From Saleroom to Royal Saloon

At Tennants, we are always interested to hear where items that have passed through our salerooms have ended up, and so we were delighted to be told that a late Victorian writing desk that was bought from Tennants in 2017 now furnishes Queen Victoria’s personal saloon coach that runs on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway near Skipton.

Built for the London and South Western Railway’s Royal Train in 1885, the carriage was altered to become Queen Victoria’s personal coach in 1887 – her Golden Jubilee year. The Queen used the coach to travel from Waterloo to Gosport, from where she would board the Royal Yacht to sail to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The coach was also used by several European heads of state during official visits to Britain. Following the Queen’s death in 1901, the coach was kept for Royal use for several years, before being converted to a family saloon and eventually sold by Southern Rail in 1930.

After decades being used as a home for a gamekeeper, the coach was selected for preservation in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2017 that it was given the attention that it richly deserved. After being restored by Stately Trains, the coach is now used on special journeys on Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway giving passengers a taste of Victorian splendour.

With thanks to Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway for sending us their photographs.