Several years before she wrote Murder on The Orient Express, Agatha Christie penned The Mystery of The Blue Train. Like The Orient Express, The Blue Train of fact, so called because of its blue sleeping and dining cars, was operated by The International Sleeping Car Company (CIWL), colloquially known in French as "Wagons Lits" (wa-gohn lee). Le Train Bleu was one of a few deluxe trains that picked up the wealthy right at the English Channel boat docks of Calais and took them through Paris and to The Riviera. Others included the The Golden Arrow (Fleche d'Or) and later in the 30s, The Ghost Train. This was pulled by a weird-looking brown Chemin de Fer du Nord engine that looked creepy as it rushed through mist. Below are four French Railway posters from the 20s and 30s with descriptions. And keep on scrolling down: there's more.

Above Left: Blue Train poster from 1929; Right: CIWL poster from 1926 advertising the Northern Express connecting London with Warsaw and Latvia via several countries' railroads. Below Left: The creepiness of Le Train Fantom in advertising. Right: L'oiseau Bleu (not wazoo blow), The Bluebird connecting Antwerp with Paris. The red/white checkerboard is a distinctively French railroad signal.

The Chemin de Fer du Nord on my workbench. Above: A few miles outside of Calais, Le Train Bleu passes through Arras interlocking. Below: Le Fleche D'Or meets a wine train from Bordeaux where Francois Mauriac is working on La Fin de la nuit. Note chickens pecking by the steps.

More "French" trains not made in France. The country station is German-made (Gebruder Marklin & Cie) for the French market. It has "Gare-Central," a bit of a joke, stamped over the door. From the early 20s, the station has an "Aux Paradis Enfants" (Paris toy store) sticker on the side. The tank engine, ca. 1925, was made in Liverpool, England, but decalled "PLM" for "Paris, Lyon, Mediteranee". It has an interesting French-market sticker next to the brass dome on top. Both items need a bit of restoration here and there. The guys selling newspapers and carrying bags are the children of Walter Merten Miniaturplastiken GmbH & Co.