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TRAIN RUMBLES

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It's one of Britain's most
celebrated marvels of engineering,

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a machine that stirs passion
in legions of steam fans

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all over the world.

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Even for people
who don't know much about railways,

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if you mention Flying Scotsman,

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everybody will know
what you're talking about.

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She's the most famous and enduring
locomotive on the planet.

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This is a machine that's
almost 100 years old,

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and she's still bolting
along the Main Line at 75mph.

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WHISTLE BLASTS

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Her story's remarkable one,

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taking us on a journey
through Britain, the United States,

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and Australia.

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In an action-packed life,
Flying Scotsman has played her part

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in the Second World War,
defied attempts to scrap her,

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and even bankrupted
some of her owners.

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Today, after an epic
multi-million-pound restoration,

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she's fully restored to her
former glory...

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WHISTLE BLASTS

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..and now I'm getting a once
in a lifetime opportunity to ride

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on the footplate of the most famous
steam locomotive in the world.

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This is a little boy's dream
come true right here, right now.

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Oh, wow!

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This is the story
of Flying Scotsman.

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She is without doubt one of the
most beautiful and powerful

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steam locomotives ever built,
and incredibly,

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she she's now closing in
on her 100th birthday.

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Built shortly after
the First World War,

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she's clocked up millions of miles.

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That's meant the battle to keep her
in prime condition has been endless,

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and, at times, apparently hopeless.

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When she was acquired by
the National Railway Museum in 2004,

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it was discovered that
Flying Scotsman would need

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her most extensive overhaul yet.

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And after a decade of hard work
from a dedicated team of engineers,

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she finally returned to the rails
in 2016.

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And what a welcome she received.

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Thousands and thousands and
thousands of people

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watched it go by.

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It showed that love affair
with Flying Scotsman,

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and with steam, still goes on.

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But how did that public
love affair start,

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and why is the passion
for this engine

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stronger than for any other?

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The incredible story of
the world's most famous locomotive

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begins way back in the middle of
the 19th century.

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In 1862, a daily rail service
was introduced,

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linking London and Edinburgh
for the first time.

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Although initially known
as the Special Scotch Express,

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this journey soon acquired a popular
nickname, The Flying Scotsman.

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To understand the story
of Flying Scotsman,

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it's important to distinguish
between a locomotive and a train.

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Now, this is a locomotive,
or an engine.

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Only when it's attached to carriages
or rolling stock

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is the whole thing called a train.

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So a train refers to any locomotive
or engine

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pulling carriages or freight.

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The Flying Scotsman passenger
service between London and Edinburgh

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would set off at 10.00am
every weekday.

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Its carriages could be hauled
by any locomotive

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as long as it was powerful enough,

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and there were plenty
to choose from.

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In the mid-19th century, the route
from London to Edinburgh

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was controlled by three
separate companies.

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You had the Great Northern Railway

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for everything from London
up to York.

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Then there was the
North Eastern Railway

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from York up to
the Scottish Borders.

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And finally, it was North British
for everything north of the border

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all the way through to Edinburgh.

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In fact, in Britain at that time,
there were more than 120

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separate organisations in charge
of the railways.

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The Edwardian railway in Britain
was an absolute delight.

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There were all sorts of colours
all over the country,

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all this myriad of companies
that ran them,

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and it looked like a gigantic
great toy train set.

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The reality was, though,
that many of these railways

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were too small, they were
too competitive with each other,

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so that by the beginning of the 20th
century, this beautiful,

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attractive-looking system
was starting to crack.

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By 1914, the cracks had widened,

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and as war brought even further
pressure on the rail system,

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the Government took control.

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If you think about it, they needed
to transport materials, weapons,

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coal, fuel, oil, troops,
people, passengers, nurses,

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up and down the country.

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But the railways performed
a heroic role,

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and I think what's so important
to remember - what else was there?

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After the First World War,
rail traffic increased enormously.

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Carriages and freight became bigger
and heavier,

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and the railway companies soon
realised they'd need locos

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that were faster and more powerful.

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For the Great Northern Railway,
the man tasked with designing

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bigger, better, more powerful
engines was their new

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chief mechanical engineer,
Nigel Gresley.

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Nigel Gresley took over the top job
of the Great Northern Railway

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aged just 35.

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Now, this was a phenomenally
young age to take on this job,

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but ultimately, Gresley was to prove

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one of the finest
locomotive engineers of all time.

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Nigel Gresley was faced with
the challenge of designing

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a new generation of locomotives

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to haul the fastest
passenger trains,

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and he knew he had to come
up with something special,

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something revolutionary.

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In April 1922, having spent years
experimenting with several

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different designs, Gresley was ready
to test his prototype.

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At the company's Doncaster works,

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he created a beast
of a steam engine.

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Previously known as
Locomotive number 1470,

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she was named after the company,
Great Northern.

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She was bigger than any engine
anyone had seen before.

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But Gresley's Pacific locomotive
wasn't just an engineering marvel,

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it was also beautiful and elegant.

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No-one, apart from the engineers
who built it,

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had seen an express passenger
locomotive that was so long, so big,

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so lithe, so impressive.

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But, in fact,
they'd seen nothing yet.

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Just a year later, another
of Gresley's Pacific locomotives

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would roll off the production line,
and it would change everything.

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It would go on to set world records,

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and ultimately become the most
famous steam locomotive of all time.

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Flying Scotsman.

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More than any other engine,
she typifies the golden

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and romantic age of steam.

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Once, all trains were powered
this way,

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but exactly how does
a steam engine work?

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Down in deepest rural Kent,
I'm about to find out.

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Righty-ho, Rob, let's see if we can
get her out of the shed.

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Once she's rolling,
she rolls rather nicely.

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Look at that!
And she's gleaming out here.

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One small engine for us.

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Chris Vine is an engineer
and author.

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He's spent eight years lovingly
creating this miniature loco.

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This is a beauty.

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So this is Bongo?
Yes.

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Though we need to get her fired up,
because she's cold at the moment.

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Yes, absolutely cold.

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We'll light the fire.
We need some charcoal.

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Yes. Which we have here. And we've
got to put some of that in the fire.

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It's charcoal soaked in paraffin,
so it lights really easily.

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OK. Lovely.

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So all this is going into the
fire box? Into the fire box, yes.

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So that's going to make
all the heat to make the steam.

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So, better light the fire, Rob.

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A little bit of charcoal
soaked in paraffin,

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a cigarette lighter...
Just to get her started.

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..just to get that going.

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That's burning.
Lovely.

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Oh, that's looking a toasty little
fire in there. Is it warming up now?

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That looks lovely.

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Within a few minutes,
the heat intensifies,

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and then something magical happens.

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Just started making steam now.

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And I can turn that little valve
there,

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and you can hear now there's
a little steam jet.

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That's now it running.
We're now in steam, we're on the up.

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WHISTLE BLASTS

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Off we go.

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Woohoo, yay! See you later.

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Oh, yeah!

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This is an incredibly smooth ride,
Chris.

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It's good, isn't it?
Oh, it's lovely.

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ROB GIGGLES

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This is brilliant!

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Feels like we're zipping along.

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In some ways, this is much better
than riding a conventional

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huge steam train, because here...

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..you can feel all the steam,
you can smell the steam,

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you really feel like you're
part of it.

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This is fantastic!

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This journey only came about
thanks to us lighting the fuel

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inside the engine,
which heated up tubes of water,

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which then created steam
as they boiled.

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But that was only phase one
of getting the locomotive to move.

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Phase two. Phase two - how to use
the steam to drive the pistons,

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to drive the engine.

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And in the dome, which you can see
in the middle of the boiler,

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in the dome, there's a thing
called the regulator valve.

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OK.
It's a tap.

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And when you open it,
when you turn it on,

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it lets steam go down that pipe
to the cylinders.

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And the regulator valve is operated
by a regulator handle

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or lever in the cab.
Yep.

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And the driver's in control
of how much steam is used

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to drive the engine.
So the lever is here.

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Great.
If I open it...

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So now you're opening that lever,
which is opening a valve here,

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letting steam into our system,
and... Hey!

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If the driver wants more power,
open the regulator a bit more,

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you've got more power.

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SMALL TRAIN PURRS

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There's plenty of power.
That's satisfying. Yes.

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SMALL TRAIN GROWLS

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And if we come here now,

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you can't see the piston
because it's inside the cylinder,

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out of sight.

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Yep.
But you can see its piston rod.

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And that's... So the piston
is pushing and pulling,

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and it's pushing and pulling
on the piston rod.

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So that's the piston rod
right in there.

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This part here,
that's the connecting rod.

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With the crank
and the connecting rod,

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you're converting push-pull motion
from the piston

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to rotary motion on the wheels
to drive the engine.

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What I love about this, Chris,
I mean, this is your simple engine,

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but it's so clear to see here
when it's out in the open,

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you can see this is how
engines work.

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This is how pretty much any engine.

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It's one of the attractions
of a steam engine.

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Woohoo!

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It's exactly this same steam
technology that engineer

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Nigel Gresley used when designing
a fleet of full-scale engines

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for the Great Northern Railway.

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They began rolling off the
production line in the early 1920s.

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This was the first of a whole
new generation of steam engines,

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and they were called Pacifics.

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The term Pacific refers to
the number and configuration

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of wheels that the engine has.

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And Pacifics have what's known
as a four-six-two configuration,

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so four wheels at the front here,
two on each side,

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six of these huge big
driving wheels in the middle,

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and then at the back here, two
smaller wheels supporting the cab.

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As work began on building them,

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a major change was taking place
in the railway industry.

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The huge number of companies
that ran the railways were merging,

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and fast.

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Soon, there'd be only four,

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with the one running the East Coast
Main Line now known as the LNER,

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or London and North Eastern Railway.

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It came into being on January 1st,
1923.

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Just six weeks later,

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the first of a new batch of
Pacific locomotives emerged

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from the company's
Doncaster engineering works.

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Little did anyone know at the time
she'd go on to become a legend.

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She'd cost almost £8,000 to build.

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That's around a third of a million
at today's prices.

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Known simply as Locomotive 1472
at this point,

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she would go on to become the most
famous steam engine of all time.

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Heading up LNER's new fleet,

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the company now needed
to promote her to the world,

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and the perfect opportunity
was about to present itself.

244
00:14:47,620 --> 00:14:50,340
The British Government
had been planning to stage

245
00:14:50,340 --> 00:14:54,860
an impressive exhibition for
some time during the early 1900s,

246
00:14:54,860 --> 00:15:00,860
but it took until 1924 to finally
get the idea off the ground,

247
00:15:00,860 --> 00:15:04,540
and it would be known
as the British Empire Exhibition.

