# The Flying Scotsman...



## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Seldom, if ever, does a book about a train bring tears to ones eyes. One such book is _*Flying Scotsman*_, by Andrew Roden. Among other things he chronicles in his book is the 40th anniversary reenactment of the May 1, 1928 first non-stop trip from Kings Cross Station in London, to Waverly Station in Edinburgh. Forty years later the water troughs were gone, so the locomotive’s owner, Alan Pegler, had to find a second tender to carry enough water for the non-stop trip. Fortunately there exists a film of that run…



Some interesting facts about the trip from Roden’s book…

1. Pegler insisted on a corridor tender, so he could get through from the locomotive, to meet with passengers.
2. The tender cost 1,000 GBP, but it cost 6000 GBP to convert to all water, twice the cost Pegler had paid for the Scotsman locomotive.
3. Interesting list of passengers included the Reverend Awdry, author of the_* Thomas the Tank*_ series, and a Captain Holmes and his wife, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the day they met, on the original trip, in 1928.
4. The trip was almost ended by on-board locomotive inspectors, worried about running the boiler too low on water. When they arrived at Waverly Station, both tenders were dry. The only remaining water was in the boiler.

The book is a great read, especially for someone who has their own model of the Scotsman.


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## thumper (Jan 31, 2009)

Tom, what a beautiful clip. I wonder where the young boy near the beginning of the clip is today and whether he's still alive; you also wonder how many times he told his story of the trip. Did you see the slip of the drivers in the beginning? The hard work of the crew is evident as well; look at the face of the engineer as she pulls into the station at Edinburgh! Sadly, the wonderful 4 beat chuff is missing as is the scream of it's whistle telling everyone "Here I come - Look my way". Fortunately another film clip has those amazing sounds. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtyE...playnext=6


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I recall seeing the photos of the run, including the water tanker sitting by the tracks at Berwick where Pegler had to decide if they were going to make it or whether they should stop and pick up some more. The BBC showed the train slowly rolling past the tanker and not stopping!

The additional tender came to the USA in 1969 for the tour. There's a full article in Kyper's little book "The Railroad that came out at night" about Boston's Union Freight Railroad - don't ask me why it is in there. (Fascinating book with lots of insteresting stories and photos - highly recommended.) 












Hornby produced a limited edition HO (OO) version called the USA TOUR 1969 TRAIN PACK in live steam! And I found a few other photos from the tour:











_Clearly you could include a model of Flying Scotsman on your garden railroad!_ The next pic from Michigan shows the US headlight, bell, etc.


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## AsterUK (Jan 2, 2008)

Tom

The whole of the BBC film made to celebrate the 40th birthday can be seen here. Sit back and enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/steamtrains/7307.shtml

Andrew Pullen (who commissioned the 2002 Aster model)


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Andrew, 
Unfortunately, it would seem that it is NOT available outside of the UK area!!! 
Too bad. 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By AsterUK on 12 Feb 2011 09:12 AM 
Tom

The whole of the BBC film made to celebrate the 40th birthday can be seen here. Sit back and enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/steamtrains/7307.shtml

Andrew Pullen (who commissioned the 2002 Aster model)


Andrew - I don't know what the problem is, but I clicked the link and it said "Not available in your area" ?!?


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## AsterUK (Jan 2, 2008)

Sorry guys, I wasn't expecting that! Somewhere I have this on DVD. Let me see if I can find it and maybe loan it to anyone who wants to see it.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Another tidbit from Andrew Roden's book...

"Had *Flying Scotsman* in fact been running low on water, the prearranged plan was for the engine crew to blow their whistle at Lucker, near Berwick, so that the Berwick signalman, who would be listening for it, could prepare for their arrival. In the event as she approached Lucker and its vital troughs, the driver spotted a photographer lying on his stomach on the edge of the platform trying to get the definitive shot of the day. There was no option: the driver hung on the whistle to encourage the photographer to get out of the way as the locomotive screamed through the station. Berwick's signalman heard the blast, and prepared for the worst, setting the points so that the _Flying Scotsman_ could go into the goods loop for refreshment. It took much whistling and fist-shaking before *Flying Scotsman's* frantic crew got their countermanding message through to the signalman, and the line was cleared for progress at the last minute." *

*Andrew Roden, *Flying Scotsman*, Aurum Press Limited, London, 2007 pp.119, 120


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Andrew,

Thanks for the link. It works here in Michigan. 


