I'm indulging myself a bit today, with another shot of the Flying Scotsman as it begins to pull away from platform 10 at York, at the start of it's journey to Edinburgh.
There is some confusion about the name 'Flying Scotsman'. First it is the name of a train service between London and Edinburgh which ran for many years beginning in 1862, officially known as the Special Scotch Express, but known unoficially by it's patrons as the Flying Scotsman. This name was oficially adopted from 1924 and is still used.
The second use of the name 'Flying Scotsman' was on a locomotive built in 1923 and used on the Flying Scotsman train service, and which you see after several rebuilds in this shot.
The locomotive set two world records for steam traction, becoming the first steam locomotive to be officially authenticated at reaching 100 miles per hour (160.9 km/h) on 30 November 1934, and then setting a record for the longest non-stop run by a steam locomotive when it ran 422 miles (679 km) on 8 August 1989 while in Australia. I should add that there were other claims to be the first steam locomotive to reach 100mph, but the Flying Scotsman was the first with confirmed evidence that it happened.
fav
Great info as always Ian, fav.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
I did like seeing some of the security staff, on the right with their yellow safety jackets, busy taking photos themselves!
Ian
Thank you Bri - I agree, there is something special about watching a steam locomotive hard at work.
Ian