Best-selling Barnsley author Milly Johnson will tuck into a slap-up Yorkshire lunch aboard Britain’s poshest train this month to celebrate the forthcoming launch of her new novel.

The book, titled “Let the Bells Ring Out”, is about seven passengers stranded when a luxury train called The Yorkshire Belle becomes stuck in a unexpected snowstorm.

And Milly admits she got the inspiration for her story after taking a trip last year on the 1930s Pullman-style Northern Belle train, which is owned by Huddersfield businessman David Pitts.

So she will be making another journey on August 15 to discuss sales and publicity tactics on board with a high-powered delegation from her London-based publisher before the book comes out in October.

Belle of a meal ... part of the special slap-up Yorkshire lunch

placeholder image — Belle of a meal ... part of the special slap-up Yorkshire lunch

“We’re all very excited,” said Milly. “I wanted my team to experience the train so we can see what is best going forward.

“The book is about seven travellers who get stuck in a snowstorm over the Christmas period and are forced to spend it on a luxury sleeper train.

“I had to bring my imagination into play to invent the sleeper carriages but going on board the Northern Belle really helped me with the potential to lay it out as I did.”

Champagne-sipping passengers on the special train, which departs from York, Leeds and Wakefield on August 15, will be served a special Yorkshire Lunch during a five-hour journey through some of the county’s most beautiful countryside.

On track for the best-seller list ... Milly's new novel

Devised by Brian Clark, the Northern Belle’s director of food and beverages, the menu starts with caviar canapes, followed by a choice of Whitby crab, Ilkley ham or Yorkshire bean lasagna as starters.

Then there is an intermediate course of beef tea with mini-Yorkshire puddings, before the main course featuring Thixendale lamb rump, Scottish salmon en croute or ratatouille.

After that comes “Last of the Summer Wine” panna cotta or Eton Mess, described as a “proper Yorkshire tea meringue”, before the Great British Cheeseboard, featuring several Yorkshire specialities.

Mr Clark, who has worked in some of the world’s top restaurants and once cooked for Madonna and Sir Rod Stewart, said: “We think this special menu encapsulates all that is good about Yorkshire food, which can rival anything in the world.”

The Northern Belle used to be part of the iconic Orient Express organisation and regularly features in lists of the world’s greatest trains.

One journalist described it as like “Downton on wheels” and when it featured on Channel 5, narrator Bill Nighy said it was “the Grand Duchess of luxury travel”.

Mr Pitts, who runs DP Publicity in Wakefield, said: “We are delighted to welcome Milly on board again and we look forward to seeing her new novel come out in the autumn.

“If she has based her fictional train on the Northern Belle, then she must be on the right lines! We’re sure it will be a huge success.”

The train departs from stations all over Yorkshire to various destinations with fares starting at £365. For more information, see www.northernbelle.co.uk

For details of Milly and her novels, see: www.millyjohnson.co.uk