History Main / OrientExpress

* In ''Film/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays2004'', Mr. Fogg rides aboard the train to Istanbul.

* Various other Wagon-Lits services criss-crossed Europe, including the "Ostend-Vienna Orient Express", which exchanged cars that went on to Istanbul. The Vienna-Istanbul sleeping cars were cut in the 1960s, at which point it was renamed the "Ostend-Vienna Express". It was renamed again to the "Austria Nachtexpress" in 1991 and "DonauWalzer" in 1993. After the Channel Tunnel was opened, it was cut back to Brussels, finally being cancelled in 2003. This train is featured in the Graham Greene book ''Stamboul Train''.

* ''TabletopGame/Twilight 2000'' has a scenario for its alternative setting of ''Merc 2000'' called "Mess on the Orient Express", in which the [=PCs=] must retrieve a stolen ancient statute during a journey on the train.

* Mentioned in an episode of the 11th Doctor's run in ''Series/DoctorWho''. Apparently there was an Egyptian Goddess on the loose on it, and it was InSpace. This NoodleIncident is elaborated on in the 12th Doctor story "Mummy on the Orient Express". It's a Mummy on the Orient Express InSpace.

* ''Avalanche Express'', a UsefulNotes/ColdWar SpyFiction novel by Colin Forbes, involves a team of agents [[EscortMission escorting a high-ranking Soviet defector]] on a service akin to the Orient Express, while fending off various attempts at murder and sabotage. Bad weather conditions prevent the team from flying him directly to the United States, but they're also using the defector as TheBait to flush out the Soviet sabotage network in Europe (which would otherwise only be activated in time of war).

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Romance on the Orient Express'': a 1985 TV movie with Cheryl Ladd.
* In ''Film/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays2004'', Mr. Fogg rides aboard the train to Istanbul.
* ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' (and the original novel too), featuring a legendary fight scene between Bond and Red Grant in a compartment, still used to screen test potential Bonds.

* Creator/AgathaChristie:
** ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', where Literature/HerculePoirot has to investigate a murder on the train. Adapted a number of times for film, including a modern-day adaptation. Christie [[ShownTheirWork did her research]]: Poirot tries to get a first-class berth on the Istanbul-Calais coach but this is full, so he takes a second-class berth until the Athens-Paris coach can be attached in Belgrade. In the end, his travelling companion, who is only going as far as Switzerland, moves into the Athens coach and gives Poirot his compartment. She also includes mention of the ordinary day coaches attached to the train by the railways along the line, a cost saving measure because of the Depression. A Wagon-Lits Pullman lounge car was typically attached to the train in Italy; the 1974 film used dramatic licence by having the Pullman on the train from Istanbul.
** Also the [[Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates Parker Pyne]] short story "Have You Got Everything You Want?" is set on board the train.
* ''The Napoli Express'', a Literature/LordDarcy mystery deconstructing the story of ''Murder on the Orient Express''.

* ''Stamboul Train'' by Creator/{{Graham Greene|Author}}.

* The ''Literature/SolarPons'' story ''The Adventure of the Orient Express''.

* ''Avalanche Express'', a UsefulNotes/ColdWar SpyFiction novel by Colin Forbes, involves a team of agents [[EscortMission escorting a high-ranking Soviet defector]] on a service akin to the Orient Express, while fending off various attempts at murder and sabotage. Bad weather conditions prevent the team from flying him directly to the United States, but they're also using the defector as TheBait to flush out the Soviet sabotage network in Europe (which would otherwise only be activated in time of war).
* In ''Literature/ACollegeOfMagics'', the heroine and her friends travel on the Orient Express part of the way back to her {{Ruritania}}n homeland.

* In the British soap opera ''Series/EastEnders'', in 1986, characters Den and Angie Watts spent their honeymoon on the train.
* Mentioned in an episode of the 11th Doctor's run in ''Series/DoctorWho''. Apparently there was an Egyptian Goddess on the loose on it, and it was InSpace. This NoodleIncident is elaborated on in the 12th Doctor story "Mummy on the Orient Express". It's a Mummy on the Orient Express InSpace.
* ''Series/TheGoodies'': In "Daylight Robbery on the Orient Express", the Goodies set up a fake Orient Express for a convention of famous detctives. Things go even more spectacularly awry than they usually do.
** Creator/MichaelPalin's ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' opens with a trip on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. It's cut short when the train reaches Italy in the middle of a railway workers' strike.

[[folder: Puppet Shows]]
* The Creator/JasonAlexander episode of ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' had a skit called "Murder on the Disoriented Express", which mostly consisted of Alexander's Literature/HerculePoirot trying to explain he wasn't [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Hercules]].
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' [[ShoutOut paid homage]] to ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' with a (fake) murder mystery on the "Ornery Express".

* The 1987 cartoon ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' has an episode entitled "Turtles on the Orient Express". As the title suggests it is primarily based on the train.

* The original route, shut down in 2009 and originally created by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits ("Internation Sleeping-Car Company"), known as CIWL for short, in 1883. The classic route was from Istanbul to Paris via Belgrade and Vienna (there were two versions, three a week each, taking different routes between Vienna and Paris.) This was truncated over the years to Paris-Vienna and ended as Strasbourg-Vienna. The final death knell was the introduction of UsefulNotes/HighSpeedRail along most of the by then remaining line.

