Taurus Express

The Taurus Express was a passenger train operating between Istanbul and Baghdad, operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits.

The Taurus Express in works by Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot boarded the train in Aleppo, Syria, with the intention to catch the Orient Express in Istanbul. Already onboard the train were Mary Debenham and Colonel Arbuthnot. (Murder on the Orient Express) In the early 1930s, the end of the line was at Nissibin on the Turkish-Syrian border. That explains why from Baghdad, Arbuthnot and Mary Debenham travel to Kirkuk by rail and then by a railway convoy car from Kirkuk to Nissibin. They then caught the Taurus express which took them to Aleppo.

The Taurus Express in works by Mary Westmacott
When Joan Scudamore travels from Baghdad to London, she boards the Taurus Express in Tell Abu Hamid. (Absent in the Spring) In the mid 1930s, the line had been extended from Nissibin to Tel Kotchek on the Syrian-Iraqi border but there was still no complete link to Baghdad. Joan Scudamore traveled by car from Mosul to Tel Abu Hamid and was stranded there. Tel Abu Hamid is the start of the Taurus express line and is presumbably the name Christie used for Tel Kotchek.