Franchise(s) | Railtour operator |
---|---|
Fleet size | 13 rail carriages |
Parent company | David Smith (50%) David Pitts (50%) |
Other | |
Website | www.northernbelle.co.uk |
The Northern Belle is a luxury train that operates day and weekend journeys around Britain from many different departure points. The train is named to recall the Belle trains of the 1930s, such as the weekly Northern Belle land cruise; operated by the London and North Eastern Railway every June from 1933 to 1939.
It was launched on 31 May 2000 with a journey from Liverpool Lime Street to Grantham. The carriages had been restored by the Venice-Simplon Orient Express which became Belmond Limited in 2014. [1] [2] [3]
Northern Belle visits places of interest throughout Britain such as castles, country houses, cities, sporting occasions and events including the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. There are also weekend journeys to destinations including Inverness, with overnight hotel accommodation, and non-stop round trips with dining on board.
Northern Belle operates mainly throughout northern Britain, with destinations ranging from Edinburgh, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Chester and Harrogate to as far south as London and Bristol. [4]
The Northern Belle consists of 13 coaches: seven converted Mark 2 coaches as crew and dining carriages, two Mark 3 staff sleepers, two Mark 1 service and kitchen cars, a Mark 1 baggage car, and a Mark 1 Pullman parlour car Duart, which was added to the train in 2012. The carriages were re-engineered by LNWR at Crewe, in the style of Pullman coaches.
The dining car interiors are decorated with artwork, mosaics and wooden panels. Some of the marquetry was created by A Dunn and Son, a family firm that dates from 1895 and which created panels for carriages that ran on the historic Northern Belle services. [5]
Image | Number | Name | Design | Type | Built | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3273 [6] | Alnwick | Mark 2e FO | Dining car | 1974 | Marquetry motif of Alnwick Castle, inlaid with oak, boxwood, yew, sycamore and walnut. | |
10734 [3] | Balmoral | Mark 3a SLE | Staff sleeper | 1984 | Built as staff sleeper car for the Royal Train, coach number 2914. [3] Named for the Royal residence of Balmoral Castle. | |
3267 [7] | Belvoir | Mark 2e FO | Dining car | 1974 | Marquetry motif of honeybees and flowers inlaid with Indian rosewood, oak, pomelle, sycamore, madrona burr and walnut. Named for Belvoir Castle. | |
1566 [8] | Caerdydd | Mark 1 RKB | Kitchen car | 1961 | Caerdydd is the Welsh name for Cardiff. | |
3247 [9] | Chatsworth | Mark 2e FO | Dining car | 1972 | Marquetry motif of the façade of stately home Chatsworth House, inlaid with yew-tree burr, sycamore, walnut, maple and satinwood. | |
10729 [10] | Crewe | Mark 3a SLE | Staff sleeper | 1980 | Crewe is an important railway town in Cheshire and used to be the base for the Northern Belle, | |
325 [11] | Duart | Mark 1 Pullman | Dining car | 1960 | Marquetry motif of Duart Castle and pink heather, on walnut. Ceiling painted with mural of Scottish flora and fauna by artist Chris Shields. | |
3174 [12] | Glamis | Mark 2d FO | Dining car | 1971 | Marquetry motif of Glamis Castle, inlaid with sycamore, madrona burr, yew, peartree and boxwood. | |
3275 [13] | Harlech | Mark 2e FO | Dining car | 1974 | Marquetry motif of Harlech Castle and daffodils, inlaid with maple, boxwood, sycamore and European walnut. | |
17167 [14] | Mow Cop | Mark 2d BFK | Service car | 1972 | Named for Mow Cop Castle in Cheshire. | |
3182 [15] | Warwick | Mark 2d FO | Dining car | 1971 | Marquetry motif of Warwick Castle, inlaid with walnut, boxwood, satinwood and maple. | |
1953 [16] | — | Mark 1 RU | Kitchen car | 1960 | ||
92904 [17] | — | Mark 1 BG | Baggage car | 1956 | Original number 80867. [17] |
The Northern Belle was originally hauled by English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) Class 67s. EWS was bought by DB Schenker in 2007 and then in 2011, Direct Rail Services (DRS) started a five-year contract to operate the service with Class 47s and later Class 57s. [18] [19] In 2011, preparation of the carriages moved from Arriva TrainCare to the Severn Valley Railway. [20]
The Northern Belle was sold to West Coast Railways proprietor David Smith and businessman David Pitts in November 2017. [21] Since April 2018 the train has been hauled by West Coast Railways' (WCR) class 57s. Carriage preparation was transferred to Carnforth at the same time. [22]
Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain, and is one of the publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom.
