ABSTRACT
The original service linking Calais with Rome was the second of all the Grand European Expresses to be established; the Calais-Nice-Rome Express started on December 8, 1883, and was a greater success than even the most optimistic had hoped for. By 1890 the Rome Express was ready; it made its first run on November 15th, made up of sleeping cars from Paris and Calais, running at first in an ordinary train. The Rome Express sleeping car was attached to the Club Train between Calais and Paris. By 1898 the Rome Express was leaving Calais on Thursdays instead of Mondays, running as an independent train, using the same path followed on other days of the week by the Blue Train. The working of the Rome Express has always been an international affair. The French worked the Paris-Florence and Naples cars, Italians those which ended their journey at Rome, except that the Calais-Rome car was worked at different times by either nation.
