IAM always intrigued, slightly irritated even, when I see or hear in the media the phrase “world’s most famous steam locomotive”, for I am yet to discover a diesel or electric that is better known!
To me and others growing up on the Great Northern Main Line in the late-1950s/ early-60s, Flying Scotsman was one of the most frequently-seen Pacifics, and I am ashamed to admit I sometimes joined the chorus of disappointed young spotters shouting “scrap it” as it turned up yet again. Thank God we did not get our wish.
It might seem rather odd, but I always preferred the graceful ‘A3s’ to their admittedly attractive streamlined ‘A4’ cousins and although my personal favourite was No. 60062 Minoru, the first one I managed to ‘cab’, I was thrilled to bits by Alan Pegler’s purchase of No. 60103 and devoured every newspaper report of its ‘reallocation’ I could find.
When the opportunity came to see him and his LNER apple green No. 4472 in action for the first time during a water stop near Sleaford in the mid-1960s, I seized it with both hands. Gazing up at the great man as he stood in the cab doorway in his trademark blue boiler suit, I thanked him for ensuring my beloved ‘A3s’ would not go the way of the dinosaurs. His reply in his cultured English accent was the epitome of politeness and it was one of the highlights of my career when, many years later, he granted me a series of interviews enabling me to publish his full fascinating life story in The Railway Magazine (February-May 2001 issues).