Information Provided and Collated by Eric Rawcliffe of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Preservation Society.

10th April 1847 was an important milestone in L&Y’s history, being the date on which the Manchester and Leeds Railway change its title to the "Lancashire And Yorkshire Railway Company". It was also the year that Queen Victoria, Duke of Lancaster, first set foot on the soil of her County Palatine. How are these connected?

The Queen’s peregrinations in Scotland in the summer of that year are recorded in The Times. It is reported that the Royal fleet assembled at Cowes in early August and took the Royal family northwards. There may have been a stop-over at Aberdeen for a speculative visit to Balmoral, although Victoria didn’t lease the estate until 1848, purchasing it early in the 1850s. It seems likely that the fleet continued northwards, splitting at the Moray Firth, with the Queen’s party taking the Caledonian Canal whilst the remainder rounded Scotland to the west coast. The canal was built in 1822 but improved from 1844 to 1847 so a Royal visit would not be surprising (officially opening the locks on the lochs?).

Some of the above is conjecture but The Times of Tuesday 21st September reports that "Her Majesty, Prince Albert, the Royal children and suite …" left Fort William (the western end of the Caledonian Canal) at 6 o’clock on the previous Saturday morning (18th), met up with two escort vessels that had rounded the Mull of Kintyre, and proceeded to Crinan, arriving about four hours later." There the Royal barge was waiting to take them through the canal, a passage of about two hours to Ardrishaig. Heavy rain had started when they arrived at Crinan and continued, so that "… after the arrival of the canal yacht at Ardrishaig the Queen remained in it nearly half an hour, in the hope that the rain might abate after a passing shower, but as the elements showed no symptoms of mitigating their wrath, it was not deemed expedient longer to delay the departure." Whilst walking along the quay Prince Albert "… shielded Her Majesty from the pelting rain by holding an umbrella over the Royal head." The flotilla set sail at 1 o’clock to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet in Campbelton (sic, now Campbeltown) Bay where they were to spend the night. The intention was to leave this anchorage on Sunday morning (19th) at 5 o’clock, reaching Fleetwood about 6 o’clock in the evening for another overnight stay.

Marshall records that the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway did not open until December 1846 and the Caledonian, linking Glasgow and Edinburg with Carlisle, did not follow until February 1848. Thus the main route to and from Scotland in 1847 was via rail to and from Fleetwood with sea travel for the remainder of the journey. Thomas Cook is reported to have conducted his first excursion to Scotland by this route in 1846, repeating it in 1847. Fleetwood was the brainchild of Peter Hesketh (from the Fleetwood family on his mother’s side - he later adopted this name himself) who owned the Rossall Hall estates in the northern Fylde. He saw the benefits to the estate of a port there and financed the construction of the town and the Preston & Wyre Railway which was opened in 1840. The Preston & Wyre Railway was amalgamated with the L&Y in 1846 (via the Manchester and Leeds Act of 3rd August - clearly this Act was prepared before the name change to L&Y).

So Victoria was expected on L&Y metals on Monday 20th September, but this didn’t materialise. The Royal Train awaited her: "Fleetwood, Monday - Last evening Her Majesty’s state carriage and two other carriages arrived at Fleetwood, as a special train. They were conveyed by an engine called the "Prince Albert", belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. This engine is an entirely new one, and was used for the first time on the above occasion. It is most elegantly decorated, and is enriched by a magnificent representation of the Royal arms." Here again we can speculate. Would L&Y provide a brand-new engine for such an important duty? Perhaps the newspaper correspondent wanted to impress? Marshall lists two 1847-built engines as acquired from Preston & Wyre, although this seems slightly at odds with the 1846 amalgamation - possibly the name persisted. However, neither of these Bury-type 2-2-0 engines is credited as having a name. Also recorded by Marshall is that the Preston & Wyre first operated with engines from the North Union Railway, which in turn operated the Lancaster & Preston Junction Railway which had six Bury-type 2-2-0s, one being named Albert (another was named Victoria). So maybe "Prince Albert" wasn’t a new engine but was recently out-shopped, but whatever its source it seems likely to have been a 2-2-0.

In anticipation that the Royal train would reach Preston about 9 o’clock several regular trains "… that would have impeded Her Majesty’s progress …" were altered, only to resume normal schedules when the "… electric telegraph …" informed of Her non-arrival. Among the waiting dignitaries were Sir Hesketh Fleetwood (styled as lord of the manor), Mr H Houldsworth, chairman of L&Y and Captain Huish, general manager of the North-Western railway. This latter gentleman was credited with saying that as the wind was freshening to gale he expected the fleet would have taken shelter; he was also credited with arrangements for keeping the line clear during the expected seven or eight hour run from Fleetwood to Euston. Meanwhile, a company from the 12th Lancers with several Royal carriages and luggage vans had arrived at Euston in anticipation of the Queen’s arrival, however the 7am Fleetwood train that arrived at Euston at 6pm brought news of the non-arrival. Restrictive traffic arrangements were expected to be in use the following day and Captain Huish promised to "… send off a special engine with the news of the arrival of Her Majesty at Fleetwood the moment the squadron is observed".

The Times of Wednesday 22nd September reports that the Queen finally arrived at Fleetwood at 7 o’clock on Monday night. The Royal yacht was moored and many dignitaries "… went on board to pay their respects to Her Majesty, and to receive Her Royal commands." On Tuesday morning "… at 10 o’clock exactly, Her Majesty, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal landed, and from the time Her Majesty put her foot, for the first time, on the shores of Lancaster, until the Royal train was out of sight, the most enthusiastic cheering prevailed". Mr Henry Houldsworth took charge of the train whilst the engine came under the charge of Mr Hawkshaw, engineer to the company - Marshall records that John Hawkshaw drove the Royal train from Fleetwood to Farington. "Her Majesty arrived at the terminus of the London and North-Western Railway in Euston-square exactly at 25 minutes before 6 o’clock." The 12th Lancers accompanied her to Buckingham Palace, although the newspaper doesn’t say whether they had waited at Euston all the time since first mustering.

The final paragraph of the Wednesday report says that having no sooner arrived in London, the Royal entourage was to set off for Osborne-house on the Isle of Wight that very Wednesday. Tough old life being Queen - maybe the current Duke of Cornwall has inherited the luggage gene from his ancestor.