Canadian Railroads > She loved the railroads as well as her subjects RIP Elizabeth II

The Royal Touch (CN Photo CNX36781)It was a nice Fall day in October of 1951, when what should have been a normal run on the Edson Subdivision for Locomotive Engineer W.H. Dixon and Fireman T.M. Arnott turned into an experience they would never forget. That's the day Dixon surrendered the hogger's seat of CNR 4-8-2 6057 to none other than Her Highness Princess Elizabeth, then on her very first tour of Canada. Princess Elizabeth appears to be lifting the train out of Peers, Alberta, headed for Edmonton. Prince Phillip watches while his wife puts the automatic brake into running position and will soon notch out the throttle a little more. Little did anyone in the cab of 6057 know that four months later, the Princess would be Queen.( Rian Manson )March 2013 Issue, Branchline. Photo courtesy of CN Images of Canada Collection at the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

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She knew how to perform basic car maintanance as well, skills she used during WWII

Nice picture, but nobody gave her goggles?

There's an old picture of British royalty on the pilot of a steam engine in the Rockies. Maybe Duke of Connaught?

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I heard that her body was to be carried on the "Royal Train" btw Scotland and London but it will now be by air. Too bad. I'm sure the Brits would have loved to have been trackside. Perhaps that was the problem?

Victor B.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/22 18:10 by wabash2800.

As best as I can tell loving trains is part of the British DNA.  When I was working in London it was somewhat surprising that at cocktail parties with "normal" people if they found out I was doing work for BR all they wanted to talk about was trains.  Of course, it usually was complaining about the commuter service in and out of London, but it was amazing how much "technical" knowledge they often had.

JBWX 

Very Cool!! Thank you for sharing your info and the photo.

As Queen did she not have her own special train for travel to her summer residence?

Well worth visiting the royal trains and so many others at the nationa; train museum in York, contiguous with the station and working mainline
tracks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/22 14:49 by TomPittsfieldMA.

viatrainrider Wrote:
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> As Queen did she not have her own special train
> for travel to her summer residence?

Many times The Queen travelled on the Royal Train. But there were times that short trips were taken on a standard train - with little pomp and only minimal security.

Here is an example of a trip to Sandringham for Christmas:  https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-norfolk-50871027

There have been several tours in Canada where a Royal train was used for at least part of the tour. The last one where there was extensive rail use was in the Toronto area in 1973. The Queen and the Duke used the two private cars that were assigned to the Governor General. I went to various locations to see and photograph the train. I had no car then, so the trips were on CN trains. There has been some rail use since then, but nothing on the scale of that 1973 trip or indeed tours before that year.

 

Being helped up into the 6057.

Chris Rye

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Awesome subject...:):):)

There's a U Tube video of the Royal Train over the years.  Mixing footage and interviews at York with vintage video of the trains in motion.  Back to the 1930s.

 My husband and I were at Paddington Station in London in the late 1980s when we saw a couple of men in suits with radios waiting for a train's arrival. We guessed that meant Somebody Important might be on the train, so we loitered.  When the Intercity 125 pulled in, Princess Ann got off--with no flourishes--and walked toward the exit.  So she, at least, rode on/ rides regularly scheduled trains.