First Class Dining

Rosemary took the bus from Nottingham to Loughborough whilst I travelled by car and met her at the Ramada Inn just after 2.00pm. We had a walk around the town centre, where the Saturday market was just packing up, and a coffee at Greggs.

The Grand Central Station was only half mile walk from the hotel so we left at 6:15 in order to take our seats in the restored 1st Class Pullman dining car and order some drinks, before the train left at 7:00 pm. The evening was to be spent on two journeys between Loughborough and Leicester North with breaks for leg stretching at Rothley and both terminals.

The meal consisted of tomato and mozzarella starter, followed by pea and mint soup, rack of lamb main course, lemon meringue pie, cheese and biscuits with coffee and mints to finish. The meal was cooked in the original dining car kitchen during the journey, no pre-cooked food brought on to the train.
The train stopped for 10 mins on the via-duct over Swithland Reservoir to take in the views. Lots of geese and swans on the water, on a cloudy evening.

The food was excellent quality and the drinks reasonably priced. We had a bottle of house/carriage Merlot to last us the evening (and bought some back). We disembarked at 10:00 and strolled slowly back to the hotel after a most enjoyable experience.      

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