{"id":587577,"date":"2026-10-28T12:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T01:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slrailwayforum.com\/queen-elizabeth-ii-sri-lanka-visit-1954\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T12:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T01:53:00","slug":"queen-elizabeth-ii-during-her-royal-visit-to-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=587577","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth II: During Her Royal Visit to Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

In memory of Queen Elizabeth II: Just five months after her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II engaged in a royal visit to Sri Lanka. This was the first visit to Sri Lanka by a reigning monarch. She was accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. The ten-day tour included a royal procession through Colombo where she opened the first session of the second Parliament of Ceylon, a train ride to Kandy<\/a>, and tours of Anuradhapura<\/a>, Polonnaruwa<\/a>, and Nuwara Eliya.<\/p>\n

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Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Kandy railway station 1954<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wickham trolley No 712 at Maho railway station, the crowd gathers across the station to cheer her majesty the queen \u00a0Elizabeth II, on this day the Royal train from Anuradhapura hauled by two M1's will take her to Polonnaruwa.<\/p>\n

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Wickham trolley No 712 at Maho railway station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the petrol or the pilot rail trolley which will lead in front of the royal train. A3d class 357 at Polonnaruwa station after carrying the Royal train from Gal-Oya 1954.<\/p>\n

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A3d class 357 at Polonnaruwa station after carrying the Royal train from Gal-Oya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These 1951 build W.G Bagnall LTD 4-8-0 were the last steam locomotives to import to Ceylon and were short-lived due to diesel locomotive overtake. No 357 got abandoned in the late 1960s and got condemned and scrapped at Anuradapura. Due to light rail beyond GalOya, the M1 double-headed Royal train was re-engine with double-headed A3d's.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Written by Akila Ariyapperuma<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sources: https:\/\/blogs.fcdo.gov.uk\/ukinsrilanka\/2021\/06\/17\/celebrating-the-queen-sri-lankas-royal-connection\/<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queen Elizabeth II: During Her Royal Visit to Sri Lanka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[485,9280,484],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sri-lanka","category-sri-lanka-railways","category-srilanka"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t