On the sad death of our beloved Queen Elizabeth we pause to remember her numerous journeys on the Royal Train in the North East. This photograph by JW Hague, from the NERA collection, shows the train passing Monkton Moor, carrying Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh from Catterick to Harrogate, on 10 July 1957. The inset shows Harrogate’s Mayor Alice Wardle greeting Her Majesty at Harrogate station, which was decked out in flowers under the guidance of Station Master Longbottom. The Royal party visited the Great Yorkshire Show, after which they rejoined the train and travelled to York.
It would have been wonderful if the Queen’s coffin could have travelled by rail from Edinburgh to London, pausing at each station along the way as originally planned.