--- title: The Orient Express: Photos From a Legendary Train description: LIFE recalls the Orient Express of the last century through photographs made in 1950 -- evocative, atmospheric pictures from another time. canonical: https://time.com/3878092/the-orient-express-photos-from-a-legendary-train/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-10-07T15:21:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:49.995Z og:title: The Orient Express: Photos From a Legendary Train og:description: LIFE recalls the Orient Express of the last century through photographs made in 1950 -- evocative, atmospheric pictures from another time. og:url: https://time.com/3878092/the-orient-express-photos-from-a-legendary-train/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c8f8b2c0927bd3c/69884a95a988ca142b6b1f7b/22_111582498.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Simplon-Orient Express 1950 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Orient Express: Photos From a Legendary Train twitter:description: LIFE recalls the Orient Express of the last century through photographs made in 1950 -- evocative, atmospheric pictures from another time. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c8f8b2c0927bd3c/69884a95a988ca142b6b1f7b/22_111582498.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rail Romance: LIFE Rides the Orient Express > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Oct 7, 2013 3:21 PM UTC  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Oct 7, 2013 3:21 PM UTC That the train known for decades as the Orient Express still operates today often comes as a surprise to people who might have assumed that, like old-school luxury cruises and leisurely dirigible flights across the Atlantic, this vestige of a vastly different time must have vanished years ago. But the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, as it is officially known, continues to run along many of the same routes that made it so famous so many decades ago, visiting places as far-flung as London, Paris, Venice, Rome, Budapest, Dresden, Prague, Innsbruck and (of course) Istanbul. Here, LIFE recalls the Orient Express of the last century through photographs made by Jack Birns in 1950 — wonderfully evocative, atmospheric pictures from a time when phrases like “the Iron Curtain” and “communist Bulgaria” were not only encountered in history books, but in newspaper headlines and in daily conversation. A September 1950 issue of LIFE, in which some of the photos in this gallery first appeared, described the Orient Express of the middle part of the last century thus: --- > “” --- --- > “” ---  The Simplon-Orient Express alongside Lake Geneva, near historic Chillon Castle. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Scene from the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ![In Milan, \[a man\] hands a diplomatic packet through window.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb291f176d241a44/69884a960b72e344436e36a5/06_00721827.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp) Caption from LIFE. "In Milan, \[a man\] hands a diplomatic packet through window." Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Yugoslav inspector makes a passport check as the train nears Bulgarian border. Like other officials in Yugoslavia he has a quasi-military status." Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  "Home-cooked meal is prepared by couriers in compartment to avoid food in Yugoslav diner." Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Rail employee at a station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Scene from the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "At Sukovo, in east Yugoslavia, a young Serb fondles dog at the station." Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Greek soldiers board boxcars at Svilengrad to guard train against Communist marauders who sneak across border from Bulgaria to join Red guerillas in Greece." Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Scene from the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Train station along the route of the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Aboard the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. Jack Birns—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Poster for the Simplon-Orient Express, 1950. 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