248
00:15:10,540 --> 00:15:15,380
Among the companies exhibiting there
was the mighty LNER.

249
00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:18,220
It was keen to promote its flagship
service,

250
00:15:18,220 --> 00:15:21,140
the 10.00 am express
between Edinburgh and London.

251
00:15:24,860 --> 00:15:28,900
With Wembley, the LNER wanted
to give number 1472 a name,

252
00:15:28,900 --> 00:15:32,900
and someone in the marketing
department hit on a brilliant idea.

253
00:15:32,900 --> 00:15:36,740
The Flying Scotsman train was very
much the flagship of the railway.

254
00:15:36,740 --> 00:15:39,980
So what if you name the locomotive
after the train?

255
00:15:39,980 --> 00:15:43,860
And at that point,
this otherwise unassuming locomotive

256
00:15:43,860 --> 00:15:47,500
stopped being a normal fleet
locomotive in the public's eye,

257
00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:50,340
and became something of
a locomotive legend.

258
00:15:52,020 --> 00:15:54,780
The British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley ran over two years,

259
00:15:54,780 --> 00:15:59,500
and in that time, 27 million
people passed through the gates

260
00:15:59,500 --> 00:16:01,420
and the exhibition halls.

261
00:16:01,420 --> 00:16:04,060
But in there,
they saw Flying Scotsman,

262
00:16:04,060 --> 00:16:06,340
this magnificent locomotive.

263
00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:08,580
It was a pride of British
engineering,

264
00:16:08,580 --> 00:16:10,900
and it's what people love to see,

265
00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:13,740
and Flying Scotsman
was utterly magnificent-looking.

266
00:16:22,940 --> 00:16:27,220
The LNER very soon had an idea
to build up the image

267
00:16:27,220 --> 00:16:30,460
of this product so that people
associate it with speed,

268
00:16:30,460 --> 00:16:35,060
for example, or with, you know,
with comfort or with quality.

269
00:16:35,060 --> 00:16:38,420
And it gave you that impression
that here was a modern go-ahead

270
00:16:38,420 --> 00:16:42,300
forward-thinking company,
and that included advertising,

271
00:16:42,300 --> 00:16:45,780
it included a celebrity endorsement,

272
00:16:45,780 --> 00:16:48,660
all the kind of things
which we recognise now,

273
00:16:48,660 --> 00:16:50,180
they were doing then.

274
00:16:52,380 --> 00:16:54,020
The Flying Scotsman, the locomotive,

275
00:16:54,020 --> 00:16:57,060
actually becomes
a sort of personality

276
00:16:57,060 --> 00:16:59,380
that the company can sell.

277
00:16:59,380 --> 00:17:05,660
It can show off Flying Scotsman
as its sort of prestige locomotive,

278
00:17:05,660 --> 00:17:07,860
and if you look at a lot
of the publicity materials

279
00:17:07,860 --> 00:17:09,940
for the train The Flying Scotsman,

280
00:17:09,940 --> 00:17:12,260
it's pulled by Flying Scotsman
the locomotive.

281
00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:17,060
They were at the front of
the marketing exercise to get people

282
00:17:17,060 --> 00:17:21,460
to come and travel on a train, to go
on your holiday, to go to Scotland,

283
00:17:21,460 --> 00:17:25,220
be part of the fun and excitement
of modern day railways of the time.

284
00:17:27,780 --> 00:17:31,420
But Flying Scotsman was destined
to make the company synonymous

285
00:17:31,420 --> 00:17:34,140
with something else - speed.

286
00:17:37,300 --> 00:17:39,660
One of the things that the
London North Eastern Railway

287
00:17:39,660 --> 00:17:42,180
did particularly well was marketing,

288
00:17:42,180 --> 00:17:47,940
and in 1928, its marketing team
came up with an absolute wizard idea

289
00:17:47,940 --> 00:17:50,980
of running a train nonstop
from London to Edinburgh.

290
00:17:53,180 --> 00:17:58,500
On May 1st, 1928, Flying Scotsman
was prepared for a historic run

291
00:17:58,500 --> 00:18:00,180
up the East Coast Main Line.

292
00:18:04,420 --> 00:18:06,620
King's Cross was packed.

293
00:18:06,620 --> 00:18:09,340
Flying Scotsman was hooked
up to the train,

294
00:18:09,340 --> 00:18:12,820
and at 11.00 am prompt,
she left the station

295
00:18:12,820 --> 00:18:18,140
on what would then be the longest
nonstop journey ever attempted

296
00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:19,180
by a steam engine.

297
00:18:20,420 --> 00:18:21,820
WHISTLE BLASTS

298
00:18:25,260 --> 00:18:28,140
But one crucial issue still
had to be resolved

299
00:18:28,140 --> 00:18:30,460
if this historic trip was to work.

300
00:18:33,900 --> 00:18:35,980
The problem was with the crew.

301
00:18:35,980 --> 00:18:39,980
Even back then, with early 20th
century health and safety standards

302
00:18:39,980 --> 00:18:42,260
and allowable working conditions,

303
00:18:42,260 --> 00:18:46,540
the LNER couldn't ask the crew
to work full-on

304
00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:50,700
in those trying conditions for
the whole journey without a break.

305
00:18:55,300 --> 00:18:57,860
Trains would normally stop and
they'd be able to swap crews

306
00:18:57,860 --> 00:19:01,740
en route, somewhere such as Grantham
or York or Newcastle.

307
00:19:01,740 --> 00:19:04,140
That wasn't going to be possible,

308
00:19:04,140 --> 00:19:08,020
so how were you going to
be able to handle this?

309
00:19:08,020 --> 00:19:11,980
Gresley came up with
an ingenious solution.

310
00:19:11,980 --> 00:19:14,660
He figured that, as passengers
moved from coach to coach

311
00:19:14,660 --> 00:19:16,620
through corridors linking them,

312
00:19:16,620 --> 00:19:19,500
then surely he could do the same
with his crews.

313
00:19:21,940 --> 00:19:25,060
He reasoned that he could possibly
put a corridor down the side

314
00:19:25,060 --> 00:19:27,780
of the tender,
connect it to the front coach,

315
00:19:27,780 --> 00:19:31,100
and the driver and fireman
could go along the corridor,

316
00:19:31,100 --> 00:19:32,860
they could relieve the crew,

317
00:19:32,860 --> 00:19:35,340
the crew they replace could walk
back into the coach.

318
00:19:35,340 --> 00:19:36,940
And he tested this
in his dining room.

319
00:19:36,940 --> 00:19:39,980
He'd got his dining chairs arranged
in a little alley,

320
00:19:39,980 --> 00:19:41,700
the sort of size
that he had in mind,

321
00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:43,300
and he started crawling
through this.

322
00:19:45,860 --> 00:19:50,700
And what he came up with was this -
the corridor tender.

323
00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:54,940
This tiny passageway
snakes its way through the tender,

324
00:19:54,940 --> 00:20:00,740
which is carrying tonnes of coal
and thousands of gallons of water,

325
00:20:00,740 --> 00:20:05,340
and this allows for a driver
and a fireman to make their way from

326
00:20:05,340 --> 00:20:10,100
the service carriage behind through
into the cab of the locomotive

327
00:20:10,100 --> 00:20:13,580
to relieve the crew who were already
working up there.

328
00:20:13,580 --> 00:20:17,820
Now, crucially, because of this,
all of that can be done

329
00:20:17,820 --> 00:20:20,300
without the train
having to come to a stop.

330
00:20:22,100 --> 00:20:23,820
So let's go and have a look.

331
00:20:29,940 --> 00:20:31,340
Oh, yeah, look at this!

332
00:20:32,940 --> 00:20:35,580
I'm here, I'm on the footplate,
Flying Scotsman...

333
00:20:37,580 --> 00:20:40,500
..the world's most famous
steam locomotive.

334
00:20:42,500 --> 00:20:45,740
This is a little boy's dream
come true right here, right now.

335
00:20:45,740 --> 00:20:47,980
Oh, wow!

336
00:20:47,980 --> 00:20:49,260
This is amazing.

337
00:20:51,780 --> 00:20:54,660
I need to stay out of the way here,
because, as you'll see,

338
00:20:54,660 --> 00:20:57,780
there is a lot of activity
going on in the cab all the time.

339
00:20:59,860 --> 00:21:01,980
It's just brilliant to be
part of it.

340
00:21:02,940 --> 00:21:04,860
WHISTLE SQUEAKS

341
00:21:09,060 --> 00:21:11,260
Gresley's clever corridor tender

342
00:21:11,260 --> 00:21:14,940
had solved the problem of switching
crews on The Flying Scotsman

343
00:21:14,940 --> 00:21:19,340
as it pulled the first nonstop train
between London and Edinburgh.

344
00:21:21,540 --> 00:21:26,020
Now the time between the two
capitals was about to be slashed.

345
00:21:28,100 --> 00:21:31,020
Normally 8 hours and 15 minutes,

346
00:21:31,020 --> 00:21:35,540
Scotsman arrived in Edinburgh a
full 12 minutes ahead of schedule.

347
00:21:37,020 --> 00:21:41,100
At 6.15 pm on May 1st 1928,

348
00:21:41,100 --> 00:21:45,100
Flying Scotsman rolled into
Edinburgh Waverley Station,

349
00:21:45,100 --> 00:21:46,700
and into the record books.

350
00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:52,500
She'd covered the 392 miles
without having to stop even once.

351
00:22:02,100 --> 00:22:04,460
The nonstop run proved
hugely successful.

352
00:22:04,460 --> 00:22:07,660
It generated a lot
of publicity both for the LNER

353
00:22:07,660 --> 00:22:09,700
and its flagship locomotive,

354
00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:12,260
but it also exerted a powerful
effect on the railway,

355
00:22:12,260 --> 00:22:15,780
because it showed that journey times
could start to come down.

356
00:22:15,780 --> 00:22:18,100
It was the first element of
chipping away at this

357
00:22:18,100 --> 00:22:20,780
and starting to really
speed things up for passengers.

358
00:22:23,140 --> 00:22:27,620
It was a move that assured
Flying Scotsman's national fame.

359
00:22:27,620 --> 00:22:31,780
She was now becoming the must-see
steam locomotive of the age.

360
00:22:35,820 --> 00:22:39,420
But even at the height of her fame,
Flying Scotsman's dominance

361
00:22:39,420 --> 00:22:43,140
on the rails would soon
be under threat from a new rival.

362
00:22:55,140 --> 00:22:57,780
On the 30th of November 1934,

363
00:22:57,780 --> 00:23:01,940
Flying Scotsman steamed
out of King's Cross, heading north.

