Editing Nord Express

{{Short description|Train line connecting Europe with North Asia}}
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{{expand Dutch|topic=|otherarticle=Nord Express|date=February 2013}}
[[Image:G. Compiègne 6 - NOYON - Passage du Nord-Express.JPG|thumb|The ''Nord Express'' passing the French [[Noyon station|station of Noyon]] at the beginning of the 20th century.]]
The '''''Nord Express''''' ('''Northern Express''') was a [[long-distance train|long-distance]] [[Inter-city rail|international]] [[express train]] which for more than a century connected [[Paris]] with first [[Russia]] and later [[Poland]], the [[Baltic states]] and [[Scandinavia]]. In its heyday before the [[First World War]], it was considered the ultimate [[luxury train]] in [[Europe]].

Introduced in 1896 by the [[Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits]], which operated sleeping-cars, dining cars and trains deluxe all over Europe, including the [[Orient Express]], it connected [[Paris]] and [[Saint Petersburg]]. After [[World War I]] and the [[Russian Revolution]], the train's route was shortened to [[Warsaw]] and [[Riga]] instead of Saint Petersburg. And after [[World War II]] the "[[Iron Curtain]]" diverted the train's route further to [[Stockholm]] and [[Oslo]], until [[air travel]] caused the end to this famous train.

Although the Nord Express has received significantly less attention than the [[Orient Express]], it is one of the CIWL's best-known luxury trains and has been featured in a number of artistic works.

== History ==
=== Background ===
[[File:Logo_CIWL.jpg|thumb|[[Logo]] of the [[Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits|CIWL]].]]
In 1874, the [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[civil engineer]] and railway entrepreneur [[Georges Nagelmackers]] founded the [[Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits]] (lit. ''International Sleeping-Car Company'', also ''CIWL''). The purpose was to establish a network of [[luxury trains|luxurious long-distance passenger trains]] across the European continent inspired by the [[Pullman (car or coach)|Pullman night trains]] of the [[United States]]. As one of these train connections, the CIWL wanted to establish a direct cross-continental link between [[Saint Petersburg]] and [[Lisbon]] to connect with [[ocean liners]] to [[United States|America]]. However, this concept proved too complex and could not be realized. In turn, two separate connections arose: the ''[[Sud Express]]'' from Paris to Lisbon and the ''Nord Express'' from Paris to Saint Petersburg.<ref>For a short history of the company, see Behrend, Georges, "The History of the Wagons-Lit, 1876-1955", Modern Transport Publishing Co., 1959.</ref>

=== Before World War I ===
[[File:Nord Express before WW1.svg|thumb|Route of Nord Express before WW1. Connections to London, Sud Express and Transsiberian Express are in black.]]
On 9 May 1896, the Nord Express departed for the first time from the French to the Russian capital. This train service enabled people to travel across Europe in what was, by the standards of the time, a very fast and comfortable manner. For the operation of the Nord Express, the CIWL had to close contracts and timetable agreements with fourteen railway administrations, including nine [[Prussia]]n administrations, as well as the [[English Channel#History of Channel crossings|ferry service across the English Channel]] between [[Dover]] and [[Ostend]].

The train left [[Paris]] and [[Ostend]] (with connection from [[London]]) and travelled via [[Brussels]], [[Cologne]], [[Hanover]], [[Berlin]], [[Königsberg]] (now [[Kaliningrad]]) and [[Dvinsk]] (now [[Daugavpils]]) to [[Saint Petersburg]]. Passengers to and from [[Russia]] had to change once in [[East Prussia]] at the [[Germany|German]]/Russian border because Russian railway tracks are of a wider [[rail gauge|gauge]] than those in [[Western Europe]]. In Paris there was a connecting service to the ''[[Sud Express]]'' (Southern Express) to [[Lisbon]].

=== Interwar period ===
[[File:Nord Express Interwar period.svg|thumb|Route of the Nord Express and its [[through coach]]es and connections between 1925 and 1939.]]
After [[World War I]] and the [[Russian Revolution]] the train's route was shortened to [[Warsaw]] and [[Riga]] instead of Saint Petersburg. Riga joined the connection in 1923, with a separate Riga–Moscow line introduced as well.

=== Post-War Period ===
[[File:CIWL 3920 in Stockholm.jpg|thumb|The ''Nord Express'' in [[Stockholm Central Station]] in the [[1940's]].]]
After [[World War II]] the "[[Iron Curtain]]" divided Europe, and the initially luxury and since 1951 ordinary night train's route was diverted further from Paris via [[Hamburg]] and [[Copenhagen]] to [[Stockholm]] and [[Oslo]]. 

The emergence of [[air travel]] and [[high-speed rail]] caused the end to this famous train. In 2007 it was shortened further and such that it ran between Paris and [[Hamburg]], taking 10.5 hours.

==In the arts==
The Nord Express has received significantly less attention than the [[Orient Express]]. Nevertheless, it is one of the CIWL's best-known luxury trains and has been featured in a number of novels and films:
*[[Georges Simenon]]'s detective novel ''[[The Strange Case of Peter the Lett]]'' (1931) starts with the arrival of the ''Nord Express'' at the [[Gare du Nord]] in Paris. It is the first novel to feature [[Inspector Jules Maigret]] who would later appear in more than a hundred stories by Simenon and who has become a legendary figure in the annals of detective fiction.
*[[Vladimir Nabokov]] describes in the seventh chapter of ''[[Speak, Memory]]'' how he traveled on the ''Nord Express'' from Saint Petersburg to [[France]] for a holiday in 1906.
*[[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s movie ''[[Strangers on a Train (film)|Strangers on a Train]]'' (1951),<ref name="Strangers">{{cite web| title =Strangers on a Train (1951)| publisher =Internet Movie Database| url =https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044079/| accessdate =2008-03-05}}</ref> was translated to French as "L'inconnu du Nord-Express" (The unknown man in the Nord-Express).
*The animated [[20th Century Fox]] movie, ''[[Anastasia (1997 film)|Anastasia]]'' (1997) mentioned that the train was traveling from Saint Petersburg to Paris, which was most likely referring to the Nord Express.
*The final conflict of [[The Silver Skates (film)|''The Silver Skates'']] revolves around gaining passage to Paris on the Nord Express.

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|first=George|last=Behrend|title=The History of the Wagons-Lit, 1875-1955|publisher=Modern Transport Publishing Company|location=[[London]]|year=1959|oclc=4535323|language=en}}
* {{cite book|first=Albert|last=Mühl|title=Internationale Luxuszüge : Die grossen europäischen Expresszüge durch Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz|trans-title=International Luxury Trains : The great European express trains through Germany, Austria and Switzerland|publisher=Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag|location=[[Freiburg im Breisgau]]|year=1991|isbn=3-88255-673-0|language=de}}

==See also==
*[[Famous trains]]

[[Category:International named passenger trains]]
[[Category:Railway services introduced in 1896]]
[[Category:Night trains]]