The Lx sleep class has nine double compartments, while the S1 sleeper class accommodates 17 passengers in four double and nine single compartments. Beginning 2018, the Grand Suite class will be introduced with a No. 1 sleeping car repair. 3425. Three suites ( Paris , Istanbul and Venice ) will include a double or twin bed layout, a saloon image with sofa (which can be changed into a third bed) and an en-suite bathroom.
Most of the trainers were restored in Ostend by the CIWL workshop, while the rest on the Hansa train worked in Bremen. The renovations are done with some technical modifications, to match the current safety and comfort demand, for example a dining car has got a modern kitchen. They also became air-conditioned, which was introduced in 2017 even in the sleeping cars. To reach higher speeds (160 km/h instead of 140 km/h) in the mid-2000s, the original boge was transformed into a new brand.
List of fleets
English Train
VSOE operates services within the United Kingdom apart from its main continental service as an "open access" operator. Belmond British Pullman (who runs the London-Folkestone leg of Venice Simplon-Orient-Express) is composed mostly of former Brighton Belle Pullman coach. It operates services primarily in the South of England and the Midlands, with York as the northernmost tip. Usually operating from Victoria Station in London, specials operate in the south of London to historic sites, including elaborate dinners along the way. On October 9, 2007, the Westfield Group rented all trains to open its new shopping mall in Derby, departing from the former London King's Cross station.
Belmond Northern Belle is a wider day service operating throughout the United Kingdom, as far north of Inverness and south to Plymouth. It consists of the more modern British Rail Mark 2 trainer, with the British Rail Mark 1 kitchen trucks, carefully crafted and named after the older Pullman coach. Transportation is done by the locomotives of Direct Rail Services, usually two classes of 57s. Locomotive 57305 & amp; 57312 has been painted at Northern Belle livery. The selected services are also transported by steam locomotives are preserved.
The Royal Scotsman, first introduced in 1985, was taken over by Orient Express in 2005. This overnight luxury train provides travel through Scotland to the north from Edinburgh and Glasgow with the reclaimed Mark 1 Pullman ECML train. Inspired by this train, the Grand Hibernian is made of the 3rd Mark of Ireland trains, and began operations in August 2016 for travel in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The company also operates services in Southeast Asia (East & Oriental Express between Bangkok and Singapore) and Peru (PeruRail). Between 1998 and 2003, a service on the East Coast of Australia called Great South Pacific Express was also run. The cars were kept in Australia after the service was stopped, and transferred in 2016 to Peru for the Belmond Andean Explorer train last night from Cusco to Lake Titicaca and Arequipa. Since then, used trains of the same name and on the same route (however, only between Cusco and Lake Titicaca) are featured as Titicaca Trains. It has a Pullman dining car and a car bar with an observatory platform, such as Hiram Bingham train, which serves a narrow gauge to Machu Picchu.
Media coverage
- British travel journalist Alan Whicker joined the inaugural service in 1982, interviewing invited guests and celebrities along the way for the TV series Whicker World .
- Comedian Michael Palin traveled on the train on the first leg of his Journey around the World in 80 Days in 1988, during which time he was housed in a sleeping car 3544.
- Actor David Suchet held an episode of Masterpiece Mystery "David Suchet on Orient Express" about the real journey on this train that was originally aired July 7, 2010
See also
- Folkestone Harbor railway station
References
Further reading
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Kelly, Peter (April 1983). "It's okay - I'll go up front!". Rail Fans . National Publications of EMAP. pp. 10-13. ISSNÃ, 0262-561X. OCLCÃ, 49957965.
- "VSOE brings 25 new jobs to Crewe and buys Waterman Class 50". RAILS . No. 339. Apex EMAP Publications. 9-22 September 1998. p.Ã, 14. ISSNÃ, 0953-4563. OCLCÃ, 49953699.
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Holley, Mel; Jones, Robin (September 23 - October 6, 1998). "VSOE to buy a Regency locomotive and rent". RAILS . No. 340. Apex EMAP Publications. p. 6-7. ISSNÃ, 0953-4563. OCLCÃ, 49953699.
External links
- The official website of the Simplon-Orient-Express Venice Train
- The official site of the Royal Scotsman
- The official site of British Pullman
- North Belle travels in the United Kingdom
- Belmond.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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