I started out on steam 60 years ago, carried rock stars and actors, went all over the country and finished on world’s most famous train. That’s quite a track record
For anyone involved in the rail industry, it’s the perfect way to bow out.
But few can have deserved disappearing off into the sunset on the footplate of the Flying Scotsman as much as 77-year-old Danny Forbes.
The driver started a 60-year love affair with trains while shovelling coal on a steam engine in 1958.
His friends and col leagues were delighted to let him end his career the way he had begun. Only this time, he was firing up the world’s most famous locomotive.
Thrilled Danny, of Al ford, Aberdeenshire, said: “It doesn’t get much better than this. It’s a boyhood dream.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of my 60 years and, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Dad-of-one Danny, a widower after his second wife Alice died in 2014, started out on steam locos in Keith, Banffshire.
His final shift was as fireman on the Flying Scotsman as she steamed into Edinburgh for the first time in a year on May 20.
Danny’s illustrious career saw him drive luxury charter diesel-hauled train the Royal Scotsman for celebrities including Brian Johnson of Australian rock band AC/DC and Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher.
He also drove electric, freight and high-speed trains all over the UK.
Danny recalled: “The Royal Scotsman was special. Being up front driving was a lovely job.
“We had just 36 guests in luxury private cabins and toured the Highlands at a leisurely pace. The views were spectacular.
“I remember Carrie Fisher with her French bulldog, Gary. He was a pampered pooch. The chefs made special meals for him.
“Brian Johnson of AC/ DC was a gentleman, a really nice guy. He got right into the spirit of things, wearing a traditional Highland bonnet.”
As a teenager leaving school, Danny knew exactly which direction his career was heading.
But even he didn’t expect to be working in the same industry 60 years down the line.
He said: “Working with steam was just something I longed to do, a job I hankered after. My whole family had jobs on the railway. My dad was a guardsman and my uncles were steam train drivers, so I had to keep the tradition going.”
Danny started out as a locomotive cleaner in 1958 and worked his way up to becoming a fireman.
He said: “It was all steam trains in those days. I used to clean and polish the engines, wheels and smokeboxes. It was a dirty old job, all paraffin and oily waste, but I loved it.
“You felt like you’d achieved something by the end of the day. I look back at old photos from the time with fondness. They were great days.”
He moved from Keith to Kyle of Lochalsh, Ross-shire, in 1959 to take up another post as a locomotive cleaner.
Then he got his big break when he was promoted to fireman in 1962.
Danny said: “I moved to Hawick and worked on the famous Waverley route, south f rom Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Borders, to Carlisle.
“It was a dream come true. You were on a three- shift pattern getting the steam engines ready, preparing them overnight and getting them coaled and watered.”
With the end of steam on August 11, 1968, Danny moved on and became a driver of diesel and electric trains.
He said: “It was a sad day when the final main line passenger train ran on British Rail.
“From that point on, steam was banned
made tracks back to Scotland, working for ScotRail inn Aberdeen, when his marriage brokee up in 1992. He said: “That’sat’s when I star ted doinging sprinter and freight work and workingg on high- speeded trains. They are beautiful trains. “I was travelling the route from Glasgow to Edinburgh and Inverness and loving the freedom. There’s just nothing to beat it.” Then, just as he was thinking about retirement, he met a pal who was working with specialist vintage rail operators West Coast Railways. The firm, based in Carnforth, Lancashire, run The Jacobite steam train on the West Highland line from Fort William to Mall aig, among others. Danny said: “It was a chance meeting but one which got me the driver’s job on the Royal Scotsman. “It was brilliant. We worked April to October, touring the Highlands, plus we did any other steam charters that came up.p “I was fireman on thet A4 Pacific number 9, UnUnion of South Africa locomotivel on the West HighlandH line at that time, too. We took it f rom Per th to Inverness. I had to pinch mysel f sometimes. This was work and I was loving every minute of it.” And he was thrilled to be offered a golddust shift as a fireman on the newly refurbished Flying Scotsman as he waved goodbye to railway life for the final time. Danny said: “What a way to go. That was the icing on the cake – to come full circle, start on steam in 1958 and finish in 2018.
“There’s so much glory and romance attached to the Flying Scotsman and to being the fireman on a steam train but it’s a hell of a job.
“Shovelling coal like that is heavy work but it’s like every job, it has a knack to it. You can make it easy or hard for yourself.”
Danny was being congratulated by enthusiasts at Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway last Tuesday after we took him for a final photoshoot.
But he doesn’t regret stepping off the footplate for the last time.
He said: “I’ve been very lucky. The bosses tried hard to get me to stay but I felt it was time to go.
“I’ll enjoy the railways as a passenger from now on.”
I had to pinch myself. This was work and I was loving every minute of it