Train fans needn’t despair, though, as the royal railway relic isn’t disappearing for good. Some parts of it are being lovingly preserved, with a long-term home for them being scoped out already, meaning you might soon be able to cop a look at the HRH Express yourself. Or bits of it, anyway.

The train, actually a suite of nine railcars that can be hitched to commercial locomotives, will be decommissioned sometime before the current maintenance contract expires in 2027. That will bring to an end a tradition that dates back to 1869, when Queen Victoria commissioned a pair of special coaches to accommodate her travels.