Royal Transport. Peter Pigott
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Crowds wait for the royal train at Kitchener, Ontario. Boys placing coins on track over which it will pass.
When she learned the house prices at British Pacific Properties in Vancouver, Her Majesty wondered aloud if even she could afford to live there.12 The pair got off to visit dozens of veterans’ hospitals, placed wreathes on a dozen memorials, and must have planted a forest of trees. The blue train stopped at all major Canadian cities as well as specks on the map for water. Such a one was Fire River, Ontario (population twelve), where Her Majesty asked a trapper, “How cold does it get here in the winter?”
“Sixty-five below, Ma’am, and the snow, she’s six feet deep,” was the stoic reply.
When the royal train crept into Halifax on June 16, having covered 8,377 miles, in its freight compartment was a variety of gifts. Among them were the two tiny birchbark canoes for the princesses, dozens of stamp albums (everyone knew that the King, like his father, was a keen philatelist), twelve-pound cheeses, braided gauntlets from Duck Chief of the Blackfoot, a silver desk telephone, a solid gold trylon and crystal glass perisphere (with a thermometer in the trylon) from the New York World’s Fair, and a portrait of the late King George V by Sir Wyly Grier.
When the Empress of Britain docked at Southampton, the party boarded the old LNWR Royal Train for Waterloo Station. There they were met by Princess Alice of Connaught, and the Countess and the Earl of Athlone, all of whom had viceregal connections with Canada. Also on the platform was the Canadian High Commissioner Vincent Massey, another future Governor General. At Waterloo, the King and Queen boarded a landau for the ride to the palace, and as it emerged from the station, they were visibly moved by the cheering crowds outside. Through Trafalgar Square and the Mall, massed ranks of spectators applauded, the King noticing some carrying signs that said simply, “Well Done.” The Queen later told Prime Minister Mackenzie King, “The tour made us! It came at the right time, particularly for us.”13 A New York Times headline summed it all up: “The British Take Washington Again.” The North American rail tour had given His Majesty the confidence he would need to face the rigours of the war that was just around the corner.
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Prince Philip in the cab of the royal train locomative, kamloops, B.C., October 1951.
At the start of the Second World War, the old LNWR train built in 1902 was repainted the same colour as other trains, so that it would not stand out. As George V and Queen Mary had done, Their Majesties began tours of munitions factories and army camps and — with the Blitz — of bombed cities. Having slept on the train en route, they could appear at bomb sites in Coventry and Nottingham the morning after an air raid to comfort survivors and chat with Civil Defence workers. Everyone understood that the old train would not withstand a direct hit by a bomb or even shrapnel, and in the event of a German invasion, the saloons would splinter before a machine-gun attack. It was, of course, more likely that the train would be caught in an air raid, and the safest place was thought be in a tunnel. At the first sound of a siren, the train was to make for the closest one, remaining there until the “all clear” was sounded. Because of the threat of invasion, three new twelve-wheel cars were built for the royal family by the LMS at Wolverton: the King’s saloon (No. 798), the Queen’s saloon (No. 799), and one for the brake, power generators, and accommodation staff (No. 31209). The old LNWR royal saloons were withdrawn and later given to the National Railway Museum in York. Gone too was the ornate Victorian decoration; in its place were massive steel armour plates, including armour-plate shutters for the windows. Inside, the basic design was similar to the 1902 LNWR saloons, but they were now meant for extended day and night use. The walls, curtains, and carpets in the royal compartments were finished in pastel colours to provide a “country house” touch, contrasting with the armour plate outside. A rudimentary form of air-conditioning was attempted, with ice stored in boxes under the floor. It had to be frequently changed. Both saloons remained in use with the royal family until 1977, when they were sent into retirement. Today they stand next to their LNWR predecessors at the National Railway Museum.
Also made in 1940 were two special saloons by the GWR. Without sleeping accommodations, they were used for daytime trips by the royal family, as well as by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower. After the war, both continued to be used by Her Majesty the Queen Mother to go to the races at Cheltenham and, now restored, one is at the Birmingham Railway Museum and the other at the Didcot Railway Centre.
At 4:15 p.m. on November 20, 1947, a very special royal train was preparing to pull out of Waterloo and the station masters at Clapham Junction, Surbiton, Woking, and Basingstoke were told to phone as soon as it passed their stations. There were also to be standby locomotives and crews waiting at Woking and Basingstoke. The main part of the train would be two Pullman cars called “Rosemary” and “Rosamund.” At the termination of the train at Winchester, a chalk mark was to be made at the exact spot at which the footplate of the engine (a Lord Nelson class) stopped at the down platform. A signalman with a red flag was to stand on the platform side of the engine at the chalk mark to ensure that the train halted exactly at the appointed place so that the red carpet could be put down. The whole railway — indeed, in the frugality of post-war Britain, the whole country — was participating in this ride. For this was the honeymoon train for Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, RN, ready to take them to Lord Mountbatten’s home, Broadlands, in Hampshire. The young couple arrived at the station directly from their wedding reception at the palace in an open carriage. Concealed beneath the rugs were hot water bottles and the bride’s favourite corgi, Susan, with whom she couldn’t bear to part.
As His Majesty King George VI became ill, he tired more easily, and going to or from an event, he slept more often on board the royal train, his equerry asking that speed be reduced so as not to disturb His Majesty’s sleep. After he died on February 6, 1952, at Sandringham, his remains were conveyed on February 11 from Norfolk for the lying-in-state in London and on February 15 from Paddington Station for the burial at Windsor. The same saloon had been used as a hearse vehicle for the funerals of Queen Alexandra in 1925 and King George V in 1936. The sides were painted black, with the King’s coat of arms mounted centrally on each side, while the roof was finished in white.
On January 1, 1948, all the railways in Britain were nationalized but the royal family’s LMS Royal Trains were unaffected. Two saloons were built for Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. Thus, when she became queen in 1952, Her Majesty inherited three royal trains: the 1941 LNWR armoured train, the 1940 GWR daytime train, and the two saloons. The Queen used her mother’s saloon, 799, while Prince Philip used the former king’s saloon, 798. All three trains were hauled by the Lord Nelson-class locomotives, each of which was decorated with the royal plaques above their smoke boxes.
In 1955, Wolverton Carriage Works built a new saloon for the royal children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. No. 2900 was fitted out in nursery furniture and nicknamed “the nursery coach” by the railway staff. By the end of the 1970s, the last of the old LNWR coaches that had been built in 1941 had been retired and the royal train was very much a product of British Railways. The present royal train came into operation in 1977 with the introduction of four new saloons to mark the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. The carriages were built in 1972 as prototypes for the standard Inter-City Mark III passenger motor carriage and subsequently fitted out for their royal role at the Wolverton Works, where much of the work on the royal train has been done. The Queen and Prince Philip were both consulted as to design, as seen in the inward-opening, double-door entrance vestibule at the end of her saloon. The windows in the doors opened inward so that Her Majesty could take leave of her hosts after the doors had closed. Other smaller royal trains were still in use for daytime journeys or by Her Majesty’s guests. Visiting royalty or heads of state were met by the royal train whether they entered the country at one of the Channel ports or at Gatwick Airport. Unlike her father and grandfather, Her Majesty has travelled by ordinary