FLYING SCOTSMAN
I saw this steam hauled train approaching at a rate of knots. As it blasted past at what felt like 60 miles an hour, I managed to catch a glimpse of either the smokebox door or the nameplate, but that was enough for me. Definitely Flying Scotsman, and in grey primer too! Felt pretty privileged, I must admit, and then I understood and the wilderness softened a little.
IN September 1964, I cycled the five miles from home in Sedbergh (Cumbria) to my usual spotting location of Lowgill on the West Coast Main Line. After spending several hours on the embankment between the WCML and the Ingleton branch, I saw a few cars appear and park near the bridge over the branch line. Within a short time, I noticed a plume of smoke heading towards us from the Sedbergh direction.
Not having any form of ‘gen’ in those days, my first thought was that this was a weekend engineering train with a Tebay-based locomotive in charge. Imagine my surprise and delight when this train came into view giving me, and I suspect a few others, our first sight of No. 4472 Flying Scotsman hauling a railtour. A soon to be closed branch line in North West England was the last place I had expected to catch my first sighting of this iconic locomotive.
HERE is a photo of my brother Neil and I beside
Flying Scotsman at Steamtown in Carnforth in 1974 or 1975. Steamtown was a place we went to often as kids and was always a trip to look forward to.
Neil has volunteered at Keighley and Worth Valley for more than 20 years and also fired
Flying Scotsman in 2021 over the Settle and Carlisle line. I took more to the farming side of the family but have recently started putting some shifts in at KWVR.
We now have a challenge to rec-reate the attached photo, almost 50 years on, when Flying Scotsman visits KWVR this year.
Barrie Woodward By email
Cabbing it!
IN 1966 I was a schoolboy at Altrincham County Grammar school for Boys and became chairman of the ARES (Altrinchamian Railway Excursion Society) founded by fellow pupil Tim Littler, who aged just 16 persuaded the authorities to allow him to run a charter trip from King’s Cross to Newcastle pulled by Flying Scotsman.
The ARES ‘Elizabethan’ charter train took place on October 22, 1966. No. 4472 was owned at that time by Alan Pegler, a very personable gentleman who, on the approach to Selby, came from the cab through the two corridor tenders and invited Tim and myself to accompany him back into the cab!
Several comments of amazement were uttered by older members of the groups of enthusiasts gathered in that forward area with their tape recorders and cine cameras as
we proceeded to follow Mr Pegler into the extremely narrow confines of the two corridor tenders of the speeding Flying Scotsman.
The heavy thumping of the water sloshing from side to side in the tenders and the intense heat from the firebox, once in the cab, are the most memorable experiences I’ll never forget.
Tim continued his interest in railways and, after a successful career in the family wine business, went on to co-found and become president of Golden Eagle Luxury Travel. Andrew Swainston
Lytham St Annes
I CAN still remember one afternoon in late September 1974 when dad (Les Uttley, a relief signalman for BR) and I drove into the main yard at Barrow Hill depot in Derbyshire in order for him to pick up his wages.
We entered the office and were told that Flying Scotsman had just arrived for the open day. Neither of us could believe our good fortune. As a great-granddaughter, granddaughter, great-niece and daughter of railwaymen, I had always had an interest in all things related to railways in Britain.
We walked over to the engine and, even more unbelievable, the engine driver knew dad who invited us to climb up into the cab to be shown the various dials and levers. Just as I thought no more could be shown to us, the driver opened a small door behind us to reveal the corridor connection through the tender. I had never seen anything like it. For a 15-year-old girl who was – and still is – a rail enthusiast, this was a momentous event which I will never forget.
IN the early to mid-1970s, my dad was a member of the Bahamas Locomotive Society at Dinting. He attended most weekends and I would go with him to either help out or watch the Woodhead electrics going past.
One weekend in 1975, Scotsman was giving footplate rides and my job was to supervise a foot crossing all day long. Each time Scotsman came past, I closed the crossing with a couple of pieces of rope and signalled to the driver that all was safe, he gave me a friendly toot on the whistle in return.
On the last run of the day he stopped unexpectedly, beckoned me up onto the footplate, whereupon he invited me to pull the regulator and drive the thing!
Nice touch that and one I’ve never forgotten; what a gentleman.
Railtour memories
I WAS on the 1968, 40th anniversary nonstop run to Edinburgh. There were several clergymen in the crowd at King’s Cross to greet Flying Scotsman backing on to the train, and later I was seated next to one of them. As No. 4472 came very slowly towards a broken rail, which would have spoilt everything by causing a stop, this gentleman held his glass of red wine halfway to his mouth and would not take a sip until we had seen the three-beat puffs of white smoke (we could just see the engine) denoting acceleration away from the spot, whereupon he drank happily with appropriate thanks to the above.
We arrived duly at Edinburgh without a stop to be greeted by bagpipes and a huge crowd, with many old men in tears. That’s the sort of star it was, and still is.
I WAS a medical student at Queen’s College, Dundee in the 1960s and a member of its Railway and Transport Society. I’m not sure where the idea of running a main line excursion with No. 4472 came from, but it developed under the leadership of our president, Douglas Paul. Contact was made with Alan Pegler, who had recently purchased the locomotive. I believe that No. 4472 had never worked north of Edinburgh Waverley and Alan Pegler was very keen to facilitate this, including a Forth Bridge crossing.
It took place on May 16, 1964 from Edinburgh Waverley to Aberdeen via the Forth Bridge and Perth and return via Dundee and the Tay Bridge. The northbound crossing of the Forth Bridge was the location of the iconic Terence Cuneo painting. A photographer was in place to record the actual passing and during the next week the locomotive was posed at the location, between normal service traffic, for Terence Cuneo to complete the work. I FIRST saw the loco at Stow Park station (Lincolnshire) in 1963, soon after Alan Peglar purchased the loco. George Hinchcliffe was our school teacher, both he and Alan were associated with Gainsborough Model Railway Society, so it was a trip from my school at Sturton by Stow the few miles to Stow Park.
Chris Barclay Milton Keynes
Neil Bowring By email
A PARTICULAR tour I remember well was as a passenger on a Flying Scotsman Enterprises railtour from Doncaster to Cleethorpes on June 21,
1969. The outward trip ran via Wakefield Kirkgate, Huddersfield, Penistone, Barnsley, Rotherham Central, Worksop and Gainsborough Central; while the return went via Lincoln Central, Gainsborough Lea Road and then the reverse of outward route.
This proved to be quite eventful as the steep gradient out of Barnsley towards Penistone was a bit too much for the ‘A3’ as she slipped to a stand, so EE Type 3 (Class
37) No. 6710 was dispatched from Wath to provide banking assistance.