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61-806: In December 1883 the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) created its second luxury train after the Orient Express was introduced in June of that year. Due to contracts between CIWL's competitor, the Pullman Company , and the owner of the Mont Cenis Pass Railway , the Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia , CIWL could not use the Fréjus Rail Tunnel , so CIWL was forced to use

122-609: A 1922 work of Pablo Picasso . The train was featured in the novel The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie , and the Hercule Poirot mystery Three Act Tragedy also by Agatha Christie , the novel The Colossus of Arcadia (1938) by E. Phillips Oppenheim and the novel Mon Ami Maigret (1949) by Georges Simenon . The Blue Train Races were a series of record-breaking attempts between automobiles and trains in

183-853: A chain of luxury hotels in major cities. Among these were the Hôtel Terminus in Bordeaux and Marseille , the Hôtel Pera Palace in Istanbul , the Hôtel de la Plage in Ostend , and the Grand Hôtel des Wagons-Lits in Beijing (Peking). With the start of World War I CIWL's coaches were confiscated for military use. In Germany and Austro-Hungary Mitropa was founded to take over the property and services of CIWL. In 1919,

244-409: A new class of conference hotel. Sixty-eight existing Accor hotels will be transferred over, including some Sofitel that were originally Pullman hotels. In May 2011, Accor announced plans to auction residual historic assets of Wagons-Lits, including posters and tableware. In 2018, Accor began renovation work on 17 CIWL carriages from the defunct Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express , which date back to

305-485: A stylised version of the train that traveled from London and Paris to Riga and Warsaw (Varsovie) The Southern Express connected Paris – Lisbon starting in 1887, to provide the second-half of the through connection from St. Petersburg ( Finland /Russia) via Paris to the west coast of Portugal . In Lisbon, travellers could transfer to trans- Atlantic steamships. The Blue Train linked Paris / Calais – Southern France overnight and used Wagons-Lits cars up until 1938. It

366-511: A substantial viaduct constructed right on the shoreline at Anthéor. These tracks were of strategic importance to the Axis forces during World War II for supplying material to units in France. There were three separate air raids made on this viaduct from England, between September 1943 and February 1944, involving a total of thirty-one Lancaster bombers operating some seven hundred miles from base. Aircraft of

427-481: A televised illusion which caused a recently restored "Orient Express dining car" (in fact an American dining car decorated in Wagon-Lits colours) to seemingly vanish into thin air. CIWL model railway cars have been manufactured by many companies including Märklin , Fleischmann , Trix , Lima (models) , Jouef, Bachmann, France Trains, LS Models and Tri-ang . Rivarossi also produced very detailed models, discontinued in

488-714: A time when travelling was still rough and dangerous. The Armistice with Germany was signed in a CIWL train carriage, the Compiègne Wagon , on November 11, 1918. During his trip to the United States in 1867–1868 the 23-year-old Belgian Georges Nagelmackers was impressed by the Pullman night trains. Upon his return home, he decided to establish a network of such trains in Europe. He envisioned that such trains should be luxurious and travel across borders. In 1872, Nagelmackers founded

549-468: A transmitter aerial) at 492 m (1,614 ft), Pic du Cap Roux at 453 m (1,486 ft), and Pic d'Aurèle at 322 m (1,056 ft). Situated almost entirely on the Esterel Massif, the commune sits on soil of red porphyr, which makes for very picturesque scenes along the coast where the soil and rocks are exposed on cliff faces and rocky shores. Three important and spectacular rocks dominate

610-452: Is a commune in the Var department , Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region , Southeastern France . Immediately to the west of Saint-Raphaël lies a larger and older town, Fréjus ; together they form an urban agglomeration known as Var Estérel Méditerranée, which also encompasses the smaller communes of Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel , Puget-sur-Argens and Roquebrune-sur-Argens . In the second half of

