A HERITAGE steam train will call at Long Preston on several Tuesdays over the summer to take passengers on a return journey over the spectacular Settle-Carlisle line.

Several of the carefully-restored 1950s crimson carriages on The Pendle Dalesman featured in the Harry Potter movies as part of the Hogwarts Express that took the boy magician to school.

They will be hauled to Carlisle and back by a vintage steam loco which once pulled crack British Rail express trains over the route before diesel engines took over during the 1960s.

Passengers in Premier First Class can sip champagne while tucking into a full English breakfast on the outward journey followed by a four-course dinner served with wine on the way home in the evening.

The train is a sister service to West Coast Railway’s Dalesman and Scarborough Spa Express trains, which operate over part of the same route every summer. But the Pendle Dalesman will be the only one to pick up passengers at Long Preston.

A spokesman said: “The 72-mile Settle-Carlisle line has been voted the second greatest railway journey in the world and it’s not hard to see why.

“This was a triumph of Victorian engineering when it opened in the 19th century, cutting through the northern Pennines and Yorkshire Dales with 22 viaducts and 14 tunnels.

“In previous years we have run our popular Dalesman trip over a similar route, picking up passengers at Preston and Skipton.

“But from May 18 we will be complementing that with the Pendle Dalesman, which will stop at Blackburn, Clitheroe and Long Preston.”

Although exact timings have not yet been worked out, the train is expected to leave Long Preston at 10.54am will stop long enough in Carlisle for passengers to visit the Norman castle or the 12th century Gothic cathedral before arriving back at 5.44pm.

The 1930s-style Northern Belle Pullman train – described by actor Bill Nighy on Channel 5 last month as “the Grand Duchess of luxury trains” – will also operate over the Settle-Carlisle line this summer, hauled by the crimson-painted Princess Elizabeth steam locomotive.

Fares start at £90 return in Standard Class on the Pendle Dalesman train. For more details and to book see:www.westcoastrailways.co.uk.

For more on the Northern Belle visit: www.northernbelle.co.uk.