All language subtitles for Ch5 The Flying Scotsman Pride of Britain 1080p.eng

TRAIN RUMBLES

It's one of Britain's most
celebrated marvels of engineering,

a machine that stirs passion
in legions of steam fans

all over the world.

Even for people
who don't know much about railways,

if you mention Flying Scotsman,

everybody will know
what you're talking about.

She's the most famous and enduring
locomotive on the planet.

This is a machine that's
almost 100 years old,

and she's still bolting
along the Main Line at 75mph.

WHISTLE BLASTS

Her story's remarkable one,

taking us on a journey
through Britain, the United States,

and Australia.

In an action-packed life,
Flying Scotsman has played her part

in the Second World War,
defied attempts to scrap her,

and even bankrupted
some of her owners.

Today, after an epic
multi-million-pound restoration,

she's fully restored to her
former glory...

WHISTLE BLASTS

..and now I'm getting a once
in a lifetime opportunity to ride

on the footplate of the most famous
steam locomotive in the world.

This is a little boy's dream
come true right here, right now.

Oh, wow!

This is the story
of Flying Scotsman.

She is without doubt one of the
most beautiful and powerful

steam locomotives ever built,
and incredibly,

she she's now closing in
on her 100th birthday.

Built shortly after
the First World War,

she's clocked up millions of miles.

That's meant the battle to keep her
in prime condition has been endless,

and, at times, apparently hopeless.

When she was acquired by
the National Railway Museum in 2004,

it was discovered that
Flying Scotsman would need

her most extensive overhaul yet.

And after a decade of hard work
from a dedicated team of engineers,

she finally returned to the rails
in 2016.

And what a welcome she received.

Thousands and thousands and
thousands of people

watched it go by.

It showed that love affair
with Flying Scotsman,

and with steam, still goes on.

But how did that public
love affair start,

and why is the passion
for this engine

stronger than for any other?

The incredible story of
the world's most famous locomotive

begins way back in the middle of
the 19th century.

In 1862, a daily rail service
was introduced,

linking London and Edinburgh
for the first time.

Although initially known
as the Special Scotch Express,

this journey soon acquired a popular
nickname, The Flying Scotsman.

To understand the story
of Flying Scotsman,

it's important to distinguish
between a locomotive and a train.

Now, this is a locomotive,
or an engine.

Only when it's attached to carriages
or rolling stock

is the whole thing called a train.

So a train refers to any locomotive
or engine

pulling carriages or freight.

The Flying Scotsman passenger
service between London and Edinburgh

would set off at 10.00am
every weekday.

Its carriages could be hauled
by any locomotive

as long as it was powerful enough,

and there were plenty
to choose from.

In the mid-19th century, the route
from London to Edinburgh

was controlled by three
separate companies.

You had the Great Northern Railway

for everything from London
up to York.

Then there was the
North Eastern Railway

from York up to
the Scottish Borders.

And finally, it was North British
for everything north of the border

all the way through to Edinburgh.

In fact, in Britain at that time,
there were more than 120

separate organisations in charge
of the railways.

The Edwardian railway in Britain
was an absolute delight.

There were all sorts of colours
all over the country,

all this myriad of companies
that ran them,

and it looked like a gigantic
great toy train set.

The reality was, though,
that many of these railways

were too small, they were
too competitive with each other,

so that by the beginning of the 20th
century, this beautiful,

attractive-looking system
was starting to crack.

By 1914, the cracks had widened,

and as war brought even further
pressure on the rail system,

the Government took control.

If you think about it, they needed
to transport materials, weapons,

coal, fuel, oil, troops,
people, passengers, nurses,

up and down the country.

But the railways performed
a heroic role,

and I think what's so important
to remember - what else was there?

After the First World War,
rail traffic increased enormously.

Carriages and freight became bigger
and heavier,

and the railway companies soon
realised they'd need locos

that were faster and more powerful.

For the Great Northern Railway,
the man tasked with designing

bigger, better, more powerful
engines was their new

chief mechanical engineer,
Nigel Gresley.

Nigel Gresley took over the top job
of the Great Northern Railway

aged just 35.

Now, this was a phenomenally
young age to take on this job,

but ultimately, Gresley was to prove

one of the finest
locomotive engineers of all time.

Nigel Gresley was faced with
the challenge of designing

a new generation of locomotives

to haul the fastest
passenger trains,

and he knew he had to come
up with something special,

something revolutionary.

In April 1922, having spent years
experimenting with several

different designs, Gresley was ready
to test his prototype.

At the company's Doncaster works,

he created a beast
of a steam engine.