671-510: Is a night train to and from Paris Austerlitz to Nice which follows much of the route of Le Train Bleu. In 1924, le train bleu inspired a ballet of the same name , created by Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes , with music by Darius Milhaud , a story by Jean Cocteau , choreography by Bronislava Nijinska , stage design by Henri Laurens , costumes by Coco Chanel and a curtain painted by

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732-628: The Orient Express , the Nord Express , and the Sud Express and expanded to markets outside Europe with involvement in the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia. The Company's trains also reached Manchuria ( Trans-Manchurian Express ), China (Peking, Shanghai, and Nanking), and Cairo. In 1894, Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels was founded as a subsidiary and began operating

793-592: The Calais-Mediterranée Express was created in 1886, but it lasted until 1890 before the Rome Express made its first journey. The Calais-Méditerrannée Express was introduced in the 1886/1887 winter timetable. In the winter of 1889/1890 the name was changed to Méditerrannée Express , due to the creation of the Club train . At the southern end, the route was extended to San Remo , but the portion north of Paris

854-607: The Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM). The whole route was served again on 9 December 1922. The new Calais-Méditerranée Express was composed of exclusively first-class , new steel carriages (S-cars) built by Leeds Forge Company in England and the CIWL-works in Munich , along with a dining car renowned for its haute cuisine five-course dinners. The "introduction ride"

915-418: The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and the et des Grands Express Européens addition became part of the name in 1893. By 1886 his company had become the main organiser for most European heads of state. The symbol "WL" held by two lions became a well-known trade mark . The company ran either complete trains of Wagon-Lits cars or individual sleeping and dining cars coupled onto services operated by

976-575: The Cour des Invalides , Paris until 1927, when it was moved to Compiègne for display. It remained on display in its own building, the Clairiere de l'Armistice until 1940, when it was removed by the German army and used to receive the 1940 Armistice with France between France and Nazi Germany. Following this, the carriage itself was taken to Berlin as a trophy of war, along with pieces of a large stone tablet which bore

1037-511: The Golden Arrow between Calais and Paris. After a one and half hour stop the two luxury cars were conveyed further south by the Côte d'Azur Pullman Express . In 1936, the new Popular Front Government in France introduced the paid two-week vacation for French workers. Second-class and third-class sleeping cars were added to the Blue Train to carry middle and working class French people on holiday to

1098-561: The arrondissement of Draguignan . Its inhabitants are called Raphaëlois in French generally, or Rafelencs in Provençal Occitan. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces arrived by ship from Egypt , prior to his coup d'état in Paris, and landed at a fishing village that was the commune of Saint-Raphaël. The coastal double-track rail link between Saint-Raphaël and Nice passes over

1159-455: The catering company Newrest , since then operating under the name Newrest Wagons-Lits . In 1997, the Europe business travel and leisure retail arm of Wagons-Lits (Wagonlit Travel) was merged on an equal basis with that of Carlson Travel Network (operating in the United States). The result was a new company called "Carlson Wagonlit Travel" jointly owned by Accor and Carlson Holdings Inc.,

1220-524: The train had lost its dining car and most of its sleeping cars. An overnight train between Paris and Nice continued to run under SNCF's Intercités de Nuit brand, only carrying couchette and reclining seat accommodation and not luxury sleeping cars, but this was discontinued from 9 December 2017 due to withdrawal of funding from the French Government. However, a Paris-Nice night train has been scheduled to restart on 29 March 2021. As of July, 2023, there

1281-421: The 1920s and 1930s, to create their own Orient Express . In 1996, all copyrights and trademarks concerning the use of historical brands and archive photographs were transferred to Wagons-Lits Diffusion in Paris. Wagons-Lits Diffusion manages the historic brands and logos derived from Compagnie des Wagons-Lits past activities. In 2010, the rail catering operations of Wagons-Lits were transferred from Accor to

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1342-432: The 19th century, the township came under the influence of Mayor Felix Martin and writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr ; owing to their efforts and its beneficial climate the commune developed into a seaside resort popular with artists, sportsmen and politicians. It is the seat of the canton of Saint-Raphaël , also encompassing Fréjus and Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel, which is the economic and cultural centre of Eastern Var, within

