Have you made trips on tourist trains like the Orient Express.Your impressions? (mattress, train)

[Brave New World]

GWR which runs the West Country routes in the UK operate very good Pullman Dining Service. As for Eurostar, they had renowned French Chef Raymond Blanc as their Culinary Director, and I am sure the food in first class is very good.

[slowlane3]

Some others famous ones: Copper Canyon train in the Sierra Madre mountains of northern Mexico - it's larger than the U.S. Grand Canyon.

Durango to Silverton railway in southern Colorado.

Cass Scenic railway in West Virginia (an old logging route, close to Snowshoe and Pocahontas)

[Brave New World]

Short video of The Eastern and Oriental Express, and videos about South African Ravos Rail and the Blue Train, as well as a video about Russian Golden Eagle trains which operate a luxury trans-siberian train and other services.

[Ruth4Truth]

I took the Orient Express several times, before it was a luxury tourist route. That used to be the only way to get from Western Europe to western parts of Romania, without having to fly to Bucharest, then double-back on small, regional planes.

The image I see on the "Night Riviera sleeper service" video looks exactly what Russian trains have always been (and still are), minus the champaign glasses, lol. I'm sure Russia's citizens would be surprised to learn that their ordinary, Soviet-era train compartments are now considered "luxury" service! Granted, the double-occupancy compartments are first-class, but I"ve seen factory workers and pensioners traveling in them. Second-class is the same, but with four bunks instead of two. Russia's trains are the best, IMO, except for the fact that the restaurant cars are no longer used, as the stations are all swarming with local food vendors, instead.

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I took the Orient Express several times, before it was a luxury tourist route. That used to be the only way to get from Western Europe to western parts of Romania, without having to fly to Bucharest, then double-back on small, regional planes.

The image I see on the "Night Riviera sleeper service" video looks exactly what Russian trains have always been (and still are), minus the champaign glasses, lol. I'm sure Russia's citizens would be surprised to learn that their ordinary, Soviet-era train compartments are now considered "luxury" service! Granted, the double-occupancy compartments are first-class, but I"ve seen factory workers and pensioners traveling in them. Second-class is the same, but with four bunks instead of two. Russia's trains are the best, IMO, except for the fact that the restaurant cars are no longer used, as the stations are all swarming with local food vendors, instead.

The Night Riviera and Caldeonian Sleepers are regular normal services rather than specialist luxury trains, however I included them becauae they were interesting sencices, as is GWR's Pullman and the direct Eurostar service from London to the South of France.

The Russians have always loved their railways and transport system, and have maginificent systems and trains.

In terms of a Pullman carriage, it's named after George Pullman, an American whose company built beautiful luxury train carriages and the word Pullman os still a byword for luxury to this day.

Pullman (car or coach) - Wikipedia

Pullman Company - Wikipedia

George Pullman - Wikipedia

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by brave new world

the russians have always loved their railways and transport system, and have maginificent systems and trains.

♥


You should try their hydrofoil river transport! Very cool, although they could use reclining seats. But they were built in airplane factories; they're basically an airplane fuselage with a foil attached below, in front. There's also a big viewing area in front, above the foil. They stopped making them after the USSR crashed, but in outlying regions, and perhaps still on the Neva River in St. Petersburg, the hydrofoil transit system is limping along on old stock. Cheapest hydrofoil ride you'll ever get, anywhere in the world. And probably won't last much longer, since they're not making new ones.

They were key transport, back when Russia was too cheap to build rail lines along the rivers; it was considered cheaper to make the hydrofoils and operate a highly subsidized service, than to build a rail line. Plus, there was a huge speed advantage; you could cover so much more terrain in a day, gliding above the water, than you could on rail. After the Soviet subsidies ended, they weren't cost-effective, because of high fuel prices, so ticket prices skyrocketed by Russian standards, but people still used them. By Western standards, they're still ridiculously cheap for a 12-hour ride, like you get on some of Russia's big rivers, like the Amur, bordering China, and the Volga. In St. Pete's, they served tourist locations, going from town out to Peter's palace, for example.

[Brave New World]

Last couple from the UK & Ireland, hope so formers post their luxury train videos from their own countries.

British Pullman and Grand Hibernian (Ireland)

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

♥


You should try their hydrofoil river transport! Very cool, although they could use reclining seats. But they were built in airplane factories; they're basically an airplane fuselage with a foil attached below, in front. There's also a big viewing area in front, above the foil. They stopped making them after the USSR crashed, but in outlying regions, and perhaps still on the Neva River in St. Petersburg, the hydrofoil transit system is limping along on old stock. Cheapest hydrofoil ride you'll ever get, anywhere in the world. And probably won't last much longer, since they're not making new ones.

They were key transport, back when Russia was too cheap to build rail lines along the rivers; it was considered cheaper to make the hydrofoils and operate a highly subsidized service, than to build a rail line. Plus, there was a huge speed advantage; you could cover so much more terrain in a day, gliding above the water, than you could on rail. After the Soviet subsidies ended, they weren't cost-effective, because of high fuel prices, so ticket prices skyrocketed by Russian standards, but people still used them. By Western standards, they're still ridiculously cheap for a 12-hour ride, like you get on some of Russia's big rivers, like the Amur, bordering China, and the Volga. In St. Pete's, they served tourist locations, going from town out to Peter's palace, for example.

The Russians were quite inventive in terms of transport.

There were hovercrafts, hydrofoils and other fast ferries crossing the English Channel over the years, however today the rail very fast and it'sonly 35 minutes to France via Eurotunnel.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Brave New World

The Russians were quite inventive in terms of transport.

There were hovercrafts, hydrofoils and other fast ferries crossing the English Channel over the years, however today the rail very fast and it'sonly 35 minutes to France via Eurotunnel.

Yes, the Chunnel was/is brilliant! The problem with hydrofoils in the West is that they're always very expensive, because of the high fuel costs. The Soviet economy basically swallowed the fuel costs, charging only nominal (by Western standards) fare, which tells you something about why the system collapsed.

There's still a passenger (foot-traffic only) hydrofoil, that goes between Seattle and Victoria and Vancouver BC, which isn't too impossibly expensive. Nice scenic trip.

[cebuan]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I took the Orient Express several times, before it was a luxury tourist route. That used to be the only way to get from Western Europe to western parts of Romania, without having to fly to Bucharest, then double-back on small, regional planes.

.

No idea what it was called, but in the 60s, it was no problem going to the station in Budapest and getting aboard a nice 8-hour daytime train to Oradea and Cluj.