Flying visit is just the ticket for fans of steam

THE Flying Scotsman will be heading back to Gloucestershire in 2021.

Trainspotters will want to save this date in their diary next year as the 60103 locomotive will be making a special trip through the county.

Run by Railway Touring, the Cotswold Venturer trip will see locomotive 60103, the Flying Scotsman, leave Paddington at 7.40am on Saturday June 12 and head towards the West Country.

The famous locomotive will begin its journey at London Paddington before making its way through Kemble, Stroud and Cheltenham with stops at Worcester, Slough, Reading and Didcot and the return trip is currently listed as a reverse of the journey which will end at 8.10pm.

There are three different types of classes available for the journey: Premier Dining, First Class and Standard Class and tickets start from £110 for junior tickets and £144 for adult tickets.

You can find more information including how to get tickets on railwaytouring.net/

The Flying Scotsman was the first express passenger locomotive built by London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923. It had number 4472.

It weighs more than 150 tonnes and uses 45lb of coal and 40 gallons of water a mile. On August 9, 1989, The Flying Scotsman successfully completed the largest non-stop run for a steam traction engine of 422 miles between Parkes and Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia.

The Flying Scotsman was dismantled in 1995 before being restored by train enthusiast Dr Tony Marchington the following year at a cost of more than £750,000.