Bagpipes send off for luxury Manchester train
A LONE piper will play a lament as Britain’s poshest train pulls out of Manchester Victoria station next month
He will be seeing off the Northern Belle as it takes champagne-sipping passengers on a slap-up day out to Edinburgh.
It is just one of the luxurious touches to travelling on the 1930s Pullman-style train, which once formed part of the iconic Orient Express.
“We don’t like to blow our own trumpet about how great travelling on the Northern Belle is,” said a spokesman. “So we have somebody play the bagpipes instead!”
The trip on Thursday, September 26, includes an optional tour of the late Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Yacht Britannia which is berthed at nearby Leith.
Tickets cost £440 each – but that does include champagne, a three-course brunch on the way to Scotland, followed by a slap-up six-course dinner with wine during the journey home.
While they dine, passengers will be serenaded by onboard musicians while a conjuror wanders through the carriages to add an extra touch of magic to the occasion.
The Northern Belle will be back in Manchester on Saturday, November 2, for a spectacular Fireworks dinner.
Then there will be two eight-course Christmas Lunch Specials in December.
“Yule be crackers to miss one of those,” joked the Northern Belle spokesman.
Prices on the Northern Belle, which actor Bill Nighy described on Channel 5 as “the Grand Dame of luxury travel”, start at £295. For further details see www.northernbelle.co.uk