Murder Mystery Dining Train Experience

You are not watching from a distance — you are part of the atmosphere. 

Each production is set in a different decade, drawing on the etiquette, tensions and social undercurrents of its time. 

"The Birthday Line" (1978) - A milestone birthday. A heritage dining train. A carefully planned toast. 

This will be performed on 23rd May, 27th June, 25th July, 29th August and 12th September

In 1978, Arthur ‘Art’ Henshaw gathers his family aboard the railway to celebrate his life — and, as the evening progresses, to clarify his intentions for what comes after it. There is bunting, a solicitor with a sealed envelope, and more than one relative who believes they are owed something. 

As dinner advances, politeness begins to thin. An altered will is hinted at. Loyalties quietly shift. When Arthur takes a private sip from his trusted hip flask and suddenly falls ill, celebration gives way to suspicion. 

This is a classic British family mystery — restrained tempers, inherited expectations and a fatal act committed in the space between a toast and dessert. 

Guests are invited to weigh motive against opportunity and decide who, in a carriage full of relatives, chose panic over patience. 

"Late Departure!" - Some files are sealed for a reason. 

This will be performed on 9th May, 13th June, 11th July, 8th August and 5th & 26th  September trains

It is 1963, and a Ministry of Transport inspector boards the dining train carrying paperwork connected to a fatal goods-yard incident from a decade earlier. A porter died during a late-night transfer between Leek Yard and Uttoxeter Yard. The official record declared it an accident.  

An anonymous envelope suggests otherwise. 

As the inspector prepares to reopen the case, old loyalties are tested and long-silenced voices grow uneasy. Then, at the height of dinner service, he collapses — the victim of a carefully timed attack. 

What follows is a tense investigation shaped by railway procedure, buried responsibility and one person who moved through the carriage without attracting suspicion.