Luxury train on track for Staines

ExCo

ONE of the world’s most luxurious trains will make its first ever visit to Staines during 2026 to take champagne-sipping passengers on a slap-up day out to Bath.

A red carpet will be laid across the platform as the Northern Belle’s gleaming umber-and-cream1930s Pullman-style coaches pull into the town’s station at 8.45am on November 7.

Then passengers will be handed their first glass of champagne before being served a delicious three-course brunch during the journey to the historic Roman city in Somerset.

The train, once part of the iconic Orient Express group, was described by actor Bill Nighy as “the Grand Dame of luxury travel” when it featured on Channel 4.

And last year it was voted the fifth best in the world by readers of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveller magazine, pipping Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer and the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express.

But luxury does not come cheap. Fares on the Bath trip, which includes a sumptuous six-course banquet with wine and champagne during the journey home in the evening, start at £495, with an option to visit the city’s famous Roman baths.

Some passengers will pay an extra £195 for Krug Class which allows them to travel in a carriage that once formed part of the late Queen Elizabeth’s Royal train while sipping some of the world’s finest champagne.

A spokesman for the train said: “That might sound a lot of money, but we will be transporting people back to the golden days of rail travel – an era when nothing was too good for the pampered passenger.

“This will be a trip that people won’t forget. The wine, the food, the service, the luxury … the whole experience will linger in the memory for ever.”

For more details about the Northern Belle, see www.northernbelle.co.uk