Royal blue silk, carved ivory and bird's eye maple are not materials usually associated with grimy steam trains, but the unveiling of Queen Victoria's favourite railway carriage in York yesterday provided a vivid reminder that the age of steam was also the age of imperial splendour.
With quilted silk panelling on the walls, elaborately carved chairs and gilded light fittings, the royal saloon - which the queen used for more than a hundred journeys, especially en route to her holiday retreat in Balmoral - has undergone a £100,000 refurbishment at its home in the National Railway Museum.
Built in 1869, the saloon was originally two separate carriages, with a flexible covered walkway in between - the cutting edge of Victorian technology.
Its designer, Richard Bore, was later forced to make it into a single carriage, after the nervous queen refused to step between the two halves when the train was moving.
The queen last travelled in the saloon 103 years ago yesterday, on November 6 1900, weeks before her death.
When the silk was removed from the manservant's quarters during the restoration, what appeared to be a Victorian graffito was found underneath: the word "Brown" - possibly even a reference to the Queen's much-loved Scottish servant John Brown, portrayed by Billy Connolly in the 1997 film Mrs Brown.
The Heritage Lottery Fund provided half of the money for the 18-month conservation project, and an auction of memorabilia donated by train companies helped make up the rest.
The carriage originally cost £1,800, of which the queen contributed £800 herself.
She thwarted the designer's enthusiasm for technology a second time when Bore installed electric lighting in the saloon. The Queen said she preferred the more familiar oil lamps.
Her anxiety about the new mode of transport also made her restrict its speed to just 40 miles an hour.
She did, however, agree to keep the electric bell that Bore had installed for summoning her servants - and when she first travelled in the saloon, the coals on the tender were painted white, so that she was not offended by the dirtiness of the new mode of transport.
