"It was as if time stood still."

(CNN) — For years, several vintage Orient Express train carriages lay, forgotten, at a small railway station on the border between Poland and Belarus called Malaszwewicze.

One day in 2015, French railway fan Arthur Mettetal spotted the distinctive blue carriages in a YouTube video, kickstarting a journey across Europe to track down the lost trains.

Hospitality group Accor purchased the rediscovered carriages and enlisted Parisian architect Maxime d'Angeac to meticulously restore them, ready for operation on a Paris to Istanbul rail route that's set to operate from 2025.

The first glimpse of the renovated interiors suggest a glamorous travel experience combining Art Deco glamor with modern luxury.

Read the rest here with images. 

California abandons $77 billion high-speed rail plan

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he’s abandoning a plan to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a project with an estimated cost that has ballooned to $77 billion.

“Let’s be real,” Newsom said in his first State of the State address. “The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.”

The idea championed by Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, is years behind schedule. The latest estimate for completion is 2033.

Newsom, though, said he wants to finish construction that’s already under way on a segment of the high-speed train from Bakersfield to Merced, through California’s Central Valley, arguing it will revitalize the economically depressed region.

He’s also replacing Brown’s head of the state board that oversees the project and pledged more accountability for contractors that run over on costs.

Read the rest here.

In case anyone has an extra half million or so lying around...

Henry Flagler's private rail car is for sale.

Heading West

I am finally going home at the end of the month and I know how I want to travel....

Anyone got a spare time machine I can borrow?

Rail-car used to bring God to remote Siberia

From here.

Last call for an American icon

The last bar car on an American commuter rail line rolled into history when it left Grand Central Station about an hour ago. Read the story here. Some appropriate theme music...

The Red Carpet Treatment

The New York Central Railroad's Twentieth Century Limited gave us the modern expression "the red carpet treatment' from their use of a red carpet on their trains. The Limited was an overnight all First Class express train that ran between New York and Chicago until the late 1960's. Each night at exactly the same time a train departed each city, one westbound and one eastbound. The Limited's exacting standards of luxury and service made it the preferred mode of transport for film and stage stars, millionaires, political big shots and just about anyone who wanted to see and be seen in high society. The above infomercial was produced in 1935.

The Origins of the Red Carpet Treatment

Cocktails before dinner.

The lounge car.

Have you wondered where the much-overused phrase “the red carpet treatment” originated?

It all started with the 20th Century Limited.

The “Century” was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central nightly from New York to Chicago. From 1938 until the last run in 1968, passengers walked down a crimson carpet to their waiting cars. This was only done for the departure from New York. Stretching from the observation car to the engine – the football field length rug was specially designed for the Century – thus, the "red carpet treatment" was born.

Travel time was less than sixteen hours each way between the two cities during its streamlined years.

If leaving from New York, you departed at 6 p.m. and arrived the next morning in Chicago at 8:45 a.m. Settling in for the evening, after boarding the Century in downtown Manhattan, you enjoyed cocktails in the observation car, dinner with views of the Hudson, a good night sleep and then with breakfast in bed or in the dining car. Dress was business formal with no room for baseball caps. Standing in line for security, enduring a long cab ride or enduring hours on the tarmac because of bad weather were not included in your first class Pullman fare.

The glamorous departure aboard New York Central’s 20th Century Limited was equal to a sailing on the Queen Mary, Liberte or United States. This was still the only way to “cross the pond” from New York to Europe into the 1950s and Pullman was the only way to travel overnight by train in America.

Read the rest here.

Oh how I loathe the modern world.