364
00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:08,220
The driver chosen for this important
test was William Sparshatt,

365
00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:12,140
a legendary LNER employee
known for his love of speed.

366
00:23:16,900 --> 00:23:20,860
It climbed the great hill
between Peterborough and Grantham,

367
00:23:20,860 --> 00:23:24,140
called Stoke Bank, at over 80mph.

368
00:23:24,140 --> 00:23:27,020
It might not sound so fast today
in the age of high speed trains,

369
00:23:27,020 --> 00:23:29,260
but I tell you, that was really fast
in 1934.

370
00:23:31,380 --> 00:23:33,740
Although she was reaching
high speeds,

371
00:23:33,740 --> 00:23:36,380
her driver believed
she could go faster.

372
00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:44,420
On her return journey to London, the
crew gave it everything they had.

373
00:23:44,420 --> 00:23:46,020
And after she leaves Grantham,

374
00:23:46,020 --> 00:23:48,980
Sparshatt lifts his arm up
and opens the regulator.

375
00:23:50,860 --> 00:23:53,980
Fireman shovels furiously,
trying to build up the fire.

376
00:23:53,980 --> 00:23:57,060
They climb Stoke Bank and then,
at the summit,

377
00:23:57,060 --> 00:24:01,220
Flying Scotsman got her nose down,
and started really, really charging.

378
00:24:06,620 --> 00:24:10,660
The speed went up - 75, 80, 90, 95.

379
00:24:12,220 --> 00:24:15,100
And it peaked
- just for a fraction of a second -

380
00:24:15,100 --> 00:24:16,660
it peaked at 100mph.

381
00:24:18,140 --> 00:24:21,380
The first time this had been
verifiably recorded by steam

382
00:24:21,380 --> 00:24:23,060
anywhere in the world.

383
00:24:26,940 --> 00:24:30,140
Flying Scotsman was yet again
in the record books.

384
00:24:30,140 --> 00:24:32,460
We are obsessed by the magic tonne,

385
00:24:32,460 --> 00:24:35,060
and for a railway locomotive
to do it,

386
00:24:35,060 --> 00:24:36,780
everybody wanted to do it.

387
00:24:36,780 --> 00:24:41,380
Scotsman is the first engine
to reach 100 authenticated,

388
00:24:41,380 --> 00:24:46,340
and that's something that's
really important for the PR machine.

389
00:24:46,340 --> 00:24:48,860
It's all about the headlines
in The Times the following day.

390
00:24:52,580 --> 00:24:55,340
Now one of the fastest machines
on Earth,

391
00:24:55,340 --> 00:24:59,820
Flying Scotsman rightly became
the undisputed queen of the rails.

392
00:25:01,380 --> 00:25:04,340
During the 1920s and '30s,
she was pulling some of

393
00:25:04,340 --> 00:25:08,580
the most luxurious express services
in the country.

394
00:25:08,580 --> 00:25:10,980
The height of the golden age
of steam expresses

395
00:25:10,980 --> 00:25:16,260
is really the inter-war period, and
there were competing for businessmen

396
00:25:16,260 --> 00:25:20,180
and they're also competing
to be seen to be modern.

397
00:25:20,180 --> 00:25:24,500
You had a restaurant car, at-seat
dining on The Flying Scotsman.

398
00:25:24,500 --> 00:25:27,660
You had cocktail bars.
You had a cinema on the train,

399
00:25:27,660 --> 00:25:31,140
so you could sit down and watch
the latest movies rattling along.

400
00:25:31,140 --> 00:25:33,820
Passengers could rent headphones,
to listen to the wireless.

401
00:25:33,820 --> 00:25:37,140
There was a hairdressing saloon
on it.

402
00:25:37,140 --> 00:25:41,580
Gentlemen could have a shave
on board. It's a cut throat razor.

403
00:25:41,580 --> 00:25:44,660
Having a shave with a cut throat
razor on the train to this day

404
00:25:44,660 --> 00:25:47,140
would sound crazy,
but at that point, of course,

405
00:25:47,140 --> 00:25:50,660
it's basically saying, "Look,
we're able to do all of these things

406
00:25:50,660 --> 00:25:53,220
"and our services are luxurious,

407
00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:55,860
"and our train interiors
are marvellous."

408
00:25:56,980 --> 00:26:01,020
Flying Scotsman was now
at the height of her fame,

409
00:26:01,020 --> 00:26:03,260
but she'd soon have a rival.

410
00:26:03,260 --> 00:26:06,100
Her own engineer, Nigel Gresley,

411
00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:10,460
was developing a new
and revolutionary locomotive.

412
00:26:10,460 --> 00:26:13,740
He knew he had the basis
of a truly astonishing design,

413
00:26:13,740 --> 00:26:15,300
and so he developed it further.

414
00:26:19,340 --> 00:26:21,540
He put an even higher
pressure boiler on,

415
00:26:21,540 --> 00:26:24,500
he tweaked the valve arrangements
further,

416
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:27,620
and then he put a streamlined casing
on the top

417
00:26:27,620 --> 00:26:29,540
to minimise air resistance.

418
00:26:34,020 --> 00:26:36,580
The result was one of the most
beautiful types of locomotive

419
00:26:36,580 --> 00:26:37,620
ever built.

420
00:26:43,060 --> 00:26:46,580
What Gresley came up with was this,

421
00:26:46,580 --> 00:26:52,060
the beautifully streamlined
Class A4 Pacific.

422
00:26:52,060 --> 00:26:54,260
It was a bit like science fiction
at the time.

423
00:26:54,260 --> 00:26:57,940
No-one had seen anything like it
on Britain's railways before.

424
00:27:02,940 --> 00:27:06,660
The A4s were a natural evolution
from the earlier Pacifics

425
00:27:06,660 --> 00:27:08,140
like Flying Scotsman.

426
00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:12,380
But one in particular
would stand out.

427
00:27:14,180 --> 00:27:17,900
This is Mallard, a younger sister,
of Flying Scotsman,

428
00:27:17,900 --> 00:27:23,420
and like her older sibling,
a steam loco world record holder.

429
00:27:25,820 --> 00:27:30,340
On July 3rd 1938, a special trial
for the A4s was arranged.

430
00:27:33,940 --> 00:27:38,500
Engine number 4468, Mallard,
was selected to run the test

431
00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:41,580
between Grantham and Peterborough.

432
00:27:41,580 --> 00:27:44,700
Tearing down the
East Coast Main Line,

433
00:27:44,700 --> 00:27:48,660
Mallard hit an incredible 126mph.

434
00:27:50,780 --> 00:27:53,500
It's a record that has never
been beaten.

435
00:27:53,500 --> 00:27:57,100
And while Mallard might have looked
very different from Flying Scotsman,

436
00:27:57,100 --> 00:28:00,740
under the skin,
she was very, very similar indeed.

437
00:28:00,740 --> 00:28:03,580
She was a Flying Scotsman GTI,
if you like.

438
00:28:16,860 --> 00:28:20,460
But with the arrival of
the new streamlined A4s,

439
00:28:20,460 --> 00:28:24,100
Flying Scotsman was no longer
the front line express locomotive

440
00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:25,540
of the LNER.

441
00:28:28,740 --> 00:28:31,980
She'd been replaced by these
more powerful engines,

442
00:28:31,980 --> 00:28:36,060
and now Flying Scotsman's duties
were somewhat reduced,

443
00:28:36,060 --> 00:28:39,220
it was a sign that this
very special era in the history

444
00:28:39,220 --> 00:28:41,540
of the steam train was
coming to an end.

445
00:28:44,100 --> 00:28:45,620
WHISTLE BLASTS

446
00:28:48,020 --> 00:28:52,380
In the 1930s, the arrival
of the new streamlined locomotives

447
00:28:52,380 --> 00:28:55,420
wasn't the only change
for Flying Scotsman.

448
00:28:58,020 --> 00:28:59,980
NEWSREEL: The fateful hour of 11
has struck,

449
00:28:59,980 --> 00:29:03,140
and Britain's final warning to
Hitler having been ignored,

450
00:29:03,140 --> 00:29:06,220
a state of war once more exists
between Great Britain and Germany.

451
00:29:08,020 --> 00:29:12,420
The golden age of steam
suddenly came crashing to an end.

452
00:29:12,420 --> 00:29:14,780
And, for the famed locomotive,

453
00:29:14,780 --> 00:29:18,100
the future was set
to become very different.

454
00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:21,660
Instead of pulling luxury
Pullman coaches on prestigious

455
00:29:21,660 --> 00:29:25,140
express routes, Flying Scotsman
found herself hauling

456
00:29:25,140 --> 00:29:27,340
heavy troop trains
and coal wagons.

457
00:29:30,180 --> 00:29:33,500
Even Scotsman's livery
had to change,

458
00:29:33,500 --> 00:29:37,020
With her standard green paintwork
too visible from the air,

459
00:29:37,020 --> 00:29:39,260
she was painted black.

460
00:29:39,260 --> 00:29:43,740
Now very much a workhorse, her
golden era was well and truly over.

461
00:29:46,420 --> 00:29:49,860
And during the war years,
the company that owned Scotsman,

462
00:29:49,860 --> 00:29:54,020
the London North Eastern Railway,
suffered its own devastating loss.

463
00:29:57,940 --> 00:30:02,580
In 1941, the acclaimed chief
mechanical engineer and designer

464
00:30:02,580 --> 00:30:06,140
of Flying Scotsman,
Sir Nigel Gresley, passed away.

465
00:30:09,420 --> 00:30:13,660
His death marks the end of an era
for the steam locomotive business.

466
00:30:13,660 --> 00:30:16,780
And, although his engines would
still be seen plying their trade

467
00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:21,380
on the tracks, the country had lost
one of its giants of engineering.

468
00:30:28,140 --> 00:30:32,300
Just a few years after Gresley's
death, the war was over.

469
00:30:34,660 --> 00:30:38,620
The task of rebuilding and
modernising Britain's rail industry

470
00:30:38,620 --> 00:30:42,260
began, and that would involve
some dramatic changes.

471
00:30:44,540 --> 00:30:49,260
In January 1948, the railways
were nationalised.

472
00:30:49,260 --> 00:30:52,580
The industry passed into
Government ownership,

473
00:30:52,580 --> 00:30:54,860
and British Railways was born.

474
00:30:54,860 --> 00:30:58,140
The country's trying to recover,
and you see the nationalisation

475
00:30:58,140 --> 00:31:02,140
of the coal industry,
the creation of the NHS.