1403-499: The Allied invasion of southern France . Saint-Raphaël is located at the extreme eastern end of the Var, along the border with the adjacent département of Alpes-Maritimes, which occupies the far south-eastern corner of France at the frontier with Italy. The commune has a total of thirty-six kilometres (22 miles) of Mediterranean coastline, owing mainly to the many coves and creeks formed between

1464-809: The British winter to spend time on the French Riviera. Its terminus was at the Gare Maritime in Calais , where it picked up British passengers from the ferries across the English Channel . It departed at 1:00 in the afternoon and stopped at the Gare du Nord in Paris, then travelled around Paris by the Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture to the Gare de Lyon , where it picked up additional passengers and coaches. It departed Paris early in

1525-484: The French multi-national Accor Hotel and Leisure Group. At the time, CIWL included the hotel brands Altea, Arcade, Etap , PLM and Pullman. Catering organisation Eurest and, in the automobile world, Wagons-Lits included Europcar rental and motorway break specialists Relais Autoroute. Following the 1992 purchase, the Pullman hotels were gradually rebranded to Sofitel , allowing the Pullman name to be reused in 2007 for

1586-656: The Grantham family through France to the French Riviera and back. Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits ( International Sleeping-Car Company ) is a Belgian-founded French company known for providing and operating luxury trains with sleepers and dining cars during the late 19th and the 20th centuries, most notably the Orient Express . Founded by Georges Nagelmackers in 1872, CIWL developed an international network of trains beginning in Europe, and later expanding to Asia and Africa. The trains provided luxury and comfort at

1647-508: The Lake " (1943). In 1963, the belle-epoque restaurant at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris was renamed Le Train Bleu to honor the historic train. A French television series, Le train bleu s'arrete 13 fois (lit. "The Blue Train Stops 13 times"), appeared on the French channel ORTF between October 8, 1965, and March 11, 1966. It featured one mystery episode for each of the thirteen stops of

1708-557: The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII ), Charlie Chaplin , designer Coco Chanel , Winston Churchill and writers F. Scott Fitzgerald , Evelyn Waugh and Somerset Maugham . The Great Depression and the devaluation of the Pound Sterling greatly reduced the number of wealthy British and American travellers going to the Riviera, reducing the two trains to two carriages conveyed with

1769-505: The Sirocco (very strong, southerly, hot) air flows, but these occur rarely. The wind velocity record was established on 30 January 1986, with gusts of 140 km (87 mi) per hour. The town's modern rail station is named Saint-Raphaël-Valescure and offers national, regional, and local train services: International scheduled air passenger services are available at: Private, commercial and freight services are conducted at: Saint-Raphaël

1830-635: The South of France. In 1938, the Popular Front government nationalized the private railway companies in France, including PLM. After 1938, le train bleu was run by the new French national railway company SNCF as an ordinary night express train. Service was interrupted during the Second World War but resumed in 1949, when the train officially took the name Le Train Bleu . Scheduled airline service began between Paris and Nice in 1945, which took away much of

1891-562: The Train Bleu between Paris and Menton , based on short stories by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac . Bloomingdale's flagship store in New York City operated a restaurant named Le Train Bleu from 1979 to 2016. Named after the legendary train, its interior was a wider version of what the dining car on the original train might have looked like. The Blue Train is mentioned in the 2022 movie "Downton Abbey: A New Era" (set in 1928) carrying

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1952-566: The United Kingdom. A number of sleeping-cars on the European continent are owned by CIWL. The cars are maintained by the sister company Rail Service International (RSI) in the Netherlands and leased to train operating companies. In 1927, Thomas Cook was sold to CIWL after poor financial results; CIWL took a back-role in the running of the subsidiary. In 1991, Wagons-Lits became part of

