The rotten luck of the American Orient Express

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  • Опубліковано 24 гру 2024

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  • @ryandavis7593
    @ryandavis7593 Рік тому +53

    As a former employee I can assure you that luck was only a small part of it.
    The complete lack of unity in management and the unwillingness to hear the employees was its real demise.
    Grand Lux was owned by Colorado Railcar and suffered from the same issues AOE did.
    It could have survived if someone with better organization skills were in charge.
    Maintenance on the road was a total nightmare leaving us at the mercy of subcontractors who often were just seeing dollar signs.
    If it hadn’t been for AOE I probably would never have returned to the railroad.

    • @TerzaGuardia
      @TerzaGuardia Рік тому +4

      "The complete lack of unity in management and the unwillingness to hear the employees was its real demise." Absolute truth here, and increasingly applicable to every industry.

    • @ryandavis7593
      @ryandavis7593 Рік тому +2

      @@TerzaGuardia
      Fortunately not every railroad suffers from this deficiency.
      A railroad I worked since AOE was very cohesive and a joy to work for.
      The one I work for now is going through a management ego issue that needs to be addressed by the owners but is otherwise exceptional. It isn’t a large enough issue to cause failure. Yet!

  • @steelblue8
    @steelblue8 Рік тому +89

    I'm sure such a service could've been operable in the US- here in Australia, we have the ghan running successfully for many years, and it's quite similar- not at all useful as a way of getting from Adelaide to Darwin, with thousands of dollars in ticket prices and taking over a week to do it, but it's a luxury experience all the way down.

    • @ozfoxaroo
      @ozfoxaroo Рік тому

      One was tried here, but sadly it didn't prove profitable. 😥 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_South_Pacific_Express

    • @steelblue8
      @steelblue8 Рік тому +1

      @@ozfoxaroo I would consider the ghan in its current iteration to be an Australian orient express- a slow, scenic rail journey over a long distance with expensive ticket prices focusing on luxury and scenery rather than speed or efficiency

    • @ozfoxaroo
      @ozfoxaroo Рік тому

      @@steelblue8 Yes you've already mentioned that we have The Ghan. I was just pointing out that we had an actual Orient Express styled train on the northeast of Australia but like the American attempts it didn't succeed financially.

    • @steelblue8
      @steelblue8 Рік тому +1

      @@ozfoxaroo Ah, sorry- I misinterpreted your comment as a "The ghan doesn't count but this does", rather than "we ALSO had this". Particularly interesting that the pacific express was narrow gauge, honestly.

    • @ozfoxaroo
      @ozfoxaroo Рік тому

      @@steelblue8 It wasn't exclusively narrow gauge; I photographed it a few times coming through the Hawkesbury region. The sentence "between Kuranda *and Sydney*" was a bit of a giveaway that it ran on more than just narrow gauge. Here's some footage of it in the Blue Mountains: ua-cam.com/video/i12rFXiZag0/v-deo.html

  • @IBeforeAExceptAfterK
    @IBeforeAExceptAfterK Рік тому +163

    Call me cynical, but I'm at the point now where I hesitate to call rail accidents in the U.S. "bad luck" anymore.

    • @caledonianrailway1233
      @caledonianrailway1233 Рік тому

      Lol

    • @CS-hu5be
      @CS-hu5be Рік тому

      Amen

    • @awesomecronk7183
      @awesomecronk7183 Рік тому +14

      Our demand for more and longer trains is scaling faster than our maintenance standards

    • @riahthreetimes
      @riahthreetimes Рік тому +19

      blame PSR longer trains means more weight at a time on the tracks which means maintenance needs to be done more frequently

    • @quillmaurer6563
      @quillmaurer6563 Рік тому +13

      This was in the late '90s, so I'd still call it bad luck at that time. Present day, I agree with you. Like everything in the US these days, next quarter's stock report is put ahead of literally everything else.

  • @bostongeis5123
    @bostongeis5123 Рік тому +36

    Thankfully there is some sort of equivalent still around, though I don’t think they’re related. It’s called the Rocky Mountaineer, its a luxurious rail tour that offers different services and routes up and down the American and Canadian Rocky mountains. Coincidentally the RM and AOE share a similar color palette. It looks like a really grand train service, if you’re able to hock up a few thousand

    • @fluffnose3386
      @fluffnose3386 Рік тому +2

      The rocky Mountaineer kinda pisses me off. Paying thousands of dollars for just a few days where you don’t even get to sleep on the train just seems like a major ripoff.