476
00:31:02,140 --> 00:31:06,380
It was felt that it would be
apposite to put the railways

477
00:31:06,380 --> 00:31:09,860
all together and nationalise them,
bring them under central Government

478
00:31:09,860 --> 00:31:13,140
control, and create the behemoth
that became British Railways.

479
00:31:16,380 --> 00:31:20,540
Following nationalisation,
Flying Scotsman was worked hard.

480
00:31:22,820 --> 00:31:27,100
She spent her days plying her trade,
pulling express passenger services

481
00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:30,820
up and down the East Coast Main Line
for the newly nationalised

482
00:31:30,820 --> 00:31:35,780
British Railways, but
rail was now beginning to lose out

483
00:31:35,780 --> 00:31:38,380
as other forms of transport
became popular.

484
00:31:43,660 --> 00:31:48,300
The 1950s is a period of change
and adaptation for the railway.

485
00:31:48,300 --> 00:31:50,660
Road transport is improving.

486
00:31:50,660 --> 00:31:52,260
You've got the growth of air travel.

487
00:31:52,260 --> 00:31:55,060
You've got people starting
to look to foreign climes

488
00:31:55,060 --> 00:31:56,420
for going on holiday.

489
00:31:56,420 --> 00:31:59,860
So in terms of the British economy
and social scene,

490
00:31:59,860 --> 00:32:02,740
the whole country
is at a period of change...

491
00:32:05,180 --> 00:32:07,580
..and the railways are struggling
to keep up.

492
00:32:09,300 --> 00:32:13,900
A change was very definitely
in the air, and in 1954,

493
00:32:13,900 --> 00:32:16,940
the Government published details
of a scheme to

494
00:32:16,940 --> 00:32:19,700
radically upgrade British Railways.

495
00:32:19,700 --> 00:32:22,580
It was called
The Modernisation Plan.

496
00:32:28,700 --> 00:32:31,220
NEWSREEL: British Railways'
enormous modernisation scheme

497
00:32:31,220 --> 00:32:32,900
goes full steam ahead.

498
00:32:32,900 --> 00:32:34,780
To say farewell
to the steam locomotive

499
00:32:34,780 --> 00:32:37,940
was one of the many bold decisions
in the campaign.

500
00:32:37,940 --> 00:32:41,660
A central part of the plan was the
introduction of diesel locomotives

501
00:32:41,660 --> 00:32:43,420
to replace the steam engines.

502
00:32:44,860 --> 00:32:47,620
The argument was that diesels
were more expensive to build,

503
00:32:47,620 --> 00:32:49,180
but cheaper to operate.

504
00:32:49,180 --> 00:32:51,620
They didn't require
such extensive servicing,

505
00:32:51,620 --> 00:32:55,060
they didn't require the disposal
of huge amounts of ash,

506
00:32:55,060 --> 00:32:57,780
and they didn't require
feeding with coal,

507
00:32:57,780 --> 00:32:59,900
and BR was absolutely
hellbent on doing this.

508
00:33:05,660 --> 00:33:08,740
As these new diesels
were introduced,

509
00:33:08,740 --> 00:33:11,740
steam was gradually being run down.

510
00:33:11,740 --> 00:33:14,540
Throughout the late '50s
and early '60s,

511
00:33:14,540 --> 00:33:19,180
thousands of steam engines were
removed from service and scrapped.

512
00:33:19,180 --> 00:33:22,100
The authorities did, however,
come up with a plan

513
00:33:22,100 --> 00:33:24,900
to save a few steam locomotives
for posterity,

514
00:33:24,900 --> 00:33:29,180
and to teach future generations
about the age of steam.

515
00:33:29,180 --> 00:33:33,380
But the decision on which ones
to save and which ones to scrap

516
00:33:33,380 --> 00:33:34,740
proved controversial.

517
00:33:39,780 --> 00:33:43,740
As modernisation gathered pace, it
was clear that, for the big express

518
00:33:43,740 --> 00:33:46,580
locomotives, it was very much
the end of the line,

519
00:33:46,580 --> 00:33:48,500
and in normal circumstances,

520
00:33:48,500 --> 00:33:51,060
Flying Scotsman, like all
of her sisters,

521
00:33:51,060 --> 00:33:54,380
would simply have been withdrawn
from service and scrapped.

522
00:33:54,380 --> 00:33:56,300
There was no plan to save her.

523
00:33:56,300 --> 00:33:59,420
So of course, some enthusiasts
think, "Well, that's outrageous.

524
00:33:59,420 --> 00:34:03,100
"Flying Scotsman should be on the
list. It's really important,"

525
00:34:03,100 --> 00:34:06,620
because they're remembering all
those glory days of the 1920s

526
00:34:06,620 --> 00:34:10,820
and '30s, so they form up a
society to buy Flying Scotsman.

527
00:34:10,820 --> 00:34:13,100
"Save Our Scotsman," goes the cry.

528
00:34:14,420 --> 00:34:17,660
The campaign to save the locomotive
would need to work quickly

529
00:34:17,660 --> 00:34:20,020
if they were to buy Flying Scotsman.

530
00:34:20,020 --> 00:34:23,420
British Railways was demanding
£3,000,

531
00:34:23,420 --> 00:34:26,940
otherwise the engine was destined
for the scrapheap.

532
00:34:36,570 --> 00:34:40,810
The 1960s in Britain was an
explosion of technicolour

533
00:34:40,810 --> 00:34:44,530
and technology,
modern, bright, and exciting.

534
00:34:47,970 --> 00:34:51,850
But one industry was still
living in the past.

535
00:34:51,850 --> 00:34:55,610
British Railways,
or BR as it was commonly known,

536
00:34:55,610 --> 00:34:59,970
was seen as dirty, noisy, and
outdated in this new period of cool.

537
00:35:09,650 --> 00:35:12,130
Steam locomotives were being
phased out,

538
00:35:12,130 --> 00:35:16,130
and thousands were destined
for the scrapheap.

539
00:35:16,130 --> 00:35:19,290
Flying Scotsman's days
looked to be numbered,

540
00:35:19,290 --> 00:35:22,290
but a campaign was launched
called Save Our Scotsman

541
00:35:22,290 --> 00:35:25,050
to attempt to buy the locomotive.

542
00:35:25,050 --> 00:35:28,210
The campaign starts to raise money,
but time is running out.

543
00:35:28,210 --> 00:35:31,770
Flying Scotsman would be withdrawn
in 1963.

544
00:35:31,770 --> 00:35:34,810
Money wasn't coming in fast enough,
and here, a middle-aged

545
00:35:34,810 --> 00:35:37,970
rail enthusiast called Alan Pegler
decided to step in.

546
00:35:41,050 --> 00:35:43,450
Alan Pegler
was a wealthy industrialist

547
00:35:43,450 --> 00:35:47,250
whose family owned
the Northern Rubber Company.

548
00:35:47,250 --> 00:35:51,530
Less concerned with matters of big
business, Pegler spent a great deal

549
00:35:51,530 --> 00:35:55,770
of his time indulging his passion
for steam engines.

550
00:35:55,770 --> 00:35:59,050
Outraged that Scotsman
was for the chop,

551
00:35:59,050 --> 00:36:01,570
Pegler decided to act.

552
00:36:01,570 --> 00:36:05,810
He forked out the £3,000
that British Railways was asking

553
00:36:05,810 --> 00:36:07,330
for Flying Scotsman,

554
00:36:07,330 --> 00:36:10,930
and this is the official document
that confirms that sale.

555
00:36:10,930 --> 00:36:14,810
This is the engine record card for,
here we are, the name,

556
00:36:14,810 --> 00:36:18,690
Flying Scotsman,
engine number 60103.

557
00:36:18,690 --> 00:36:24,410
Sold to Mr AF Pegler here
on January 15th, 1963.

558
00:36:29,010 --> 00:36:31,890
Pegler got a quite astounding deal
from British Railways.

559
00:36:31,890 --> 00:36:34,650
He acquired the locomotive,
and crucially, he managed to get

560
00:36:34,650 --> 00:36:37,690
an agreement that would allow him to
run this locomotive all over

561
00:36:37,690 --> 00:36:42,330
the national network as a private
engine on special charter trains.

562
00:36:42,330 --> 00:36:43,690
It was a fantastic deal,

563
00:36:43,690 --> 00:36:46,170
and it meant,
at the very, very last minute,

564
00:36:46,170 --> 00:36:49,450
Flying Scotsman had sidestepped
the scrap man

565
00:36:49,450 --> 00:36:52,690
that would wipe out
all of her classmates.

566
00:36:52,690 --> 00:36:54,890
I think it's the most famous
locomotive in the world.

567
00:36:54,890 --> 00:36:58,490
I've seen it running and the engines
of its class, I think, all my life,

568
00:36:58,490 --> 00:37:01,010
and when I heard it had got
to be sold as scrap, I thought

569
00:37:01,010 --> 00:37:04,170
it would be very nice to save it
from that fate if I could.

570
00:37:04,170 --> 00:37:08,410
Having picked up his
prized possession for £3,000,

571
00:37:08,410 --> 00:37:13,610
Pegler now wanted to do something
for the loco's many adoring fans.

572
00:37:13,610 --> 00:37:16,690
Ever the showman, he came
up with a stunt

573
00:37:16,690 --> 00:37:19,770
that would put Scotsman
back in the headlines.

574
00:37:19,770 --> 00:37:22,250
NEWSREEL: The Flying Scotsman,
one of the most famous of all

575
00:37:22,250 --> 00:37:24,530
steam locomotives,
puffed impatiently,

576
00:37:24,530 --> 00:37:26,770
eager to be on her way
to repeat history.

577
00:37:26,770 --> 00:37:30,170
40 years ago to the day, the mighty
engine designed by Sir Nigel Gresley

578
00:37:30,170 --> 00:37:34,050
had pulled the first nonstop train
between London and Edinburgh.

579
00:37:34,050 --> 00:37:37,370
Majestically, the beautiful engine
eased out of platform two...

580
00:37:37,370 --> 00:37:43,170
On May 1st, 1968, 40 years to the
day after she made her first ever

581
00:37:43,170 --> 00:37:46,690
nonstop run between London
and Edinburgh,

582
00:37:46,690 --> 00:37:48,970
Alan Pegler set out
to repeat the feat.

583
00:37:55,890 --> 00:37:59,090
He ran Flying Scotsman, 40 years on,

584
00:37:59,090 --> 00:38:03,730
nonstop from King's Cross
to Edinburgh.

585
00:38:11,530 --> 00:38:13,850
The press loved it,

586
00:38:13,850 --> 00:38:16,730
because the excitement of steam
wouldn't go away,

587
00:38:16,730 --> 00:38:19,050
despite what the railways wanted.