The East Kent Railway (EKR) is a heritage railway in Kent, England. It is located at Shepherdswell station on the London and Chatham to Dover mainline. The line was constructed between 1911 and 1917 to serve the Kent Coalfields. See East Kent Light Railway for details of the original lines. The Kent Collieries were mostly a failure with only Tilmanstone on the line producing any viable commercial coal and commercial traffic over the line. The line is operated by heritage diesel locomotives. It is home to a collection of heritage diesel locomotives including a British Rail Class 08, DEMU and electric multiple units including an in service British Rail Class 404 built in the 1930s and a more modern British Rail Class 365, which is to be used as a restaurant and a major events venue.
Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company based at Burton-on-Trent and Eastleigh in England.
British Rail Mark 1 is the family designation for the first standardised designs of railway carriages built by British Railways (BR) from 1951 until 1974, now used only for charter services on the main lines or on preserved railways.
The Mark 2 family of railway carriages are British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975 and were of steel construction.
The British Rail Mark 3 is a type of passenger carriage developed in response to growing competition from airlines and the car in the 1970s. A variant of the Mark 3 became the rolling stock for the High Speed Train (HST).
The Southern Railway (SR) gave the designation 5-BEL to the five-car all-Pullman electric multiple units which worked the prestigious Brighton Belle trains between London Victoria and Brighton. These units survived long enough in British Rail ownership to be allocated TOPS Class 403. Between 1933 and 1935 the units were designated 5-PUL.
The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan. They were numbered in two series, D6600–D6608 and D6700–D6999.
The Class 67 locomotives are a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives that were built for the English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) between 1999 and 2000 by Alstom at Meinfesa in Valencia, Spain with drive components from General Motors' Electro-Motive Division.
Caledonian Sleeper is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other being the Night Riviera which runs between London and Penzance.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond.
The Great South Pacific Express was a luxury Australian train service, run in by Queensland Rail and Belmond, the operator of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express.
Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service, provided by the British Pullman Car Company (PCC) from 1874 until 1962, and then by British Railways from 1962 until 1972. Many named mainline service trains have subsequently used the word 'Pullman' in their titles, but most of these have been normal trains with increased first-class accommodation. Since 1982 however, some railtours have been operated by companies using Pullman coaches dating from the 1920s to 1950s to recreate the ambience of the heyday of Pullman travel.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway has a large collection of heritage rolling stock, mostly relating to the post-war British Railways-era, from the 1950s to 1990s. The line holds several rolling-stock accomplishments:
Luxury trains are a premium passenger rail service. Some luxury trains promote tourism in destinations across a region, while others take passengers on a ride through a single country.
Preserved EMUs of Southern Railway. This is a list of preserved Southern Railway (UK) designated electric multiple units (EMUs).
Belmond British Pullman is a private luxury train that operates day and weekend journeys around Britain. Until 2023, it also served as the British leg of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE) service between London and Venice.
Belmond Andean Explorer, launched in May 2017, is South America's first luxury sleeper train. It replaces the eponymous Pullman day train, between Cusco and Puno, at Lake Titicaca. By the new train this trip is converted to a one-night journey, and extended from Puno for another overnight ride to Arequipa.
Media related to Northern Belle (train) at Wikimedia Commons