  • @Ludi_Chris
    @Ludi_Chris Рік тому +7

    Love the Danger Mouse reference.

  • @raztaz826
    @raztaz826 Рік тому +12

    It does sound like a great idea especially with the restored coaches.

  • @lukechristmas3951
    @lukechristmas3951 Рік тому +9

    It's a shame I never got to take a trip aboard the American Orient Express. I'll admit, I would've found some issue with it too if I were to travel on it. I agree, it was a great idea for North American railfans but sadly it was not to be. But there are many scenic journeys throughout the United States, luxury coach or no luxury coach in the consist. We have the trains on the West Coast, like the Pacific Surfliner, and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

  • @hush6149
    @hush6149 Рік тому +3

    Technically America already had an American Orient Express waaaaay earlier; the 20th Century Limited was really the pinacle of a luxury line: smoking cars, observation cars, comfortable sleepers, your own room if you would wish, fine dining, and to top it all off the pinnacle of heavy-duty express steam locomotives a NYC Hudson with stream lining resembling that of a spartan helmet.
    Sadly however as was common with all these bright ideas coming around in the golden age of steam travel it was short lived with WW2 requiring more funding than luxury streamlined expresses and the rise of the automobile leading to the end of steam.

  • @jo2n847
    @jo2n847 Рік тому +1

    I always remember when I went to Williams AZ. That I would always see the orient express cars stored in a siding. I wonder if they're still there?

  • @SONICX1027
    @SONICX1027 Рік тому +6

    I remember seeing the Orient Express one time years ago. It was amazing to see

  • @anthonyplanas3606
    @anthonyplanas3606 Рік тому +1

    I worked on the AOE many times repairing and keeping it going when George Pierce ran it. I had the opportunity to work as an onboard carman on the train in 1997, in the pacific northwest . Seeing this brings back alot of good memories and long days working on it during it's off season.

  • @criggie
    @criggie Рік тому +2

    Have you ever heard of paper train wheels? Apparently they were a real thing on carriages, providing a smoother ride than cast-iron wheels so were used on Pullman cars. However they wore faster and were blamed for derailments and eventually banned. Could be a topic ?

  • @tetegaming7402
    @tetegaming7402 Рік тому +9

    I'll note the proffessor Layton theme in the background... Well, I guesse good music is necessary for good videos such as yours ! good job !

    • @carltonleboss
      @carltonleboss Рік тому

      Wasn't one of the games set on a train?

    • @tetegaming7402
      @tetegaming7402 Рік тому

      @@carltonleboss ​ Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box / Pandora's Box. The first Half is indeed set on a luxury train, the Molentary Express... it's theme would have been indeed very fitting...

  • @SMichaelDeHart
    @SMichaelDeHart Рік тому

    I've been to the Greenbrier Resort numerous times over the years. It's expensive, but well worth the cost. Took my wife for a golf weekend at the resort for our 5th anniversary in '94. Great golf on the Old White course.

  • @mukherjeesuniversum2665
    @mukherjeesuniversum2665 Рік тому +3

    And here in India we have Maharaja Express, Deccan Odessy Express, Palace on Wheels Express, Golden Chariot, Bharat Gaurav Express, etc.

  • @brianbarker2551
    @brianbarker2551 Рік тому +1

    Closest thing the Americans have to Poirot was Inspector Gadget.

  • @BHuang92
    @BHuang92 Рік тому +1

    Can you make a video about the disastrous Queen Victoria's funeral train?

  • @Thespectaro
    @Thespectaro Рік тому +4

    Hey can you do avid of the German class 52s they have one of if not the largest class of steam engines preserved and they had a very long service life for a throwaway war locomotive.

  • @melfisher1243
    @melfisher1243 Рік тому

    A fun fantastic job !! Rut & judy .made it a wonderful place to work !!..
    Mel Newport Oregon on the Pacific coast USA

  • @cleanerben9636
    @cleanerben9636 Рік тому +1

    Pish posh! I still believe in my luxury Zepplin tour idea! Nuclear powered this time too! Nothing could go wrong!

