Home news in brief
Four generations of trains celebrate British railways
The Flying Scotsman travelled alongside three modern trains to celebrate the "past, present and future" of Britain's railways yesterday. The trains lined up on the East Coast Main Line at Tollerton, North Yorkshire, before moving south to York.
The Flying Scotsman was joined by an HST (high speed train)and InterCity 225 from Virgin Trains' current fleet, as well as one of the operator's new Azuma trains, which come into service next year. Crowds gathered at York station to watch live footage of the event on a giant screen.
Rob McIntosh, a managing director for Network Rail, which is responsible for managing Britain's railway infrastructure, said it was a "prestigious and unique event for the people of Yorkshire".
Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, the Flying Scotsman soon became the star locomotive of the British railway system, pulling the first train to break the 100mph barrier in 1934. Paul Kirkman, director
of York's National Railway Museum, which owns the locomotive, said: "The four-train line-up epitomises the evolution of the later generation of fast, elegant and stylish trains - all with a shared bloodline - that epitomise the history of the route from the 1850s to today."
Man killed during car theft
A man was killed yesterday in Manchester as he tried to stop thieves stealing his car. Michael Samwell, 35, caught them in the act after he went to check on a loud bang he heard with his wife in the early hours of yesterday morning, Greater Manchester Police said.
Then they ran him over with his black Audi S3, leaving him with severe injuries. He died after being rushed to hospital. The thieves fled the scene and the car was found abandoned and severely damaged shortly after the incident. A murder investigation has since been launched and police are appealing for information.
Titanic stewardess’ fur coat fetches £150,000
A fur coat worn by a stewardess on the Titanic who was saved from the doomed ship has been sold for £150,000 at auction, almost twice the estimate. Mabel Bennett threw on the heavy coat to protect herself from the cold before being rescued by a lifeboat as the stricken liner went down after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage on 14 April, 1912.
Ms Bennett, a stewardess in first class, had previously worked aboard the Olympic and only joined the crew of the Titanic on 6 April, serving alongside her brother-in-law Alfred Crawford, who was saved, and her nephew Leonard James Hoare, who was among the 1,500 lost.
She wore the coat while aboard the Carpathia, which rescued many of the Titanic's passengers, and also while on the Red Star Line SS Lapland, used by the Titanic's owner White Star Line to transport crew back to England after the tragedy. Ms Bennett lived to 95, making her one of the longest living female Titanic crew members. The coat remained in her family for nearly 90 years before being sold to Wiltshire auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son in 1999, which loaned it to a museum in the US.
The coat fetched £150,000 when it went under the hammer on Saturday, double the £50,000-£80,000 estimate at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire.