Georges Lambert Casimir Nagelmackers (25 June 1845 – 10 August 1905) was a Belgian civil engineer and businessman, famous for founding the

Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (; ) is a Belgian-founded French company known for providing and operating luxury trains with sleeping car, sleepers and dining cars during the late 19th and the 20th centuries, most notably the ''Orient Express''. Founded by Georges Nagelmacker ...

and creating the

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, w ...

Biography

Nagelmackers was born on 25 June 1845 in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, Belgium. Born into a family of bankers with interests in railways and close links to the court of King

Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leo ...

, Georges Nagelmackers trained as a civil engineer.Tanel. Page 94. 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 ten 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 Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman (car or coach), Pullman sleeping car and founded a Pullman, Chicago, company town in Chicago for t ...

to collaborate on developing the European market was rebuffed, Nagelmackers returned to Europe. Other versions of his biography maintain that Georges Nagelmackers knew about sleeping cars as they were already in operation in Belgium before he traveled to the United States, and that he never actually met George Pullman. In 1870 he published a proposal to develop sleeper carriages for the European market called "Projet d'Installation de wagons-lits sur les chemins de fer du continent" (Project for the installation of sleeping cars on the railways of the Continent). However the outbreak of the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

delayed the granting of a concession from the Belgian government and the establishment of his first sleeper-carriage service. In 1872 Georges Nagelmackers founded the company Georges Nagelmackers & Company, which later became

(CIWL). He headquartered the company in Paris and created the Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels to develop and operate luxury hotels along its trains' routes. His strategy consisted of convincing train operators to attach his sleeping and restaurant cars to their trains to diversify train travelers' choices. The first CIWL-only train became operational in 1882. The

was launched 4 October 1883. Later, he bought the

Mudanya Mudanya (also: Mudania; , ''ta Moudaniá''; the site of ancient Apamea Myrlea) is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Bursa Province, Turkey. Its area is 369 km2, and its population is 108,011 (2022). It is located on the Gulf ...

–

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

line and sold it to the French in 1891. He also bought the

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

– Kasaba Railway in 1893 and also sold it to the French the following year. In June 1900, Nagelmackers won the four-in-hand (mail coach) driving event during the International Horse Show in Paris. The show was part of the Exposition Universelle, and the equestrian events were later classified as part of the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

. Nagelmackers died on 10 August 1905 in Villepreux, France, at the age of 60.

References

*Mustafa Yazıcı, Mudanya-Bursa Demiryolunun Yapımı ve İşletilmesi (1873–1908), Nilüfer Belediyesi, Bursa, 2015,

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nagelmackers, Georges 1845 births 1905 deaths Businesspeople from Liège Equestrians at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians for Belgium Belgian male equestrians Olympic gold medalists for Belgium Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Liège

Biography

See also

References

External links