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'Flying Scotsman' and Coal Stage, Didcot Railway Centre

'Flying Scotsman' and Coal Stage, Didcot Railway Centre

            The Flying Scotsman was completed at Doncaster, at a cost of £7,944, in February 1923 as 1472, an A1 pacific-class locomotive. Under ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway Company (LNER) it was renumbered the 4472 and christened the Flying Scotsman.

In 1924, number 4472 Flying Scotsman, renumbered and named for the occasion, was displayed at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley along with the first member of the Great Western Railway (GWR) Castle Class, number 4073 Caerphilly Castle.

At the 1925 British Empire Exhibition, Flying Scotsman was again exhibited; but this time, the GWR sent Pendennis Castle. This reunification of the Flying Scotsman and the Pendennis Castle was organised and run by the Great Western Society (GWS) at the Didcot Railway Centre.

It was an immediate hit with the public, and its fame was sealed when in 1928 it launched the regular 10am non-stop Flying Scotsman Express Service from King’s Cross, London, to Waverley, Edinburgh.

For this the locomotives ran with a new version of the large eight-wheel tender which held nine tons of coal. This and the usual facility for water replenishment from the water trough system enabled them to travel the 392 miles from London to Edinburgh in eight hours non-stop. The tender included a corridor connection and tunnel through the water tank giving access to the locomotive cab from the train to permit replacement of the driver and fireman without stopping the train.

The Flying Scotsman became even more famous on 30 November 1934, when it traveled at 100mph breaking the world speed record. When it was withdrawn in January 1963 it had covered 2,076,000 miles in service.

Here is the Flying Scotsman steaming past the 1931 built coal stage. This building was designed to make it as easy as possible to coal and water the locomotives before sending them out for their turns on the railway network. Coal is brought into the building via rail wagons which are propelled up the long ramp starting near the entrance to the Centre. Coal can then easily be unloaded into wheeled tubs which can then be tipped directly into the tender or bunker of a locomotive.

Taken on: May 28, 2025

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Flying Scotsman

railway

steam engine

locomotive

coal stage

heritage railway

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steam locomotive

didcot

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great western railway

gwr

scdronemedia

didcot railway centre

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