(Image: Brian – PreciousDecay.com)
In the world of luxury travel, great railway journeys are increasingly seen as relics of a distant and elegant past. In our fast-paced modern world, the mere thought of such an adventure fills us with intrigue and captures our collective imagination – and few trains are as iconic as the Orient Express. Launched in 1883 by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL), the long-distance passenger service ceased operating in December 2009 amid growing competition from high-speed trains and budget airlines. Thankfully the grand train lives on as the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, a private venture by leisure company Belmond, which owns a portfolio of luxury hotels, train journeys and river cruises globally. Some of the original 1920s and ’30s rollingstock has also been retained. But as these photographs reveal, a handful of distinctive locomotives and carriages stand on rusted sidings, their beautiful forms eerily abandoned.
(Images: Urbex.nl)
The rotting train pictured here is understood to be located at the heart of a busy railway yard somewhere in Belgium. It’s relatively well known to urban explorers as “the Orient Express”, and there’s no doubt that the classic retro locomotive and its plush carriages made for a grand travel experience. But, beyond that, we’re unsure of its provenance.
(Image: Brian – PreciousDecay.com)
Brian from Precious Decay writes: “They don’t make trains like these anymore! Big sofa’s inside the carriage and a lot of space. Of these diesel-electric trains only three were built in the 1930’s and this piece is the only one left…”
(Image: FFUrbex Fotografie)
The fact that the abandoned Orient Express stock stands on a rusted siding in Belgium – away from the iconic train’s regular routes of London to Venice and Paris to Istanbul – may suggest it was a separate venture using vintage rollingstock. Or perhaps that’s just where it ended its days, destined to rust away slowly until eventual scrapping.
Related: 20 Eerie Train Graveyards & Abandoned Locomotive Cemeteries
The post Abandoned Orient Express Train in Belgium appeared first on Urban Ghosts Media.