GR V3 iron queen?

[Clément Lévy]

Dear all, here I am again among you my fellow pynchonites. Just a silly
question, but do you know what means the famous iron queen in:
Above him lift girders old as an iron queen, and glass somewhere far above
[GR 3]
The French awful translation says something like "an old architecture is
standing above him like the wreck of a ocean liner through which is pouring
the light of the day." But I found somewhere else on the Internet a page
from the German translation (Jelinek!) which is "old as an iron queen."
If you have any idea about those queens, I will appreciate!
Best,
Clement
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