The Orient-Express, aptly nicknamed " the train of kings, the king of trains ", has left its mark on French railway history and the international imagination. Keen to preserve the railway heritage and the art of travel that the CIWL had successfully created, in 2011 SNCF bought seven historic Pullman Orient-Express carriages, built in the 1920s, from the Accor hotel group: three lounge carriages, three restaurant carriages and one bar carriage. What followed, from 2015 to 2018, was an ambitious restoration program combining industrial know-how and artistic craftsmanship to restore these cars to their original luxury.
No fewer than thirty companies were involved in the project, working in conjunction with SNCF's maintenance workshops and design offices. The Ateliers de Construction du Centre (ACC) in Clermont-Ferrand completely dismantled the cars to overhaul the mechanical and electrical parts (bogies, braking system), and refurbish them to new condition.
The interior fittings and decoration of the cars - stamp-varnished mahogany woodwork, pewter marquetry on a Norwegian birch burr background, chrome-plated brass and other metal objects, fabric-sheathed electrical cables, velvet curtains, windscreens, carpets and seats - were entrusted to a number of Entreprises du Patrimoine Vivant (EPV) companies with unique skills.
The superb marquetry panels (exotic woods) designed by René Prou and the woodwork (poplar veneer) with compositions by master glassmaker René Lalique (pâte de verre, silver flakes) were restored by Atelier Philippe Allemand, Issoire.
Manufacture Royale d'Aubusson was responsible for the carpets with a motif evoking railway tracks (created by Suzanne Lalique), and Atelier Nivet in Riom for the tapestries of the armchairs and benches on which the famous detective Hercule Poirot sat during his investigation of Le Crime de l'Orient- Express... The winged armchairs were restored by Manufacture Besse, in Neufchâteau. The lampshades were entrusted to Atelier Hugues Rambert, Vichy. The lettering was supplied by Fonderie Macheret, Sarthe.
Since then, several times a year, the Orient Express subsidiary, owned 50% by the SNCF and 50% by the Accor hotel group, has harnessed these marvels on wheels for prestigious events on behalf of companies such as Chanel. And this summer, the lucky few travelled in this mythical train to Montreux to attend the famous jazz festival created by the late Claude Nobs.
By Anne Jeantet-Leclerc
Published in Lettre du cheminot