Georges Nagelmackers

Georges Nagelmackers (Théo Van Rysselberghe, 1897)

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.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Tanel. Page 94.

Further reading

• Tanel, Franco (2007). Trains - From Steam Locomotives to High Speed Rail. Vercelli: White Star. pp. 319 pages.. ISBN 978-88-544-0277-5. 

Persondata
Name	Nagelmackers, Georges
Alternative names
Short description	businessman
Date of birth	1845
Place of birth	Liège, Belgium
Date of death	1905
Place of death	Villepreux, France