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When it comes to trains people think of the common diesel train but no train is as popular or famous as the Flying Scotsman. This legendary train managed to be the first train to circumnavigate the world's first train to hit 100 Mph but first we need to know where this train came from. The Flying Scotsman was built in the 4th of February of 1923 as a LNER Class A1 engine she was used for express hauling main land express passenger trains and as the trains popularity grew it quickly became the representative
of LNER and was frequently used as promotion materials. One of the first records this train received was being the first train to do a non stop run the train was given an upgraded tended with increased coal and water capacity, and a corridor connection so that the driver and fireman could swap while the train was moving, Scotsman took the inaugural train on the 1st of may completing the 392 mile run in 8 hours and 3 minutes this service ran until 1963. The second record the train broke was officially hitting over 100 MPH while hauling a test train between Leeds and London LNER also used this fact for promotional purposes. During WW2 the Flying Scotsman (and any other trains at the time) were painted wartime black for
stealth purposes the train was also given lesser duties like hauling freight trains. In 1928 the train was getting upgraded from a A1 locomotive to to an A3 and and came out to the public in the 4th of April 1928 in it's famous candy apple green and returned to service small modifications were added in later years like a smoke deflector in 1961 but rumors started to spread the engine was gonna get scraped, Luckily railway enthusiast Alan Pegler bought the train from the British railways and immediately restored the engine back to its former glory. In 1968-69 the British government agreed to support Pegler to to run the Flying Scotsman through the united states and Canada pulling a 9 coach exhibition train to promote British companies she was fitted with a cow catcher a bell, buckeye couplers, American-style whistle and a large headlamp to comply with
American train standards the train ran through Boston, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia, Washington D.C. and stopped in Texas were it was in a shed during the winter although the first half of the tour went well problems started to arise for Pegler as the train was deemed a fire hazard and was forced the train to be towed through certain areas he wasn't allowed to carry passengers on the train and he had to pay to run the train in certain railways. The tour resumed in 1970 where the train ran through Wisconsin crossed the Canadian border in to Montreal, trough Toronto all the way through San Francisco via the rocky mountains in 1971 the whole trip was a total of 15,400 miles Despite a good start Alan Pegler declared bankruptcy and had the train kept in storage. Back in the united kingdom people feared that the train would never come back home until steam enthusiast Alen Bloom asked William McAlpine to save the train he agreed and in saving the train and within a few days saved The Flying Scotsman and sent her back home restoring her and giving her a new boiler. In October 1988 Scotsman arrived to Australia to take part in the Aus Steam '88 festival where it ran more that 28,000 Miles where it reunited with the Victorian Railways R class trains on August 8th 1969 the train set another world record traveling 422 miles non stop trough parkers hill to
broken hill the longest run by a steam locomotive ever recorded it even beat it's own personal record of carrying a 735 ton train for 490 miles. When arriving to Britain she was given her smoke deflectors back along with a double chimney and was given the number 60103 but in April of 1995 Scotsman derailed on the Llangollen Railway with all it's wheels off the track and when they tried to run the train smoke came out causing a crack between the the boiler and cab causing the train to be immediately withdrawn from service and in 1996 McAlpine sold the train to pay of it's mortgage and the train was bought by intrapreneur and train enthusiast Tony Marchington bought the train a set of pullman coaches and the southall depot for 1.5 million pounds then he overhauled the engine for another 1 mil pounds which lasted for 3 years giving Scotsman an A4 engine boiler new air type brakes and was painted in its original candy apple green and removed it's smoke deflectors the first test run after the repairs was on the 4th of July 1999 from London's king cross to York and an estimated 1 million people came to see the train run. But in September of 2003 Marchington was declared bankrupt and a debt agency had sell the train to the highest bidder but in the fear the the train would be sold to a foreign country the national railway museum started the Save Are Scotsman campaign and it secured 2.3 million pounds and as celebration the train did a special run as part of the museums rail fest. Trough 2004 and 2005 Flying Scotsman hauled special trains from time to time but it started to fail it's deliveries more than several times but the engineering staff failed to find any problems wen sent to the workshop they couldn't find any problems either so the national railway museum decided to do a complete overhaul of the train it was estimated that it would take 1 year to restore but this started to come out more expensive than the railway museum thought so they released the SOS campaign (save our Scotsman) trying to get more funds to finish by the end of the year in May of 2011
the flying Scotsman was unveiled on the museums turn table in it's ww2 black color and was to be painted in it's candy apple green when it came to testing it showed cracks throughout the engines frame and boiler the railway greatly underestimated how bad the train’s condition was most of the problems came from a rushed inspection and poorly trained management, so the museum hired the FCP (First Class Partnerships) were commissioned to fix the flying Scotsman to it's formal glory and in March of 2013 they predicted that the train would hit the mainline somewhere in 2015 and in July of 2015 they said the the Flying Scotsman would be in service with the required electronic parts in 2016 the final cost of this was £4.2 million pounds and on January of 2016 managed to move under it’s own power since 2005. In October of 2018 the train pulled the “Fare well Alan Pegler” special train from kings cross to York and in celebration of turning 100 the Flying Scotsman hauled many special trains between March and December in 2023. Currently the Flying Scotsman takes tourists around Britain as it did many years ago.
My name is, Luismiguel Reyes Gonzalez Garcia the 5th. I am currently a junior in Poudre High School. In my spare time, I like to play games or bug my cousin to play games with me. I am currently working as a host/busboy in a restaurant. My goals are to be a successful person in life but I can't do that unless my computer turns on. If you want to see more of my stuff go here
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