Nowadays tickets for the train run out a day after they go on sale, even though the number of cars has more than doubled from five to 11. What hasn't changed is the leisurely pace of the train through Turkey's remote eastern hinterland.

The Eastern Express sets off from the capital Ankara every day for Kars, near the Armenian border. It travels through Anatolian provinces such as Kayseri, Sivas, Erzincan and Erzurum and reaches its destination some 24 hours and 30 minutes later.

On the way it passes through farmland, hills and woods, crossing rivers swollen by snow melting in the spring sunshine and passing through long dark tunnels carved through mountains.