 91101 atEdinburgh Waverley in October 2015 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | Passenger train |
| First service |
|
| Current operator | London North Eastern Railway |
| Former operators | |
| Route | |
| Termini | Edinburgh London King's Cross |
| Distance travelled | 393 miles (632 km) |
| Average journey time | 4 hours |
| Service frequency | Daily (Monday-Friday only) |
| Train number | 1E01 |
| Line used | East Coast |
| Technical | |
| Rolling stock | Class 800 Class 801[1] |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
| Operating speed | 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) |
TheFlying Scotsman is anexpress passenger train service that operates betweenEdinburgh and London, the capitals of Scotland and England, respectively, via theEast Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862 as theSpecial Scotch Express until it was officially adopted in 1924. It is currently operated byLondon North Eastern Railway and is one of the oldest continuously operating named railway services in the world.
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TheEast Coast Main Line over which theFlying Scotsman service runs was built in the 19th century by many small railway companies, but mergers and acquisitions led to only three companies controlling the route; theNorth British Railway (NBR), theNorth Eastern Railway (NER) and theGreat Northern Railway (GNR). In 1860 the three companies established theEast Coast Joint Stock for through services using common vehicles, and it is from this agreement that theFlying Scotsman came about.
The firstSpecial Scotch Express ran in 1862, with simultaneous departures at 10:00 from the GNR'sLondon King's Cross and the NBR'sEdinburgh Waverley. The original journey took10+1⁄2 hours, including a half-hour stop atYork for lunch. Increasing competition and improvements in railway technology saw this time reduced to8+1⁄2 hours by the time of theRace to the North in 1888.
From 1896, the train was modernised, introducing such features as corridors between carriages, heating, and dining cars. As passengers could now take lunch on the train, the York stop was reduced to 15 minutes, but the end-to-end journey time remained8+1⁄2 hours. Like the earlier carriages built for the service, this rolling stock was jointly owned by the three operating companies, and formed part of the pool known as the East Coast Joint Stock.
In 1923, the railways of Britain weregrouped into the 'Big Four'. As a consequence of this, all three members of the East Coast Joint Stock became part of the newly formedLondon and North Eastern Railway (LNER).
In 1924, the LNER officially renamed the 10:00Special Scotch Express linking Edinburgh and London in both directions toFlying Scotsman, its unofficial name since the 1870s. To further publicise the train, a recently builtA1 Class locomotive – at first numbered 1472 and, subsequently, 4472 – wasnamed after the service and put on display at the 1924British Empire Exhibition.[2]
Due to a long-standing agreement between the competingWest Coast andEast Coast Main Line routes since the famousrailway races of 1888 and 1895, speeds of the Scotch expresses were limited, the time for the 392 miles (631 km) between the capitals being a pedestrian eight hours 15 minutes. However, subsequent to valve gear modifications, the A1 locomotive's coal consumption was drastically reduced, and it was thus found possible to run the service non-stop with a heavy train on one tender full of coal. Ten locomotives ofClasses A1 and A3, which were to be used on the service, were provided withcorridor tenders; these avoided engine crew fatigue by enabling a replacement driver and fireman to take over halfway without stopping the train.[3][4]
During theGeneral Strike on 10 May 1926, theFlying Scotsman was derailed by strikers nearNewcastle.[5][6][7]
No. 4472 hauled the inaugural non-stop train from London on 1 May 1928, and it successfully ran the 392 miles (631 km) between Edinburgh and London without stopping, a record at the time for a scheduled service (although theLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway had four days earlier staged a one-off publicity coup by running a non-stopRoyal Scot service fromEuston to Edinburgh via Glasgow—399.7 miles (643.3 km)). TheFlying Scotsman had improved catering and other on-board services—even a barber's shop.[8] With the end of the limited speed agreement in 1932, journey time came down to 7 hours 30 minutes, and by 1938 to 7 hours 20 minutes.
The non-stop runs were achieved with a specialcorridor tender which had an increased coal capacity of nine tons instead of the usual eight. A driver and fireman were able to access the locomotive from the train through a narrow passageway inside the tender tank plus a flexible bellowsconnection linking it with the leading coach. The passageway, which ran along the right-hand side of the tender, was 5 feet (1.52 m) high and 18 inches (0.46 m) wide. Further corridor tenders were built at intervals until 1938, and eventually there were 22; at various times, they were coupled to engines of classesA1, A3,A4 andW1, but by the end of 1948, all were running with class A4 locomotives.[9][10] Use of the corridor tender for changing crews on the move in an A4 locomotive is shown in the 1953British Transport Films'Elizabethan Express, the name of another London-to-Edinburgh non-stop train.
In the late 1950sBritish Railways (BR) was committed todieselisation, and began devising a replacement for the Gresley Pacifics on the East Coast Main Line. On 6 October 1958, haulage of the service byClass 40s commenced.[11] In 1962Class 55Deltics took over, becoming a centrepiece of BR advertising, as the steam-hauled one had been for the LNER.
Under BR, theFlying Scotsman ceased to be a non-stop train, calling atNewcastle,York andPeterborough. It also operated at times beyond Edinburgh. On 1 June 1981, the northbound journey was extended toAberdeen.[12] The southbound journey commenced fromGlasgow Queen Street at 09:05 until 4 October 1982 when the name was transferred to the 07:30 from Aberdeen.[13]
TheFlying Scotsman name has been maintained by the operators of theInterCity East Coast franchise since theprivatisation of British Rail; the formerGreat North Eastern Railway even subtitled itselfThe Route of the Flying Scotsman. TheFlying Scotsman was operated byGNER from April 1996 until November 2007, then byNational Express East Coast until November 2009,East Coast until April 2015, andVirgin Trains East Coast until June 2018. Since then it has been operated by the government-ownedLondon North Eastern Railway.
On 23 May 2011 theFlying Scotsman brand was relaunched for a special daily fast service operated by East Coast departing Edinburgh at 05:40 and reaching London in exactly four hours, calling only at Newcastle, operated by anInterCity 225Mallard set.91 class locomotive 91101 andDriving Van Trailer 82205 were turned out in a special maroon livery for the launch of the service.[14][15] East Coast said bringing back named trains would restore "a touch of glamour and romance". However, for the first time in its history, it ran in one direction only: there is no northbound equivalent service. In October 2015, 91101 and 82205 were revinyled in a newFlying Scotsman livery.[16]
LNER's new "Azuma" units (Class 800s andClass 801s) took over the service on 1 August 2019.From 14 December 2025, the service began calling at York, increasing the journey time to 4 hours 13 minutes.[17][18] Northbound, the fastest timetabled London to Edinburgh service (The Carolean Express) now takes 4 hours 8 minutes.[19][20][21]
To celebrateInternational Women's Day on 6 March 2020, LNER rebranded the service theFlying Scotswoman for a month.[22] On 6 March 2020 the service was staffed entirely by women, displayed a special International Women's Day livery and hosted a range of women from a variety of organisations in the rail industry as well as from LNER.[23]
As a major link between the capital cities of England and Scotland, theFlying Scotsman was an extremely long and heavy train, especially in the days before road and air transport became common. As such, it has required very powerful locomotives. Locomotives used to haul (and in some cases, specifically designed to haul) theFlying Scotsman have included:
LONDON, May 11— The first case of serious sabotage since the general strike began was reported today. The famous "Flying Scotsman," running from Edinburgh to London, having on board 400 passengers, was wrecked yesterday...
