Living: The Once and Future Train

Europe's fabled Orient Express returns in pristine splendor

It was known in its gilded heyday as the train of kings. It also transported in regal splendor diplomats, divas and duchesses, the beau monde and the demimonde, maharajahs, moguls and con men, courtesans, couriers, private eyes and spies. Thundering across empires to the edge of Asia, the Orient Express was the most celebrated train in history. It retired ignobly in May 1977, aged 94, a shrunken outcast of the hurry-up age. Then, last May, it rose again in all its pristine opulence as a regularly...

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