Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 399 The Orient Express
"GRANDS EXPRESS EUROPEENS——large European express train, what does this mean?" Fan Meng quickly recognized the French on the car, and then turned to look at Liang En with a puzzled expression.

In the end, he saw Liang En look at the words with excitement, and at the same time muttered in a low voice: "It turned out to be this, and the 25000 euros are really worth it."

"Ahem—I'm a little too excited." Seeing Fan Meng staring at him, Liang En also realized his gaffe just now, so he coughed and changed the subject, "Because this train is indeed very famous in history."

"Famous?" Fan Meng asked curiously after looking at the half gray and half blue carriage in front of him, which was as empty as if he had a skin disease. "Did you recognize the identity of this carriage?"

"Yes." Liang En nodded and said, "The carriages of this train come from a famous luxury train: Orient Express, I think you should have heard of this name."

"Of course, of course I've heard of it." After hearing what Liang En said, Fan Meng immediately looked at the carriage in front of him seriously, "I have read the novel "Murder on the Orient Express", although the story in it is fictitious, But this train is real."

The Orient Express is a long-distance train that traverses the whole of Europe. It mainly travels from Paris to Istanbul to cross the European continent. It was originally operated by the International Sleeper Car Company. Historically, the Orient Express has had different routes, but it is roughly the same as the original east-west direction. point.

This train originated in 1876 when George Nagymack founded the International Sleeper Car Company, and began to realize the dream of a luxury train service from Paris to Istanbul, in order to emulate the luxury sleeper train founded by George Pullman in the United States.

On October 1883, 10, the first Orient Express named Express d'Orient departed from Gare de l'Est, passed through Munich and Vienna, and arrived in Giurgiu, Romania.

Passengers then cross the Danube by boat and transfer to another train in Ruse, Bulgaria to Varna, and then to Istanbul by boat.

In 1885, another route began via Vienna, Belgrade in Serbia, and then from Plovdiv in Bulgaria to Istanbul.

In June 1889, the railway to Istanbul was completed.During this period, trains run directly from Paris to Vienna and Budapest, to Bucharest on Mondays and Fridays, and to Belgrade and Istanbul on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Because of the outbreak of World War I, the Orient Express was suspended from July 1914 until it resumed business in 7.

During this period, carriage No. 2419 was converted into General Foch's office, and on November 1918, 11, the famous World War I armistice agreement was signed in this carriage.

In 1919, the Simplon Tunnel was opened, allowing trains to use the southbound route through Milan, Venice and Trieste, called the Simplon-Orient Express (Simplon Orient Express), and it has since become an important route.

Then until the 30s, the Orient Express entered its heyday, and the Orient Express, Simplon-Orient Express, and Aalburg-Orient Express were operating at the same time.

Among them, the Aalburg-Orient Express runs from Zurich, Innsbruck to Budapest; there is also a sleeper car that goes directly to Bucharest and Athens, which can be regarded as the southern line of the Orient Express.

It was also during this period that the train was upgraded from the teak carriages in the past to all-steel carriages, and adopted the most advanced technology and the most fashionable Art Deco interiors at that time.

One of the masterpieces of the famous detective novelist Agatha Christie, the Orient Express described in "Murder on the Orient Express" refers to the Orient Express of this period.Of course, it was also the carriage that Liang En and the others found now.

Because of its high speed and modern luxuries, the Orient Express was especially popular with diplomats, artists and writers.Snetter Hemingway, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie and other writers immortalized this train in their works.

However, in the chaos of World War II, the Orient Express was suspended again, and a large number of carriages were damaged or missing, but after the war, the train resumed operation.

In 1947, the Paris-Istanbul railway first resumed operation, and then connected to Athens in 1951. Unfortunately, the trains are no longer as organized and well-maintained as in front of the station, and the staff is not fully equipped.
At the same time, the advent of the Cold War will also bring great problems to the operation of the train. Various artificial obstacles have greatly reduced the operating speed of the train. At the same time, the disappearance of the unified operator has caused the service quality of the train to decline.

The classic Orient-Express to Vienna and Budapest lost its officially recognized luxury status in 1962 but is still running, and the Simplon-Orient-Express only operates between Paris and Salagob.

Only one cheap train called Orient Express continues to run from Paris to Istanbul and Athens, and the quality of service and food is far from what it was before World War II.

On May 1977, 5, the last Orient Express left Gare de Lyon in Paris. Many people think this is the end of this legendary train, but in fact the original Orient Express still runs between Paris, Vienna and Budapest.

After 1995, this train became part of the European night train network, but it used a more modern and more civilian ordinary sleeper box, and in 2001 the trip was shortened to between Paris and Vienna, and then the target became France and Germany Strasbourg on the border.

Finally, in December 2009, the Orient Express under Euronight Train was permanently suspended. After 12 years of operation, the legend came to an end. The development of aviation and high-speed rail brought the final stop to this classic express train.

According to Liang En's judgment, the trains they found now are the part of the Orient Express carriages that disappeared during World War II. What surprised them even more was that most of the original decorations and furniture in the train carriages were filled with boxes in the tunnel next to them.

"These train cars come from the part of the train that the Germans tried to run in the Balkans during World War II, but after repeated attacks by the Yugoslav partisans, the Germans had to abandon this plan."

During the detailed inspection the next day, they found some documents that hadn't been taken away. Through these documents, Liang En quickly figured out the whereabouts of these carriages.

"For a long time, the trains have been placed in northern Italy. It was not until 45 years when the Germans were beaten to the mainland that these trains were transferred to Austria, which became the mainland because of the merger of Germany and Austria, and then they were ready to be converted into troop carriers.

"You also know how bad the Germans did in general mobilization during World War II. Especially at the end of World War II, the chaos in various regions and large-scale strategic bombing made the whole of Germany and the occupied areas chaotic."

"Under such circumstances, the opponent naturally focused on the maintenance of the truck compartment with low consumption and quick results, and put these complicated modification work on the passenger car compartment later, and the result was not completed until the defeat."

"Fortunately, although the modification has not been completed, some changes have been made, such as emptying out the contents of the carriage, and painting the carriage with a layer of gray military paint. As a result, the group of American soldiers behind us unexpectedly avoided the attack. spy."

There are many movies and TV shows about how American soldiers get their trophies. If they knew it was the Orient Express, they would definitely find a way to take something as a souvenir.

The half-modified Orient Express looked not much different from ordinary trains, so it was accidentally let go and sealed in this tunnel, until today it was discovered by Liang En and the others.

"So we were really lucky this time. Although we couldn't find the legendary golden train, it was not a waste of time to find a relatively complete Orient Express carriage." Fan Meng nodded and said. "But do you have any idea what to do with the carriages next?"

"I think I already know who needs this." Liang En showed a confident smile. "Then I just need to make a phone call and everything will be done."

(End of this chapter)