Brighton Belle update

I've been fortunate enough to receive corporate hospitality at Twickenham for a couple of Six Nations games. You get about 4 hours of hospitality, including a free bar, 3-course meal, hot snacks at half time and after the match, talks from ex-England players and seats for the match in the stadium. The tickets cost around £1600 per person. I've also done a trip to Bath (and back) on the Belmond British Pullman, which was awesome. I think Celia is priced about right.

 

From Belmond:

Introducing Celia, the British Pullman’s newest carriage
Introducing Celia, a new carriage designed by Baz Luhrman and Catherine Martin

And from CambriaJunction:

 

Belmond have revealed Celia's new saloon. Obviously (and inevitably) a far greater departure from her past inside, had much even survived of her old interior?

https://www.facebook.com/britishpul...6zUHRyVTRYvaMhFwGWZteWD7UBCht8LrdRgHWwW34Dqil

 

Donald Trump called and said he wouldn't mind a trip, but only if they could dial back a bit on the decor ...

Tom

 

My comments on the makeover were rejected from the Brighton Belle Facebook page.
Perhaps the reference to a Love Island wedding reception were too much? I dunno.
I can understand why Belmond were reticent to release photos of that interior.
Whatever happened to "less is more"?

 

Well that answers a question I raised elsewhere about the interior. Surprisingly tame given Luhrman is involved.

 

I think it looks great but I'm not convinced it looks very comfortable

 

Paying that much money to entertain a group in a carriage part designed by a famous movie director is inherently extravagant; they'll be expecting the interior to reflect that IMO.

 

That reminds me of the the old saw "Up goes a pound, bang goes a penny and down comes two and six". I was very young when I heard it!

 

Celia has now been launched - a puff piece in today's Times is at https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/article/train-anna-wintour-baz-luhrmann-v7j9z20pq makes quite clear who they're aiming at with first trip guests including Roger Federer, Alexa Chung, Baz Luhrmann, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, Mirka Federer and Dame Anna Wintour (yes, I had to look some of them up too)

It includes the following incomparable prose:

 

All style and no substance. Just right for the punters it's aimed at.

And it's another former BB car with most of its real history stripped out for today's champagne and canapes set. Yes, I see the irony in that comment, but it would be nice if just one of the motor coaches was restored in original condition as a true historical artefact, rather than completely gutting it or filling it with CIG technical gubbins and embedding 21st century searchlights in the front.

I appreciate that a lot of railway enthusiasts believe "Main line = good. Stuffed & mounted = bad", but if every piece of the past is irrevocably changed for use in the present day, there is nothing to show us what the past was really like.

 

I'm not going to argue, but as Car 292 hadn't been used in ~60 years, I'm glad to see it is earning it's keep, even in this form.

I never knew the Belle when it ran, but my mother told a story of being taken on it by her parents on her way to school at the start of term. Her abiding memory, as a non-enthusiast, was the rough ride.

 

In its "original condition" it simply couldn't do anything. The original motor and control gear was removed and scrapped many decades ago.
Like for like replacements are non-existent.
In the 1980s, this carriage sat, gutted, in 6-road of the Old Pullman sheds at Preston Park. No interior, no windows, nothing. It was a dismal sight.
So, as much as I agree that the current incarnation is utterly tasteless, it has at least brought the hulk back to life, in some form or other, and preserved it for the future. Who knows what that future may bring for it?

 

That's a fair comment. However , in fairness, I did say "... if just one of the motor coaches was restored in original condition as a true historical artefact..." i.e not necessarily that particular one.

Looking at Wackopedia (usual caveats), it appears that - aside from it, the two going main line and the one said to have been destroyed by fire - what condition are Cars 89 and 92 in?

 

Car 89 is being restored at Carriages of Cambridge after moving there a couple of years ago.



@Johnb might know more, but I'm sure Car 93 was stored inside at Stewarts Lane for many years, along with Car 92 - both essentially derelict until the latter's recent restoration.

 

I took at look round 289 last year and the guy restoring allowed me inside to see the task involved. Some but not all of the panelling has been lost where sleeping and shower facilities had been installed at some point but the intention I believe is to restore sympathetically, albeit to allow seated dining as they currently enjoy from their Mk1 coaches. The original bogies aren't subject to anything more than cosmetic attention if I recall.

 

Camshafts on both driving cars are now working with the help of the SETG, and I believe she's off to the Litchurch Lane test track tomorrow.

 

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U90547/2026-08-11/detailed