We all know it from Agatha Christie's iconic murder mystery, but the Orient Express was more than just a backdrop for fictional foul play. This train was the Rolls-Royce of rail travel, a moving feast of luxury and cultural exchange. We're talking plush seats, wood panelling and dining cars so swanky, you'd feel underdressed in anything less than a tuxedo.

This five-star locomotive made its inaugural trip in 1883, travelling from Paris to Istanbul. In the years to come, it would play host to A-listers like King Leopold II of Belgium and Leo Tolstoy, connecting Western and Eastern Europe in style. Sadly, the original service chugged its last in 2009, but its legend lives on. Modern luxury trains still use the name, aiming to recapture that golden age of rail travel.