Rail: a crown jewel in the Jubilee celebrations

Rail played major part in a stunning extended weekend of celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Stations everywhere got involved as Queen Elizabeth marked 70 years of service, the first UK monarch to do so.

Bunting was draped wall to wall and special entertainment put on at stations including Victoria and London Bridge.

The Station to Station initiative coordinated events across dozens of stations in the UK. These events linked up with local communities to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, while demonstrating the great partnerships between railway station teams and community groups, such as the Scouts.

Trains, like those from the Greater Anglia and Great Western Fleets, were emblazoned with the Platinum Jubilee emblem as they took excited passengers to and from busy and spectacular celebrations.

Meanwhile, events at museums took people on royal-themed journeys through the years, with Locomotion Shildon, for instance, looking at seven decades of rail, and the London Transport Museum handing out souvenir roundel paper crowns and free tickets to some lucky visitors. The National Railway Museum had a special ‘Royals on Rails’ exhibition, which will continue to run until early September.

Meanwhile, businesses had Jubilee-inspired fun moments, such as the team at SWGR, which called an ice cream van to visit the Glasgow office.

A “wonderful” occasion

Among the festivities were those held at South Western Railway’s Windsor & Eton Riverside station. Senior leaders in the South Western Railway (SWR) executive team met with colleagues and local community representatives over a Jubilee celebration lunch.

Claire Mann, managing director of SWR, said:  “I was delighted to celebrate the historic Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen, honouring seven decades of dedicated service to the nation, with our wider SWR family. 

“It was wonderful to meet colleagues and members of the local community over the Jubilee lunch at Windsor & Eton Riverside, and to see all the special Jubilee decorations in Windsor and at London Waterloo.

“Thank you to SWR colleagues and volunteers for all their hard work, ensuring that our customers can enjoy the celebrations across our network.”

Don’t forget that we have a special fundraising magazine to help charity which celebrates this momentous occasion. Your Railway, Our Community is designed to commemorate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The brochure features a look back over 70 years on the railways and highlights of some of the fantastic work being completed by rail organisations and businesses across the UK to support their communities. Some of the organisations featured include Network Rail, Transport for London, British Transport Police, Northern Trains, Jacobs, and more.

The money will be shared between charities Save the Children, Railway Children, Railway Benefit Fund, Railway Mission, and Women in Rail.

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