How a train fan solved a real life Orient Express mystery

(CNN) – French Railways fan Arthur Mettel was watching a video on YouTube when a few cars parked in the corner of the frame caught his eye.

The cars, painted a distinctive night-blue, were once associated with the Orient Express, the famous long-distance trans-Europe passenger train synonymous with 20th-century travel glamour.

Mettle was not just a railway fan, he was working on a PhD on the history of the Orient Express. His research involved trying to find out how many original Orient Express train coaches still exist today, where they were located, who owned them and what condition they were in.

He knew that some older carriages were in service – such as those operating the Belmond Orient Express route – and that others were on show in museums. But he felt that many cars were scattered around the world, forgotten.

Mettle spent much of 2015 hunting down these abandoned trains, scrolling through archives, talking to railway fans on message boards, and exploring through online videos. Each time, he looked for a clue that looked promising, like the blue car in a YouTube video.

Mettle paused on the video and took a closer look at the frame. The video was uploaded anonymously and there was not much information attached to it. But it was possible to make out a station name on the screenshot: Malaszewicz.

Via Google, Mettetal found that there are several places in Poland named Malaszewicze. They looked at each place on Google Maps, switched to the 3D view and zoomed in, discovering the distinctive blue car with their white roofs.

And then, bingo, he found what he was looking for: a 13-carriage train that looked suspiciously like the Orient Express, parked at a Malazewicz station on the border between Poland and Belarus.

“Thirteen cars at once!” he shouts. “It’s like a treasure hunt.”

track train

While locating the train on Google was “an incredible feeling”, Mettle tried to manage his expectations, unsure why the trains were there, what condition they might be in, and whether they were being used since the satellite image was taken. was transferred.

So he went to Malaszewicz to see them in person.

Mettle says he will never forget the moment he arrived at the Polish border, with a photographer friend in tow.

“After driving for hours to reach the point where we thought we would get a train, we arrived at an active border area at night,” says Mettal.

Not only was it dark, the landscape was shrouded in snow. But both men could still detect the blue trains. Printed on their side was “Nostalgi Istanbul Orient Express”, the name of a 1970s private rail enterprise that used the original Orient Express cars to carry passengers from Paris to Istanbul. Metall and his friend were overjoyed.

“It’s an indescribable feeling. We were looking at the object of our research, the train we saw through Google 3D visuals,” recalls Mettle.

Because they were in a border area, Mettle and the photographer were soon told to leave by the police. The two returned at dawn the next day, accompanied by a translator and Guillaume de Saint Leger, vice-president of Accor’s Orient Express offshoot, who were also interested in inspecting the train.

As the sun came out, the group circled the trains. Mettle speculates that they date back to the 1920s and ’30s and had been dormant there for at least a decade.

Mettle says the peek inside the carriages was another “great moment for the historian”.

“All the decorations were intact and it looked as if time was still,” he says, “with almost no damage, just the break and tear of time.”

Of the 13 vehicles, nine were luxurious sleeping cars.

“We then spent two full days documenting the entire interior and exterior of the cars, while continuing our research into their history and the reasons why they were parked there,” says Mettle.

Restoration and Restoration

Over the next two years, Accor’s Orient Express team traced the owner of the Malaszewicze vehicle. They also found four additional vehicles parked in other countries, including Germany and Switzerland. Accor negotiated a purchase deal for a total of 17 cars, including 12 sleeper cars, a restaurant, three lounges and a van. The vehicles were then taken by police convoys across Europe to France.

Fast forward to today and Accor’s Orient Express group has grand plans for the rediscovered carriage. The goal is that the cars will operate on the Paris to Istanbul route from 2024, a new version of the nostalgia Istanbul Orient Express.

The carriage is currently being renovated by Parisian architect Maxim d’Anzac, who tells CNN Travel a “once in a lifetime” project that “you can’t refuse.”

The interiors of the rediscovered carriages include Art Deco marquetry panels by English decorators Morrison and Nelson, as well as glass panels by French craftsman René Lalique. The first time d’Angeac looked at the existing interiors, he says he felt a “real feeling.”

D’Angeac acknowledges that the original Orient Express was known in its era as the pinnacle of luxury, comfort and design. He wants the refurbished vehicles to live up to that reputation.

“Accor’s ambition is to restore and reconstruct the same kind of myth, legend, and an extraordinary train,” he says.

Refurbishing century-old trains isn’t easy, D’Anzac says, with the interior being smaller than a modern passenger would expect. Historic properties have to be preserved, but modern amenities and protections also need to be included.

New technology and methods will be used where appropriate, but d’Anzac expects travelers to ignore the touch of the 21st century.

“Our intervention must be timeless,” is how D’Angec puts it.

As far as Mettle is concerned, he has completed his PhD, but he remains fascinated by the Orient Express, especially the trains tracked on YouTube. He is also now Accor’s Director of Orient Express Heritage and Culture.

“These cars have a rich history, from their creation in the 1920s to their rediscovery,” says Mettle. “It will be very interesting to revisit his entire journey of the countries and cities he has crossed during all these years.”

Top Photo Credit: Javier Antoinette

Top Photo Credit: Javier Antoinette