2013-615: The city centre, called the Veillat; one at Boulouris; one at Le Dramont, and the fourth at Agay. There are two smaller ones at Anthéor and Le Trayas. Saint-Raphaël is separated from Fréjus by the River Pédégal: fed by the Garonne, the Adrets-of-l'Esterel, Saint-Jean-de-Cannes and Saint-Jean-de-l'Esterel. The River Agay flows from the mountains down through the village of that name, and is fed by

2074-614: The commune of Théoule-sur-Mer. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south of the whole Saint-Raphaël commune. St. Raphaël is located on the Côte d'Azur and enjoys a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, humid winters. The Mistral wind occurs, although sometimes the town is sheltered from this by the Massif des Maures and the Esterel. It is perhaps more exposed to the Levant (strong, easterly, wet) or

2135-717: The communists in Russia expropriated CIWL's local rolling stock and hotels. After the conclusion of World War I CIWL demanded to have its central European service routes restored. It regained these for Austria, Poland , and Czechoslovakia ; however, in Germany the Reichsbahn and Mitropa sabotaged this process. On April 23, 1925, CIWL and Mitropa agreed to separate spheres of influence. CIWL received transit routes through Germany and routes between Germany and Belgium, France, Italy, Poland , Latvia , Lithuania and Czechoslovakia . Mitropa took over

2196-488: The contract, and it lasted until 1926 before a new integrated boattrain service was created as Golden Arrow . The Méditerrannée Express' northern terminus was Calais again. The service was suspended at the beginning of the First World War . The train bleu ("blue train") service resumed on 16 November 1920 between Paris and Menton with pre-war carriages, operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits using

2257-552: The evening, and made stops at Dijon , Châlons , and Lyon , before reaching Marseilles early the next morning. It then made further stops at all the major resort towns of the French Riviera, or Côte d'Azur : Saint-Raphaël , Juan-les-Pins , Antibes , Cannes , Nice , Monte-Carlo , before reaching its final destination, Menton , near the Italian border. The sleeping cars had only ten sleeping compartments each, with one attendant assigned to each sleeping car. Early passengers included

2318-453: The fleet reached its maximum of 2268 vehicles. This period can be considered the zenith of luxury rail travel. CIWL's carriages were decorated by such renowned artists as Réné Prou, René Lalique and Morrison. CIWL also commissioned renowned artists such as Adolphe Mouron Cassandre to design posters advertising its services. With Anschluss in 1938, the Austrian market was lost to Mitropa (it

2379-547: The former parent companies of the merged entities. The Carlson side of the merger had grown from a travel agency founded by Ward Forster in the United States in 1888. Originally called "Ask Mr. Foster Travel Agency", the chain was renamed to "Carlson Travel Network" following an earlier purchase by the Carlson Group and later to CWT . Accor sold its 50% of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in 2006 for €500m to Carlson and One Equity Partners . However, Accor maintains its interest in

2440-480: The high-speed TGV trains, which cut the length of the journey from Paris to Nice from 20 hours to five, and this effectively ended the era of luxury night trains to the French Riviera. After a long history, Le Train Bleu ceased to exist under that name in September 2003, when SNCF rebranded all of its principal overnight trains as Service Nuit . The train coaches remained in use until 9 December 2007, by which time

2501-644: The inscription (in French): Following this period of display in Berlin, CIWL #2419 was moved to Ohrdruf in Thuringia for storage in 1945. Following the Allied advance into Germany in early 1945, the detachment of SS troops protecting the carriage set it ablaze before burying the remains to prevent them from falling into Allied hands. Some remnants were later exhumed and moved back to the restored Compiègne site for display, while CIWL later donated another carriage from

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2562-624: The late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own, or sponsored, automobiles race against "le train bleu". The Blue Train Bentleys , two Bentley Speed Six automobiles owned by " Bentley Boy " Woolf Barnato , were involved in the Blue Train Races. Philip Marlowe comes around after being knocked unconscious to see a poster advertising "See the French Riviera by The Blue Train" in Raymond Chandler 's novel " The Lady in

