Manufacturer: Royale Rego – Thailand
User: American European Express (American Orient Express)
Date of cup: circa 1989 – 1991
Notes: From Wikipedia: "The American Orient Express, formerly the American European Express, operated a single luxury passenger train set in charter service between 1989 and 2008 and operated on routes throughout North America. The company was based in Seattle, Washington.
"The train was priced from $2,000 to $10,000 per trip one way and included meals, entertainment, and hotel stays. The train operated under contract with Amtrak and used both Amtrak locomotives and crews. It typically ran on freight only routes that had not seen passenger service in more than 50 years. Some of the more popular routes included the Los Angeles–Washington, D.C., transcontinental (taking eight days) and the Rocky Mountain Adventure. Both featured scenic segments with long layovers at certain stops, similar to a cruise ship. The trips were only one way, requiring debarking passengers to either take a bus or airplane to return to their home terminal.
"Luxury passenger train excursions, including the AOE, ceased operations during the late 2000s recession. During the final excursions, it was not uncommon for there to be more crew members than passengers on the train. As part of a restructuring, the train was briefly renamed GrandLuxe Journeys with trips primarily running into Mexico. These final trips proved costly and unpopular, and operations were terminated in 2008. Most of the equipment was either sold off or scrapped."
White body cup with a banded top, bowl shaped base, and a rectangular handle. Around the top rim are two pinstripes the top coin gold and the bottom black. Under the pinstripes is the train's logo which consists of two coin gold rampart lions holding a black oval containing the coin gold monogram AEE. The oval is outlined in coin gold with scroll work at both the top and bottom. The AEE monogram would point to this pattern as coming from the time when the train was operating as American European Express.
Sources:
Wikipedia – history of the train
RailPictures.net – train photo by Mike Danneman
Contributors:
Attorney Anthony Draper: cup photos
Ed Phillips: author