Previously known as
Locomotive number 1470,

she was named after the company,
Great Northern.

She was bigger than any engine
anyone had seen before.

But Gresley's Pacific locomotive
wasn't just an engineering marvel,

it was also beautiful and elegant.

No-one, apart from the engineers
who built it,

had seen an express passenger
locomotive that was so long, so big,

so lithe, so impressive.

But, in fact,
they'd seen nothing yet.

Just a year later, another
of Gresley's Pacific locomotives

would roll off the production line,
and it would change everything.

It would go on to set world records,

and ultimately become the most
famous steam locomotive of all time.

Flying Scotsman.

More than any other engine,
she typifies the golden

and romantic age of steam.

Once, all trains were powered
this way,

but exactly how does
a steam engine work?

Down in deepest rural Kent,
I'm about to find out.

Righty-ho, Rob, let's see if we can
get her out of the shed.

Once she's rolling,
she rolls rather nicely.

Look at that!
And she's gleaming out here.

One small engine for us.

Chris Vine is an engineer
and author.

He's spent eight years lovingly
creating this miniature loco.

This is a beauty.

So this is Bongo?
Yes.

Though we need to get her fired up,
because she's cold at the moment.

Yes, absolutely cold.

We'll light the fire.
We need some charcoal.

Yes. Which we have here. And we've
got to put some of that in the fire.

It's charcoal soaked in paraffin,
so it lights really easily.

OK. Lovely.

So all this is going into the
fire box? Into the fire box, yes.

So that's going to make
all the heat to make the steam.

So, better light the fire, Rob.

A little bit of charcoal
soaked in paraffin,

a cigarette lighter...
Just to get her started.

..just to get that going.

That's burning.
Lovely.

Oh, that's looking a toasty little
fire in there. Is it warming up now?

That looks lovely.

Within a few minutes,
the heat intensifies,

and then something magical happens.

Just started making steam now.

And I can turn that little valve
there,

and you can hear now there's
a little steam jet.

That's now it running.
We're now in steam, we're on the up.

WHISTLE BLASTS

Off we go.

Woohoo, yay! See you later.

Oh, yeah!

This is an incredibly smooth ride,
Chris.

It's good, isn't it?
Oh, it's lovely.

ROB GIGGLES

This is brilliant!

Feels like we're zipping along.

In some ways, this is much better
than riding a conventional

huge steam train, because here...

..you can feel all the steam,
you can smell the steam,

you really feel like you're
part of it.

This is fantastic!

This journey only came about
thanks to us lighting the fuel

inside the engine,
which heated up tubes of water,

which then created steam
as they boiled.

But that was only phase one
of getting the locomotive to move.

Phase two. Phase two - how to use
the steam to drive the pistons,

to drive the engine.

And in the dome, which you can see
in the middle of the boiler,

in the dome, there's a thing
called the regulator valve.

OK.
It's a tap.

And when you open it,
when you turn it on,

it lets steam go down that pipe
to the cylinders.

And the regulator valve is operated
by a regulator handle

or lever in the cab.
Yep.

And the driver's in control
of how much steam is used

to drive the engine.
So the lever is here.

Great.
If I open it...

So now you're opening that lever,
which is opening a valve here,

letting steam into our system,
and... Hey!

If the driver wants more power,
open the regulator a bit more,

you've got more power.

SMALL TRAIN PURRS

There's plenty of power.
That's satisfying. Yes.

SMALL TRAIN GROWLS

And if we come here now,

you can't see the piston
because it's inside the cylinder,

out of sight.

Yep.
But you can see its piston rod.

And that's... So the piston
is pushing and pulling,

and it's pushing and pulling
on the piston rod.

So that's the piston rod
right in there.

This part here,
that's the connecting rod.

With the crank
and the connecting rod,

you're converting push-pull motion
from the piston

to rotary motion on the wheels
to drive the engine.

What I love about this, Chris,
I mean, this is your simple engine,

but it's so clear to see here
when it's out in the open,

you can see this is how
engines work.

This is how pretty much any engine.

It's one of the attractions
of a steam engine.

Woohoo!

It's exactly this same steam
technology that engineer

Nigel Gresley used when designing
a fleet of full-scale engines

for the Great Northern Railway.

They began rolling off the
production line in the early 1920s.

This was the first of a whole
new generation of steam engines,

and they were called Pacifics.

The term Pacific refers to
the number and configuration

of wheels that the engine has.

And Pacifics have what's known
as a four-six-two configuration,

so four wheels at the front here,
two on each side,

six of these huge big
driving wheels in the middle,

and then at the back here, two
smaller wheels supporting the cab.

