Royal Saloon, Queen Mary's

Railway carriage, East Coast Joint Stock, No. 395, King Edward VII Saloon (later used by Queen Mary), built 1908, Doncaster.

In 1908, the Great Northern Railway and the North Eastern Railway jointly produced two new saloons for royal use. This particular carriage was numbered 395 and was originally used by King Edward VII. The other saloon was number 396 and was built for the use of Queen Alexandra.

In 1923 Saloon 395 came into LNER ownership and in 1924 was rearranged for the daytime journeys of Queen Mary (1867-1953). Her monogram can still be seen on the frosted glass windows. When Queen Mary inherited the carriage she quickly made a lot of changes to it. Keen to use the best of everything, she installed electric fans and radiators and decorated it with light, modern furniture.

In its later years of service the Saloon was used almost exclusively by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and was refurbished to her requirements. Subsequently it was repainted in royal claret over the original varnished teak livery. It was officially withdrawn from service in 1978 but its last operational journey in a Royal Train was in 1973.

The carriage’s exterior is clad in the traditional Great Northern Railway teak, however it bears features of the North Eastern Railway pattern, which symbolises its Joint Stock origins.