It may look like any other old-fashioned steam train and station cafe, but visitors to the Bassenthwaite Lake Station, located in a small UK village, will be dining on the set of a big Hollywood film.
The train’s carriage which has been enlarged to accommodate a film crew still has many of the unique features added to enable filming. It has a capacity of 32 diners.
A replica French SNCF steam locomotive featured in the 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express, starring Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp, and Michelle Pfeiffer, is housed in the “hidden” Lake District railway station, which has been painstakingly rebuilt into a cafe and tea room.
According to the owner of the train cafe, Mrs. Di Parums, “The carriages are slightly wider and slightly taller and it was to allow the crews to get their angles when they were filming. The tables were Velcroed into position so they could be moved easily as well – that’s quite fun.”
Mrs. Di Parums further added that “And it has a quite soft suspension so it wobbles around when you climb into the carriages because it didn’t move when they were filming so they needed to make it sway as waiters and waitresses were carrying drinks and food.”
Furthermore, Mrs. Parum and her husband, Mr. Simon, bought the station and steam train together and have spent the last few months renovating it. She used to go to the station as a kid which hasn’t been utilized since the 1960s, and she wanted to resurrect her memories.
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934.
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