Readers ’ Platform
Flying Scotsman, the alternative view
YOU asked for people’s thoughts on No. 4472 Flying Scotsman. I first expressed the following thoughts in July 2011, and my thoughts have not changed since then.
“Yet once more Flying Scotsman needs expensive repairs. Is it not time that the locomotive was retired from ‘active’ service and put on permanent static display somewhere obscure that needs the money having such a ‘famous’ icon as a resident might generate? It could then at least provide a useful service. It might even become feasible to move it around the country to needy obscure locations.
“I dread to think how much has been spent on keeping an average ‘A1’/’A3’ Pacific locomotive in the public eye. Perhaps some expert on such matters could provide a balance sheet – always provided that true costs could be obtained. It has certainly bankrupted more than one Samaritan.
“The fact that it spent almost eight years in relative obscurity at Leicester Central shed makes the point that, apart from its unfortunate naming, here we had a not very successful railway engine. Certainly its career in preservation would confirm this.”
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Last code
THE telegraphic code as given note in John Heaton’s article (December issue) certainly covered most exigencies that those of us in railway employ would encounter. The codes are varied and, in some cases, quite broadly descriptive – none more so than VANCO, which in simple terms was ‘Van containing a corpse’.