Each of the nine cars was 730 feet long, lit by electricity and equipped with electric bells, telephones, and facilities for hot and cold water. “Cornwall,” the day coach, had an expansive observation platform at the rear, and its glass door opened into a reception area and an apartment decorated in Louis XV style. The entire room, except the framing and half the sidewalls, was constructed of plate glass to give the royal party an unobstructed view. From the reception area, a winding corridor led to the Duchess’s boudoir, which was upholstered in silk, its walls hung with original oils. The dining room walls were panelled and adorned with a number of armorial bearings, including those of His Majesty the King and of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess, as well as the coat of arms of the Dominion of Canada. Entered through a vestibule with soft green plush curtains, the night coach, “York,” contained the bedrooms and bathrooms of the Duke (in grey and crimson), the Duchess (in blue), the ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting, and the servants. “Canada,” the third coach, was a compartment car with five staterooms, a dressing room, lavatory and shower bath, and parlour. The remainder of the train consisted of “Sandringham,” the staff dining car, and the sleepers “Australia,” “India,” and “South Africa,” which held the secretaries’ office and medical dispensary. The royal train was always preceded by the viceregal train carrying the Governor General and his staff, the Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and members of Parliament, and the premier of whichever province it was then in.
British Railways Board
The Britannia Class 4-4-0 locomotive that hauled King Edward’s VII’s royal train in 1902.
Between 1914 and 1941, no new royal saloons were built and, with some modifications, the existing royal trains served both Edward VIII and George V. Queen Victoria’s old saloon would be used as the hearse coach for both her funeral and that of her son, Edward VII. The period of opulence had ended with the Great War, and with hard financial times, railway companies were reluctant to spend on decor in the hope of attracting royalty. Also, the motor car was usurping the train for short Royal Tours.
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The Prince of Wales (centre) standing next to a Canadian National Railways passenger car, Ottawa, Ontario, 1924.
King George V and Queen Mary made extensive use of various carriages owned by the LNWR, GWR, and the LBSC. Of the many industrial areas they visited by train — the pair loved to press switches and unveil plaques — particularly historic was their trip to the huge railway yards at Crewe on April 21, 1913: no member of the royal family had until then ever been to a rail yard. During the First World War, Their Majesties continued their inspection trips by train, but now to munitions factories and hospitals. Because they did not wish to stay overnight at homes of friends (for one thing, all the domestic staff in the big houses were now in uniform), they slept more and more on board the royal train and even bathed on it — so much so that, in 1915, two bathtubs, silver plated and encased in mahogany, were installed in the dressing rooms of the saloons used by Their Majesties. On April 28, 1924, the King personally drove a Castle class locomotive, number 4082, appropriately named “Windsor Castle,” from the Swindon Works to Swindon Station.7 Plaques were mounted on the side of the cab to commemorate the occasion.
Through his short eleven-month reign, Edward VIII never warmed to the royal trains — they represented the formality of his father’s era. His Majesty preferred instead fast cars (preferably Canadian) and aircraft. But his dislike did not extend to those trains he used overseas. On his first visit to Canada in 1919, accompanied by Captain Alan Lascelles (later to be Governor General Lord Bessborough’s secretary), the handsome, unattached, twenty-six-year-old Prince Edward set out on a two-month rail tour across Canada. “I progressed westwards in a magnificent special train provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway. My quarters were in the rear car, which had an observation platform. This last . . . while providing me with a continuous view of the varied Canadian landscape had however the drawback of making me vulnerable to demands for ad lib speeches from the crowds gathered at every stop,” he remembered. “Getting off the train to stretch my legs, I would start up conversations with farmers, section hands, miners, small town editors or newly arrived immigrants from Europe. It was the first time that a Prince had ever stumped a Dominion.” In 1923, he came back for a seven-week tour, and even tried his hand as driver at the controls of a Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 locomotive. The Prince returned to visit his Alberta ranch several times, including in 1927 to celebrate the country’s Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.
His Royal Highness was not as fortunate with rail travel in Western Australia when on tour there in 1920: as his train entered Bridgetown, it derailed. Only by luck did the heir to the throne escape unhurt. But when he returned home on HMS Renown and stepped ashore at Portsmouth on October 11, the royal train was waiting to take him to Victoria Station, the front of the 4-4-0 locomotive decorated with the Prince of Wales’s feathers. It was a mark of respect well meant by the railway but wholly unappreciated by the Prince.
On the Continent the Prince of Wales made frequent trips to Vienna, preferring the anonymity of the Orient Express to the royal train. The Wagons-Lit Compagnie converted Sleeping Car No. 3538 for his private use, with a salon and shower.8 On one trip, the Prince claimed he was in Vienna consulting a physician for a chronic ear problem, when His Highness and friend Major Edward “Fruity” Metcalfe were seen at the Viennese night spots Chat Noir and Cocotte, and rumours spread that they were meeting with prominent Nazis. Edward VIII had no liking for either Sandringham or Balmoral, and did not use trains as much as his father or grandfather, choosing to isolate himself in his residence at Fort Belvedere, which could be reached only by car. Even a Mediterranean cruise had unfortunate results: the hostility of the Italian Fascist government prevented him from embarking on the yacht Nahlin in Venice, and his party had to travel by train to Yugoslavia, “an indescribable journey that I subjected myself to,” he wrote (blaming the Foreign Office for this inconvenience), to meet the yacht at the little fishing village of Sibenik.
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Visit of Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Her Majesty is accepting flowers from a little girl. The royal party has just alighted at Beavermouth, B.C., July 1939.
One of the rare occasions when Edward VIII did use a British train was on November 18, 1936, when he toured depressed areas in Wales. Scorning the royal train — and even the red-carpet treatment — His Majesty travelled in a special GWR carriage, arriving bareheaded in the freight yards, and completing much of the tour by car. His flair for public relations asserted itself this one final time and, moved at the plight of the destitute miners, he declared, “something must be done.” However, Edward knew he would not be the man to do it, and had already told his brothers, his mother, and the prime minister of his intention to abdicate. After his abdication, there were no more royal trains and the new Duke took the Orient Express from Austria to France to be married at the Château de Candé, near Tours. This time, a retired Orient Express employee recalled, to escape the media circus, or “hounds” as Wallis Simpson termed the press, his meals were taken by tray into an ordinary compartment, where the former king ate off two suitcases balanced between the seats.
During her son’s brief reign, it was Queen Mary who kept the old LNWR Royal Train in use, and after Edward’s abdication, it became a perfect means for King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and the two little princesses to vacation at Balmoral. The children were thrilled at sleeping on a train that had been built for their beloved grandfather, who had doted on little Elizabeth. As soon as he acceded to the throne, as if exorcising his brother’s irresponsibility, George VI immediately paid visits by train to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Unlike his brother, the new king had always enjoyed trains. As Duke of York, he had travelled on the Orient Express