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‘Flying Scotsman’ returns
BBC World News America last night had a great story about the run and included footage of the passage way through the tender used to change engine crews on the fly as well as in-cab shots.
There’s alot of hype surrounding his return, to the point that he’s finally going to appear in the Thomas & Friends TV series in the new special this fall.
The helicopters ruined the train watching.
How come they get to uncork their locos and we put ours on a leash?
Steam locomotives are on a 75 mph leash in the UK. One of streamlined A4s was permitted to do 90 mph in celebration of the 126 mph run by Mallard but only once by special permission. Even so, it’s much faster than 611 is permitted to operate.
morons in the copter ruined the entire shot !
The story missed that this famous locomotive holds 2 world records including a 100-mph speed record set in 1934 and has operated on three continents. It has outlasted (if Wiki is correct) 3 private owners and is arguably the most well-known steam locomotive in the world.
If anyone’s going to be in Britain in March, Scotsman will be heading up passenger trains on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway between the 12th and 20th.
To be fair, I think you will find the helicopter belongs to BBC News - it appears to have their branding on it and the flight path would appear to support the coverage we saw on the evening news. Whilst drones are becoming a pain there’s not many British enthusiasts with deep-enough pockets to own or hire their own chopper! Those which might have probably sunk their cash into preservation projects. The UK media gave this run (which was not it’s first since the completion of the overhaul) enormous advance publicity which brought out all the “normals” who appear not to know how to behave and were wandering around on a live 125mph railway with the result that ALL traffic had to be stopped whilst British Transport Police cleared them - tickets will be issued!
One enthusiast who had driven 50 miles to get the shot was miffed when at the vital moment a southbound Virgin express passed between his camera and Scotsman. He vented his displeasure on Twitter and in response Virgin offered him a free flight to the US - there’s PR in action for you! No sure if they offered him a deal on the return too!
With regard to UK speeds, whilst 75mph is the limit for most steam locos, there are several including the new build Tornado which are passed for 90mph, the run by the A4 was not a one-off as Roger Keay suggests. However, for the present, there will be little steam on UK main lines as the major operator, West Coast Railways, has been suspended by the ORR (similar to the FRA) for serious safety violations - the second time in a year. The remaining operations are being covered by DB Schenker but they do not have the resources to cover all of WC’s commitments although they appear willing to help as much as they can.
PS £4.2 million spent on the restoration and they couldn’t replace that pathetic whistle!
So graceful in action! Thanks for the unusual footage.
Congrats to our our friends in the UK! Another well worthwhile accomplishment in the world of rail preservation…