Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1890-01-03
EuRope.s CRACK TRAIN.
II Docs Not Compare Favorabiy with Our
vcstibnied Limited Express.

II Docs Not Compare Favorabiy with Gu
vcstibuied Limited Express.
Perhaps | can not better convey al
adequate idea OF this "train de luxe
than by relating my own experience FOL
o day on the Orient Express, for it is tn,
''crack train" OF the continent, and on Il
travel the nobility Of England, the mag
mates OF France and the nabobs of India
The most luxurious trains In America
are those called Limited Express,
running between Now York and Chi
cago, Thcy are "vestibulc trains" pro
vided with reading and smoking room
BARRIERS shop and bath, bar, desks fol
writing, library and elegant sleopers
for all the passengers. No ordinary
coaches arc attached to these trains,
and in place of IS for berth on an or
binary train $3.50 is charged on the ''lim-
ited."
l have Travelled on both OF these
trains, and could not well help COM
pairing them with the Orient Express,
the browning triumph of the Wagon
Lit Company" The train consisted O!
sleepers, baggage car and a car contain
ing the smoking and dining room.
With my friend and neighbor, DIR. L.,
I arrived from the Rhine at Strasburg.
We had bought Cooks tickets in Liver
pool from that city by London (where
we had to 60 to obtain Cooks circular
notes, paid for in Boston, and promised
us in Liverpool), Harwich, Rotterdam,
Cologne, the Rhine, and round to Paris.
We went second class, except on steam
crs. and In France, where there was no
second class, on the express train. The
train we wanted was to leave at 9:25 in
the forenoon. Cooks tickets assured us
that they were good on any express
train. When we presented them at tho
ticket office where they were to DO
dated, we found they were not good ex-
cept on payment of over IS apiece, for
the train was the Orient Express. We
paid It. The porter could find no seats
in the sieepers, and we were condemned
to make the trip in the smoking-room.
The sleepers were built with an aisle
on one side, the staterooms opening
from it. They looked like the ordinary
compartments but the seats were re-
duced TO berths at night They looked
very comfortable, but we were not pers
mitted to occupy seats in one OF them,
The smoking-room was not very bad,
though our apartment OF the limited,
so-ealied, Is regal magnificenoe oom-
pared with It. With s0iled hands ]
went to the wash-room, but there was
neither water nor towels went TO
another convenience, always nice and
clean on the "Iimited," but 1t was out
of order, and the door was locked.
Later 1t was opened, but IL was q vile
place for Christian, though 1t might
have been all right in the Orient.
Early in the day a waiter came to ask
who wanted de jeuRer. We wanted 1t,
of course; but though there was but one
''wagon-lit'' on the train, two tables were
necessary for tho passengers and we had
To wait till the nabobs of India had
finished their repast When we had it,
ii was very fair measured by the Euro
pean standard. Tho price Of this meal
was so cents, but most OF the passengers
paid from 40 cents to 81 more for the
wine. Dinner is served II Sl.20, wine
in addition.
This paragon of European trains made
about thirty-lve miles an hour, which
does not equal the speed of our Linn
tied" In no respect could 1t be COM
pared with our ordinary express trains
with sleeper and parlor cars, Not only
in trains dc iurs, but In all trains, our
system is vastly superior to railroading
in Europo.-oliver Optic, in N. Y. Jour
nal.