PASSENGERS booked to travel on one of world’s most luxurious trains for a steam-hauled trip over the spectacular Settle-Carlisle line nearly had their journey derailed on Saturday.

Just 24 hours before the Northern Belle was due to depart from Wrexham, historic steam locomotive “Princess Elizabeth” suffered a catastrophic boiler problem.

A crack on the “throat plate” was leaking steam and made it impossible for the 88-year-old crimson-painted engine to move.

Yorkshire businessman David Pitts, who owns the train, was faced with the heartbreak decision of cancelling the sell-out champagne trip.

But at the last minute he managed to arrange a replacement engine in “Tornado”, the only steam locomotive built in Britain for more than 50 years.

The resplendent green A1 Class engine, which ran for the first time in 2008, immediately headed down from Scotland.

Then it waited at Carnforth to be connected to the Northern Belle, which had been hauled by a vintage diesel loco from Wrexham.

Mr Pitts said: “Never in my life have I been so glad to see a Tornado! It’s a magnificent loco and the only steam engine to have reached 100mph in Britain during the last 50 years.

“So I was really chuffed to get it as a replacement.

“We did offer passengers the option of changing their booking if they were disappointed that Lizzie wasn’t running. But nobody did and my staff say the trip ran like clockwork.

“We hope Lizzie, which used to pull crack expresses between London and Scotland and once hauled the Queen’s Royal Train, will be back on track soon.”

For more details of the train see www.northernbelle.co.uk or phone 01270 899681.