Tuck into a seven course Christmas lunch aboard iconic steam train leaving from Lancaster

The 1930s Pullman-style Northern Belle – once part of the iconic Orient Express group – will meander through the wintry countryside after setting out from Lancaster station on Thursday December 5.

And the train’s own resident musicians will entertain passengers, while an extra touch of magic is added by a conjuror who gets up to his tricks as he strolls through the carriages.

Tickets don’t come cheap at £395 but that includes champagne and wine, and there are only a few seats left on the five-hour trip which will be hauled by a vintage diesel locomotive.

A spokesman said: “You’d be Christmas crackers to miss it.

“We like to think the Northern Belle harks back to the golden days of rail travel – an era when nothing was too good for the pampered passengers.

“We even lay a red carpet across the station platform before they board and are handed their first glass of champagne.”

The Northern Belle is regularly voted among the world’s Top Ten trains and one of the individually hand-decorated carriages used to form part of the Royal Train.

In fact it is even rumoured to contain the late Queen Mum’s favourite seat.

Actor Bill Nighy described the train as “the Grand Dame of luxury travel” when it featured on Channel 5’s The World’s most Scenic Railway Journeys.

The train will be back in Lancaster in May next year for a trip to Edinburgh, with the chance to visit the former Royal Yacht Britannia at nearby Leith.

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