RED carpets will be laid over the platform at Newport Station next month when one of the world’s poshest trains stops by.

The Northern Belle, once part of the iconic Orient Express group, will stop in the city on Thursday, July 7, to pick up passengers for a luxury trip to Windsor Castle and the Hampton Court Flower Show.

The train was featured on Channel 5’s The World’s Most Scenic Railways Journeys last year, in which Love Actually actor Bill Nighy described it as “the Grand Duchess of luxury travel.

Boss David Pitts boasts that “nothing is too good” for pampered passengers, who are paying more than £400 each to travel in the luxuriously-upholstered 1930s-style Pullman carriages.

They will be welcomed on board with a glass of champagne before tucking into a three-course brunch during the journey to Windsor. Then after either visiting the castle or the flower show, they will return to a champagne reception on the train followed by a five-course dinner with wine on the way back to Wales.

Mr Pitts said: “Bill Nighy raved over the train when it featured on Channel 5’s The World’s Most Scenic Railway Journeys progamme. He told viewers that passengers had been lapping up the luxury."

There’ll be two opportunities for train enthusiasts to see the locomotive, which will depart from Newport Station at 7.40am, and return at 10.45pm.

It will also visit Cardiff, leaving at 7.15am, and returning at 11.10pm.

But don’t worry if you miss it – there’ll be two more chances to spot it passing through Newport in September.

For more information or to book tickets visit northernbelle.co.uk