Luxury trains evoke romantic era of rail travel

Well-heeled tourists, eager to rediscover the romance of an earlier era, are taking to the rails in increasing numbers on board trains with names that evoke the age of luxury travel.

The dark blue and gold coaches of the Venice Simplon-Orient Express wend their way across Europe in a style that recalls the high life of the 1920s when champagne flowed and dinner jackets, jewels and gowns were de rigueur.

Passengers boarding the Royal Scotsman at Edinburghีs Waverley station are greeted by a piper, a red carpet and glasses of bubbly, and ordinary travellers gawp in astonishment as the nine red and gold carriages pull out sedately, heading for the Scottish Highlands.

Operating such trains is steadily moving out of the reach of enthusiastic amateurs, and luxury does not come cheap.

The Royal Scotsman, which includes a refurbished carriage used by Prime Minister Winston Churchill towards the end of World War II, has a crew of 14, including a top-flight chef.

Retired Royal Marine Brigadier Ian Gardiner, one of three senior ex-military officers who rotate as าhostsำ aboard the train, says the key to a luxury trip is an attentive staff.

าIt is theatre in so far as the stage is Scotland, the set is the train, the audience the guests, and the players are the crew on the train,ำ he said.

าIf the players are excellent, they can turn a mediocre play into an excellent play. The whole thing is that it all depends on people,ำ he said.

On one trip, the well-stocked bar failed to produce a particular brand of American whiskey for a traveller from the US state of Montana.

An urgent appeal went out and the whiskey was waiting at the next stop. าThatีs service,ำ the happy client said.