Changes

In November 2017 the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express sold The Northern Belle Limited for an undisclosed sum to Northern Belle (Holdings) Limited, a new company being a 50-50 joint venture between tour promotor David Pitts, owner of Wakefield-based marketing agency D P Publicity, and David Smith, owner of West Coast Railways.<ref>[http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/huddersfield-businessman-bought-train-13889254 Huddersfield Examiner, 12 November 2017].</ref> The new owners invoked the early termination clause in the contract from June 2018. The stock was rebased at Carnforth by 9 March 2018, by which time the compound was cleared and only two spare vehicles remained on the SVR,<ref>[http://www.lnersvrcoachfund.org.uk/news_letters/Newsletter_68-2018.pdf LNER Coach Fund Newsletter No. 68]</ref> although occasional stabling continued after that date. The spare vehicles were collected by two West Coast Railways locomotives and moved to Carnforth in May 2018<ref>[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3864&start=75 SVR Forum post]</ref>.