The Flying Scotsman

The ‘Flying Scotsman’ came to Rossendale and it appeared everyone got excited, including me and Piggy. I did a bit of research as I’m not a railway enthusiast. Any road The Flying Scotsman, and when I say Flying Scotsman I mean the LNER Class A3 4472 train, not the Flying Scotsman train service (I sound like an enthusiast already don’t I?), was the first steam train to be recorded travelling at speeds greater than 100mph, it wasn’t the fastest steam train as I initially thought, that was The Mallard. And, The Flying Scotsman is the last surviving brother of Gordon, the steam train from Thomas. This got both me and Piggy even more excited for some reason!

If I remember right, my dad drove the last Flying Scotsman (the service, not the train!) out of Scotland in the 60’s. The Flying Scotsman train was retired from active service in 1963.

Any road, me and the Pigster went out for a few hours to see it. The platform at Rawtenstall was rammed and ended up being the worst place to view the train. Railway enthusiasts are an excitable bunch and there was much jostling and coo-ing so we made our way down to Irwell Vale instead.

If I’m honest, most steam trains look the same to me, but I do think they’re a wonderful sight. The Scotsman had been given a special polish and I’m sure they were letting a lot more steam out of it than usual. It did look lovely and Darwin enjoyed it too.

"Irwell Vale"