Remembering the Duke who opened two museums the same day
HERITAGE railways large and small displayed wreaths on locomotive smokeboxes as the nation said farewell to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
The tributes were carried on service trains on Saturday, April 17, the day of Prince Philip's funeral at Windsor Castle.
Some lines delayed their trains as a mark of respect and a minute's silence was held at numerous locations. The Great Central Railway cancelled the final train of the day, with the affected passengers being offered alternative services.
Observers have also commented on the impact made by the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme in helping young people to develop skills which proved essential when they became heritage railway volunteers.
Occasion
The Duke held what was believed to be a unique position in the railway heritage sector, having opened two major museums on the same day.
On Saturday, September 27, 1975, he travelled on the Royal Train behind Class 47 No. 47255 to Darlington, where he formally opened North Road Station Museum on the 150th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
The museum, housed in the North Road station building which was built in 1842, replacing an earlier terminus in a converted goods warehouse which had been opened to passenger traffic in 1833 and demolished in 1864, had been open to the public since August 16 that year. It is now known as the Head of Steam Museum, and is gearing up to play a major part in the Stockton & Darlington bicentenary celebrations in 2025.
From Darlington, the Royal Train took Prince Philip to York, where platform 8 had been roped off ready for his arrival, and was three minutes early. The stock comprised corridor brake/convertible sleepers Nos. 5154/5, originally built by the LNWR in 1906, royal saloon No. 798, built by the LMS in 1941 and special saloon first No. 45006 (LMS, 1942).
After introductions to local dignitaries and BR management, the Duke left the station and was driven on a tour through the city to the museum, as it is a York tradition that royalty must pass through Micklegate Bar when visiting the city.
Earlier, the prototype High Speed Train, carrying guests of the Department of Education & Science from King's Cross, had arrived in York after delays near Peterborough, firstly because of a fire in the rear power car (No. W43001) and secondly to adjust the brakes. Its arrival in York was 50 minutes late, but the guests just had time to take their places at the museum before the Duke arrived, to musical accompaniment by the band of York Railway Institute, playing in the well of the large turntable. Speeches were opened by BR chairman Richard Marsh, who referred to the opening of the Stockton & Darlington exactly 150 years before, and outlined the history of the National Railway Museum, from its beginnings in Queen Street, York, through the British Transport Museum at Clapham, London to the present site.
Ceremony
He then formally handed the museum over to the Department of Education & Science “who will now have the pleasure of paying for its upkeep!” Mr Marsh was followed by Arts Minister for the Arts, Hugh Jenkins, who recalled taking his mother round Clapham Museum and his battle as Putney MP to keep the museum at Clapham. However, he confessed that, in York, “better had been replaced by best” in the provision of the first national museum to be created outside London.
Formally declaring the museum open, the Duke remarked that railways had been as much a revolution in their day as supersonic aircraft were now – Locomotion No.1 had led to Concorde – and he speculated on the opposition that would be voiced in this environmentally-conscious age to the pollution and destruction of the countryside caused by steam-hauled trains gouging across the land on iron rails if they had been put forward in the Seventies as a new invention.
Replying to the guests, the Lord Mayor of York made reference to “a previous Lord Mayor, wearer of this same chain of office” but could not bring himself to utter the name of the discredited ‘Railway King' – the threetimes city Lord Mayor, George Hudson!
Accompanied by museum staff, the Duke then toured the museum, and in the yard outside saw the full-size replica of Locomotion No.1 in steam, and briefly took the controls of LNER 2-6-2 No. 4771 Green Arrow, which was steaming beside A3 Pacific No. 4472 Flying Scotsman, and an exhibition of modern BR traction and rolling stock. The museum was opened to the public the following day.