Back on track!
Tens of thousands turn out to see glorious return of Flying Scotsman as she thunders along her old route
More than 80 years after smashing the world speed record on these very tracks, the most famous express in railway history was back on duty yesterday — and promptly ground to a halt. Such was the excitement and emotion surrounding the return of The Flying Scotsman to part of its traditional route, after a £4.2 million refit, that onlookers ended up spilling onto the track at one point.
The ten-year overhaul had been so extensive that, at times, some had wondered whether the Scotsman would ever fly again. Hence, in trainspotting circles, yesterday was tantamount to the Second Coming. Tens of thou- sands of rail enthusiasts and ordinary members of the public lined the route between London and York, including a farmer who had hoisted himself aloft in the bucket of his own tractor north of retford, Nottinghamshire.
But chaos broke out as the train approached St Neots in Cambridgeshire.
Around 60 trespassers ended up on the tracks in their quest for photographs, forcing the Scotsman’s driver to halt for 15 minutes. Network rail then had to delay other services along the east Coast mainline.
Further warnings of trespassers further up the line meant that the Scotsman was an hour late by the time it pulled into York at 1.17pm. Not that anyone on board was remotely bothered about the time. All could claim to have been part of a little bit of transport history. We might have lost Concorde and the Vulcan, but this 93-year- old engineering legend — the first locomotive to smash through the 100mph barrier in 1934 — is back in rude health.
Following last month’s trial run on a heritage line in Lancashire, yesterday was the first proper return to the mainline. The Scotsman will now go on public display at York’s National railway Museum, which acquired it in 2004.
A vast crowd of train-lovers and morning commuters packed Platform one of London’s King’s Cross to see yesterday’s 7.40am depar-
ture. It was from this station that the Scotsman would head for Edinburgh every morning in its pre-war heyday.
Yesterday, restored to a gleaming livery of ‘British Rail green’, the original Scotsman found itself alongside a modern imposter. Parked alongside it was a Virgin Trains locomotive also bearing the name ‘The Flying Scotsman’. Were this an episode of Thomas The Tank Engine, stern words would surely have been exchanged.
It was First Class only for the 297 passengers, a mix of VIPs, fundraisers, competition-winners and those who had managed to buy one of the £450 commemorative tickets. Berthed in original Mk I and Mk II carriages from the Fifties and Sixties, all were treated to champagne and a three-course breakfast.
The party was well underway as the train chugged out of the capital, past gleaming new landmarks it had never seen before, like Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Out in the open, it reached speeds of up to 70 mph in between two scheduled stops for water.
‘It was amazing to see people on every bridge and every platform or just standing in the middle of a field,’ said Anthony Coulls, senior curator of rail transport at the National Railway Museum.
His favourite memory of the journey was spotting a lady just north of Doncaster who had climbed to the top of a manure heap for a better view. Less fortunate was Ryan Allen from Lincolnshire. After a 50-mile drive, he waited an hour to film the Scotsman at Little Bytham.
At the crucial moment, a Virgin Trains express came thundering past the other way and completely eclipsed his view. By last night, as Ryan’s footage became a global online hit, Virgin had offered him a free flight to the U.S.
This was an emotional day for one passenger in particular. Back in 1963, the Scotsman was heading for the scrapyard when it was saved by London entrepreneur, Alan Pegler.
He spent his family fortune restoring the engine and taking it on a flag-waving tour of the U.S. By the end, he was bankrupt and the locomotive has been owned by several people since then. Pegler died in 2012 but, yesterday, his daughter, Penny Vaudoyer, was among those on board.
‘I had a tear in my eye thinking of my father and how thrilled he would have been to see so many people enjoying this beautiful engine,’ she said. ‘My father lost everything because of it. But he was never bitter. He used to say: “I’d do it all again.” ’
The party is not over just yet, however. The Flying Scotsman may have enjoyed a hero’s welcome in York yesterday. But just wait until it comes back out of the shed in May and for the next big journey — the return to Edinburgh.