A car driver caught videoing Flying Scotsman while moving at speed. Transport police are pursuing the matter.
THE end of September saw the NRM’s ‘A3’ haul a railtour to Skegness and, as has become commonplace now, crowds gathered on platforms and linesides en route to get a glimpse of the world-famous locomotive passing. Which is all well and good, No. 60103 Flying Scotsman has a massive role to play as an ambassador of railways – helping to promote nostalgia, heritage, engineering, railtours, and train travel in general.
There is a flip side, however, and none more so than with this railway icon. Those crowded stations and linesides once again saw incidents of unsafe behaviour, with people leaning over platform edges to get a shot of the approaching train, or trespassing on the lineside with seemingly little heed to anything that might be coming in the opposite direction.
Speak to the crew aboard and they will tell you tales of horror, and it has to be said the worst offenders are usually not enthusiasts – who are more likely to know the dangers – but members of the general public. Look at the images on this page, just two of many such photos taken that day – one showing a car driver videoing the train on their phone as they drive alongside at speed, the other a crowd of people standing in or near the four-foot of the main line in Lincolnshire. Distracted by the sight and sound of the approaching steam engine, it sends shivers down the spine to think what might have happened had something been coming the other way.