In her Majesty Reign we have seen- The Beeching Act (cut British rail trackage in half), Intercity 125 (Tilting trains that made people sick),Pacer Railbuses(short one car RDCs that also made people sick from fumes), Docklands Light Railway, The Chunnel Tunnel, VIA Rail Canada (Also had LRC leaning trains that did not work) Semi Privatization of British Rail and ending of most streetcar service in London, Closing and reopening of Victoria Station and feel free to add your own to this list.
Consider the many heritage railways in Britain- there is no end to them. if you need to breathe coal smoke, steam and hot oil, it’s available just 2 hours from central London. Consider all the new tram systems in places like Manchester and Nottingham.
My friends over there complain about the fares, the soulessness of Euston station and the “plastic crap” of the Virgin trains on the West coast main line. The rail system of Britain is amazing to me; Beeching and Ernest Marples notwithstanding.
Agree 100%
And she did open the new Tram System in London’s Croyden.
Don’t forget the Isle of Man!
Lord Beeching will long be remembered (and reviled) for the massive cuts in the British Railways network (not unlike Conrail some years later) that were probably necessary. He did manage to drag British Rail into the second half of the 20th Century poised for the future.
It was not the HST that made people sick, it was the APT (which was a far more sophisticated design, but that no one in Britain needed at the price involved. The Pacers, aside from making me sick just thinking about their cheapness, made people sick with that silly rocking-horse ride. They made some sense as they were originally intended, as a stopgap for real trains. The problem was that no one wanted to pay for the real trains…
Carter actually brought one of the railbuses over here, where it was slated to run 100mph testing on the NEC; if you thought the New Haven lightweight trains of the future were cheap, I have something cheaper to show you. The ride was not that bad, but the build quality (as with other things from that era, especially from Britain) left quite a bit to be desired. Apparently it has now been ignominiously scrapped; it deserved far better.
LRC tilted effectively; there was just never any real need to use it. The dedicated locomotives, much as I love them, were an even worse boondoggle than the FM Speed Merchants.
You should have mentioned Harrow, not long after her reign began, and Hatfield, which led to so much stuff (including, of all things, a rather good play). And wreck after wreck after wreck at the same goofy location on the ECML, the situation as yet STILL being kludged around rather than fixed (via a line diversion).
And what about the Elizabeth Line?
We wouldn’t have the heritage railways without Beeching. And remember that there was a blanket ban on private steam, run by ASLEF or not, on BR metals in the post-steam Sixties.
What does the queen have to do with Via Rail? Anglecock is trolling again.
He is including the Dominion of Canada as part of the British ex-empire, and indeed I believe Queen Elizabeth remained Canada’s reigning sovereign until Charles III.
She was Queen of Canada during the entire development period of the Avro Arrow.
Jet travel, men landing on the moon, and the invention of the iphone also occurred during her reign…
This is correct, and we had a ceremony in Ottawa the other day to officially proclaim His Majesty as our new head of state.
As has been making the rounds lately, the then-Princess’s first Canadian tour was steam powered, and she got to run CN 6057 (a U-1-e class 4-8-2) for a stretch east of Edson, Alberta.
I would opine that, aside from a few insinuations of dark deeds, the reign of QEII was relatively benign.
Yes, a lot did happen while she was queen, but much of it was the result of larger circumstances than she had control over.
Just my take.
Pretty sure ViaRail didn’t consult with Her Majesty when choosing equipment…??
Canada DID have to get Her Majesty’s approval before they dropped the Red Ensign for the current Maple Leaf flag.
Canada’s had quite a few colorful and dramatic flags over the years. Have a look!
Yes, she was a good queen. No scandals…she was always careful to not insert herself into current events and public discourse. She maintained the proverbial stiff upper lip throughout her 70 year reign. Let’s hope King Charles learns to rein in his own irritability and pompousness going forward…his mom will be a tough act to follow.
I’m sure they didn’t, but she was known for being knowledgeable and more than up to speed on many files, sometimes to the detriment of those who met her unprepared. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did have more than a basic understanding of VIA’s plans…
It has been a long time.
I expected Queen Elizabeth to outlive her mother, who famously lived to 101, but this was not the case.
Here in Australia coins with the Queen’s image have increased in value since her death, even though they will presumably continue to be minted until the new designs for Charles III are prepared, presumably with the date of 2023.
I remember going to the 1953 Coronation celebrations. It is one of my earliest clear memories. Our neighbour drove us all down to Kirribilli, parking the Humber Super Snipe on the grass under the Harbour Bridge approaches. Imagine doing that today… There were the usual fireworks over the harbour, but not on the bridge itself as occurs today. The RAN flagship HMAS Australia was illuminated with lightbulbs marking its complete outline, including its three funnels, I recall having this ship drawn to my attention, noting the three funnels, although there were several other ships similarly decorated.
For the 1954 Royal Visit we were allowed on the roof of my father’s offices in George Street, from where we had a
Considering that she spent the latter part of WW2 working in the Motor Pool, I’m not surprised that she would have a liking for things mechanical.
Not wishing to get too far off topic, here is some (brief) footage of the 1954 Royal Tour showing the Royal Train arriving in Newcastle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwwxwBT8CUs
This was the first train painted in the Indian Red colours that became standard for all trains until 1980. The locomotives are RSC-3s built in Montreal. They would normally be painted green, but were repainted blue for the Royal Tour. The train was used for other journeys during the tour.
In the full tour documentary, the NSW Royal Train is seen at 45:55 descending the mountains crossing Knapsack Viaduct returning to Sydney from the West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_EXTWvPDeQ
There is also coverage of the Victorian broad gauge Royal train at 49:40. This was hauled by locomotives B60 and B85, model ML-2 built by Clyde Engineering in Sydney. B60 still exists, rebuilt to an AAT22C-2R, basically with the machinery of an SD39-2.
Peter
Yes, I know that. I know that it is strictly an honorary role.
But one that makes it legitimate to discuss Canadian developments in a discussion of the Queen’s reign.
The Pullman car that the king and queen toured Canada on in 1939 is in Toronto and is being restored, as I understand it. it’s owned by the guy who owns Rapido Trains, a model train manufacturer who makes in HO and N, perfect models of Canadian prototypes. OK, so it’s not about Elizabeth but what the hell.