FLYING SCOTSMAN
20,000 visitors at debut
Over two hectic weekends on January 9/10 and 16/17, all the Gresley ‘Pacific’s’ first public trains for ten years were fully booked, while total sales of ordinary service, dining and platform tickets came to almost 20,000. Flying Scotsman’s £4.2 million rebuild reached the finish line on the evening of Wednesday January 6, when it made its first moves under its own steam since December 20 2005 (an ‘engine and coach’ run from Tyseley back to York, its last main line tour having taken place three days earlier). Light engine trials to Heywood and Ramsbottom that evening and the following day, coupled to a Class 31 diesel, saw the ‘A3’ clock up an estimated 60 miles by the time of its official launch on December 8, when it undertook its first loaded test runs to Heywood with five Mk 1 coaches. Its first passenger working - a dining train for invited guests - followed that same evening. Problems with its air pump meant that for these trips, and for its first weekend of operation, it was paired with Ian Riley’s ‘Black Five’ No. 45407 - although it reverted to diesel assistance on January 10 due to the failure of the Stanier 4-6-0. The EWS-liveried Class 31 was again in evidence to provide Electric Train Heating to the Mk 1 and Mk 2 stock with which Flying Scotsman was paired for the second weekend. In steam for service trains were ‘West Country’ No. 34092 City of Wells and ‘Crab’ No. 13065, as well as No. 45407. Final revenue was still to be calculated, said ELR Financial Director David Layland as Steam Railway went to press, but “will be a long way into six figures” - all of which will be ploughed back into enhancements such as extending the Trackside bar at Bury Bolton Street, and a new canopy at Rawtenstall. The latest new guise of Flying Scotsman’s long career is a hybrid mixture of LNER wartime black (carrying the alternative Thompson numbers of 502 and 103 on each cabside) with a front end that NRM Associate Curator Bob Gwynne describes as being “as close as possible to how it was in 1963”. As well as re-fitting the German smoke deflectors and the 60103 numberplate, the top lamp bracket has been moved down and the handrail split - using archive photographs for reference. A repaint into BR green is to follow in February, prior to its planned formal main line launch train from King’s Cross to York - although as this issue went to press the date for this had still not been set, and the ‘A3’s first main line run had been cancelled (see separate story).
THE DEBUT of Flying Scotsman turned the quietest winter period into something more akin to busy summer Saturdays for the East Lancashire Railway, as crowds flocked to welcome the LNER ‘A3’ back into steam.
The historic moment as Flying Scotsman arrives in Bury Bolton Street station on the evening of January 6, making its first moves under its own steam in a decade. Was this the last time an ‘A3’ and ‘Black Five’ double-headed? On the ‘Thames-Clyde Express’ of July 16 1960, Holbeck shed’s No. 60038 Firdaussi was assisted over Ais Gill summit by Kingmoor’s No. 44886. Photographer GAVIN MORRISON says that it was the only time during the brief reign of the ‘A3s’ at Holbeck that he saw one double-headed on the Scottish express.