At last – light at the end of the tunnel for Flying Scotsman
The inside track on restoration work to return the world’s most famous locomotive to the rails
BLINDING, white-hot acetylene sparks cascade along i ts dull metal flanks, reawakening t he sl eeping giant and preparing it for the next stage of a remarkable j ourney that began nearly a century ago.
In a cavernous workshop, far from its spiritual home, men in blue overalls clamber over a monument to British engineering, working with great care and the reverence due to the world’s most famous and iconic locomotive.
Amid the organised chaos, with the senses drowned by the din of machinery, it does at first glance still resemble an enormous version of an Airfix construction kit, its parts laid out on the dining room table waiting to be assembled by a wide-eyed schoolboy.
But the rebirth of Flying Scotsman is almost complete.
Note the absence of the definite article. Engineers who know about these things say the sleekest, fastest, most powerful engine of its generation – the first to haul a train at 100mph – should not be referred to as the Flying Scotsman. It is as great a sin in their book as calling the Forth Bridge the Forth Rail Bridge.
Bringing it to life has required an inordinately long and hugely expensive gestation of ten years and £4.2million.
But within months, Flying Scotsman will rattle full steam ahead into the future – more than half- acentury after time, the advent of diesel and British Railways retired the great loco that raced between the capitals of Scotland and England, clocking up 2.5million miles
In the Greater Manchester engi- neering works of Riley & Son of Bury, the finishing touches are being applied to the 97-ton locomotive, which once took style and speed to new heights in an illustrious career stretching from 1923 until 1963.
Designed and built for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) by Edinburgh-born engineering genius Sir Nigel Gresley, the recreated loco may still be wearing its Second World War ‘black’, which made it invisible to enemy aircraft during the daily 397-mile journey from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley.
But it will soon be clothed in the famous British Railways green livery so familiar to post-war generations of schoolboys who dreamt of riding on the footplate of Pacific Class A3 60103.
When restored to its former glory, the locomotive, which has had more owners than a clapped-out banger and, on several occasions, been one station away from the breaker’s yard, will never look back.
It is safe now, in the care of the National Railway Museum (NRM), in York, which bought it in 2004 for £2.3million and has spent almost the same again on its restoration.
NRM and Riley, which will operate the train on behalf of the museum for the first two years of its new life, promise it will be ‘ under steam’ before the end the year.
By the beginning of 2016, with 1,000 ‘ proving’ miles added to its impressive tally, it should begin a programme of travelling around the UK – reigniting old dreams and creating new ones for generations which have not experienced the magnificent sight of steam billowi ng f rom i ts majestic double chimney.
The locomotive is currently being f i tted with a train- monitoring recorder and a protection and warning system, equipment it needs to operate safely on modern main lines.
Describing the job of dismantling, rebuilding and restoring the legend as one of the most complex ever undertaken, Riley co-director Colin Green, who has worked on the project from the beginning, says: ‘It has been a great privilege. We have come through all the critical milestones for a locomotive restoration – and there is nothing significant standing in the way of Scotsman coming back to steam.’
Mr Green and his team have often had to ‘push to the back of their mind’ the realisation that they were working on such a famous engine.
Tightening the last bolts and making the final checks, engineer Matt Durkan says: ‘It could at times feel different to be working on an icon of British engineering but you just had to get on with the job.’
It has been a long and demanding job, which was partly financed by £1.8million from the National Heritage Lottery Memorial Fund, cash raised by the public, including generous Daily Mail readers, and a donation of £365,000 from Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson.
Bob Gwynne, curator of collections and research at the NRM, says: ‘The work has had to be done slowly, carefully and professionally. Fitting of the equipment for the main line really makes its return a reality. We anticipate that the restoration work to return Flying Scotsman to steam will be completed late this year.’
This will be followed by a full programme of ‘running-in’ tests on heritage lines – and once it has built up sufficient main line mileage, it will be ready to make its much anticipated ‘inaugural’ run between London and the museum in York.
It is a journey railway enthusiasts await with bated breath. ‘It is absolutely marvellous. The return of
such a unique icon is a great landmark,’ says Roger Haynes of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS), who last experienced the locomotive in October 2000 when it visited one of SRPS’s lines for a special heritage run from Edinburgh to York.
‘In February 1923, when it emerged from the railway works in Doncaster, it was the fastest locomotive, at the forefront of railway engineering technology. It would go on to become the most famous in the world.’
Soon after it was built, it was shown off by a proud LNER at the British Empire Exhibition and, in 1924, the locomotive was chosen for the company’s premier run between London and Edinburgh.
