RAILWAY SERVICES WORLD OVER WERE AFFECTED BY WAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 76, 14 December 1949, Page 2

RAILWAY SERVICES WORLD OVER WERE AFFECTED BY WAR

Although passenger trains in New Zealrid are often criticised for \th'e service they give other countries are suffering ieven worse conditions. The Taneatua express service has had to be curtailed somewhat during and since the war but the prewar luxury trains of the Continent have struck the same misfortune. The' famous Orient express still shows signs of its wartime injuries. When it steams up now for its historic run between Paris and Instanbul 'there are no luxury 1 coaches, * shower baths, or special compartments ■ for dogs. The once genuine train de luxe is for the most part made up of ordinary coaches to accommodate as many people as possible and passen- ’■ gers must keep their Pekinese, scotties and Russian wolfhounds with** them. Sumptuous Meals The chefs reminisce sadly about the three sumptuous meals a day that used to be. In the good old days they supervised six cupboards on each diner. Each cupboard represented a nation through which the express passed and contained the choice food *and wine of that country. When the train crossed into Switzerland a French Customs official boarded it locked the French cupboard; then a Swiss Custoins man came on and unlocked the Swiss cupboard. So it would go through 1 Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Even the luggage reflects the times. Hundreds of food parcels, and endless bundles of clothes now second-hand bicycles, baby carriages are' stacked in baggage cdrs accustomed to the richer trappings of celebrities and millionaires.'' Hitler confiscated all but a handful of the coaches. They .were brought back from Germany, the Lowlands, the Balkans -'and from every corner of France.