Going loco for the Flying Scotsman

Published on Sunday 12 October 2003 01:00

IT IS the world’s most famous locomotive - an iconic symbol of Scotland and the past glories of steam travel, which evokes romantic images of smoke billowing from the funnel as the train speeds across a Highland landscape.

But the owner of the much-loved Flying Scotsman, the apple-green locomotive which went down in history when it achieved the first non-stop run between London and Edinburgh, has warned it could be heading for America because a plan to display it to the nation is set to fail.

The news has been met with amazement by Flying Scotsman fans who believe the locomotive should retire to Scotland where it can be admired by tourists from far and wide.

Flying Scotsman plc, the struggling company that now owns the engine, has confirmed that it is considering other locations for a ‘steam village’ it had hoped to build beside Waverley Station where the locomotive would have been put on public display.

But the firm says the plan is now set to be abandoned because Network Rail has repeatedly failed to give it the green light, despite the fact that Edinburgh city council has already granted permission for the museum.

Peter Butler, former MP and chief executive of Flying Scotsman plc, which has spent 2.5m restoring the engine, said they were now "actively considering" alternative sites for it, including London. "It is very frustrating," he said. "I am sad that Network Rail has not found it possible to take the most basic decisions to allow us to open. I am afraid it might cost Scotland the Flying Scotsman. I suspect it will end up in North America."

The delay in opening the visitor centre has put a huge financial strain on Flying Scotsman Plc. Last week, the company announced an annual loss for the year to the end of December 2002 of 474,619.

Butler insisted the firm was in no immediate danger of going under. But accountancy firm Keelings, which audited the company’s books, said it had doubts about whether Flying Scotsman plc could "find sufficient capital to support the business on an ongoing basis."

Butler said: "If we can’t survive financially the locomotive is like any other asset. The visitor centre is a very strong part of our business plan. We could have been opening a fabulous attraction in the centre of Edinburgh, telling the story of steam in a very proud way next to the world’s most famous locomotive.

"It’s an ideal site, but I don’t know how we can get Network Rail to join the party. We have no reassurances from them at all. What we needed from Network Rail was co-operation in tidying up the boundaries of the proposed site which is owned by Edinburgh City Council.

"But we have not been able to get a decision out of them and every timetable has slipped."

He added: "Network Rail must say to itself that it is not the most popular organisation in the world, and this scheme would bring a smile to people’s faces. Some might argue that Network Rail has a duty to the travelling public to do so."

The visitor centre would comprise a three-storey building adjacent to Market Street at the back of Waverley Station under North Bridge. Although the site is predominantly owned by Edinburgh city council, it borders land owned by Network Rail. Butler said a decision from the rail operator could see the building work start within three months, with completion in just over a year.

He stressed that it would not interfere with the planned refurbishment and expansion of Waverley station.

Rail enthusiast Roseanna Cunningham, SNP MSP for Perth, said she had fond childhood memories of travelling on the Flying Scotsman as her family emigrated to Australia in 1960; she attacked plans to move it out of Scotland.

She said: "This is about heritage. For me it is also a personal thing. When we travelled to London before our family went to Australia we took the Flying Scotsman down. Practically every family in Scotland will be able to claim a connection with it.

"To take it out of Scotland would be to take it out of its historical context. Why on earth would an American audience care about the Flying Scotsman? It cannot possibly mean the same to people in the US or elsewhere as it does here."

George Lumsden, an expert on steam engines from Glasgow, said the locomotive would be sorely missed if it left the country and he couldn’t believe it could be sent to America. "Speaking as a steam enthusiast I would be very disappointed if it did go. I think there’s enough exhibition room up here for all locomotives. It is a part of Scotland’s rail heritage even though it was never built in Scotland."

The Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive to be built by the then newly formed London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, it became the first engine to carry LNER’s famous apple green livery.

In 1928 it was fitted with a unique corridor tender to enable it to haul the first non-stop train from King’s Cross to Edinburgh on May 1. The journey set a world record for a non-stop run.

It hit the headlines again in 1934 when it became the first steam locomotive to authentically achieve a speed of 100mph.

Eventually the much-loved engine was withdrawn from service by British Railways in 1963 after a hard 40-year working life in front line service and was sold for preservation.