Fire on the Orient Express

DRAMA on the Orient Express came to Ipswich as firefighters were called out to the world's most famous train.

The luxury train had brought back 200 passengers from a day trip to remember when a chef noticed smoke in the kitchen.

Hundreds of rail passengers on subsequent services were delayed outside the station on Saturday evening as a result.

The emergency services were called to platform two just before 10pm after a chef spotted smoke coming from a partition behind the cooker.

Passengers in the train behind – another special charter from Yorkshire – were delayed for an hour as fire fighters used cutting equipment to get to the source of the heat on the Orient Express's British Pullman carriages.

The Orient Express's passengers had completed the chartered journey from Ipswich to Oxford and back when the incident happened.

Passengers had visited Christ Church where scenes from the blockbuster film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was filmed, enjoying cream tea in the Great Hall, before a three-course dinner on their return journey.

Train manager Jeffrey Monk said none of the passengers, who alighted at Ipswich as planned, or staff were in any danger.

He said: "It wasn't a fire but an overheated panel behind the oven between two metal plates and as a precaution we called the fire brigade to investigate."

An hour later the train was able to set off on its journey from Ipswich, ready to for its next trip the following day.

Two engines from Princes Street and one from headquarters in Colchester Road attended.

Assistant Divisional Officer Paul Seager, from Suffolk Fire Service, said: "We got a call of smoke coming from one of the panels in the train a the back of the cooker in a partition.

"We had to cut our way through sheet metal and because of the construction of the carriages we had to use quite heavy cutting gear. No one was in any danger."