Venice-Simplon Orient Express
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, or VSOE, is a private luxury train service from London to Venice that is popularly referred to as the Orient Express.
The original company was founded by James Sherwood of Kentucky, USA, in 1982; five years earlier, in 1977, he had bought two of the original carriages at an auction when the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits withdrew from the Orient Express service, passing the service on to the national railways of France, Germany, and Austria. Over the next few years, Sherwood spent a total of $16 million purchasing 35 sleeper, restaurant and Pullman carriages. On 25 May 1982, the first London-Venice run was made.
It is currently owned by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. The company owns 50 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises in 24 countries.
Read more about Venice-Simplon Orient Express: Orient Express Today, Other VSOE Services, Orient Express in Britain, The British Pullman, Media Coverage
Famous quotes containing the words orient and/or express:
“Of all that Orient lands can vaunt,
Of marvels with our own competing,
The strangest is the Haschish plant,
And what will follow on its eating.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“We express disappointment in everything except ourselves.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)