FLYING Scotsman was well on the way to the accolade of being known as the world’s most famous engine within a few years of its construction in 1923. Digital broadcaster Talking Pictures TV recently reinforced this when they screened a long-lost cinema feature film released in 1929 – shot on the Hertford Loop with the full co-operation of the LNER – entitled ‘The Flying Scotsman’, where the central character was as much the engine as the actors playing out a drama around it. The film naturally gets a mention in this expanded ‘Centenary’ revision and update to the 2016 edition of historian Geoffrey Hughes’ original 2005 book, but by now the film is nothing more than a curious footnote to a story that spans not only multiple generations but also the globe.
Released to celebrate the locomotive’s 100th birthday the chapters first take the reader through the service years 1923-63, including Gresley’s original inspiration for the class and its appearance at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, the impressive high speed runs, the performance and association with the train of the same name, the rebuild in the 1940s, service with British Railways and the final improvements carried in the later years.