588
00:38:23,050 --> 00:38:28,090
Having bought the locomotive, Pegler
now planned to take her on tour

589
00:38:28,090 --> 00:38:29,570
to the United States.

590
00:38:30,890 --> 00:38:33,210
Alan Pegler was
a very convincing man.

591
00:38:33,210 --> 00:38:37,810
He persuaded, with Government help
and of all Governments,

592
00:38:37,810 --> 00:38:39,530
Harold Wilson's Labour Government,

593
00:38:39,530 --> 00:38:41,850
with its commitment to the
white heat of technology,

594
00:38:41,850 --> 00:38:46,050
to take a trade show out by rail
across the United States

595
00:38:46,050 --> 00:38:48,050
pulled by Flying Scotsman.

596
00:38:48,050 --> 00:38:51,650
Pegler convinced the Government to
back his trade show to the States,

597
00:38:51,650 --> 00:38:54,290
and the big names of the day
signed up,

598
00:38:54,290 --> 00:38:57,810
including the Royal Shakespeare
Company, Lloyds Bank,

599
00:38:57,810 --> 00:38:59,450
and Pretty Polly Tights.

600
00:38:59,450 --> 00:39:02,490
So this was very much a way
of promoting Britain

601
00:39:02,490 --> 00:39:05,810
to North America at a time of
the white heat of technology.

602
00:39:05,810 --> 00:39:08,930
It might seem odd that you would use
a steam locomotive to do it,

603
00:39:08,930 --> 00:39:11,690
but such a recognisable icon
globally

604
00:39:11,690 --> 00:39:14,490
made a lot of sense
in promotional terms.

605
00:39:16,450 --> 00:39:19,010
In preparation
for her American adventure,

606
00:39:19,010 --> 00:39:22,090
Flying Scotsman had something of
a makeover,

607
00:39:22,090 --> 00:39:24,130
giving her a whole new look.

608
00:39:24,130 --> 00:39:28,170
Among other things, she needed a
cowcatcher to be fitted on the front

609
00:39:28,170 --> 00:39:30,570
to conform to American
railroad regulations.

610
00:39:32,010 --> 00:39:35,850
It also meant having a bell fitted
on the front, and a large hooter...

611
00:39:35,850 --> 00:39:37,290
HOOTER HOOTS

612
00:39:37,290 --> 00:39:39,090
..to replace her old whistle.

613
00:39:41,330 --> 00:39:43,530
After yet another overhaul

614
00:39:43,530 --> 00:39:47,010
and some vital boiler work to
make sure she was in peak condition,

615
00:39:47,010 --> 00:39:50,610
Scotsman was ready to begin
her American adventure.

616
00:39:57,810 --> 00:40:00,250
It was a mammoth task.

617
00:40:00,250 --> 00:40:03,370
Flying Scotsman
weighs over 100 tonnes.

618
00:40:06,290 --> 00:40:09,650
It was a delicate operation
lifting this beast of an engine

619
00:40:09,650 --> 00:40:12,330
onto a cargo ship
at Liverpool docks.

620
00:40:16,810 --> 00:40:19,610
Sitting on deck,
and open to the elements,

621
00:40:19,610 --> 00:40:23,490
she then crossed the Atlantic Ocean
bound for New York.

622
00:40:28,330 --> 00:40:31,330
There she's unloaded,
she's inspected,

623
00:40:31,330 --> 00:40:34,050
fettled up, and she sets forth.

624
00:40:34,050 --> 00:40:35,490
HOOTER HOOTS

625
00:40:37,570 --> 00:40:40,410
And the Americans fell in love
with this machine.

626
00:40:40,410 --> 00:40:44,170
It's difficult to exaggerate
the sheer numbers of people

627
00:40:44,170 --> 00:40:46,090
that wanted to see Flying Scotsman.

628
00:40:48,770 --> 00:40:51,130
In the first two months of her tour,

629
00:40:51,130 --> 00:40:55,850
Scotsman travelled the length
and breadth of the United States.

630
00:40:55,850 --> 00:40:59,490
Over 60,000 people
paid to see the engine.

631
00:40:59,490 --> 00:41:04,210
It was like an Antiques Roadshow,
but mixed with 1960s pop culture.

632
00:41:05,290 --> 00:41:06,810
They had a riot.

633
00:41:06,810 --> 00:41:10,810
I mean, Alan Pegler
was a saucy fellow, lots of fun.

634
00:41:10,810 --> 00:41:13,610
He thinks this is one big party.

635
00:41:13,610 --> 00:41:16,290
The problem was
it was ever so expensive to do.

636
00:41:16,290 --> 00:41:18,250
It was a nutty thing to do

637
00:41:18,250 --> 00:41:21,570
After the first tour, Pegler could
quite reasonably have packed up

638
00:41:21,570 --> 00:41:24,530
and taken Flying Scotsman
back to Britain.

639
00:41:24,530 --> 00:41:26,330
But Pegler was driven
by something else,

640
00:41:26,330 --> 00:41:28,970
and that was a desire
to drive his own locomotive.

641
00:41:28,970 --> 00:41:31,450
He would never be allowed to do that
in Britain,

642
00:41:31,450 --> 00:41:33,610
but in America, he could.

643
00:41:35,810 --> 00:41:38,570
Pegler tried to find funding
for a second tour,

644
00:41:38,570 --> 00:41:40,970
and wanted another
exhibition train,

645
00:41:40,970 --> 00:41:45,410
but this time, the Board of Trade
withdrew its support.

646
00:41:45,410 --> 00:41:47,770
It didn't want Britain
to be associated

647
00:41:47,770 --> 00:41:49,970
with that golden age of steam.

648
00:41:49,970 --> 00:41:54,690
It wanted it to be seen
as modern, bright, and powerful.

649
00:41:54,690 --> 00:41:57,770
To them, Flying Scotsman
looked like a throwback.

650
00:42:00,850 --> 00:42:04,250
It didn't deter Pegler.
He got the best exhibitors he could,

651
00:42:04,250 --> 00:42:06,490
although there were many fewer
of them.

652
00:42:06,490 --> 00:42:09,610
Pegler probably knew that
he was likely to go bankrupt.

653
00:42:09,610 --> 00:42:12,210
He certainly knew that the tour
would cost him money this time,

654
00:42:12,210 --> 00:42:16,890
but the allure of driving his own
engine at speed over long distances

655
00:42:16,890 --> 00:42:19,090
was just irresistible.

656
00:42:19,090 --> 00:42:22,810
After this second tour,
Scotsman ended up in Toronto,

657
00:42:22,810 --> 00:42:25,210
and she spent a whole year
off the tracks.

658
00:42:26,290 --> 00:42:28,810
Financial disaster was looming

659
00:42:28,810 --> 00:42:33,050
when Alan Pegler came up with a plan
he believed could save the day.

660
00:42:35,570 --> 00:42:38,890
He'd heard that there was
to be a festival in San Francisco

661
00:42:38,890 --> 00:42:43,130
called British Week,
celebrating all things British.

662
00:42:43,130 --> 00:42:46,090
Pegler believed Scotsman
would fit right in.

663
00:42:47,730 --> 00:42:50,610
So, in September 1971,

664
00:42:50,610 --> 00:42:54,010
the world's most famous locomotive
headed for San Francisco.

665
00:42:55,450 --> 00:42:57,650
But with money in short supply,

666
00:42:57,650 --> 00:43:01,370
this US trip was a lot
less glamorous than the first,

667
00:43:01,370 --> 00:43:05,130
and this time, Alan Pegler
had a travelling companion -

668
00:43:05,130 --> 00:43:07,930
his 17-year-old daughter Penelope.

669
00:43:07,930 --> 00:43:10,850
There was only a skeleton crew
by then,

670
00:43:10,850 --> 00:43:15,410
and we went all the way
across to the west

671
00:43:15,410 --> 00:43:18,850
and down to San Francisco
with a few of us on board.

672
00:43:20,690 --> 00:43:23,610
And it was far less glamorous,
because by then,

673
00:43:23,610 --> 00:43:26,050
when we were crossing the Rockies,

674
00:43:26,050 --> 00:43:28,890
we were sleeping on the train
in sleeping bags.

675
00:43:31,290 --> 00:43:33,490
As the tour went on,

676
00:43:33,490 --> 00:43:36,730
the American railroads increasingly
started withdrawing their support.

677
00:43:36,730 --> 00:43:39,530
They wanted payment
for coal upfront.

678
00:43:39,530 --> 00:43:43,010
It became almost like a travelling
circus with drifters and hangers-on

679
00:43:43,010 --> 00:43:45,330
joining the train
and trying to keep it going.

680
00:43:45,330 --> 00:43:48,250
People had to share hotel rooms
and wash their socks in sinks.

681
00:43:59,530 --> 00:44:02,570
Flying Scotsman finally made it
to San Francisco,

682
00:44:02,570 --> 00:44:06,850
and for a brief period, she became
the most popular tourist attraction

683
00:44:06,850 --> 00:44:08,570
in the city.

684
00:44:08,570 --> 00:44:13,210
To begin with, we had a wonderful
spot on Fisherman's Wharf.

685
00:44:13,210 --> 00:44:16,850
It was absolutely pride of place,

686
00:44:16,850 --> 00:44:19,970
and so all the restaurants
after a while got a bit cross

687
00:44:19,970 --> 00:44:22,770
because, for one thing,
we were blocking their view

688
00:44:22,770 --> 00:44:25,370
out onto the bay.

689
00:44:25,370 --> 00:44:29,130
And so we had to move off
Fisherman's Wharf,

690
00:44:29,130 --> 00:44:33,050
which was...a bit of a disaster.

691
00:44:36,330 --> 00:44:38,970
That was definitely the start of...

692
00:44:40,450 --> 00:44:42,010
..of things going wrong.

693
00:44:43,930 --> 00:44:46,410
Once the engine had been moved away
from the prestigious

694
00:44:46,410 --> 00:44:50,090
Fisherman's Wharf site, Scotsman
was no longer the popular

695
00:44:50,090 --> 00:44:53,730
tourist attraction she'd been
when she first arrived.

696
00:44:53,730 --> 00:44:56,290
For Scotsman's owner, Alan Pegler,

697
00:44:56,290 --> 00:45:00,530
the problems were becoming
too great for him to manage.

698
00:45:00,530 --> 00:45:03,730
I think, one, the money
had been running out very fast.

699
00:45:03,730 --> 00:45:07,930
It just was sand running
through Pegler's fingers, the money.

700
00:45:07,930 --> 00:45:09,730
But then something happened.

701
00:45:09,730 --> 00:45:13,210
Edward Heath was Prime Minister
then, said, "No.

