Canadian Railroads > Royal Train VIA Style

In a previous post eminence_grise said,

"In 1967, the Canadian Government received two office cars from Hawker Siddeley in Thunder Bay to serve as "Royal Cars" when the Queen was in Canada. I'm not sure if she ever rode in them."

Our Queen did ride these cars. My photos are from her September 27th,1984 trip. She was here in Upper Canada to celebrate the bicentennial of Ontario. The royal train traveled(via CN's Kingston sub)from Cornwall to Amherstview, stopping briefly at Prescott and Kingston. At Amherstview Her Majesty boarded the royal yacht Britannia to continue her journey to southern Ontario.

Gerry Gaugl
Ottawa ON

Photo<1> Sept 27,1984 Cornwall ON

Pilot train consisting of a single FPA-4 and a 3200 series snack-coach depart Cornwall.

Photo<2> Sept 27,1984

Royal train rolling along CN's Kingston sub. west of Cornwall.

Photo<3> Sept 27,1984

The "Royal Cars" west of Cornwall.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/11 23:04 by moonliter.

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Photo<4> Sept 27,1984 Prescott,ON

The pilot train and the Royal train just about ready to depart.

Photo<5> Sept 27,1984 Gananoque Jct,ON

The Royal train running past to original site of the Gananoque Jct station. To the right
the track of the Thousand Island Railway can be seen heading to downtown Gananogue.

Gerry Gaugl
Ottawa ON

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I have a question about the "Pilot trains."
I have seen several occasions in photographs of "royal" trains of various kinds always running with a pilot train ahead. Was this done for the safety of the royal train--as the pilot train would act as the "canary in the coal mine" and find any problems on the railroad ahead of the train? Or was this more of a tradition denoting the importance of the royal train?

Canary in a coal mine. My understanding is that a pilot train would operate ahead of a POTUS special or other high interest train.

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

These are the cars I saw the Governor General traveling in back in 1975. They were practically brand new then!

Are there any interior photos floating around? Current status of these cars?

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

DrLoco Wrote:
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> I have a question about the "Pilot trains."
> I have seen several occasions in photographs of
> "royal" trains of various kinds always running
> with a pilot train ahead. Was this done for the
> safety of the royal train--as the pilot train
> would act as the "canary in the coal mine" and
> find any problems on the railroad ahead of the
> train? Or was this more of a tradition denoting
> the importance of the royal train?

On the recent (very few) publicized train rides of US presidents or presidents-to-be, etc a pilot train is used.

It's ironic when soldiers are being killed daily with buried, improvised explosive devices detonated by cell phones and garage door openers, security "experts" place their faith in pressure activated protection which require the weight of a train to set them off.

Most senior officers fight the last war, because that's the one they know...

john1082 Wrote:
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> Are there any interior photos floating around?
> Current status of these cars?


They were acquired by the Three Valley Ghost town and Motel near Revelstoke BC , where they are on display. For a fee you can tour inside. The trucks were sold to someone else, however the ghost town had passenger car trucks to put under them.

The late Gordon Bell was an entrepreneur with an amazing capacity to acquire Government and other assets going up for auction. The roundhouse building they are displayed in is a huge grain bin from Texas, combined with structural steel and windows from the Western Star truck factory which closed in Kelowna years ago.