It was the scene of a brutal yet baffling murder in which an American tycoon was stabbed 12 times, seemingly without motive.
This weekend visitors are being invited to enjoy a cuppa and a slice of cake on the site where the bloodstained body was discovered – and where the murderers were eventually unmasked.
A full-scale replica steam locomotive, which featured in the 2017 movie Murder on the Orient Express, is the centrepiece of a new tourist attraction at the former Bassenthwaite Lake railway station, which opens on Saturday.
Owners Simon and Diana Parums had been granted planning permission from the Lake District National Park Authority to create a cafe and woodland walk area.
The station closed in 1966 and had fallen into disrepair.
The Parums – who have refurbished and restored more than 10 heritage or historic properties over the last 30 years – have spent nearly two years clearing vegetation, excavating the track and relaying the sandstone platform edge.
In 2019 they bought the French SNCF Class 241 engine, complete with tender, buffet car, baggage carriage and salon, from a haulier in Stoke and had it transported to its new home in the Lakes.
They now hope the prospect of sitting in the same seats as Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi and Michelle Pfeiffer will bring visitors flocking to their ambitious new venture.
“We wanted to restore everything exactly as it was,” said Mrs Parums, whose grandparents owned the old vicarage nearby.
“The building for the café isn’t big enough to make it a sustainable business, so we were looking at putting in a railway carriage and we had the opportunity of getting this one, which was the film set for Murder on the Orient Express.”
The all-star film, based on Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel, stars Kenneth Branagh as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, played in the 1974 movie by Peter Ustinov.
“It’s been a long process, but everything is now in place and when the doors finally open this weekend we’re looking forward to greeting lots of people,” said Mrs Parums.
“We’ve already had lots of interest, with people turning up in large numbers during lockdown to take photographs, and I suspect that we will be very busy because we will have a lot of early morning commuters and walkers who use the A66.”
It is expected 12 full-time and 10 part-time jobs will be created.
The couple also have approval to restore the two signalmen’s cottages on the site, which featured on Channel 5’s Lost Railways of Britain series, although not as dwellings.
They also plan to create an information and meeting room where station artefacts can be seen.