It was christened Flying Scotsman – named after the service which had been operating since 1862.
It would make the run its own for nearly 40 years, achieving significant landmarks along the way.
Mr Haynes adds: ‘In 1928, it hauled the first non- stop express from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh, the longest non-stop scheduled run in the world. A corridor was fitted to the tender to enable train crews to be changed en route without the train having to stop.’
But its finest hour came in 1934 when it became the first locomotive to officially achieve 100mph, authenticated in the course of a test run from Leeds to King’s Cross to assess the f easibility of accelerated schedules.
It is a record which would stand until another of Sir Nigel’s locos – the Mallard – achieved a speed of 126mph in July 1938.
‘Sir Nigel Gresley was a genius, the chief engineer of London and North Eastern Railway at a time when competition between the big private companies was intense,’ says Mr Haynes.
‘They were all vying to build the biggest and the best. Flying Scots- man, the first of Gresley’s mainline passenger locomotives, was the best.’
As well as being the fastest and most powerful, the engine pulled trains which took onboard luxury to new heights, boasting woodpanelled dining cars, hairdressing salons and wirelesses for passengers to listen to.
Mr Haynes added: ‘To have Flying Scotsman back, restored and under steam, will delight rail enthusiasts who will look forward to seeing this great locomotive. If only we could get it for our preserved heritage lines. We live in hope. I envisage it will be an enormous attraction, perhaps offering excursions with dining experiences.’
NRM and Riley say they have yet to ‘fine tune’ what will be on offer on the new train but are committed to allowing as many people as possible to experience it.
Riley’s management of the operation for the first two years will include a programme of ongoing maintenance and resolving any teething problems which may arise on its return to main line steam.
‘The details are still being worked on,’ says an NRM spokesman. ‘It is envisaged that it will be a mix of main line and preserved railways operations which will take Flying Scotsman around the UK.
‘When it is not under steam, it will return for brief periods to the museum in York, where it will be exhibited.
‘It is an incredibly exciting time and we want as many people as possible to enjoy Flying Scotsman.
‘The inaugural run from King’s Cross to York is expected to be at the beginning of 2016, starting a season of events. We are planning a whole season of events and activities from February to celebrate this star locomotive in our collection.’
The great locomotive, capable of carrying eight tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water, made its last run in 2005 on a special farewell charter.
It was the end of a lifetime of honour, glory... and troubles which had taken it to the gates of the breaker’s yard.
WHEN the railways were nationalised in 1948, British Railways would continue to operate the locomotive for more than a decade – but in 1962, after 40 hardworking years, BR announced that it was going to scrap ‘60103’ and the last scheduled passenger run would be on January 14, 1963.
A Save Our Scotsman campaign was immediately launched, but petered out when it was unable to raise Flying Scotsman’s ‘ scrap’ value of £3,000.
Over the next few years, keeping the locomotive going would stretch the resources of rich rail enthusiasts.
The first was Nottingham rubber magnate Alan Pegler, who, with the political support of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, spent a huge sum of money having the l ocomotive restored at the Doncaster works where it was built.
Mr Pegler persuaded British Railways to let him run ‘specials’ for enthusiasts, then making it the only steam locomotive running on main line Britain.
His daughter, Penny Vaudoyer, recalls the day he bought the train: ‘It was as if he had bought a great big new toy.’
The businessman decided to take the locomotive to North America where it was major attraction, covering more than 15,000 miles.
But Mr Pegler’s labour of love proved to be costly and the money ran out by the early 1970s.
Burdened by debts of £132,000, Flying Scotsman returned home, where it was bought for £25,000 in 1973 by Sir William McAlpine, a member of the Scottish building company.
He, too, restored the locomotive and Flying Scotsman went back to steam ‘tours’, proving its recordbreaking days were not yet over.
In October 1988, Flying Scotsman arrived in Australia, where it completed the longest non- stop run ever recorded by a steam locomotive – a 28,000-mile journey on a ‘loop’ between Melbourne and Alice Springs.
By the 1990s, however, the locomotive was limping along and facing a bleak future of being shunted into a siding to rot – until the NRM stepped in.
The NRM spokesman says: ‘After a restoration which has literally taken it down to its bare bones, it will probably be in the best condition it’s ever been.
‘Now the globetrotting star and record breaker is set to return to the spotlight, bringing this legend back to life – the sole survivor of its class and the oldest main line working locomotive on Britain’s tracks.’