Passengers who paid £700 for luxury train trip faced 'dreaded rail replacement bus'

Passengers who paid up to £700 each to travel on a luxury train from Huddersfield had to catch a 'rail replacement bus service'.

The passengers who had to catch the bus on Saturday were presented with a bottle of champagne as compensation for the bus trip. The trip organisers described the rail replacement bus service as 'dreaded'.

The town’s Grade I-listed station had been closed over the weekend while renovation work was carried out on the entrance, platforms and roof.

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So local businessman David Pitts, who owns the 1930s Pullman-style Northern Belle organised a luxury coach to take 40 people the 28 miles to Manchester to catch a sell-out steam-hauled journey over the picturesque Settle-Carlisle line.

Mr Pitts, who lives in Thurstonland and runs marketing agency DP Publicity in Wakefield, bought the train from the iconic Orient Express group some years ago.

He said: “We laid on a luxury coach because we couldn’t expect our pampered passengers to travel on some uncomfortable old boneshaker of a double-decker.

“But we were sorry about the inconvenience, even though it wasn’t our fault, so we gave them a bottle of bubbly to compensate. We thought it was just the ticket.”

The Northern Belle will be back in Huddersfield next month taking passengers to Edinburgh with the chance to visit the former Royal Yacht Britannia.

Then in August there will be another steam-hauled journey over the Settle-Carlisle line, followed by a slap-up Christmas lunch trip in December.

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