Queen of Scots (train)

Fully restored by 1985, it was leased to the L&R Leisure Group to operate as The Royal Scotsman, a role it continued to fulfil until 1989 when L&R made an enquiry regarding outright purchase of the train.

With the replacement Royal Scotsman now formed by mostly steel bodied vehicles, the original wooden-bodied vintage cars were relaunched as The Queen of Scots, with both trains departing Edinburgh on tours of the Scottish Highlands during the summer of 1990.

That same year, the Gulf War broke out and large numbers of American tourists ceased travelling to the UK which left bookings for both trains short of expectations.

Edmondson decided to withdraw The Queen of Scots from traffic, remove the steel-bodied sleeping cars and store the three vintage vehicles at a private site in Sussex.

Three years would pass before the train would re-enter traffic but this time minus the sleeping cars, its intended use now being to offer single day charters to bespoke itineraries as dictated by the customer.

Between 1994 and 2007 use of the train was sporadic, the three vintage cars together with the Mark 1 staff / generator coach were based in the carriage shed at Clapham Junction.

West Coast Railways at Carnforth purchased the train outright in 2008 and have since fully restored it, albeit in a non-authentic livery.

The train now makes at least two visits to Scotland during the summer months, providing personal transport for present day owner David Smith.

Through trains from London to Scotland on the West Coast Main Line did not initially have dining cars although the morning and afternoon Scotch Expresses would stop en route at Preston for twenty minutes, in which time a full three-course meal would be served in the station dining room to all the passengers.

During the First World War, it was requisitioned by the Army and taken to France as part of a mobile HQ for Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig.