The British Royal Train is used to convey senior members of the British royal family and associated staff of the Royal Household around the railway network of Great Britain. It is owned by Network Rail, and maintained and operated by DB Cargo UK.
The Royal Train comprises a dedicated set of claret-liveried sleeper, dining and lounge carriages. The current rolling stock dates from 1977 to 1987. They are arranged according to requirements, and stored when not in use. The earliest royal coaches date back to the mid-19th century in the reign of Queen Victoria; until an upgrade in 1977 there were multiple sets based in different regions, a legacy of the pre-nationalisation era of railways in Britain. Many are now in museums or on heritage railways; the National Railway Museum in York has a royal themed exhibition.
Dedicated locomotives have never traditionally been part of the Royal Train, first appearing in special livery only in the 1990s, but also seeing use on other trains since 2003. In the 21st century, various steam locomotives have also hauled the train on special occasions. Although regularly cited by critics as one of the unnecessary luxuries of the Royal Family, which has led to an increase where possible in the use of normal scheduled services as an alternative, supporters argue that the current arrangement emphasises utility over luxury, and is still often the most practical and secure mode of travel to fit the required itinerary and avoid disruption to the public.
In December 2020, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge travelled across Britain by the Royal Train to thank communities and key workers for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the American PBS network aired a two-part series, Secrets of Royal Travel, with the first episode featuring the train and its history.
History
The first member of the British royal family to travel by train was the Dowager Queen Adelaide, who took a train from Nottingham to Leeds on 22 July 1840. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch to travel by train, on 13 June 1842 on the Great Western Railway (GWR), which ran the line between London Paddington and Windsor for Windsor Castle. The train transported the queen from Slough to London Paddington, and was hauled by the locomotive Phlegethon, driven by Daniel Gooch assisted by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Queen used a royal saloon which had been constructed by the GWR in 1840. According to the historian Kate Williams, the Queen "saw travelling the country as her duty, whereas monarchs didn't necessarily think that before".
The first carriage built for the exclusive use of a member of the British Royal Family was constructed in 1842 by the London and Birmingham Railway for Queen Adelaide. This carriage is now on display in the National Railway Museum in York.
In 1869, Queen Victoria commissioned a pair of coaches for £1,800 () from the London and North Western Railway.
In 1874, the GWR built a new royal saloon at its Swindon Works for the use of the queen. It was constructed under the supervision of Joseph Armstrong. It was long.
In 1877, the London and South Western Railway built a royal saloon for the use of the queen. It was built at the company workshop at Nine Elms and was long.
In 1897, the GWR marked the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria by providing a new royal train of six coaches. Until then, railway companies had provided special saloon carriages, but there was no regular royal train until this one was constructed. It replaced the GWR royal carriage of 1874, which was re-fitted and lengthened to .
By the 1890s, the Queen's train was equipped with electric lighting and a toilet, although she insisted on stopping at stations to use the facilities.
In 1899, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway provided a new royal train of five carriages, each long, comprising the royal saloon in the centre and saloon carriages at either end. The Morning Post of 17 April 1899 reported:
Nearly sixty years after her first train journey, after her funeral in 1901, Queen Victoria's coffin was taken to London Paddington and transported on the royal train back to Windsor, where she is buried.
In 1902, her son Edward VII commissioned new royal saloons from the London and North Western Railway. They were built in the Wolverton Works under the direction of C. A. Park. Two saloons were provided, one for the king and one for the queen. The interior decoration was carried out by S.J. Waring and Sons. The king's saloon had a smoking room in mahogany, with inlays of rosewood and satinwood, and a day compartment in the Colonial style, in white enamel. The saloons included electric heating. These saloons are now preserved at the National Railway Museum in York.
In 1908, the Great Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway jointly provided two new saloons and a brake van for use over their lines. Edward VII used this for the first time on 7 September 1908 for a journey to Ollerton railway station when visiting Rufford Abbey to stay with Lord and Lady Savile for the Doncaster Races.
In 1912, the Midland Railway provided a royal saloon for George V. It was built at the company workshops in Derby under the supervision of D. Bain, the works superintendent, and fitted out by Waring & Gillow. It was numbered 1910 to mark the year of the king's accession and first used in July 1912 when the king and queen travelled from Yorkshire to London. The Midland Railway Company also provided a dining car which could be attached to the saloon when required.
Prior to the partition of Ireland in 1921, royal trains were occasionally used for the British Royal Family when Ireland was under British rule. In 1897, the Great Northern Railway provided a new royal train of six vehicles comprising a drawing-room saloon, a dining saloon, first-class carriage, composite coach, and two vans. This was constructed in their own workshops and used for the first time during a visit by the Duke and Duchess of York in September 1897 and a trip from Banagher to Clara over the tracks of the Great Southern and Western Railway. This use of a royal train continued in Northern Ireland until the last British royal train there in the 1950s.
