Steam village delay threatens Flying Scotsman plan

Published on Monday 9 February 2004 00:00

PLANS to house the Flying Scotsman in a new Edinburgh heritage centre could be scrapped because a vintage car dealer has been drafted in to seek potential buyers for the historic locomotive.

The debt-ridden company which owns the Flying Scotsman, the first engine to reach 100mph, in 1934, admitted yesterday it might sell the steam engine because of lack of progress with the "steam village" scheme proposed for beside Waverley station.

It confirmed that an Oxfordshire car dealer had sent details of the locomotive to some of his customers to gauge potential interest. A guide price of 2.5 million is believed to have been included in the papers.

The engine, which was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley in 1923, hauled the first non-stop London-Edinburgh train five years later.

It was withdrawn from front-line duty in 1963 after 40 years of almost permanent use. It was sold for preservation and is used for luxury rail excursions in England.

However, the owner, Flying Scotsman plc, lost 474,000 in 2002, according to its latest accounts, and has said it is very expensive to maintain.

Geoff Courtney, a spokesman for the firm, said: "The Edinburgh talks are still going on, but as each month goes by, other avenues and projects have to be looked at."

Malcolm Elder, the car dealer involved, had "written to a limited number of his customers who he felt might be interested in buying the Flying Scotsman if it was for sale".

He said: "The Flying Scotsman is not for sale, but that is not to say that if there is a realistic offer the company would not consider it."

However, Mr Courtney said the chance of the locomotive being sold abroad was "absolutely minimal" because of its importance to Britain. But he refused to comment on claims that the sale move had been prompted by fears that a major bank might seize and auction the locomotive to recoup debts.

The locomotive, which last ran in January, is undergoing its winter overhaul before trips resume in March.

Mark Elder, Mr Elder’s son, said his firm’s customers had been approached because vintage car and train owners moved in the same circles. Network Rail, which has been reported in the past to have hampered the steam village project by refusing to agree to the plans, denied the claims.

A spokesman said: "It is not for us to determine the future of the Flying Scotsman project because the majority of the land earmarked for the scheme is not in our ownership."

Despite such denials, the delay in the building of the visitor centre has been blamed for the financial problems that have dogged the company.

The plans had initially outlined a much larger, 25,000sq ft visitor centre, but Network Rail’s refusal to sign an agreement forced the company to consider scaling down its plans so that the centre would sit on council property, removing the need for Network Rail’s approval.

But this change, it was warned, would result in the rent rising, as it excluded the involvement of other companies in the centre to defray the financial burden. This has led to the suggestions that the company’s assets might have to be sold off to pay any extra costs.

Flying Scotsman plc was also hit by the departure in December of Paul Jones, its finance director, and Kevin Woods its non-executive director and acting chief operating officer. Its shares were suspended temporarily in November from the market for small companies.