Book excerpt: This lavish book invites readers aboard the glamorous renovated cars of the GrandLuxe railway train. In 1989, the American-European Express, a stylish train created in emulation of Europe's Orient Express, commenced operation between Washington and Chicago. Forced to close down two years later, it was reborn in 1994 as the American Orient Express. The AOE, as this luxury streamliner was often known, matured under the tutelage of various owners until 2006, when under new ownership it acquired a new name, the GrandLuxe Express.Trackside, the train gleamed as a classic American streamliner. Aboard, travelers enjoy old-fashioned, wood-paneled elegance that harkens back to the 1920s and Europe's posh Wagons-Lits sleepers and restaurant cars.