* In 2021, the Paris-Vienna service was resurrected as part of the Nightjet sleeper network operated by Austria - with the successors to CIWL, Newrest Wagons-Lits, providing the on-train staff. This does not bear the name "Orient Express", but ''does'' use the 468/469 numbers that service used in its final years.

** Passengers are then taken by coach via 'Le Shuttle' trains through the Channel Tunnel. The service historically never ran across the Channel, although there was a sleeper service known as the "Night Ferry" that ran with carriages transported across by boat - this ran from 1936 to 1980 (with a 1939-1947 gap because of the Second World War).

The original endpoint of the route, Sirkeci Terminal on the European side of Istanbul is a sight to behold and while it does not see train service for the duration of construction work during the Marmaray project, it's orientalist architecture is still a modern marvel.

** ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', where Literature/HerculePoirot has to investigate a murder on the train. Adapted a number of times for film, including a modern-day adaptation. Christie [[ShownTheirWork did her research]]: Poirot tries to get a first class berth on the Istanbul-Calais coach but this is full, so he takes a second class berth until the Athens-Paris coach can be attached in Belgrade. In the end, his travelling companion, who is only going as far as Switzerland, moves into the Athens coach and gives Poirot his compartment. She also includes mention of the ordinary day coaches attached to the train by the railways along the line, a costsaving measure because of the Depression. A Wagon-Lits Pullman lounge car was typically attached to the train in Italy; the 1974 film used dramatic licence by having the Pullman on the train from Istanbul.

* ''Avalanche Express'', a UsefulNotes/ColdWar SpyFiction novel by Colin Forbes, involves a team of agents [[EscortMission escorting a high-ranking Soviet defector]] on the Orient Express, while fending off various attempts at murder and sabotage. Bad weather conditions prevent the team from flying him directly to the United States, but they're also using the defector as TheBait to flush out the Soviet sabotage network in Europe (which would otherwise only be activated in time of war).

* The original route, shut down in 2009. The classic route was from Istanbul to Paris via Belgrade and Vienna (there were two versions, three a week each, taking different routes between Vienna and Paris.) This was truncated over the years to Paris-Vienna and ended as Strasbourg-Vienna. The final death knell was the introduction of UsefulNotes/HighSpeedRail along most of the by then remaining line.

** As the name indicates, the VSOE was launched in 1982 following the route of the Simplon-Orient-Express via the Simplon Tunnel as far as Venice. The owners changed the route in 1985 because the train's tight schedule meant the best scenery was passed by at night, though they did maintain the Simplon route as a winter route before giving up winter operation some time in the 1990s. It now operates via the Arlberg Tunnel route to Innsbruck, then turns south to go to Venice, mostly following the route of the Arlberg-Orient-Express. The rerouting also allowed the company to introduce occasional runs to Vienna and Budapest.

The route was famed for its luxury sleeping and dining cars, having a general air of opulence about it. This said, there were no en-suite toilets - these were found at the end of the carriages. It should be pointed out that this was not one 'complete train', but a series of through carriages coupled on and uncoupled at various points in the journey, with locomotives changed at national borders.

* The original route, shut down in 2009. The classic route was from Istanbul to Paris via Belgrade and Vienna (there were two versions, three a week each, taking different routes between Vienna and Paris. This was truncated over the years to Paris-Vienna and ended as Strasbourg-Vienna. The final death knell was the introduction of UsefulNotes/HighSpeedRail along most of the by then remaining line.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' has the Bell Tree Express, a clear expy considering that it's a train with a deliberate retro look and they arrange a murder mystery game on board every time it runs.

* ''Stamboul Train'' by Creator/GrahamGreene.

* The Altiplano Express between Ankh-Morpork and Uberwald in ''Discworld/RaisingSteam''.

** Also, "Victor and Hugo - Bunglers in Crime" also made by Cosgrove-Hall, has an episode 'Blunder on the Orient Express' where the brothers try to rob a train but accidentally end up on the Orient Express instead. A Hercule Poirot expy also appears.

* ''Series/TheGoodies'': In "Daylight Robbery on the Orient Express", the Goodies set up a fake Orient Express for a convention of famous detctives. Things go even spectacularly awry than they usually do.

* The Excess Express in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', an AffectionateParody of the Orient Express as it appears in ''Literaure/MurderOnTheOrientExpress''.

* In 1994's Season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego?'' called "The Gold Old Bad Days", Carmen Sandiego and her V.I.L.E. gang are given a challenge to do something low tech by The Player. Carmen's goal is the train.

* ''Travels With My Aunt'' by Creator/GrahamGreene.

* After WWI, the the primary route was the "Simplon-Orient-Express", which was routed through Italy and Yugoslavia in order to avoid Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria. A clause in the Treaty of Versailles helped establish the train's route. This is the version of the Orient Express featured in ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress''. After 1962, this route was known as the "Direct-Orient-Express", finally ending in 1977.

** Also the Literature/ParkerPyne short story "Have You Got Everything You Want?" is set on board the train.

* ''Stamboul Train'' by GrahamGreene.
* ''Travels With My Aunt'' by GrahamGreene.