The Great Western Railway abandoned its old royal saloons of 1897 during the 1930s and borrowed stock from the LMS when required. In 1941, the LMS built three armour-plated saloons with safe cabinets for documents, for George VI, who travelled to parts of England that were under bombing raids during World War II. During that period, the existence of the Royal Train was still a state secret.
Shortly after the war, the armour plating was removed. New saloons were provided by the royal family for their train. Two of these cars have survived into preservation.
After the formation of British Railways in 1948, the individual regions continued to maintain the constituent railway companies' royal train carriages. A single "Royal Train" was formed in 1977 as a response to the demands of the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, with the carriages painted "a rich burgundy colour known as Royal Claret". The interiors have since been upgraded; some of the features ensure greater safety for their occupants. The royal family have also travelled on ordinary service trains more frequently in recent years to minimise costs.
The train currently consists of nine carriages, seven of these being of the British Rail Mark 3 design, including two that were built for the prototype HST train. Not all of these are used to form a train, as different vehicles have specified purposes. A 2020 report stated that they included a lounge for the Queen and another for Prince Philip, as well as carriages that serve as bedrooms, bathrooms, a dining car and a couchette. The Queen's private carriage included a "bathroom complete with a full-sized bathtub". Carriages are also available for staff, including sleeping quarters.
Two locomotives are designated for use on the train, and a third is available. All are painted in the claret livery of the royal household, but are used for other traffic when not hauling the royal train. A 2020 report stated that the Class 67 locomotives use "bio-fuel made from waste vegetable oil".
The carriages may be used for other heads of state, but they cannot be hired by private users. The train was used to convey officials to the 24th G8 summit in May 1998. When not in use, the train is stored in Wolverton Works, where it is maintained by DB Cargo UK. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the train was stored in the dedicated Royal Train Shed at Wolverton.
As part of the privatisation of British Rail, ownership passed to Railtrack. It is currently owned by Network Rail.
Train drivers are specially selected based on their skills, including the ability to make a station stop within six inches of the designated position.
In June 2025, it was announced that the Royal Train is to be retired.
Incidents
On 10 October 1881, the train carrying the Prince and Princess of Wales and Princess Louise from Ballater to Aberdeen lost a tyre from one of the tender wheels.
In November 1883, at the time of the Fenian dynamite outrages in England, the government received anonymous information that an attempt would be made against Queen Victoria's forthcoming journey from Windsor to Ballater. The report could not be corroborated, and could have been a mischievous hoax, but the Home Secretary, William Harcourt, asked George Findlay, general manager of the LNWR, to arrange special protection. Jointly with the other companies along the route, platelayers and other workers were mobilised to inspect every bridge along the journey and to watch over the line, each watcher in sight of the next, until the train had passed.
On 21 June 1898, David Fenwick, engine driver, was killed whilst driving the Royal Train between Aberdeen and Perth. The inquest found that he had climbed onto the coal tender to attempt to resolve a problem with the communication cord, and was killed after an impact with a bridge.
The Royal Train has had a very good service record. However, Gerald Fiennes wrote in his autobiography I Tried to Run a Railway of one incident on the Eastern Region when an ex-LNER A4 class 4-6-2 was used to pull the Royal Train. The first vehicle was a BR Midland Region generator van, and the difference between the 'buckeye' couplings on the A4 and on the van was about two inches. Various attempts to separate the couplings failed, leading the crew to couple up the station pilot (standing at the rear of the train) and apply the brakes. The A4's regulator was then opened to full cut-off, resulting in the engine breaking free from the generator van. The standard screw coupling was then used instead of the 'buckeye' couplings on the two vehicles.
In June 2000, a member of the Royalty Protection Branch (SO14) accidentally discharged his 9mm Glock automatic pistol while the train was halted for an overnight stop in South Wales. Both the Queen and Prince Philip were on board at the time, but were undisturbed by the accidental discharge, only becoming aware of it the following morning when notified by staff.
Locomotives nominated for the Royal Train
Although railways often had nominated locomotives for hauling the Royal Train (with special high maintenance regimes), no locomotives were dedicated solely to the train until the 1990s, when two Class 47 locomotives were painted in the claret livery of the Royal Household. They were replaced in 2003 by two Class 67 locomotives, both operated by EWS (now DB Cargo UK). The new locomotives are often used for special charter train services and on other occasional passenger services when not required. Occasionally the Royal Train is hauled by other engines.
Locomotives nominated for working the Royal Train have included: