60103 - LNER Class A3, 'Flying Scotsman'

Flying Scotsman leaving Great Yarmouth for London pulling a special excursion train as part of the locomotives 100th. anniversary.

 

The Flying Scotsman has been described as the world's most famous steam locomotive

In July 1922, the Great Northern Railway (GNR) filed Engine Order No. 297 which gave the green-light for ten Class A1 4-6-2 'Pacific' locomotives to be built at the Doncaster Works. Designed by Nigel Gresley, the A1's were built to haul mainline and later express passenger trains and following the GNR's absorption into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) after the amalgamation of 1923, A1's became a standard design. Flying Scotsman cost £7,944 to build, and was the first engine delivered to the newly formed LNER. It entered service on 24th. February 1923, carrying the GNR number of 1472 as the LNER had not yet decided on a numbering scheme. In February 1924 the locomotive acquired its name after the LNER's Flying Scotsman express service between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, and was assigned a new number, 4472.

Flying Scotsman became a flagship locomotive for the LNER, representing the company at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park in 1924 and 1925. In 1928, the LNER decided to make The Flying Scotsman a non-stop service for the first time. 4472 became one of five A1's selected for the service, and hauled the inaugural service on 1st. May where it completed the journey in 8 hours and 3 minutes. For this, the locomotives ran with an upgraded tender which held nine long tons of coal and was fitted with a corridor connecting the footplate to the carriages, so a change of driver and fireman could take place while the train was moving. By replenishing water from the water trough system several times en route, these modifications allowed the A1's to travel the 392 miles (631 km) without stopping. Flying Scotsman ran with its corridor tender until October 1936, after which it reverted to the original type. In 1938, it was paired with a streamlined non-corridor tender, and ran with this type until its withdrawal in 1963.

On 30th. November 1934, Flying Scotsman became the first steam locomotive to reach the officially authenticated speed of 100 mph (161 km/h), while hauling a light test train between Leeds and London, and the publicity conscious LNER made much of the fact. Although the Great Western Railway's 3440 City of Truro was reported to have reached the same speed in 1904, the record was unreliable.

Following the success of Gresley's streamlined Class A4's introduced in 1935, Flying Scotsman was relegated to lesser duties but still worked on the main line and hauling passenger services. In 1943, as with all railway stock during World War II, the locomotive was painted black. In 1946, it was renumbered twice by Gresley's successor Edward Thompson, who devised a comprehensive renumbering scheme for the LNER. 4472 was initially assigned number 502, but an amendment to the system several months later led to its renumbering of 103.

In 1928, Gresley began to modify the A1's into an improved version, the Class A3, on a gradual basis. In 1945, the remaining unmodified A1's, which included Flying Scotsman, were reclassified as A10. 103 emerged as an A3 on 4 January 1947 with its original Apple Green livery. Its old 180 psi boiler was replaced with a 225 psi version and it was fitted with more efficient valves and cylinders.

Following the nationalisation of Britain's railways on 1st. January 1948, Flying Scotsman was renumbered E103 for several months, before almost all of the LNER locomotive numbers were increased by 60000, and Flying Scotsman became 60103 that December. Between 1949 and 1952 she wore a BR Express Blue livery, after which it was painted in BR Brunswick Green. On 4th. June 1950, now under British Railways ownership, Flying Scotsman was allocated to its new base at Leicester Central on the Great Central Railway, running passenger services to and from London Marylebone, London St Pancras, Leicester, Sheffield, and Manchester.

60103 returned to the East Coast Main Line in 1953, initially based in Grantham, before returning to London King's Cross in the following year. In December 1958, the locomotive was fitted with a double Kylchap chimney to improve performance and economy, but it caused soft exhaust and smoke drift that tended to obscure the driver's forward vision. The remedy was found in the German type smoke deflectors fitted at the end of 1961.

Amid rumours that British Railways would scrap Flying Scotsman, the Gresley A3 Preservation Society failed to raise the £3,000 to buy it. Businessman and railway enthusiast Alan Pegler stepped in and bought the locomotive for £3,500. Flying Scotsman ended service for British Railways on 14th. January 1963, hauling the 13:15 from London King's Cross to Leeds with the locomotive coming off at Doncaster. The event attracted considerable media interest. It had covered over 2.08 million miles, three weeks short of 40 years in operation.

Pegler immediately restored Flying Scotsman at the Doncaster Works as closely as possible to its LNER condition. It was renumbered 4472 and repainted in LNER Apple Green; the smoke deflectors were removed, the double chimney replaced by a single, and its standard tender was replaced with a corridor type.

Following an overhaul in the winter of 1968–69, Flying Scotsman toured the United States and Canada, hauling a 9 coach exhibition train to support British exports.

In 1972, Pegler, now £132,000 in debt with considerable unpaid bills, declared himself bankrupt and in August, arranged for the engine to be kept in storage at the US Army's Sharpe Depot in Lathrop, California to keep it from unpaid creditors, who by now were demanding payments and threatening legal action.

Amid fears of the engine's future, horticulturist and steam enthusiast Alan Bloom asked businessman William McAlpine to help save it. McAlpine agreed and within a few days paid off outstanding debts and bought the locomotive for £25,000. Flying Scotsman was shipped back to England via the Panama Canal. Upon arrival at Liverpool in February 1973, the engine travelled to Derby. McAlpine paid for its restoration at Derby Works and two subsequent overhauls in the 23 years that he owned and ran it. In 1986, McAlpine leased a former diesel locomotive maintenance shop at Southall Railway Centre in London, which became the new base for Flying Scotsman until 2004.

In October 1988, Flying Scotsman arrived in Australia to take part in the country's bicentenary celebrations as a central attraction in the Aus Steam '88 festival. During the course of the next year Flying Scotsman travelled more than 28,000 miles over Australian rails. On 8th. August 1989 Flying Scotsman set another record en route to Alice Springs from Melbourne, travelling 422 miles (679 km) from Parkes to Broken Hill non-stop, the longest such run by a steam locomotive ever recorded. The same journey also saw Flying Scotsman set its own haulage record when it took a 735 ton train over the 490 mile (790 km) leg between Tarcoola and Alice Springs.

Upon returning to Britain, Flying Scotsman returned to its former British Railways condition with its number changed to 60103, refitting of the smoke deflectors and double chimney, and repainted in BR Brunswick Green. It retired from the mainline in 1992, following the expiration of its running certificate. In 1993, McAlpine sold it to help pay off a mortgage on the locomotive. Music producer and railway enthusiast Pete Waterman became involved and the two formed Flying Scotsman Railways.

In April 1995, Flying Scotsman derailed on the Llangollen Railway, with all wheels coming off the track. When put back into steam, smoke emerged from a crack separating the boiler and the front cab. It was deemed a total failure and immediately withdrawn from service. It returned to Southall awaiting its next major overhaul

By 1996, McAlpine and Waterman had run into financial issues and put Flying Scotsman up for sale. On 23rd. February, Tony Marchington bought the locomotive, a set of Pullman coaches, and the Southall depot for £1.5 million. He spent a further £1 million on the locomotive's subsequent overhaul to mainline running condition, which lasted three years and at that point, the most extensive in its history.[65] It received an upgraded 250 psi boiler originally made for a Class A4, its livery was repainted in LNER Apple Green and it was renumbered 4472. Flying Scotsman's first run following the works was on 4th. July 1999, hauling The Inaugural Scotsman from London King's Cross to York, where an estimated one million people turned out to see it.

In 2002, Marchington was in financial difficulties and in September 2003 was declared bankrupt. A sealed bid auction for the locomotive was held on 2nd. April 2004. Amid fears it could be sold into foreign hands, the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York announced it would bid, and appealed for funds with a Save Our Scotsman campaign. It secured a winning bid of £2.3 million, 15% higher than the second highest bidder, and Flying Scotsman became a part of the NRM's national collection.

In 2004 and 2005, Flying Scotsman intermittently hauled special trains across Great Britain before undergoing numerous repairs, restorations and refits between 2006 and 2016. On 7th. January 2016, Flying Scotsman moved under its own steam for the first time since 2005 on the East Lancashire Railway, where it completed several low speed tests. Its inaugural mainline run was on 6th. February with The Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express from Carnforth to Carlisle. In April 2022, the engine was withdrawn for an overhaul in preparation for its centenary year in 2023. Following the work it will be certified to run on the mainline until 2029, after which it will run solely on heritage railways until 2032.

 

 

 

Done