Mortons Books World's Fastest Steam Railway Back Issue

London King's Cross To Edinburgh Waverley - The route of the 'Flying Scotsman'

The bookazine tells the story of the East Coast Main Line, the great British trunk route which links London king’s Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh, and which produced the fastest steam locomotives in the world. It includes the exploits of Flying Scotsman, the world’s most famous steam locomotive, and Mallard, which set an all-time steam locomotive record of 126mph on Stoke Bank in Lincolnshire.

The story starts before the dawn of railways, when stagecoaches took four days to link the two capitals, running along the Great North Road what is now the old A1, and where travellers had to run the risk of being robbed by highwaymen like Dick Turpin. It looks at the coming together of the East Coast rail route section by section, the first being built from Edinburgh into England, and requiring the demolition of one of Britain’s great historic fortresses in the process.
The Races to the North of the late Victorian era in which East and West Coast operators deliberately competed against each other to see who could reach Aberdeen from London first, before a tragedy ended their rivalry for four decades, are covered.

The extension of services to Aberdeen, with the building of the nature-defying Tay Bridge, which ended in disaster, and the magnificent Forth Bridge are featured. The volume also looks at the work of Sir Nigel Gresley in building some of the finest steam locomotives ever to run, especially the A4 streamlined Pacifics, one of the greatest art deco British icons of all time. The modern-day eras after the end of steam are covered, with both diesel and electric traction setting new records on the route of the Flying Scotsman. There is also a look at the current rebuilding of that great cathedral of steam, London’s King’s Cross station, and the newest steam locomotive to run on the East Coast Main Line, the hugelypopular A1 Peppercorn Pacific No. 60163 Tornado.