2623-412: The late nineties, production restarted lately with the new society affiliated to Hornby. CIWL has changed its name several names: The company has also colloquially been shortened to CIWL, Compagnie des Wagons-Lits , and Wagons-Lits . Saint-Rapha%C3%ABl, Var Saint-Raphaël ( French: [sɛ̃ ʁafaɛl] ; Occitan : Sant Rafèu Occitan pronunciation: [ˈsan raˈfɛw] )

2684-496: The longer route along the Mediterranean coast. The connection between Paris and Rome was introduced as Calais Nice Rome Express , but it was reduced to Calais Nice Express after only one year. In 1885 several Italian railways merged and CIWL could buy the routes formerly served by Pullman, which made it possible to use the shorter Mont Cenis Railway. The train was to be named Rome Express . In order to serve British customers,

2745-409: The natural region of the Esterel Massif ( Massif de l'Esterel ) and the sea. This places it second only to Marseilles, with fifty-seven kilometres (35 miles) of coastline. The commune is 89.59 km in extent. It is almost completely urbanised in the west, but includes over 60 km of protected areas of natural forest and the Esterel mountains. Saint-Raphaël has four large sandy beaches: one near

2806-598: The night sleeper service named Orient Express only operated between Strasbourg and Vienna. Made obsolete by Europe's high-speed rail network , the Orient Express made its last run on 14 December 2009. The Northern Express connected Paris with St. Petersburg (later Riga), via Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe. Begun in 1884, the service is now run by DB NachtZug from Paris as far as Hamburg, although it previously served Copenhagen. The famous Art Deco poster "Nord Express: (1927) by Cassandre (Adolphe Mouron Cassandre) shows

2867-410: The railway service sector of Wagon Lits. From 1883, the Orient Express operated between Paris and Istanbul in three nights and three times per week in each direction. The Orient Express deployed the first sleeping and dining cars for long-distance train travel in Europe. In 2003, the company restored seven cars of the famous Pullman Orient Express and made it available for tourist events. After 2007,

2928-738: The renovation and replacement needed were beyond the company. It sold or leased its coaches to the SNCF , FS , SBB , DB , ÖBB , NMBS/SNCB , NS , DSB and Renfe . An international sleeping car pool named TEN (Trans Euro Night) was founded at that time and took over and managed (until 1995) many of the carriages of CIWL and of the Mitropa-successor DSG . Wagons-Lits is headquartered in Paris. Currently CIWL provides service on night trains in Austria, Italy and meal and catering services in daytime trains of France, Italy, Portugal and on Eurostar services to

2989-545: The routes between Germany and the Netherlands and Scandinavia , as well as trains within Germany, and to Gdańsk . Trains between Germany and Austria were served by both companies. In the interwar period , CIWL flourished again. The company's blue and gold livery was introduced. In 1925, Wagon-Lits opened its first Travel Palace in Paris. Services extended to the Middle Eastern cities of Aleppo , Baghdad , Cairo , and Tehran . Metal coaches, replacing older wooden ones constructed of teak , became available in 1926. In 1931

3050-479: The same construction order, 1913-built CIWL #2439, in 1950 as a replacement. This carriage had also been at Compiègne on 11 November 1918, and it was renumbered as #2419D for display at Compiègne where it was installed on Armistice Day 1950. Agatha Christie set two of her Hercule Poirot mysteries on or around CIWL trains: Sidney Gilliat and Clifford Grey wrote the script for the 1932 British film directed by Walter Forde : In 1991, David Copperfield performed

3111-424: The seascape: Cap Roux at 360 m (1,180 ft), Saint-Pilon at 295 m (968 ft), and the Rock of Saint-Barthélemy. Immediately to the west and north-west of Saint-Raphaël lies the ancient town of Fréjus. To the north lie the hamlets of Saint-Jean-de-l'Esterel et Saint-Jean-de-Cannes, both within the Fréjus commune. To the extreme north-east, beyond Le Trayas, is the small resort of Miramar, lying within

