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Northern Belle is letting off steam

A red carpet will be laid over the platform at Leeds station next week when one of the world’s most luxurious train visits for a steam-hauled champagne day out.

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The 1930s Pullman-style Northern Belle will pick up passengers to take them on a steam-hauled trip through the Dales and over the spectacular Settle-Carlisle line.

Making tracks ... historic loco Tangmere hauls the Northern Belle over the Settle-Carlisle line
Making tracks ... historic loco Tangmere hauls the Northern Belle over the Settle-Carlisle line Credit: Northern Belle

For part of the journey, it will be hauled by historic former British Rail locomotive Tangmere, which once pulled crack express trains from London to the South Coast.

Champagne on ice ... a passenger prepares for dinner on Northern Belle
Champagne on ice ... a passenger prepares for dinner on Northern Belle Credit: Northern Belle

A spokesman for the Northern Belle said: “We like to think we are taking people back to the golden days of rail travel – a time when nothing was too good for the pampered passengers.”

Actor Bill Nighy described the Northern Belle as “the Grand Dame of luxury travel” when it featured on Channel 5 last year and a journalist once called it “like Downton on wheels”.

Music while you dine ... the train's resident band serenade passengers
Music while you dine ... the train's resident band serenade passengers Credit: Northern Belle

There are even musicians on board to serenade passengers during a slap-up six-course dinner while a conjuror wanders from table to table to add an extra touch of magic.

All aboard ... passengers outside the umber-and-cream Pullman-style carriages
All aboard ... passengers outside the umber-and-cream Pullman-style carriages Credit: Northern Belle

The train, formerly part of the iconic Orient Express group, will leave Leeds at 6.50am on Saturday, June 14 before calling at Wakefield, Barnsley and Sheffield.

It will be back in the city on Thursday, July 17, for a trip to Edinburgh, with the chance to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia which is berthed at nearby Leith.

Then there will be another steam-hauled journey over the Settle-Carlisle line on Saturday, July 19.

Fares on the Northern Belle start at £365. For further information and to book, see www.northernbelle.co.uk