Iconic Carnforth-based train to make rare visit to Lancaster

The Carnforth-based Northern Belle, once part of the iconic Orient Express group, made headlines last week when the famous Flying Scotsman steam loco hauled it to the Edinburgh.

And a spokesman said: “We won’t just be taking passengers to Scotland – we will be transporting them back to the golden days of rail travel where the journey style was just as important as the destination.”

Actor Bill Nighy described the Northern Belle on a Channel 5 TV’s The World’s Most Scenic Railways programme as “the Grand Dame of luxury travel” and last year readers of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveller magazine voted it Britain’s poshest train.

It will set out from Preston at 7.05am on Saturday September 30, before calling at Lancaster (7.25), Oxenholme (7.45), Penrith (8.20) and Carlisle (8.45).

Passengers will board over a red carpet laid on the station platform before being handed their first glass of champagne. Then they will tuck into a slap-up brunch on the journey to Dundee.

Once there, they have the choice of visiting Glamis or Scone Palace, the historic crowning place of Scottish kings from the days of Macbeth.

Then they will return to the train for a champagne reception before a mouth-watering six-course dinner is served on the way home during the evening.

Fares on the Northern Belle start at £295. For more details, see www.northernbelle.co.uk