  • @pdsnpsnldlqnop3330
    @pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 Рік тому +2

    Has anyone here been on one of these trains or on Amtrak?
    My experience was one of waiting six hours because the train was late by six hours. This was the only passenger train that day and I was somewhat hungry waiting on the platform, unable to go to the nearby supermarket because the train could arrive at any time.
    At times on my journey we were on a siding for more than an hour waiting for a freight train to go past. I did not understand why, with all this space and a century to improve matters, they had not put a second track down, not realising there was one once but they like to be cheap, so it was reduced to single track.
    There are more tracks crossing a British county from West to East than there are tracks crossing the entire United States from West to East. Next time I want to travel hobo style on the freight cars for a quicker and more exciting journey.🙂

    • @FreihEitner
      @FreihEitner Рік тому

      Amtrak's #1 problem is that, except for a very few miles of trackage mostly in the northeast, they do not own their own rails and so rely on freight railroads who have no vested interest in passenger service. Although allegedly freight roads are _supposed_ to defer to Amtrak, they rarely do and so, yes, Amtrak trains wait in sidings for strings of overly-long freight trains to pass. This is also why we don't have truly high speed rail in the U.S.A. -- the freight lines are not up to the standard of the French TGV or German ICE or Japan's bullet train service.

    • @pdsnpsnldlqnop3330
      @pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 Рік тому

      @@FreihEitner As I see it, it is only the stuff that is too dangerous, big or heavy for the roads that gets moved around by rail in the USA. Hence every rail incident is an ecological disaster, because they would never let those things on the roads.
      It is very sad because most American towns would work brilliantly with public transit systems - streetcars - and rail for longer distance journeys. But that would be far too socialist for America!

  • @VideoDotGoogleDotCom
    @VideoDotGoogleDotCom Рік тому

    I'd like a train service that would go at a snail's pace through some varied scenery. Like little faster than jogging speed. It would only need the bare necessities, nothing luxurious at all, but a tiny little cabin for every passenger or couple. I would love to spend a fortnight or so enjoying the trip, without having to be anxious of the journey being over very soon.

  • @railwayjade
    @railwayjade Рік тому

    I wondered what happened to it - use to see it advertised in their magazines.

  • @pendremacherald6758
    @pendremacherald6758 Рік тому

    The Rockies by Rail. This takes me back.

  • @MatthewsBranchLine
    @MatthewsBranchLine Рік тому

    I love the Agatha Christi reference at the end there! It’s a shame that things didn’t work out. I would have gladly rode on the American Orient Express.

  • @seprishere
    @seprishere Рік тому

    There are of course two famously scenic but short routes in the UK - the Scotrail service from (Glasgow Queen Street via) Fort William to Mallaig, and the Northern service from (Leeds via Skipton, or Blackpool North/Preston via Clitheroe, and) Settle to Carlisle. Both have lots of charter runs.

  • @fillup40
    @fillup40 Рік тому +1

    I witnessed the AOE train passing through California, it was a site to behold. Too bad it is gone.

  • @ozfoxaroo
    @ozfoxaroo Рік тому

    Wasn't expecting a cameo by Baron Greenback. 🤣

  • @CS-hu5be
    @CS-hu5be Рік тому +3

    This is America. Of course this happened. Trying to have a posh train inn the capital of rail accidents is what it was all about. We can't have nice things here.

    • @quillmaurer6563
      @quillmaurer6563 Рік тому

      Was it the capital of rail accidents back then? I get the sense it's far worse now than it was 25 years ago when these accidents happened.

  • @williampulfer-melville8536
    @williampulfer-melville8536 Рік тому

    5:15 nice callback to Danger Mouse

  • @RichardAndewSwayne
    @RichardAndewSwayne Рік тому +7

    I reckon if those trains were handle by steam locomotives, you would get more passengers, even if you have to up the price.

    • @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment
      @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment Рік тому +2

      Probably, the problem being since the US tore down most of its water towers and coaling stations the costs would have been astronomically just to keep an *oil burning* steamer fueled, let alone watered.
      Making the already expensive train even further beyond the reach of your average steam rail enthusiast... Especially in 2008.

    • @The_Logodin_Line
      @The_Logodin_Line Рік тому

      @@TheGreyTurtleEntertainment also don’t forget that a lot of American RR’s see steam engines as “fire hazards” so it wouldn’t go as far as it would’ve.

