Georges Nagelmackers
Encyclopedia
Georges Nagelmackers
Georges Nagelmackers (born 1845 in Liège, Belgium, and died 1905 in Villepreux
, France
) was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company known for the Orient Express
trains.
Born into a family of bankers with interests in railways and close links to the court of King Leopold II of Belgium, Nagelmackers trained as a civil engineer. As a young man he fell in love with an older cousin. When his feelings were not reciprocated, his family encouraged him to travel to the United States of America to help him recover and also further his professional studies. He spent a total of 10 months travelling throughout America during which time he was exposed to train travel on Pullman carriages. He became convinced that there was a market for Pullman type carriages in Europe. After a proposal to George Pullman
to collaborate on developing the European market was rebuffed Nagelmackers returned to Europe.
In 1870 he published a proposal to develop sleeper carriages for the European market. However the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War delayed the granting of a concession from the Belgian government and the establishment of his first sleeper carriage service.
A useful article to mark the centenary of the death of Nagelmackers appeared in the November 2005 issue of hidden europe magazine.
Georges Nagelmackers (born 1845 in Liège, Belgium, and died 1905 in Villepreux
Villepreux
Villepreux is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.Villepreux is the place of death of the famous doctor Alexandre Okinczyc. There is a street of "Docteur Alexandre"....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company known for the Orient Express
Orient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
trains.
Born into a family of bankers with interests in railways and close links to the court of King Leopold II of Belgium, Nagelmackers trained as a civil engineer. As a young man he fell in love with an older cousin. When his feelings were not reciprocated, his family encouraged him to travel to the United States of America to help him recover and also further his professional studies. He spent a total of 10 months travelling throughout America during which time he was exposed to train travel on Pullman carriages. He became convinced that there was a market for Pullman type carriages in Europe. After a proposal to George Pullman
George Pullman
George Mortimer Pullman was an American inventor and industrialist. He is known as the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car, and for violently suppressing striking workers in the company town he created, Pullman .-Background:Born in Brocton, New York, his family moved to Albion,...
to collaborate on developing the European market was rebuffed Nagelmackers returned to Europe.
In 1870 he published a proposal to develop sleeper carriages for the European market. However the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War delayed the granting of a concession from the Belgian government and the establishment of his first sleeper carriage service.
A useful article to mark the centenary of the death of Nagelmackers appeared in the November 2005 issue of hidden europe magazine.