<P>Travel correspondent Trevor Mason alighted GW Travel’s train the Golden Eagle to experience the delights of long distance rail travel on the “Voyage of a Lifetime” . . .

The Kazan Kremlin, Tartarstan, Russia

<P>Crossing eight time zones and spanning two continents, the Trans-Siberian is a King among railway lines. Stretching from Moscow to Vladivostok, the 5,800 mile journey was – until relatively recently – a byword for discomfort and many of the interesting town and cities en-route were closed to tourists.

Today, thanks to an enterprising British company which specialises in long-distance luxury train tours, the miles can be lapped up in style.

Altrincham-based GW Travel runs its own Golden Eagle train along the route, with an 820-mile detour into Mongolia thrown in for good measure.

Billed as a “Voyage of a Lifetime”, this is truly the ultimate land-cruise, passing Siberian scenes which have hardly changed since the line was completed nearly 100 years ago.

Unable to spare the full 15 days required for the west-bound departure from Vladivostok, Russia’s biggest port city on the Pacific Ocean, my wife and I joined the tour party at Irkutsk – roughly halfway in terms of miles.

Within minutes of landing, we met our fellow passengers for a four-course lunch featuring Omul, a fish unique to nearby Lake Baikal.

Then we were off to a museum commemorating the Decembrists, aristocrats exiled to Siberia after a failed revolution in 1825 who gave the city its title “The Paris of Siberia” due to the distinctive wooden houses they built.

A private concert with accompanying champagne gave us a foretaste of things to come.

By now we were dying to see the Golden Eagle train itself, built just two years ago at a cost of £12.8 million to accommodate up to 120 passengers in 12 fully en-suite sleeping cars.

The Golden Eagle train at Lake Baikal

For this start-of-the-season run, the train was pared down to just eight carriages to accommodate a small 17-strong party of mostly retired professionals from the US, Canada, Australia, Portugal and the UK.

Tour manager Tatyana Kolesnikova welcomed us onboard to our Gold Class compartment, which included an en-suite shower and toilet, DVD player and air-conditioning.

By day, the cabin has seating and a table. By night, it’s transformed by one of the two attendants – on call 24 hours a day – into a sleeping compartment with a wide lower berth and smaller berth above.

With a toot from the electric loco hauling the train, we rumbled out of Irkutsk station and were soon snaking our way across the Siberian wilderness.

This was train travel as it should be, no fighting for a seat in a crowded carriage and no-one shouting “I’m on the train” into a mobile phone.

Instead, we buzzed the attendant for afternoon tea and chocolates, and sat back to relax before dinner in the restaurant car.

In the evening we met our fellow passengers in the bar car, which acts as the social hub of the train.

Most were seasoned travellers, some spending up to six months a year away from home and combining the rail trip with visits to other neighbouring countries.

All of them said the highlights of the trip so far were a national park in Mongolia, and travelling the cliff-hugging line around Lake Baikal – the deepest lake in the world, holding 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water.

After a night’s intermittent sleep – it takes time to adjust to the jolts and rhythm of rail travel – we had breakfast and then attended a series of events in the bar car.

First was a fascinating talk from Tatyana on life during and after Communism, then came a rather bleak film depicting the problems facing Russians adjusting to the post-Soviet era.

After lunch was a Russian class for the adventurous, tackling the wonders of the Cyrillic alphabet, with a further film on the rise of the Russian oligarchs.

Ready to board the Golden Eagle

Occasional stops to change engines also afforded an opportunity to alight and take photos. In scenes reminiscent of a bygone railway age, enterprising Russian women marched up and down the platform selling food and drink to travellers on the regular trains, while engineers tapped wheels and axle boxes.

Providing the only link from Moscow to the Far East, parts of the Trans-Siberian were among the busiest lines in the world. It was built in sections at the behest of Czar Alexander II, as much for strategic as political reasons.

Today, the railway remains a vital artery, as passenger and long freight trains flash by every few minutes.

Arriving overnight in Novosibirsk, we embarked on a full-day tour. Among the highlights was a visit to a mineral museum, where we were shown which rocks, if touched, would bring us health, wealth and good fortune.

More stunning was a visit to the Opera and Ballet House, one of the largest in the world and bigger even than the Bolshoi in Moscow. GW Travel’s local high profile gained us private access to a moving rehearsal of Borodin’s Prince Igor and we were privileged to watch the performers from the side of the stage.

Next day, we had a whistle-stop tour of Yekaterinburg, visiting the rather disappointing church marking where Czar Nicholas II and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

We also visited the spot dividing Europe and Asia, marking the occasion with champagne and chocolates.

Our final day on the train included a visit to Kazan, the capital of Tartarstan, where in brilliant sunshine we toured its Kremlin and went inside the impressive Kul Sharif mosque, built just four years ago.

A boat cruise on the Volga allowed everyone to cool off before another private concert.

All too soon, it was a farewell dinner onboard. The next morning we arrived at Moscow just after 6am – an impressive 10 minutes early for the 6,618-mile journey.

Sad though we were to leave the train, this wasn’t the end of the tour.

There was still a day and a half to take in Moscow’s delights, including the Kremlin and Red Square.

We visited a cemetery where many of Russia’s most famous people are buried, and arrived in time to see former President Boris Yeltsin’s wife leaving after paying her respects.

There was one last train journey before heading for the airport – on the Moscow underground, complete with chandeliers, sculptures and frescos. What a difference to London’s Tube.

Trevor Mason was a guest of GW Travel, which specialises in luxury train tours to Russia, China, Tibet, India and Canada. Its 15-day Trans-Siberian Golden Eagle journey from Moscow to Vladivostock, has Silver Class (Twin Share) fares of £6,995 per person, with Gold Class (Twin Share) £8,695 per person.

New Heritage cabins available on selected dates (£4,995 per person, twin share) do not include en-suite toilet and shower facilities, available elsewhere in the carriage.

Prices include return flights for Silver/Gold Class passengers, transfers, B&B accommodation, lunch and dinner daily, drinks with lunch and dinner, 24-hour cabin service, tea, coffee and mineral water, all gratuities and onboard doctor.

Reservations: 0161 928 9410 and www.gwtravel.co.uk