Thread by @garius

Your slightly mad railfan of the day:

King Boris III of Bulgaria.

His train nerdery seemed initially be a blessing for La Compagnie Internationale as they tried to sort out a route for their Orient Express, but...

...well. Things escalated quickly.

Read on... /1

So Compagnie Internationale seemed to have utterly lucked out.

Not only was Boris all "OMG YESSSSS" when they asked to run the Orient Express through Bulgaria, but he became one of their biggest customers, regularly booking out whole carriages for himself.

But Bozza wanted more

Soon, he was turning up in engine overalls and asking to ride in the cab, when he wasn't chilling in his private carriage.

Compagnie Internationale told train crew to let it slide.

Because:

1) He was literally King of Bulgaria
2) He was spending a TON of cash

After a while, even this wasn't enough for Boris. Because Boris wanted to DRIVE a train.

So, soon he was asking to be able to take the controls of the Orient Express. You know. Just for a minute or two. Because I AM your biggest customer...

Compagnie Internationale put up with this until their train crews frantically reported to head office that King Boris liked to go really bloody fast and also thought signals were something for other people to worry about. 😬

At this point, Compagnie International put their foot down and, as politely as possible, told King Boris to effing quit it.

They told him that he was breaking a bunch of country's laws, and that engine crew had been told that if they let him in the cab they'd be sacked.

This seemed to work. For the next few trips he was on King Boris seemed to stay in his carriage and behave.

And then, one day, as they arrived in Bulgaria, Boris hopped out of his carriage again, in his engine overalls, and informed the engine crew he was driving.

King Boris had decided that within Bulgaria he could do what he liked.

(Cos, you know, the whole 'King of Bulgaria' thing)

Compagnie International were thus politely informed that unless they wished to find another way to Istanbul they best shut up and let him play trains.

This situation persisted for some time until, sadly, the inevitable happened

One day, with the excuse they were running late and needed speed, Boris over-fired the boiler causing a blowback. This set the fireman on fire who fell from the train, which went on to Sofia without him

There seems to be some confusion as to whether the fireman was killed or just very badly burned (any ideas @RWLDproject? i realise it's outside your beat).

Either way, this was the final straw and King Boris was FINALLY persuaded to effing quit stealing the Orient Express.

Moral of the story: Don't let railfans drive your trains. No matter how much they offer you. Or if they're kings. Frankly, ESPECIALLY if they're kings.

/end

ADDENDUM FOR SERIOUS RAIL NERDS: Yes I know the history of the OE getting through Bulgaria is more complex than this but I didn't fancy doing a 20 tweet sub thread about post-WW1 European rail access negotiations.

The key thing is Boris was critical to it.