and a lounge car (“River Clyde”), which occupied the rear of the pilot train.
The Canadian National prepared locomotives for hauling the royal train, a 6400 type,10 a 6000 type, and one “Pacific” type, all finished in royal blue. Weighing 660,080 pounds, 95 feet long, and 15 feet high, the Canadian National 6400 steam locomotive had been built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1936 and, with the help of the National Research Council, was planned with an aerodynamic design that could prevent smoke from obscuring the engineer’s vision and could also reduce costs. The final bullet-shaped configuration, the result of wind-tunnel tests conducted in Ottawa, was so streamlined that it was often mistaken for a diesel locomotive. In addition to these, a CN oil-burner was used for hauling it through the mountains. The Canadian Pacific prepared two of its new Class H-1-d 4-6-4 locomotives for the royal train, which were the Hudson type, 2800 class. The Royal Hudson 2850,11 reconditioned at the CPR’s Angus Shops in Montreal, hauled Their Majesties across Canada, the first time that one engine had made a continuous journey of this length. Specially refitted and decorated for the occasion, the Canadian Pacific locomotive was a mass of shining stainless steel, royal blue, silver, and gold. The semi-streamlined engine bore the Royal Arms over the headlight, and Imperial Crowns decorated each running board. The crest of the Canadian Pacific appeared beneath the window of the cab and on the tender. The general decorative scheme comprised a background of deep blue on the underframe, the smoke-box, the front of the engine, and all the marginal work on the engine and tender. The sides of the tender, cab, and running boards were painted royal blue. The jacket of the locomotive, its handrails, and other trim were of stainless steel with gold leaf employed on the engine numbers. With His Majesty’s approval, the Royal Arms and replica crown were applied to all forty-five of the CPR’s H-1-c, H-1-d and the H-1-e 4-6-4s built between 1937 and 1945, and they became known as the “Royal Hudsons.”
The only time Their Majesties did not travel on the royal train was in New Brunswick between Fredericton and Saint John, where the track wasn’t strong enough to take it. A smaller, lighter train, consisting of a drawing-room car and four day-coaches, was used instead.
At a time when most of Canada seemed to live beside or near the two main railway lines, everyone had a good chance of seeing the royal train. Their Majesties met the famous, like air ace Billy Bishop, actor Raymond Massey, and the Dionne quintuplets, and the First People of Canada, like representatives of the Ojibway, Blacks, Stoneys, and Sarcees — some of whom had met the King’s father in 1901. They heard “God Save the King” sung many times in English, fewer times in French, and twice in Cree. Obviously missing their own daughters very much, they had lifted up to their carriage balcony dozens of bewildered children, and once at a remote station, Her Majesty, seeing two mothers with their babies, rushed into the kitchen and ran out with a bag of cookies for them. They met the future of the country through thousands of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, many chosen because they were thirteen-year-olds like Princess Elizabeth (a Girl Guide herself), and they met its past, shaking hands with seven holders of the Victoria Cross. The press did not need to look far for copy and anecdotes abounded. At tiny La Station du Côteau, Quebec, the Queen made His Majesty remain still and pose for a little girl who was struggling with a box camera. Later, at the White House, Her Majesty delicately tried to eat the first hot dog she had ever seen with a knife and fork until President Roosevelt leaned over and advised, “Just push it straight into your mouth, Ma’am.”
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Crowds wait for the royal train at Kitchener, Ontario. Boys placing coins on track over which it will pass.
When she learned the house prices at British Pacific Properties in Vancouver, Her Majesty wondered aloud if even she could afford to live there.12 The pair got off to visit dozens of veterans’ hospitals, placed wreathes on a dozen memorials, and must have planted a forest of trees. The blue train stopped at all major Canadian cities as well as specks on the map for water. Such a one was Fire River, Ontario (population twelve), where Her Majesty asked a trapper, “How cold does it get here in the winter?”
“Sixty-five below, Ma’am, and the snow, she’s six feet deep,” was the stoic reply.
When the royal train crept into Halifax on June 16, having covered 8,377 miles, in its freight compartment was a variety of gifts. Among them were the two tiny birchbark canoes for the princesses, dozens of stamp albums (everyone knew that the King, like his father, was a keen philatelist), twelve-pound cheeses, braided gauntlets from Duck Chief of the Blackfoot, a silver desk telephone, a solid gold trylon and crystal glass perisphere (with a thermometer in the trylon) from the New York World’s Fair, and a portrait of the late King George V by Sir Wyly Grier.
When the Empress of Britain docked at Southampton, the party boarded the old LNWR Royal Train for Waterloo Station. There they were met by Princess Alice of Connaught, and the Countess and the Earl of Athlone, all of whom had viceregal connections with Canada. Also on the platform was the Canadian High Commissioner Vincent Massey, another future Governor General. At Waterloo, the King and Queen boarded a landau for the ride to the palace, and as it emerged from the station, they were visibly moved by the cheering crowds outside. Through Trafalgar Square and the Mall, massed ranks of spectators applauded, the King noticing some carrying signs that said simply, “Well Done.” The Queen later told Prime Minister Mackenzie King, “The tour made us! It came at the right time, particularly for us.”13 A New York Times headline summed it all up: “The British Take Washington Again.” The North American rail tour had given His Majesty the confidence he would need to face the rigours of the war that was just around the corner.
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Prince Philip in the cab of the royal train locomative, kamloops, B.C., October 1951.
At the start of the Second World War, the old LNWR train built in 1902 was repainted the same colour as other trains, so that it would not stand out. As George V and Queen Mary had done, Their Majesties began tours of munitions factories and army camps and — with the Blitz — of bombed cities. Having slept on the train en route, they could appear at bomb sites in Coventry and Nottingham the morning after an air raid to comfort survivors and chat with Civil Defence workers. Everyone understood that the old train would not withstand a direct hit by a bomb or even shrapnel, and in the event of a German invasion, the saloons would splinter before a machine-gun attack. It was, of course, more likely that the train would be caught in an air raid, and the safest place was thought be in a tunnel. At the first sound of a siren, the train was to make for the closest one, remaining there until the “all clear” was sounded. Because of the threat of invasion, three new twelve-wheel cars were built for the royal family by the LMS at Wolverton: the King’s saloon (No. 798), the Queen’s saloon (No. 799), and one for the brake, power generators, and accommodation staff (No. 31209). The old LNWR royal saloons were withdrawn and later given to the National Railway Museum in York. Gone too was the ornate Victorian decoration; in its place were massive steel armour plates, including armour-plate shutters for the windows. Inside, the basic design was similar to the 1902 LNWR saloons, but they were now meant for extended day and night use. The walls, curtains, and carpets in the royal compartments were finished in pastel colours to provide a “country house” touch, contrasting with the armour plate outside. A rudimentary form of air-conditioning was attempted, with ice stored in boxes under the floor. It had to be frequently changed. Both saloons remained in use with the royal family until 1977, when they were sent into retirement. Today they stand next to their LNWR predecessors at the National Railway Museum.
Also made in 1940 were two special saloons by the GWR. Without sleeping accommodations, they were used for daytime trips by the royal family, as well as by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower. After the war, both continued
