On This Day 174 Year Ago – Queen Victoria is the first monarch to ride on a train!

On 13th June 1842 Queen Victoria became the the first monarch to ride on a train.  She traveled from Slough to Paddington in the Royal Carriage pulled by the Phlegethon and its tender.  A replica of this train may be seen at the Didcot Railway Centre. It is regularly steamed up to give an authentic taste of travel at the dawn of the railway era. Later in her reign Queen Victoria often passed by my house (which in the late 1800s was part of the Blenheim Pub) on the way to her favourite holiday Read more [...]