As work began on building them,

a major change was taking place
in the railway industry.

The huge number of companies
that ran the railways were merging,

and fast.

Soon, there'd be only four,

with the one running the East Coast
Main Line now known as the LNER,

or London and North Eastern Railway.

It came into being on January 1st,
1923.

Just six weeks later,

the first of a new batch of
Pacific locomotives emerged

from the company's
Doncaster engineering works.

Little did anyone know at the time
she'd go on to become a legend.

She'd cost almost £8,000 to build.

That's around a third of a million
at today's prices.

Known simply as Locomotive 1472
at this point,

she would go on to become the most
famous steam engine of all time.

Heading up LNER's new fleet,

the company now needed
to promote her to the world,

and the perfect opportunity
was about to present itself.

The British Government
had been planning to stage

an impressive exhibition for
some time during the early 1900s,

but it took until 1924 to finally
get the idea off the ground,

and it would be known
as the British Empire Exhibition.

Among the companies exhibiting there
was the mighty LNER.

It was keen to promote its flagship
service,

the 10.00 am express
between Edinburgh and London.

With Wembley, the LNER wanted
to give number 1472 a name,

and someone in the marketing
department hit on a brilliant idea.

The Flying Scotsman train was very
much the flagship of the railway.

So what if you name the locomotive
after the train?

And at that point,
this otherwise unassuming locomotive

stopped being a normal fleet
locomotive in the public's eye,

and became something of
a locomotive legend.

The British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley ran over two years,

and in that time, 27 million
people passed through the gates

and the exhibition halls.

But in there,
they saw Flying Scotsman,

this magnificent locomotive.

It was a pride of British
engineering,

and it's what people love to see,

and Flying Scotsman
was utterly magnificent-looking.

The LNER very soon had an idea
to build up the image

of this product so that people
associate it with speed,

for example, or with, you know,
with comfort or with quality.

And it gave you that impression
that here was a modern go-ahead

forward-thinking company,
and that included advertising,

it included a celebrity endorsement,

all the kind of things
which we recognise now,

they were doing then.

The Flying Scotsman, the locomotive,

actually becomes
a sort of personality

that the company can sell.

It can show off Flying Scotsman
as its sort of prestige locomotive,

and if you look at a lot
of the publicity materials

for the train The Flying Scotsman,

it's pulled by Flying Scotsman
the locomotive.

They were at the front of
the marketing exercise to get people

to come and travel on a train, to go
on your holiday, to go to Scotland,

be part of the fun and excitement
of modern day railways of the time.

But Flying Scotsman was destined
to make the company synonymous

with something else - speed.

One of the things that the
London North Eastern Railway

did particularly well was marketing,

and in 1928, its marketing team
came up with an absolute wizard idea

of running a train nonstop
from London to Edinburgh.

On May 1st, 1928, Flying Scotsman
was prepared for a historic run

up the East Coast Main Line.

King's Cross was packed.

Flying Scotsman was hooked
up to the train,

and at 11.00 am prompt,
she left the station

on what would then be the longest
nonstop journey ever attempted

by a steam engine.

WHISTLE BLASTS

But one crucial issue still
had to be resolved

if this historic trip was to work.

The problem was with the crew.

Even back then, with early 20th
century health and safety standards

and allowable working conditions,

the LNER couldn't ask the crew
to work full-on

in those trying conditions for
the whole journey without a break.

Trains would normally stop and
they'd be able to swap crews

en route, somewhere such as Grantham
or York or Newcastle.

That wasn't going to be possible,

so how were you going to
be able to handle this?

Gresley came up with
an ingenious solution.

He figured that, as passengers
moved from coach to coach

through corridors linking them,

then surely he could do the same
with his crews.

He reasoned that he could possibly
put a corridor down the side

of the tender,
connect it to the front coach,

and the driver and fireman
could go along the corridor,

they could relieve the crew,

the crew they replace could walk
back into the coach.

And he tested this
in his dining room.

He'd got his dining chairs arranged
in a little alley,

the sort of size
that he had in mind,

and he started crawling
through this.

And what he came up with was this -
the corridor tender.

This tiny passageway
snakes its way through the tender,

which is carrying tonnes of coal
and thousands of gallons of water,

and this allows for a driver
and a fireman to make their way from

the service carriage behind through
into the cab of the locomotive

to relieve the crew who were already
working up there.

Now, crucially, because of this,
all of that can be done

without the train
having to come to a stop.

So let's go and have a look.

Oh, yeah, look at this!

I'm here, I'm on the footplate,
Flying Scotsman...