Correction: I can get to the link, but it doesn't play. 


A quote from the BBC site...

I live outside of the UK. Why can't I watch your programmes? 

Unfortunately, due to rights restrictions out of our control, some of the programmes in the BBC Archive Collections are only viewable from within the UK. Most of the radio programmes, plus all of the documents and photo galleries, are available outside of the UK.


We do appreciate that there is a wider audience for this, and that this might be frustrating for non-UK visitors to the site. It's simply that it often costs more money to make programmes available worldwide, which would reduce the amount of programmes we can provide for free. Additionally, as the programmes were funded by UK licence fee payers, our first responsibility is to the UK audience.


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Andrew 

I guess the British government really does have control over "the Internet" over there. I get to the site ok, but when I attempt to view the video, I get the "Not available in your area" message. Since BBC is owned by the "gvmnt", maybe they don't want to pay for the bandwidth if the website content is leaving the country. I assume Mr. Myers has a special arrangement with the Queen Mother. [LOL]. 

Of course, if you loan one of us Colonials the DVD, and it is not Region 0 [or region free] then we may not be able to view it other than on a computer. Just got to love the movie industry. 

Best Regards


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Sir - this happens in the other direction, too, as many of us know to our sorrow. Much PBS stuff, of interest world-wide, is not avalable outside the lower 48 - not even to those who live in AK.

And BTW, every household here in the UK who has a TV has to pay £145.00 a year for a TV licence. It seems that about 50 million pay this fee every year - dodgers get fined £1000.00 and their equipment destroyed.

The Queen Mother, BTW, is dead, and has been for quite a while. Her Majesty the Queen is NOT the Queen mother, simply The Queen. The previous Queen Mother took the title as the widow of the late King George VI, when their daughter, who was next in line to the throne, became Queen in 1952. 

Best

tac
http://www.ovgrs.orgf


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By AsterUK on 12 Feb 2011 09:28 AM 
Sorry guys, I wasn't expecting that! Somewhere I have this on DVD. Let me see if I can find it and maybe loan it to anyone who wants to see it.


Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the topic and original video.

Unfortunately I ran into the same problem with the latter link:











Perhaps someone can find a solution as it would be a great video to see.

Jerry


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

as the programmes were funded by UK licence fee payers, our first responsibility is to the UK audience. 
What a crock of bs. It probably costs them more to check where the request originates than it would just to let it play! 

if you loan one of us Colonials the DVD, and it is not Region 0 [or region free] then we may not be able to view it other than on a computer. 
That thought occurred to me. My sister-in-law brought a whole bunch of DVDs given away in UK papers, and most (but not all) would not play on my computer [though the computer offered to change the regiuon of the DVD drive for us - but only 5 times !! Not sure what THAT was about.] I got a DVD in a UK RR mag on one trip and it played fine over here.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

A few years ago we attempted to honor the 80th anniversary of that historic non-stop run with a run of our own. Search as we might for a second corridor tender, we came up dry, (no pun intended). Luckily Bruce Gathman came to the rescue with his water car that was used for that purpose.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Tom,

Thanks for the link to this great film. It worked great here in Burbank.


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

Anyone know the artist and name of the tune played during that youtube video link in the initial post here? Great mood set to a great bit of footage.


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## dmcole (Feb 15, 2008)

My October 2003 trip from London to Bath behind 4472 ...

http://www.shirleen.com/031010-London/Pages

\dmc


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## Steve Shyvers (Jan 2, 2008)

Dave, 

Thanks! 

Steve


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## Ding Dong (Sep 27, 2010)

Dave,
You've been keeping secrets. LNER Green with envy!









Rob Meadows

Los Angeles


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