S&C VIPS lIne uP for ‘SCotSman’ reoPenIng

It looks like quite a selection of VIPs will be around to enjoy the next big thing on the S&C, Flying Scotsman’s reopening spin on March 31: a transport minister, Network Rail’s chairman and the like make for a fair bit of ‘industry aristocracy’. So, given the recent coverage and the presence of the ‘A3’, it looks like a second blast of ‘Long Drag’ publicity could be coming your way very soon. The train, a £220 ‘out and back’ to Carlisle from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway which is promoting it, is now sold out. Effectively an add-on to No. 60103’s visit to the Worth Valley, it’s also a fairly unusual step into main line charter promotion by the line (SR463). Although not planned as the very first through passenger train, it runs on the precise day the S&C formally reopens as a through route after more than a year. That follows repair of the major landslip that severed it at Eden Brows last winter.