Not the original one but a replica of the French SNCF steam train featured in the 2017 film Murder On The Orient Express, at a cost of £2.5 million.

The last train left the Bassenthwaite station in 1966, this was due to a lot of the UK’s railway network being discontinued.

In 2019 a married couple decided to buy the station master’s house that had been converted into a holiday let. They noticed that the rest of the station next door was derelict and tracked down the two different owners and agreed a sale on both sites. Rather than turn the entire site into a private dwelling they decided to open it up as a heritage site.

The station building only had walls, no roof, no windows it had been stripped bare over the years. Everywhere was overgrown and the railways tracks had disappeared in the vegetation.

The discovery of the Orient Express prop train happened by chance. They had visited a specialist haulage yard to see a railway carriage but it was unsuitable so the yard owner showed them the salon car from the film and they decided to buy it. Six months later they were asked if they wanted to buy the rest of the train as other buyers had pulled out. The replica carriages are slightly wider and taller than the original to allow for the movement of camera crews. Heating is installed into the carriages.

The whole site is now open to the public, breakfast, brunch, lunch is available in the restaurant carriage and the restored station building.
We had coffee and cake before I went taking pictures and they allowed me to go onto the engine and train.

Hope you enjoy your visit.

Please try the downloads.

Canon 650D, 18-55mm lens.