How train beloved by late Queen fell out of fashion with younger royals

Telegraph

6 hours ago

Over the decades, its grand mahogany smoking room and lavish blue silk decor gradually gave way to a level of functionality more akin to a Travelodge than a palace.
Once affectionately considered one of the true spectacles of royalty, the royal train had become a financial burden, an extravagance not in keeping with modern times.
Now, perhaps inevitably, the train so beloved of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II is no more, forever confined to the annals of history. A symbol of a bygone era.
For years, the writing had been on the wall.
The cost of maintaining the train, introduced by Queen Victoria in 1842, had attracted notable controversy in recent years, with various MPs calling for it to be scrapped.
For all of its advantages in terms of safety, privacy, security and convenience, the cost of at least £20,000 per journey had become hard to justify.
Crucially, despite their environmental campaigning, the current roster of senior members of the Royal family has increasingly preferred to travel by helicopter, swiftly choppering in and out of engagements to be home in time for tea.
A review into the royal train's future was launched after the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, marking the first hint that it had been earmarked for the scrap heap.
Several months later, Buckingham Palace aides, perhaps reluctant to let go of such a remnant of royal history, revealed that the study had been extended.
A palace source said: 'Our conclusion is that it is too early in His Majesty's reign to determine what the future usage of the train might be.'
A year further on – in June 2024 – and the picture was much the same. Aides said that the previous 12 months had been 'exceptional' because of the coronation and the King's cancer diagnosis, rendering them unable to build up a picture of the train's normal usage.
But there was no hiding from the fact that the King had used the royal train on only a handful of occasions since he ascended to the throne.
Now, finally, the train has hit the buffers, a line drawn in the sand. Its journey through so many royal eras, through so many cities and counties, is at an end.
For all of the recent reluctance to travel by royal train, Elizabeth II was incredibly partial to this particular mode of transport.
The late Queen considered the train one of the few places where she could truly relax in privacy. A mobile home from home, she could hide away in its claret carriages, safe in the knowledge that she would not be disturbed.
During her reign, the royal train became a grand statement that managed to convey a sense of normality combined with an all-important veil of mystery, its secrets hidden behind the heavy curtains pulled across the windows.
Once described as 'the most luxurious and most elusive locomotive in the history of the British Isles', it was often referred to as members of the Royal family's favourite way to travel.
The late monarch, certainly, was so fond of the train that she saved it from being scrapped in 2017, when she made it known that she believed it to be a cost-effective and convenient way for her family to travel.
Palace sources said at the time that the train was in far better condition than previously thought. There was now 'no end in sight' to its use, they declared.
Doubts over the train's future had been raised four years previously by Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who told a committee of MPs that the current rolling stock, mostly dating from the 1970s, had only five to 10 years of service life left.
After that, he said, the prospect of replacing it would be a 'major decision', adding: 'The figures are quite staggering.'
But with memories still fresh of the fate of the Royal Yacht Britannia – which was retired in 1997 to the Queen's tearful distress –further tests were carried out on the train's rolling stock and it was duly given a reprieve.
While it may not have been the King's preferred mode of travel, the environmentally conscious monarch did have some influence; palace aides revealed in 2022 that the train was now powered exclusively by hydro-treated vegetable oil, a biofuel derived from waste products.
But even at the height of its use, the train was used no more than a handful of times a year.
A 23-year-old Queen Victoria took the royal train on its inaugural journey from Slough to Paddington, a ride she described as 'delightful and so quick'.
At the time, the train was considered particularly opulent and extravagant. Victoria was so charmed that more than two decades later, she commissioned her own set of train cars, lavishly painted with 23-carat-gold and blue silk details, largely funded from her own private purse.
For Victoria, the first monarch to recognise the importance of traversing the country and meeting the public, it was essential. For her own comfort, she prohibited the train from running at speeds beyond 30mph in the daytime and 40mph at night.
Fittingly, her final journey on board was made on her death in 1901, when crowds of mourners lined the tracks as her body was taken from Portsmouth to London Victoria en route to Windsor to be buried.
In the 1890s, the train had undergone an extensive refit, with new mod cons including electric lighting and an onboard lavatory.
Edward VII would later revamp the locomotive to resemble the Royal Yacht, its white-roofed wooden carriages boasting cooking facilities, baths and telephones.
During the First World War, George V used the train so frequently that it became his temporary home.
First bath on a train
The monarch made notable innovations, including the installation of the first bath on a train anywhere in the world as he toured the UK to boost morale.
He chose to sleep on the train rather than burden anyone with the need for hospitality because of wartime austerity. In 1935, he also installed the first radio on the train.
By the Second World War, the train was extensively upgraded to ensure that it was bulletproof. A 56-ton armour-plated roof, a maroon livery and a red and black coach lining were added, alongside special cabinets to hold confidential documents.
The current, rather more understated, iteration was unveiled in 1977 for Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee tour.
It may have become more functional than flamboyant, but the late Queen did request a few updates of her own, including her own bath, which she only used when the train was stationary, and her favourite Scottish landscapes were mounted in her bedroom.
Prince Philip, meanwhile, had a bathroom shaving mirror mounted alongside his lavatory to allow him to shave while seated.
The King, as Prince of Wales, liked to entertain on board. As a young boy, he is said to have been fascinated by how the driver managed to pull the train to a halt exactly in line with the red carpet lining the platform.
The specific details of each of the train's journeys were kept under lock and key for the protection of the VIP passengers, who often slept on board in sidings.
But for all the benefits of overnight security, it was increasingly expensive to keep on the tracks.
Since a review of the train's future was launched on the Queen's death in 2022, the King has only occasionally climbed aboard, using it twice in 2022-2023 at a total cost of almost £60,000.
When, in June 2023, the monarch used the train for a solo two-day journey to Pickering, North Yorks, to mark the centenary of the Flying Scotsman, it cost £52,013 – one of the most expensive royal journeys of that financial year.
The King would not use the train again until he travelled to the Midlands in February this year, ahead of engagements at JCB in Rocester, Staffordshire, and at a brewery in Burton upon Trent. He is understood to have stayed on board overnight, having conducted various Duchy of Lancaster meetings in the area at the same time.
He was back on board in June for a journey to Lancaster in what may have been the train's swansong.
Prince William has favoured it even less, last climbing aboard in June 2021, when he and the Princess of Wales joined the late Queen and the then Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall to travel to Cornwall for the G7 summit.
More recently, Prince William has opted to travel to many official engagements by public train, at a significantly reduced cost.
The Queen is thought to have been even less enthusiastic about the prospect of travelling and sleeping on this historic locomotive than her stepson, giving it a wide berth.
Similarly, the Duke of Sussex never so much as stepped on board the royal train, although his wife, Meghan, did join the late Queen on a journey from London to Cheshire in 2018, when she was given the honour of joining the monarch on their first – and last – double-handed engagement.
Their day trip cost almost £30,000 – notably more expensive than travelling by air.
The decision to decommission the train more than 180 years after its historic first journey has been blamed on the cost of its storage and maintenance, and the 'significant level of investment' required to keep it running beyond the expiration of its current contract in March 2027.
The introduction of two new helicopters that are said to provide 'a reliable alternative' illustrates, more than anything, quite how times have changed.