Flying Scotsman’s return signals big year for steam
FOR steam enthusiasts, 2016 promises to be the most exciting year for a decade as the most famous locomotive in the world returns to the railway.
Rail expert Ian MacCabe thinks millions of fans will line the tracks to welcome Flying Scotsman back to the rails following its £4.2 million, 10-year-long refit.
Mr MacCabe has been a devotee of the famous green-and-black engine for almost as long as he can remember and is one of the founders and trustees of the Gresley Society – named after Sir Nigel Gresley, Flying Scotsman’s designer.
“There’ll be millions there trackside to watch it,” he said. “When it was restored last time there were crowds of people at every single station and I think there’ll be twice as many this time.
“There’ll be absolutely millions of people out there. It’s just loved that much.”
Mr MacCabe said he first remembers seeing Flying Scotsman when he was about four years old.
Then, in 1962, when he was only 12, he was so horrified that the British Railways Board had missed Flying Scotsman off its list of steam locomotives for preservation he joined the Gresley A3 Preservation Society, selling postcards at sixpence a time to school friends and putting up Save Our Scotsman posters in his town.
Now he thinks the enduring popularity of Flying Scotsman is thanks to Sir Nigel.
“I think he got the design so right first time,” he said. “It’s just such a beautiful, well-balanced machine.”
Flying Scotsman was built in Doncaster in 1923 and soon became the star locomotive, pulling the first train to break the 100mph barrier in 1934 and ending up synonymous with the cocktail bar image of the service it was named after.
The National Railway Museum in York bought the locomotive for £2.3 million in 2004 and work began on it in 2006.
Flying Scotsman is due back at the National Railway Museum next year and plans are already advanced for its inaugural run from London Kings Cross to Yorkshire in February.
A host of events have been organised to celebrate the return of the locomotive, including Stunts, Speed And Style, which will enable visitors to board the cabs of four of locos that hauled the Flying Scotsman service.