702
00:45:13,210 --> 00:45:15,410
"No more money for this
travelling circus,"

703
00:45:15,410 --> 00:45:17,610
which had partly been funded
by the Government.

704
00:45:17,610 --> 00:45:20,570
And once that money had been pulled
out, that really, I think,

705
00:45:20,570 --> 00:45:21,570
was the end.

706
00:45:23,130 --> 00:45:26,810
The visitors dried up,
the money dried up,

707
00:45:26,810 --> 00:45:29,210
and Pegler knew he was going bust.

708
00:45:29,210 --> 00:45:33,130
Soon after,
the money finally ran out.

709
00:45:33,130 --> 00:45:37,130
Alan Pegler had literally spent
a fortune on his dream,

710
00:45:37,130 --> 00:45:41,090
but now, declaring himself bankrupt,
it was finally over.

711
00:45:50,850 --> 00:45:54,410
By 1972, Scotsman was stranded
in the States,

712
00:45:54,410 --> 00:45:57,770
and fears were growing
that she might never come home.

713
00:46:02,770 --> 00:46:05,850
I suspect a lot of people were being
a bit paranoid at the time,

714
00:46:05,850 --> 00:46:10,090
but their worst fears looked as if
they might now come true.

715
00:46:10,090 --> 00:46:12,970
There was a real chance
at this point that Flying Scotsman

716
00:46:12,970 --> 00:46:16,250
would have stayed
over in the United States.

717
00:46:16,250 --> 00:46:20,690
The big worry was that Flying
Scotsman would be bought by Disney,

718
00:46:20,690 --> 00:46:24,410
and be in a theme park, and it
would never come back to the UK.

719
00:46:25,970 --> 00:46:30,010
With Flying Scotsman abandoned,
her future looked bleak.

720
00:46:30,010 --> 00:46:32,490
To her thousands of fans,

721
00:46:32,490 --> 00:46:35,210
it looked like she needed
a miracle to save her.

722
00:46:45,180 --> 00:46:49,700
1972, and Flying Scotsman is
stranded in San Francisco

723
00:46:49,700 --> 00:46:52,140
following a three-year tour
of North America.

724
00:46:53,900 --> 00:46:57,540
To buy the famous loco
and get her back to Britain

725
00:46:57,540 --> 00:47:00,620
required an enormous amount
of money.

726
00:47:00,620 --> 00:47:05,660
There aren't huge numbers of sugar
daddies who can buy a steam engine,

727
00:47:05,660 --> 00:47:08,460
and there are a number of
influential people

728
00:47:08,460 --> 00:47:11,020
in the Heritage Railway world.

729
00:47:11,020 --> 00:47:14,060
Not everybody's got a lot of money,
but somebody who takes

730
00:47:14,060 --> 00:47:17,660
a deep interest in it
is Sir William McAlpine.

731
00:47:19,500 --> 00:47:21,580
McAlpine was a former director

732
00:47:21,580 --> 00:47:25,620
of the world-renowned
McAlpine construction company.

733
00:47:25,620 --> 00:47:27,900
He'd always had a passion
for steam engines,

734
00:47:27,900 --> 00:47:31,020
and had started collecting them
in the early 1960s.

735
00:47:32,500 --> 00:47:35,140
Bill McAlpine
is a very passionate man.

736
00:47:35,140 --> 00:47:38,700
He cares deeply
for steam locomotives.

737
00:47:38,700 --> 00:47:40,900
He cares deeply for
railway heritage.

738
00:47:40,900 --> 00:47:43,100
And the thought that that engine,
Flying Scotsman,

739
00:47:43,100 --> 00:47:46,980
could be lost to the nation,
was anathema to him.

740
00:47:46,980 --> 00:47:50,580
He felt, if nobody else could do it,
he needed to step in

741
00:47:50,580 --> 00:47:52,500
and save it for the nation,
which he did.

742
00:47:54,340 --> 00:47:58,700
To get Scotsman home from the west
coast of America was no mean feat.

743
00:48:00,460 --> 00:48:02,980
She was loaded onto a barge
in San Francisco,

744
00:48:02,980 --> 00:48:06,500
and then sailed across the bay
to Oakland.

745
00:48:06,500 --> 00:48:10,460
There, she was transferred
to the ship The California Star

746
00:48:10,460 --> 00:48:12,860
for her 8,000 mile journey home.

747
00:48:16,820 --> 00:48:21,260
One of the highlights of the trip
was navigating the Panama Canal,

748
00:48:21,260 --> 00:48:24,140
the first steam locomotive
ever to do so.

749
00:48:31,180 --> 00:48:34,260
Finally, in February 1973,

750
00:48:34,260 --> 00:48:36,980
Flying Scotsman arrived back
in Liverpool

751
00:48:36,980 --> 00:48:42,020
at the exact spot that she'd sailed
from three and a half years earlier.

752
00:48:42,020 --> 00:48:45,900
But her travels in the States
and her gruelling sea crossing

753
00:48:45,900 --> 00:48:47,380
had left their mark.

754
00:48:58,020 --> 00:49:01,780
All along the track,
from Liverpool docks back to Derby,

755
00:49:01,780 --> 00:49:04,500
thousands of well-wishers
lined the route,

756
00:49:04,500 --> 00:49:08,660
overjoyed to finally see Flying
Scotsman back on British soil.

757
00:49:10,100 --> 00:49:11,580
Having made it to Derby,

758
00:49:11,580 --> 00:49:15,260
Flying Scotsman was now returned
to her former glory,

759
00:49:15,260 --> 00:49:19,660
including being finished off
in her beautiful apple green livery.

760
00:49:23,260 --> 00:49:27,260
For the next 15 years, Flying
Scotsman settled into her life

761
00:49:27,260 --> 00:49:31,300
as a much-loved throwback
to the golden age of steam,

762
00:49:31,300 --> 00:49:34,220
but the world around her
was changing fast.

763
00:49:36,180 --> 00:49:40,940
The 1980s in Britain was a time
when technology was booming.

764
00:49:40,940 --> 00:49:42,220
Mobile phones were born,

765
00:49:42,220 --> 00:49:45,300
and the internet was beginning
to be thought about.

766
00:49:45,300 --> 00:49:47,500
But despite all these advances,

767
00:49:47,500 --> 00:49:51,220
some old technology
was still making its mark.

768
00:49:51,220 --> 00:49:56,100
Flying Scotsman, now 60 years old,
was remarkably still going strong.

769
00:49:57,740 --> 00:50:03,100
In 1988, Flying Scotsman was heading
off on her travels once again.

770
00:50:03,100 --> 00:50:05,660
To mark the bicentenary
of Australia,

771
00:50:05,660 --> 00:50:10,340
the authorities decided to stage
a steam spectacular.

772
00:50:10,340 --> 00:50:13,580
Originally, they'd requested
for Mallard to be sent over,

773
00:50:13,580 --> 00:50:17,460
but she was unavailable,
so they approached Bill McAlpine

774
00:50:17,460 --> 00:50:20,340
to see if they'd loan
Flying Scotsman.

775
00:50:22,700 --> 00:50:25,540
Now, McAlpine was well aware,
having rescued Flying Scotsman

776
00:50:25,540 --> 00:50:28,220
from North America,
that he wanted it back,

777
00:50:28,220 --> 00:50:32,740
but he agreed to the loan, providing
there were funds to get it back.

778
00:50:32,740 --> 00:50:36,260
The funds were raised, and Flying
Scotsman was taken to Australia.

779
00:50:37,980 --> 00:50:41,940
It was to be one of the biggest
tests of Scotsman's career.

780
00:50:41,940 --> 00:50:44,940
She set sail from London
in September 1988,

781
00:50:44,940 --> 00:50:46,700
bound for Melbourne,

782
00:50:46,700 --> 00:50:49,900
and five weeks later,
she finally arrived down under.

783
00:50:53,140 --> 00:50:55,620
And she was planned to be unloaded
at Melbourne.

784
00:50:55,620 --> 00:50:58,300
Unfortunately, there wasn't a crane
big enough to lift this

785
00:50:58,300 --> 00:51:01,300
quite heavy locomotive off the ship
and onto the harbour,

786
00:51:01,300 --> 00:51:04,340
so she was unloaded at Sydney
instead.

787
00:51:04,340 --> 00:51:07,580
It didn't matter. The reception was
still fabulous for her,

788
00:51:07,580 --> 00:51:09,940
and after the checks had been made
of the air brakes

789
00:51:09,940 --> 00:51:11,460
and all the other equipment needed,

790
00:51:11,460 --> 00:51:14,300
she was free to roam
the Australian rails.

791
00:51:18,940 --> 00:51:23,980
In the first two months alone,
a staggering 130,000 people

792
00:51:23,980 --> 00:51:26,660
paid to see the famous locomotive.

793
00:51:26,660 --> 00:51:28,420
Even at 65 years old,

794
00:51:28,420 --> 00:51:33,100
Flying Scotsman was still capable
of amazing feats.

795
00:51:33,100 --> 00:51:37,780
And in Australia, she was about
to set another incredible record,

796
00:51:37,780 --> 00:51:40,300
one that still stands to this day.

797
00:51:43,180 --> 00:51:47,060
On a trip to Alice Springs,
Scotsman ran a section of the line

798
00:51:47,060 --> 00:51:50,020
that was 422 miles long...

799
00:51:52,500 --> 00:51:54,620
..and she did it without stopping.

800
00:51:59,140 --> 00:52:03,140
It was a world record
for a nonstop run by a steam engine.

801
00:52:06,780 --> 00:52:10,420
It's incredible. 20 years after
she did her last nonstop run

802
00:52:10,420 --> 00:52:14,660
from London to Edinburgh,
Flying Scotsman goes and breaks

803
00:52:14,660 --> 00:52:17,260
the world record for nonstop run
by steam

804
00:52:17,260 --> 00:52:20,740
as she does it without failing,
without any problems at all.

805
00:52:24,140 --> 00:52:28,740
Flying Scotsman had travelled
an amazing 28,000 miles

806
00:52:28,740 --> 00:52:30,620
during her year in Australia.

807
00:52:32,260 --> 00:52:35,380
It was a trip that confirmed
her unofficial title

808
00:52:35,380 --> 00:52:39,340
as the most famous steam locomotive
in the world,

809
00:52:39,340 --> 00:52:44,540
and at the end of 1989, Flying
Scotsman headed back to Britain.

810
00:52:55,740 --> 00:52:58,620
Ever since steam had been scrapped
in the '60s,

811
00:52:58,620 --> 00:53:01,340
interest in steam railways
and the history of steam

812
00:53:01,340 --> 00:53:02,940
had been growing in the UK.

