first-class passengers only, while standard-class travellers will be condemned to microwaved burgers from the buffet car. For many of us, this is a tragedy. As railway historian Bryan Morgan wrote: 'Diners are much-loved things, for we never quite outgrow our childhood amazement at the idea of refreshment on wheels. The moving sunlit countryside; the strange cries from the hell-hole of the galley; the stewards trying to steer a steady course -- all these impart a glow?.?.?.' Classic: Film North by Northwest has a seduction scene in a dining car This is not surprising -- since eating on trains at its best was a grand affair indeed. Soon after the first dining cars were introduced, contemporary writers enthused about 'gliding through the suburbs of the metropolis, the crockery enticingly a-jingle' as waiters appeared with coffee, toast, eggs, bacon, fish and cutlets. L  unch aboard the train in Victorian times would have been a five-course affair, with staples such as grilled turbot, roast sirloin, salmon with hollandaise sauce, bread-and-butter pudding, apple tart and crme caramel. The cost in 1898 was half a crown -- about 10 in today's money and considerably cheaper than the 35 price of dinner on tomorrow's final service. The early waiters learned their trade in special sealed-off dining cars where they were trained to walk along a white line wearing a blindfold while the train moved at speed. Each route around the country had its own culinary specialities. On the Metropolitan Railway (now the Metropolitan Line of the