..the world's most famous
steam locomotive.

This is a little boy's dream
come true right here, right now.

Oh, wow!

This is amazing.

I need to stay out of the way here,
because, as you'll see,

there is a lot of activity
going on in the cab all the time.

It's just brilliant to be
part of it.

WHISTLE SQUEAKS

Gresley's clever corridor tender

had solved the problem of switching
crews on The Flying Scotsman

as it pulled the first nonstop train
between London and Edinburgh.

Now the time between the two
capitals was about to be slashed.

Normally 8 hours and 15 minutes,

Scotsman arrived in Edinburgh a
full 12 minutes ahead of schedule.

At 6.15 pm on May 1st 1928,

Flying Scotsman rolled into
Edinburgh Waverley Station,

and into the record books.

She'd covered the 392 miles
without having to stop even once.

The nonstop run proved
hugely successful.

It generated a lot
of publicity both for the LNER

and its flagship locomotive,

but it also exerted a powerful
effect on the railway,

because it showed that journey times
could start to come down.

It was the first element of
chipping away at this

and starting to really
speed things up for passengers.

It was a move that assured
Flying Scotsman's national fame.

She was now becoming the must-see
steam locomotive of the age.

But even at the height of her fame,
Flying Scotsman's dominance

on the rails would soon
be under threat from a new rival.

On the 30th of November 1934,

Flying Scotsman steamed
out of King's Cross, heading north.

The driver chosen for this important
test was William Sparshatt,

a legendary LNER employee
known for his love of speed.

It climbed the great hill
between Peterborough and Grantham,

called Stoke Bank, at over 80mph.

It might not sound so fast today
in the age of high speed trains,

but I tell you, that was really fast
in 1934.

Although she was reaching
high speeds,

her driver believed
she could go faster.

On her return journey to London, the
crew gave it everything they had.

And after she leaves Grantham,

Sparshatt lifts his arm up
and opens the regulator.

Fireman shovels furiously,
trying to build up the fire.

They climb Stoke Bank and then,
at the summit,

Flying Scotsman got her nose down,
and started really, really charging.

The speed went up - 75, 80, 90, 95.

And it peaked
- just for a fraction of a second -

it peaked at 100mph.

The first time this had been
verifiably recorded by steam

anywhere in the world.

Flying Scotsman was yet again
in the record books.

We are obsessed by the magic tonne,

and for a railway locomotive
to do it,

everybody wanted to do it.

Scotsman is the first engine
to reach 100 authenticated,

and that's something that's
really important for the PR machine.

It's all about the headlines
in The Times the following day.

Now one of the fastest machines
on Earth,

Flying Scotsman rightly became
the undisputed queen of the rails.

During the 1920s and '30s,
she was pulling some of

the most luxurious express services
in the country.

The height of the golden age
of steam expresses

is really the inter-war period, and
there were competing for businessmen

and they're also competing
to be seen to be modern.

You had a restaurant car, at-seat
dining on The Flying Scotsman.

You had cocktail bars.
You had a cinema on the train,

so you could sit down and watch
the latest movies rattling along.

Passengers could rent headphones,
to listen to the wireless.

There was a hairdressing saloon
on it.

Gentlemen could have a shave
on board. It's a cut throat razor.

Having a shave with a cut throat
razor on the train to this day

would sound crazy,
but at that point, of course,

it's basically saying, "Look,
we're able to do all of these things

"and our services are luxurious,

"and our train interiors
are marvellous."

Flying Scotsman was now
at the height of her fame,

but she'd soon have a rival.

Her own engineer, Nigel Gresley,

was developing a new
and revolutionary locomotive.

He knew he had the basis
of a truly astonishing design,

and so he developed it further.

He put an even higher
pressure boiler on,

he tweaked the valve arrangements
further,

and then he put a streamlined casing
on the top

to minimise air resistance.

The result was one of the most
beautiful types of locomotive

ever built.

What Gresley came up with was this,

the beautifully streamlined
Class A4 Pacific.

It was a bit like science fiction
at the time.

No-one had seen anything like it
on Britain's railways before.

The A4s were a natural evolution
from the earlier Pacifics

like Flying Scotsman.

But one in particular
would stand out.

This is Mallard, a younger sister,
of Flying Scotsman,

and like her older sibling,
a steam loco world record holder.

On July 3rd 1938, a special trial
for the A4s was arranged.

Engine number 4468, Mallard,
was selected to run the test

between Grantham and Peterborough.

Tearing down the
East Coast Main Line,

Mallard hit an incredible 126mph.

It's a record that has never
been beaten.