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3172-422: The second raid flew on to Rabat, and from the third raid on to Sardinia. One Lancaster from the first raid was lost, and a flight lieutenant bomb aimer on the third raid was killed by enemy fire, some of which came from ships at sea. All the raids failed in their objective and the rail link was not severed. During World War II , on August 15, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing in Operation Dragoon ,

3233-434: The service from 14 May 1927 until 19 September 1930. Basic data is listed. Further details are in the article regarding the specific train. after WWII Paris-Prague-Warsaw/Budapest The 1918 Armistice with Germany was signed in CIWL #2419 ( "Le Wagon de l'Armistice" ). Returned to CIWL service afterwards, it was retired later to join the French presidential train before being withdrawn in 1921 and placed on display in

3294-601: The service from October 1936 until December 1976 with specially constructed cars designed to fit the smaller British loading gauge . It was taken over by British Rail in January 1977, before ceasing in October 1980. Before the introduction of high-speed Eurostar services, this was the only through service. The train's English Channel segment between Dover and Dunkirk was made by train ferry . The Londres-Vichy Pullman Express ran between London and Vichy in France primarily to serve visitors to Vichy's famous thermal baths. Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits operated

3355-404: The state railways of the European countries through which the Wagon-Lits cars passed. These cars were always drawn by locomotives of the various state railways, as Wagon-Lits did not operate its own fleet of locomotives. Prior to World War I , CIWL held a monopoly being the only group catering to the needs of the international railroad traveller. The company introduced famous services, such as

3416-520: The streams Cabre, Perthus and Grenouillet. The Grenouillet is the most important of these streams, having average flows of between 43 cu m/s in July and 1160 cu m/s in January. The River Valescure, which is channelled through the Barrage des Crous (dam), discharges into the River Reyran at Fréjus . From east to west the commune has several mountain summits rising from the massif. Mont Vinaigre in Fréjus stands at 618 metres (2,028 feet), Rastel d'Agay at 287 m (942 ft), Pic de l'Ours (carrying

3477-417: The wealthy clientele. In 1962 the rolling stock was replaced by MU coaches and second class coaches were introduced in the Blue Train. In 1971 the CIWL sold its rolling stock to the national railway companies that operated the trains further on. After 1978, the train added cars with couchettes to attract more middle-class passengers. Beginning in the 1980s the night express trains were gradually replaced by

3538-436: Was actually operated by French company called Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée . The Trans-Siberian Express operated with the permission of the Russian Tsar until 1917 during World War I . The service ran from Moscow to Vladivostok and Peking , taking over one week in each direction. The Night Ferry was a through London Victoria to Paris Gare du Nord overnight boat train . Wagons-Lits operated

3599-439: Was made by two trains with many invitees and nearly 50 journalists, departing from Calais and Paris bound for Nice. The sleeping cars were painted blue with gold trim. This eventually led to the nickname Blue Train in 1923. This name was taken over soon in English advertisements: "Summer on the French Riviera by the Blue Train". The height of the season for le train bleu was between November and April, when many travellers escaped

3660-413: Was recovered after 1945). Because of World War II and the subsequent communist expansion, CIWL lost more markets in central and eastern Europe. After World War II, CIWL increasingly focused on the travel agency and management business. Accordingly, it was renamed Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme (CIWLT) in 1967. By 1971, the rolling stock of CIWL had become aged and outdated, and

3721-421: Was taken over by the Club Train. After the introduction of the Rome Express on 15 November 1890, the two trains were combined between Paris and Mâcon. South of Mâcon, the Rome Express continued during the night over the Mont Cenis railway and the Méditerrannée Express ran through the Rhone valley to the Côte d'Azur. After several breaches of contract by CIWL, the London Chatham & Dover Railway cancelled

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