As this is posted, it’s 142 years since the famous Orient Express took its first journey from Paris to Istanbul. As you’ll know, the train set the standard for luxury and first-class service; even today, it has a real mystique. I haven’t taken the journey myself, but it’s certainly something I’d love to do.

Possibly the most famous fictional depiction of the Orient Express is Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (which has also been published as Murder in the Calais Coach). It wasn’t Christie’s first story about murder on a train (The Mystery of the Blue Train came earlier), but it’s become one of her best-known books. It’s been adapted several times for the small and big screen, too. Perhaps a look at the story may offer a bit of a look at the train itself.

As the real action in the novel begins, a group of passengers, including Hercule Poirot, boards the Orient Express at Istanbul. Right from the start, we see the professionalism of the staff, as the passengers settle into their cabins. That in itself is no mean feat, as the train is unusually crowded.  Eventually, things get sorted and the luggage is stowed, with the crew members doing what they need to do. And that work is not just a matter of matching cabin to passenger. The next day, Hercule Poirot goes to the dining car for lunch, and he notices that:

‘At the table opposite them were three men. They were, he guessed, single travellers graded and placed there by the unerring judgment of the restaurant attendants.’

Throughout the novel, there are other examples, too, of the ways in which the staff members work behind the scenes (sometimes almost invisibly) to make the journey a successful one.

They are tested to the limit on the second night of travel. First, the train is unexpectedly stopped by a serious snowstorm. The passengers are none too happy about it, and they all want answers that no-one can really provide. One passenger, Mrs. Hubbard, has this to say:

‘There isn’t anybody knows a thing on this train. And nobody’s trying to do anything.’

The conductors and other staff members have to do all they can to calm the passengers and make sure they have meals and clean cabins at the same time as they’re trying to get the train moving again, or at least get plows in to clear the tracks. As one conductor puts it:

‘We have run into a snowdrift. Heaven knows how long we shall be here. I remember once being snowed up for ten days.’

Then, real disaster strikes. Wealthy American business executive Samuel Ratchett is found stabbed in his compartment. As it happens, one of the directors of the train company, M. Bouc, is on board, and he asks Poirot to investigate and, hopefully, find the killer before the train is stopped at the next border.

Throughout the investigation, the staff members search luggage, escort passengers to be interviewed, and in a dozen other ways, keep everything moving as smoothly as they can under the circumstances. That professionalism isn’t the motive for Ratchett’s murder, and Christie doesn’t go on and on about it. But it shows what travel on a high-quality train is like.

It’s not just the staff, either. Fans of Hercule Poirot will know that he is…particular about what he eats. At lunch on the second day of travel, he goes to the dining car and finds that,

‘The food, too, was unusually good.’

In fact, he lingers over lunch with M. Bouc. At one point, one of the passengers, Princess Dragomiroff, makes a special food request:

‘You will be sufficiently amiable to place in my compartment a bottle of mineral water and a large glass of orange juice. You will arrange that I shall have chicken cooked without sauces for dinner this evening – also some boiled fish.’

The restaurant attendant quickly promises that she’ll be accommodated. So it’s not just a matter of delicious food; dishes can be specially prepared, too. Attention is paid to small details, so that the meals are enjoyable for everyone.

The real Orient Express isn’t notorious for murder but in the novel, Christie uses the train’s atmosphere to build suspense. For one thing, there’s a whole group of disparate people in the same coach. They’re from different social classes, different countries, and different backgrounds, and that in itself adds to the atmosphere. And, while the train is luxurious, it’s still a train, so the passengers and crew are a bit cooped up. We feel that claustrophobia even more strongly once the body of Mr. Ratchett is discovered. There’s also the snowstorm that strands the train for a time. There’s no nearby station or town, so there’s nowhere for people to go. All of this contributes to the feeling of uneasiness and strain.

When Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express, that famous train had been running for over fifty years. So it already had some history, as well as luxury and top-quality accommodations and food. Against that background, she wove in the suspense of a murder among a group of people from all over the world, during a terrible snowstorm. Little wonder she chose a storied train as her setting. Someday I’d like to take that trip myself – without the murder, of course!

ps  The photo is of the real Orient Express. Isn’t it beautiful? Thanks for the picture, Orient Express!

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Renaissance’s Orient Express.