FOR nearly three decades she lived a quiet life in a museum on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, but now the Duchess of Sutherland has played centre stage in a right Royal occasion.
FOR nearly three decades she lived a quiet life in a museum on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, but now the Duchess of Sutherland has played centre stage in a right Royal occasion.
The London Midland Scottish "Coronation Princess" class locomotive became the first steam engine to pull the Royal Train for 35 years during the Queen's visit to North Wales.
The locomotive, originally built to haul express trains between London Euston and Glasgow, was saved by holiday camp owner Billy Butlin after it was withdrawn from service by British Railways in 1963.
It originally went on display at his holiday camp in Ayr, but in 1970 went to the Bressingham Steam Museum near Diss, where it was on display until 1997 when it was taken over by preservationists who returned it to the main line last year after a complete overhaul in Derbyshire.
The locomotive is now a regular performer on the mainline in the Midlands, the north of England and North Wales.
On Tuesday it hauled the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in the Royal Train during their golden jubilee visit to North Wales.
It was the first time the Royal Train had been hauled by steam since 1967.
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