    • @quillmaurer6563
      @quillmaurer6563 Рік тому +1

      @@TheGreyTurtleEntertainment Steam excursion runs are still done, especially by Union Pacific. But the steamers run with diesels behind them (I'm trying to remember if it was this channel or a different one that looked at the reasons for this), and they typically run multiple tenders. The fuel/water issue can be solved by just carrying more in more tenders, and that all these excursion trains on the main line (such as the UP Big Boy) have been converted to oil burning, but if you go that direction a big portion of the train is oil/water rather than coaches, hurting the economics of it. Steam locomotives are all around less economical than diesels, why diesels took over in the first place, and it would be even worse now with higher fuel and labor prices and lack of readily-available spare parts, any replacement parts basically have to be custom made. Plus there's not many people who know how to make said parts, and service and operate the locomotives. The Union Pacific excusions I'm sure run at a loss, funded by the company as a publicity activity (though, especially with everything being about next quarter's stock report these days, I worry those could be cut at any moment).
      There are also tourist/heritage lines that run steam locomotives and might be self-funding, but they run on isolated lines and shorter distances, meaning they don't have to carry as much fuel and water tower infrastructure can be maintained. Also in favor of the short-distance steam trains is the novelty factor of a steam locomotive has diminishing returns. Seeing a steam locomotive rolling into the station is a great source of excitement, but once on board the coaches it doesn't matter so much what's up front. The excitement of a steam locomotive coming into the station is worthwhile for 10 miles' steam locomotive operating costs, but it doesn't justify the operating costs over 500 miles. Plus the issue of head end power, I'm guessing a lot of these short-distance heritage lines don't even have head end power on historic coaches (in Colorado where I live most of these are narrow gauge, which I'm not sure if even have any lights, certainly don't have heat or A/C), but it's a necessity on any sort of longer-distance train, especially anything luxurious. There are again workarounds for this (HEP generators in the baggage car or a "service car," I believe that's what UP's excursions do as neither the Big Boy nor the freight diesels provide it), but it's another factor against the steamers for this sort of operation.

    • @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment
      @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment Рік тому

      ​@@quillmaurer6563 I know all of this actually. I didn't mention it cause I figured most of us already know it if we're here watching TOT.
      I figured it wasn't worth bringing up the extend of how labor and finance intensive the long distance steam services are, since for the most part only UP runs them anymore (Big Boy, etc) and that fact speaks for itself on how much it costs to run a long distance steam service.
      As for local railroads, heritage lines and museums, they're kind of the exact opposite point of the AOE, rarely are museum lines long enough for a whole overnight sleeper train with a steam engine experience. So they didn't really figure into what I was saying here.

    • @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment
      @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment Рік тому

      ​@@The_Logodin_Line
      God, I find it hilarious how railroads consider steam to be the fire hazard (which rightfully so in some cases) but the thought just makes me laugh my ass off when I see videos of UP, or N&S, or CSX diesels with their exhausts on fire.
      Both hazards are serious, don't get me wrong, I just find it funny that it's the steam engines- machines built to have fires inside them, are the ones considered a hazard rather than the ones that aren't built for that stuff.

  • @altermike3197
    @altermike3197 Рік тому

    I would love to ride a vintage style passenger train across my home country
    I've barely gone outside my state, and as a train nerd, I'd love to see the rest of the states via a scenic train ride

  • @Straswa
    @Straswa Рік тому

    Great work ToT!

  • @FalconsEye58094
    @FalconsEye58094 Рік тому

    I wonder where these cars are now and what kind of shape they’re in

  • @MagicJayroadFilms
    @MagicJayroadFilms Рік тому

    *Hears ToT talk about West Virginia and talks about the greenbrier resort* LOOK GARY, THERE I AM!

  • @jacoblyman9441
    @jacoblyman9441 Рік тому

    You can still ride a luxury train in the US now though. The Rocky Mountaineer, a company which runs luxury trains in Canada; expanded to America in the 2020's with their Denver to Moab service!

  • @harrisonallen651
    @harrisonallen651 Рік тому

    Bit expensive too!

  • @thefunnyfritz4035
    @thefunnyfritz4035 Рік тому

    Turned this on because I wanted background noise. /Then/ you played the professor layton theme. Good documentary, but she was no Molentary Express.

  • @bobingabout
    @bobingabout Рік тому +1

    Renaming it from "American Orient Express" to "Grandluxe Rail journey" was a bad idea. You basically kill your advertising.
    Given the opportunity, I'd ride on a train named Orient Express. I wouldn't be interested in something called Grandluxe, because I wouldn't know what it was.

  • @dangerboyproductions1223
    @dangerboyproductions1223 Рік тому +2

    Nice video 👍👌

  • @martythemartian99
    @martythemartian99 Рік тому +1

    In July (right)
    In the month of July (right)
    I the July (WRONG WRONG WRONG!)

  • @trainglen22
    @trainglen22 Рік тому

    The accidents were not the fault of the AOE. What did cause it to go out of business was the recession.

  • @garryferrington811
    @garryferrington811 Рік тому

    Something like this can't work in the US.

  • @MatthewLiu
    @MatthewLiu Рік тому

    "That is, until Detective Poirot hopped aboard" ...are you implying that US railfans are just gunning to assemble an elaborate group murder? xDDDD 😂😂

  • @timesnewlogan2032
    @timesnewlogan2032 Рік тому

    Two accidents in one year, neither of which were the railroad's fault in any way, and the investors pulled their funding anyway?

  • @ThomasHarryHutchins
    @ThomasHarryHutchins Рік тому

    Am I the only one who noticed the background music was Professor Layton?

  • @JamesLewis98
    @JamesLewis98 Рік тому

    Surely it should have been called the American Occident Express, because America is in the Western Hemisphere.

  • @bhrailroadhistory1509
    @bhrailroadhistory1509 Рік тому

    Just like the Original Auto Train Just Bad luck...

  • @RailPreserver2K
    @RailPreserver2K Рік тому

    Nice agatha christy mention at the end :)

  • @glichery_gamer5000
    @glichery_gamer5000 Рік тому

    Tot can you talk about the duplex😊 Steam engine

  • @allanegleston4931
    @allanegleston4931 Рік тому

    the daylight or the gs class of locomotives was not a luxury train. the daylight was a long distance ( los angles ca usa to seattle washington ) day train with chair cars only. fab fact . at the end of steam 1960 a gs 6 hit unofficially 160 mph. the closest we have to the orient express in the usa currently is the rockey mountaineer.

    • @quillmaurer6563
      @quillmaurer6563 Рік тому

      I get the sense the idea of the Daylight wasn't to be luxurious, it was to be fast. This was both faster for passengers (that being relevant before competition from air travel) and more cost effective (be it for the passenger or company) as sleeper coaches aren't needed, can carry more people in fewer coaches.

  • @HunterShows
    @HunterShows Рік тому

    Maybe if they did it in the 1950s it would have been a bigger business.

  • @Eric_Hunt194
    @Eric_Hunt194 Рік тому

    Hercule Poirot was a private freelance operator, effectively just a regular bloke- albeit one with remarkable skills for detection. He had no additional powers bestowed upon him, unlike for example a police officer, so it's incorrect to refer to him as "Detective Poirot". Pedantic, sure... but you have a channel about railways so that's to be expected! 😉

    • @FreihEitner
      @FreihEitner Рік тому

      And anyway, I think in the Americas we might get his Canadian counterpart, Miss Maple (no that is not missing an r 🙂).

  • @InventorZahran
    @InventorZahran Рік тому +1

    Was the script of this video written by a French person, and then translated into English?
    It's not normal to use *the* (e.g. "the November") when referring to months in English. However, this would be completely correct in French syntax (e.g. "Le Novembre").

  • @NW-gi1cp
    @NW-gi1cp Рік тому

    Wasn't there a murder on it 😉😉

  • @Arkay315
    @Arkay315 Рік тому +5

    The USA, disappointing rail services since 1955

    • @DENVERRIOGRANDEMAN21
      @DENVERRIOGRANDEMAN21 Рік тому +3

      Well think again since cars and planes take over in the late 50 to todays

    • @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment
      @TheGreyTurtleEntertainment Рік тому +2

      Don't forget it's also been terrifyingly accident prone since ... Well.. forever.

    • @DENVERRIOGRANDEMAN21
      @DENVERRIOGRANDEMAN21 Рік тому +1

      ​@@TheGreyTurtleEntertainment accidents happen even on Europe

    • @Arkay315
      @Arkay315 Рік тому +1

      @@TheGreyTurtleEntertainment Agreed Amtrak has an awful safety record.

  • @jimmypetrock
    @jimmypetrock Рік тому

    Hehe

  • @ZOMBIEHEADSHOTKILLER
    @ZOMBIEHEADSHOTKILLER Рік тому

    id say it failed because it called itself " the american orient express".... and it dosnt go to the "orient"...... its the american express..... no connection to the orient.

  • @nicolek4076
    @nicolek4076 Рік тому +4

    I'm British. What does "up scale" mean. Does it mean "up market"? If so, please use English. There is no need to invent neologisms.