FREE GIANT GLOSSY FLYING SCOTSMAN POSTER
PLUS WIN A LUXURY TRIP ABOARD
The cotton wool clouds against a blue sky; the morning sun bouncing off a lush green livery so shiny you could bite it; above all, it’s that phenomenal sense of power, elegance and urgency set against the serene British countryside which makes this not so much a photograph as a work of art.
That’s why the Mail is proud to reproduce this great picture of the sensational return of The Flying Scotsman this week — and to give readers the chance to own a giant glossy poster version of it (see below).
It could easily be a scene from another age; a time when every adult owned a hat and every child a Sunday best. Buy a drink on this train and your change would probably come with George V on the back.
except this picture was taken just two days ago, as The Flying Scotsman came thundering past Greatford, Lincolnshire, en route from London to York. You do not have to be remotely interested in trains to be moved by the sight of this masterpiece of engineering in such magnificent condition. It is astonishing to think that soon this locomotive will celebrate its century (surely accompanied by a telegram from the Queen).
Yet here we see it pulling nearly 300 people in 11 carriages at up to 70mph. In fact, the Scotsman could have been travelling even faster were it not for a law restricting vintage engines to 75mph.
No wonder so many flocked from all over Britain to snatch a glimpse of the Scotsman’s mainline debut following a £4.2 million restoration. All agreed it had been worth the ten-year wait.
What makes the Scotsman so special? As far as its biographer, Andrew McLean, is concerned, the engine’s enduring, almost hypnotic allure is because: ‘It’s a recordbreaker, it’s a celebrity and it’s still going strong,’ says the author of The Flying Scotsman — Speed, Style, Service.
‘You can’t fly in Concorde any more. You can’t sail in the Queen Mary. You can’t get a sense of what they were like in their prime. But with The Flying Scotsman, you can.’
It’s not just a case of high- octane nostalgia, either. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, the Scotsman inspires memories of so many great British talents who have shaped the history of the railway and, thus, the world — Isambard Kingdom Brunel, creator of the Great Western Railway; George Stephenson and his Rocket; James Watt, father of the steam engine.
BUILT in Doncaster in 1923 (whisper it quietly, it’s actually english), the Scotsman enjoyed clever marketing right from the start. Still brand new, it appeared in its original apple green livery at the British empire exhibition at Wembley. After the horrors of World War I, it was heralded as a symbol of a brighter world.
In 1928, it hauled the first non- stop service from London to edinburgh. A year later it starred in the first British ‘talkie’, a film called, simply, The Flying Scotsman. Five years on, it was the first locomotive in the world to be authentically clocked doing 100mph, its driver Bill Sparshatt becoming a national celebrity, just like his engine.
But after the war, during which the Scotsman hauled huge military loads, its legend faded. Following nationalisation of the railways, the management wanted to promote diesel and electric trains, not clapped- out old puffers. The Scotsman was not even included in celebrations to mark the centenary of the Londonedinburgh service in 1962.
A year later, it was despatched on its final run — not to Scotland but to Leeds — and earmarked for scrap.
Luckily, a succession of rail enthusiasts would manage to rescue the Scotsman — at great personal cost — and keep it going. And it would become a symbol of defiance, too; the great beast that refused to die.
More than 50 years after that enforced retirement, a new chapter in the legend of The Flying Scotsman unfolded this week. As ever, it’s going to be a hell of a journey.