813
00:53:06,300 --> 00:53:10,180
The burgeoning heritage railway
movement was becoming big business,

814
00:53:10,180 --> 00:53:13,700
and old abandoned lines were now
being opened up all over the country

815
00:53:13,700 --> 00:53:17,940
as the desire to see and hear
steam engines again flourished.

816
00:53:19,700 --> 00:53:23,180
Heritage railways offer the public
a chance to step back in time,

817
00:53:23,180 --> 00:53:24,340
look at the past,

818
00:53:24,340 --> 00:53:26,540
sometimes a little bit with
rose-tinted spectacles,

819
00:53:26,540 --> 00:53:29,220
but we invented the steam railway
in Britain,

820
00:53:29,220 --> 00:53:31,260
and we like looking back on that.

821
00:53:31,260 --> 00:53:34,140
And as such, heritage railway is a
sort of part of the British psyche.

822
00:53:34,140 --> 00:53:36,740
They're there through our film
and our media.

823
00:53:36,740 --> 00:53:39,820
The romance of steam - people love
to go back and look at it.

824
00:53:39,820 --> 00:53:42,060
WHISTLE BLASTS

825
00:53:42,060 --> 00:53:45,580
And this new love of steam meant
that Flying Scotsman would be

826
00:53:45,580 --> 00:53:50,100
kept busy running on heritage
lines all around the country.

827
00:53:50,100 --> 00:53:52,060
Flying Scotsman's appeal
hadn't diminished

828
00:53:52,060 --> 00:53:53,740
during its trip to Australia.

829
00:53:53,740 --> 00:53:55,740
The crowds at heritage railways
were vast,

830
00:53:55,740 --> 00:53:59,220
and the heritage railways really got
a boost from Flying Scotsman's

831
00:53:59,220 --> 00:54:01,780
visit, both in terms
of visitor numbers

832
00:54:01,780 --> 00:54:04,220
and in terms of the money
they generated.

833
00:54:04,220 --> 00:54:06,900
But it couldn't last forever,
and in 1993,

834
00:54:06,900 --> 00:54:09,820
it was very clear that
Flying Scotsman would need

835
00:54:09,820 --> 00:54:12,260
a major overhaul
before she could work again.

836
00:54:13,860 --> 00:54:19,580
Working steam engines need a major
service every seven to ten years.

837
00:54:19,580 --> 00:54:21,980
With major work needed yet again,

838
00:54:21,980 --> 00:54:24,860
Bill McAlpine had a big decision
to make.

839
00:54:24,860 --> 00:54:29,100
After owning Scotsman for 23 years,
Bill McAlpine felt that

840
00:54:29,100 --> 00:54:32,580
his time with the locomotive
had run its course.

841
00:54:32,580 --> 00:54:35,380
It had been a long
and fruitful relationship,

842
00:54:35,380 --> 00:54:38,060
but he felt it was now time
for someone else

843
00:54:38,060 --> 00:54:42,460
to look after the world's
most famous steam engine.

844
00:54:42,460 --> 00:54:47,780
Millionaire businessman Tony
Marchington looked after the engine

845
00:54:47,780 --> 00:54:49,980
for a further eight years,
but by 2004,

846
00:54:49,980 --> 00:54:53,180
the famous old engine
was put up for sale yet again...

847
00:54:56,140 --> 00:54:58,420
..this time, to the highest bidder.

848
00:54:59,500 --> 00:55:02,860
There was a fear that the engine
could be bought by a foreign buyer,

849
00:55:02,860 --> 00:55:04,900
and leave Britain for good.

850
00:55:04,900 --> 00:55:10,260
Putting its bid in too was the
National Railway Museum in York.

851
00:55:10,260 --> 00:55:11,900
The bids had been placed.

852
00:55:11,900 --> 00:55:13,380
The waiting began.

853
00:55:13,380 --> 00:55:16,060
The National Railway Museum
had put in a bid of something like

854
00:55:16,060 --> 00:55:18,820
£2.2 million for the locomotive,
way in excess

855
00:55:18,820 --> 00:55:22,220
of what you would normally pay
for one of its classmates,

856
00:55:22,220 --> 00:55:25,580
but probably a fair price
for the locomotive,

857
00:55:25,580 --> 00:55:27,980
given its importance to the nation.

858
00:55:27,980 --> 00:55:29,220
But the bids were opened,

859
00:55:29,220 --> 00:55:31,420
and the National Railway Museum
had won.

860
00:55:31,420 --> 00:55:33,980
Finally, after all those years,

861
00:55:33,980 --> 00:55:36,580
Flying Scotsman was back
in public hands.

862
00:55:36,580 --> 00:55:40,820
The people's engine
was actually owned by the people.

863
00:55:40,820 --> 00:55:45,060
With the National Railway Museum
winning the bid to buy Scotsman,

864
00:55:45,060 --> 00:55:49,420
a whole new lease of life beckoned
for the famous green engine.

865
00:55:49,420 --> 00:55:52,980
But little did anyone realise
at the time that the locomotive

866
00:55:52,980 --> 00:55:57,300
was about to face the most difficult
period of its entire life.

867
00:56:00,860 --> 00:56:04,300
Pretty swiftly, we discover
how tired it is as a machine,

868
00:56:04,300 --> 00:56:06,340
so we run it for a couple of years,

869
00:56:06,340 --> 00:56:11,180
and then we put it into repair,
to get it back into working order,

870
00:56:11,180 --> 00:56:13,700
the kind of pristine working order
it would have had

871
00:56:13,700 --> 00:56:15,860
when it left Doncaster
in the first place.

872
00:56:17,540 --> 00:56:21,260
This overhaul would prove an
absolute nightmare for the museum.

873
00:56:21,260 --> 00:56:25,140
It would cost vastly more than was
budgeted, and there would be

874
00:56:25,140 --> 00:56:28,340
some very, very severe faults
with this locomotive indeed.

875
00:56:31,260 --> 00:56:34,100
In total,
the overhaul took ten years.

876
00:56:35,580 --> 00:56:38,980
A decade off the rails was
the longest in Scotsman's history.

877
00:56:41,700 --> 00:56:43,540
But while she was away,

878
00:56:43,540 --> 00:56:47,220
a new 21st century steam engine
was about to be launched...

879
00:56:48,780 --> 00:56:50,340
WHISTLE BLASTS

880
00:56:50,340 --> 00:56:54,060
..and I get a once in a lifetime
chance to take the controls.

881
00:57:00,730 --> 00:57:04,410
Flying Scotsman is now owned
by the National Railway Museum

882
00:57:04,410 --> 00:57:08,290
after they successfully won
the bid to buy her in 2004.

883
00:57:11,490 --> 00:57:13,210
But just two years later,

884
00:57:13,210 --> 00:57:16,210
the world's most famous loco
had to leave the rails

885
00:57:16,210 --> 00:57:19,770
to undergo the biggest
engineering overhaul of her life.

886
00:57:22,690 --> 00:57:25,530
The challenge of keeping engines
like Flying Scotsman

887
00:57:25,530 --> 00:57:27,930
in peak condition
is a full-time job.

888
00:57:30,290 --> 00:57:32,690
Not all steam engines that you see
on the Main Line

889
00:57:32,690 --> 00:57:36,370
are like Flying Scotsman,
relics from the past that have

890
00:57:36,370 --> 00:57:40,130
painstakingly been restored through
blood, sweat, and tears.

891
00:57:40,130 --> 00:57:45,970
There's now a 21st century steam
locomotive that draws in huge crowds

892
00:57:45,970 --> 00:57:48,410
wherever she runs
up and down the country.

893
00:57:48,410 --> 00:57:55,410
This is number 60163, AKA Tornado,

894
00:57:55,410 --> 00:57:57,130
and she is magnificent.

895
00:57:59,650 --> 00:58:02,410
The great granddaughter
of Flying Scotsman,

896
00:58:02,410 --> 00:58:06,650
Tornado is almost exactly what the
old lady was when she was built

897
00:58:06,650 --> 00:58:10,250
almost 100 years ago,
a Class A1 Pacific.

898
00:58:12,450 --> 00:58:16,610
Tornado and Scotsman are very much
complementary partners.

899
00:58:18,210 --> 00:58:22,450
Scotsman has a very long history.

900
00:58:22,450 --> 00:58:25,210
It's still contributing
to that own history.

901
00:58:25,210 --> 00:58:28,330
Tornado is making history
as it goes.

902
00:58:32,170 --> 00:58:35,530
But the two engines together
complement what they're doing.

903
00:58:35,530 --> 00:58:37,490
They're running on
the national network,

904
00:58:37,490 --> 00:58:41,530
they're running at high speeds,
delighting thousands of people.

905
00:58:41,530 --> 00:58:44,570
Having had the honour of actually
riding on the footplate

906
00:58:44,570 --> 00:58:48,130
of Flying Scotsman,
I was desperately keen

907
00:58:48,130 --> 00:58:52,090
to relive the experience on her
21st century equivalent,

908
00:58:52,090 --> 00:58:56,610
and on a trip up the famous
East Coast Main Line, I got my wish.

909
00:59:05,330 --> 00:59:09,570
This is such an amazing experience,
because, yes, you feel that

910
00:59:09,570 --> 00:59:14,410
you're moving at high speed, with
the countryside zipping past you.

911
00:59:18,050 --> 00:59:22,050
But it's that noise
and the vibrations and the heat,

912
00:59:22,050 --> 00:59:24,970
just this whole environment just
screams exhilaration at you.

913
00:59:26,530 --> 00:59:28,170
WHISTLE BLASTS

914
00:59:49,410 --> 00:59:52,170
You can really see
the joy that this engine brings

915
00:59:52,170 --> 00:59:55,130
on the faces of people as
we speed by them.

916
00:59:57,210 --> 00:59:58,810
Little hose down.

917
00:59:59,930 --> 01:00:01,410
Keep the dust out.

918
01:00:08,850 --> 01:00:11,970
Having felt the thrill of riding
on the footplate of Tornado

919
01:00:11,970 --> 01:00:16,330
at 80mph, and watching the driver
hard at work,

920
01:00:16,330 --> 01:00:19,730
I couldn't help wondering what it
would be like to actually drive

921
01:00:19,730 --> 01:00:21,570
one of these powerful beasts.

922
01:00:24,770 --> 01:00:29,730
David Wright is an engineer
whose company maintains Tornado.

923
01:00:29,730 --> 01:00:32,170
He's also one of the engine's
regular drivers.

924
01:00:33,610 --> 01:00:37,890
Hello. Can I come in?
Yeah. Lovely. Oh!

925
01:00:37,890 --> 01:00:39,330
Oh, it's warm in here.

926
01:00:39,330 --> 01:00:41,650
David, it's been a while since
I've had a driving lesson,

927
01:00:41,650 --> 01:00:44,170
but this is a bit of a different
vehicle.

928
01:00:44,170 --> 01:00:45,690
Indeed.
Talk me through,

929
01:00:45,690 --> 01:00:48,410
what are the main controls
I need to be looking at?

930
01:00:48,410 --> 01:00:50,610
Main controls for you for driving,

931
01:00:50,610 --> 01:00:53,050
you've got forward and back,
like the gears in your car.

932
01:00:53,050 --> 01:00:54,810
Yep.
Safety catch there.

933
01:00:54,810 --> 01:00:56,170
Lift it fully up.

934
01:00:56,170 --> 01:00:59,610
And then as per the labelling,
to go forwards, that way,

935
01:00:59,610 --> 01:01:01,850
to go backwards, that way.
And that's this gauge here

936
01:01:01,850 --> 01:01:04,210
that I'm looking at?
Yep, and you follow it there.

937
01:01:04,210 --> 01:01:07,690
So you've got neutral in the middle,
full forward gear, full back gear.

938
01:01:07,690 --> 01:01:10,170
So this is like your gearbox
in the car? In essence, yeah.

939
01:01:10,170 --> 01:01:13,570
That's you regulator,
which is like your accelerator.

940
01:01:13,570 --> 01:01:16,650
Press the steam just to start it
going like you would in your car

941
01:01:16,650 --> 01:01:19,330
with the clutch, just ease off,
like that, just ease it, ease it,

942
01:01:19,330 --> 01:01:21,090
ease it, you'll feel it bite,
hold it there,

943
01:01:21,090 --> 01:01:22,850
and then you'll see the steam.

944
01:01:22,850 --> 01:01:25,850
That gauge there gives you the steam
in the cylinders. OK.

945
01:01:25,850 --> 01:01:28,930
So you press the steam, and you'll
see that rise, and as it gets to

946
01:01:28,930 --> 01:01:31,690
about 50, you'll actually feel
the engine start moving.

947
01:01:31,690 --> 01:01:34,250
OK. But gentle. Gentle.

948
01:01:34,250 --> 01:01:36,730
If you give it too much,
the wheels spin, and we'll be off.

949
01:01:36,730 --> 01:01:39,370
OK. We don't want that.
I'm not a boy racer. No.

950
01:01:39,370 --> 01:01:43,530
This is your brakes on the engine.
Off. On.

951
01:01:44,690 --> 01:01:47,170
You've got two whistles
on this engine as well.

952
01:01:47,170 --> 01:01:49,490
So before we move off or if you see
anybody on the line side

953
01:01:49,490 --> 01:01:51,890
or see anything we need to whistle
at, two whistles.

954
01:01:51,890 --> 01:01:53,130
You've got a chime whistle.

955
01:01:53,130 --> 01:01:54,370
WHISTLE CHIMES

956
01:01:55,490 --> 01:01:56,810
WHISTLE SQUEAKS

957
01:01:56,810 --> 01:01:58,650
And then the original
LNER squeak whistle.

958
01:01:58,650 --> 01:02:01,330
So it's the moment of truth, is it?
Yep.

959
01:02:01,330 --> 01:02:03,130
Can I jump in the hot seat?

960
01:02:03,130 --> 01:02:05,850
Woo-hoo-hoo! OK.

961
01:02:07,050 --> 01:02:08,170
Er, right.

962
01:02:08,170 --> 01:02:11,170
Try and remember everything you've
just been taught. Yeah. Thank you.

963
01:02:11,170 --> 01:02:12,690
I'm going to go forward,
so pop it up.

964
01:02:12,690 --> 01:02:14,610
So put it into full gear.

965
01:02:14,610 --> 01:02:16,730
That comes off.
Yep.

966
01:02:18,930 --> 01:02:21,210
Want it to about 55.
55%?

967
01:02:21,210 --> 01:02:22,690
Yeah. About that? Yeah.

968
01:02:22,690 --> 01:02:24,970
Make sure it locks in.

969
01:02:24,970 --> 01:02:27,370
Yep, OK. Brakes are on.

970
01:02:27,370 --> 01:02:30,130
Have a look,
make sure you're safe to move.

971
01:02:30,130 --> 01:02:31,490
Safe to go?

972
01:02:31,490 --> 01:02:32,970
Yeah. And give a little toot.

973
01:02:32,970 --> 01:02:34,210
Yeah.

974
01:02:34,210 --> 01:02:35,610
WHISTLE SQUEAKS

975
01:02:35,610 --> 01:02:38,210
Lovely. And then brake off.

976
01:02:38,210 --> 01:02:40,610
Brake off,
and then slowly over the regulator.

977
01:02:42,170 --> 01:02:44,730
You feel the power...
OK, that's happening.

978
01:02:44,730 --> 01:02:46,010
Then ease back a bit.
Oh, yeah!

979
01:02:48,810 --> 01:02:51,250
Pulled away a bit quick there,
maybe!

980
01:02:51,250 --> 01:02:52,610
It's all right. Didn't slip.

981
01:02:52,610 --> 01:02:55,250
Didn't slip, yeah, I was watching
this. It didn't shoot up.

982
01:02:55,250 --> 01:02:56,650
No, no, you're all right there.

983
01:02:56,650 --> 01:02:58,090
So where do I want that pressure?

984
01:02:58,090 --> 01:02:59,650
You want the pressure
about 50 to 75.

985
01:02:59,650 --> 01:03:02,490
So pressure in the cylinders,
about 50, 75. Yeah.

986
01:03:04,570 --> 01:03:06,930
I mean, it's quite...
It's really a little micro...

987
01:03:06,930 --> 01:03:08,530
It's very responsive, yeah.

988
01:03:08,530 --> 01:03:10,730
I mean, wow, yeah,
that's a tiny little touch,

989
01:03:10,730 --> 01:03:13,290
and you feel the acceleration.
You're almost pushed back a bit.

990
01:03:13,290 --> 01:03:14,690
Yeah, yeah.

991
01:03:23,250 --> 01:03:27,250
Hey-hey-hey, all right!
That is good fun.

992
01:03:33,610 --> 01:03:34,730
When we get to the top end,

993
01:03:34,730 --> 01:03:37,370
we're aiming to stop somewhere about
halfway down the platform,

994
01:03:37,370 --> 01:03:40,010
so get in your mind where you're
wanting to stop. OK.

995
01:03:42,810 --> 01:03:44,370
Then fully shut it.

996
01:03:45,450 --> 01:03:47,130
That's it. See how it drops off,

997
01:03:47,130 --> 01:03:49,290
and then your speed'll
start to drop off.

998
01:03:49,290 --> 01:03:50,530
OK.

999
01:03:50,530 --> 01:03:52,450
Get your hand on the brakes ready.

1000
01:03:54,730 --> 01:03:56,690
That's it.
OK, come to the platform.

1001
01:04:00,450 --> 01:04:03,010
That's not too bad. Into a nice
controlled stop, hopefully.

1002
01:04:03,010 --> 01:04:04,650
Nice and steady
as you come to a stand.

1003
01:04:04,650 --> 01:04:06,010
So I bring it down to a stop.

1004
01:04:07,850 --> 01:04:09,050
Oh, yeah.

1005
01:04:14,690 --> 01:04:17,410
That's it, as soon as it stops,
fully on. Safe and secure. Yeah.

1006
01:04:17,410 --> 01:04:20,210
Oh, great! Oh, that was good fun.
How did we go?

1007
01:04:20,210 --> 01:04:22,090
That was good for a first effort.

1008
01:04:22,090 --> 01:04:25,490
It was a bit of a overly powerful
pull away, maybe.

1009
01:04:25,490 --> 01:04:27,930
Yeah, yeah,
that comes with practice.

1010
01:04:27,930 --> 01:04:29,650
Well, I mean, that was so much fun.

1011
01:04:29,650 --> 01:04:32,290
Can I, erm,
can I take it back down?

1012
01:04:32,290 --> 01:04:34,810
I think I'm done yet. I don't think
I want to leave the hot seat.

1013
01:04:34,810 --> 01:04:36,250
Yep, no problem.
So...

1014
01:04:36,250 --> 01:04:37,970
WHISTLE SQUEAKS

1015
01:04:37,970 --> 01:04:42,170
Just being around these beautiful
steam engines is a real thrill.

1016
01:04:47,610 --> 01:04:49,250
WHISTLE SQUEAKS

1017
01:04:49,250 --> 01:04:53,490
And when the world's most famous
locomotive, Flying Scotsman,

1018
01:04:53,490 --> 01:04:57,730
finally made it back onto the rails
after her ten-year lay-off,

1019
01:04:57,730 --> 01:05:00,610
the reaction from the public
said it all.

1020
01:05:00,610 --> 01:05:04,090
She's the one locomotive that you
can ask anyone in Britain

1021
01:05:04,090 --> 01:05:06,210
whether they've heard of it,
and they will say, "Yes".

1022
01:05:09,170 --> 01:05:11,730
This is a machine that's almost
100 years old,

1023
01:05:11,730 --> 01:05:14,290
and it's a truly incredible story

1024
01:05:14,290 --> 01:05:17,490
and it's one that should have
many, many years left to run.

1025
01:05:22,210 --> 01:05:26,130
Flying Scotsman was always
almost alive.

1026
01:05:27,850 --> 01:05:32,130
She is a living creature that,
if you touch her,

1027
01:05:32,130 --> 01:05:36,690
if you touch her side,
you can feel the energy inside.

1028
01:05:41,210 --> 01:05:45,450
This magnificent, highly developed,
powerful beautiful express

1029
01:05:45,450 --> 01:05:47,770
passenger steam locomotive that set
records,

1030
01:05:47,770 --> 01:05:50,330
and a record it will set
in future will be

1031
01:05:50,330 --> 01:05:53,370
the express steam locomotive
that lasts the longest

1032
01:05:53,370 --> 01:05:56,250
and takes us into a beautiful
steamy future.

1033
01:06:00,010 --> 01:06:03,770
Now, nearly 100 years
after she was built,

1034
01:06:03,770 --> 01:06:08,530
Flying Scotsman, the world's
most famous steam locomotive,

1035
01:06:08,530 --> 01:06:11,090
is back where she belongs.

1036
01:06:11,090 --> 01:06:15,650
Not simply a relic in a museum,
but doing what she does best -

1037
01:06:15,650 --> 01:06:19,210
steaming up and down the Main Lines
of Great Britain.

1038
01:06:24,450 --> 01:06:28,450
Subtitles by Red Bee Media