Flying Scotsman fans a little too enthusiastic

PHOTOGRAPHS: Historic steam locomotive forced to stop due to people trespassing on the line in effort to get snaps of inaugural journey after refit

Dozens of steam enthusiasts disrupted the inaugural run of Flying Scotsman after its decade-long, £4.2 million refit by standing on the track to take photographs.

Passengers said the famous locomotive came to a “shuddering stop” near St Neots, Cambridgeshire, and Virgin Trains East Coast warned that other services were being delayed by up to 15 minutes due to photographers on the track.

Footage filmed from the stationary train showed people walking down the line holding cameras.

British Transport Police received reports of around 60 trespassers on the track near St Neots shortly after 9am. No arrests were made.

The Rail magazine’s editor, Nigel Harris, who was on the train, said Flying Scotsman was forced to carry out a “big brake” before coming to a “shuddering stop”.

Some 297 VIPs, fundraisers, competition winners and members of the public who paid up to £450 were on board for the trip from London.

Thousands of steam enthusiasts lined tracks and bridges to see it go past.

The National Railway Museum (NRM) in York bought Flying Scotsman – which was built at Doncaster in 1923 – for £2.3 million in 2004 before work got under way on its restoration in 2006.

Pictures: PA. Flying Scotsman at full steam on her journey and, below, the locomotive pulls out of King’s Cross Station.