And while Mallard might have looked
very different from Flying Scotsman,

under the skin,
she was very, very similar indeed.

She was a Flying Scotsman GTI,
if you like.

But with the arrival of
the new streamlined A4s,

Flying Scotsman was no longer
the front line express locomotive

of the LNER.

She'd been replaced by these
more powerful engines,

and now Flying Scotsman's duties
were somewhat reduced,

it was a sign that this
very special era in the history

of the steam train was
coming to an end.

WHISTLE BLASTS

In the 1930s, the arrival
of the new streamlined locomotives

wasn't the only change
for Flying Scotsman.

NEWSREEL: The fateful hour of 11
has struck,

and Britain's final warning to
Hitler having been ignored,

a state of war once more exists
between Great Britain and Germany.

The golden age of steam
suddenly came crashing to an end.

And, for the famed locomotive,

the future was set
to become very different.

Instead of pulling luxury
Pullman coaches on prestigious

express routes, Flying Scotsman
found herself hauling

heavy troop trains
and coal wagons.

Even Scotsman's livery
had to change,

With her standard green paintwork
too visible from the air,

she was painted black.

Now very much a workhorse, her
golden era was well and truly over.

And during the war years,
the company that owned Scotsman,

the London North Eastern Railway,
suffered its own devastating loss.

In 1941, the acclaimed chief
mechanical engineer and designer

of Flying Scotsman,
Sir Nigel Gresley, passed away.

His death marks the end of an era
for the steam locomotive business.

And, although his engines would
still be seen plying their trade

on the tracks, the country had lost
one of its giants of engineering.

Just a few years after Gresley's
death, the war was over.

The task of rebuilding and
modernising Britain's rail industry

began, and that would involve
some dramatic changes.

In January 1948, the railways
were nationalised.

The industry passed into
Government ownership,

and British Railways was born.

The country's trying to recover,
and you see the nationalisation

of the coal industry,
the creation of the NHS.

It was felt that it would be
apposite to put the railways

all together and nationalise them,
bring them under central Government

control, and create the behemoth
that became British Railways.

Following nationalisation,
Flying Scotsman was worked hard.

She spent her days plying her trade,
pulling express passenger services

up and down the East Coast Main Line
for the newly nationalised

British Railways, but
rail was now beginning to lose out

as other forms of transport
became popular.

The 1950s is a period of change
and adaptation for the railway.

Road transport is improving.

You've got the growth of air travel.

You've got people starting
to look to foreign climes

for going on holiday.

So in terms of the British economy
and social scene,

the whole country
is at a period of change...

..and the railways are struggling
to keep up.

A change was very definitely
in the air, and in 1954,

the Government published details
of a scheme to

radically upgrade British Railways.

It was called
The Modernisation Plan.

NEWSREEL: British Railways'
enormous modernisation scheme

goes full steam ahead.

To say farewell
to the steam locomotive

was one of the many bold decisions
in the campaign.

A central part of the plan was the
introduction of diesel locomotives

to replace the steam engines.

The argument was that diesels
were more expensive to build,

but cheaper to operate.

They didn't require
such extensive servicing,

they didn't require the disposal
of huge amounts of ash,

and they didn't require
feeding with coal,

and BR was absolutely
hellbent on doing this.

As these new diesels
were introduced,

steam was gradually being run down.

Throughout the late '50s
and early '60s,

thousands of steam engines were
removed from service and scrapped.

The authorities did, however,
come up with a plan

to save a few steam locomotives
for posterity,

and to teach future generations
about the age of steam.

But the decision on which ones
to save and which ones to scrap

proved controversial.

As modernisation gathered pace, it
was clear that, for the big express

locomotives, it was very much
the end of the line,

and in normal circumstances,

Flying Scotsman, like all
of her sisters,

would simply have been withdrawn
from service and scrapped.

There was no plan to save her.

So of course, some enthusiasts
think, "Well, that's outrageous.

"Flying Scotsman should be on the
list. It's really important,"

because they're remembering all
those glory days of the 1920s

and '30s, so they form up a
society to buy Flying Scotsman.

"Save Our Scotsman," goes the cry.

The campaign to save the locomotive
would need to work quickly

if they were to buy Flying Scotsman.

British Railways was demanding
£3,000,

otherwise the engine was destined
for the scrapheap.

The 1960s in Britain was an
explosion of technicolour

and technology,
modern, bright, and exciting.

But one industry was still
living in the past.

British Railways,
or BR as it was commonly known,

was seen as dirty, noisy, and
outdated in this new period of cool.

Steam locomotives were being
phased out,

and thousands were destined
for the scrapheap.

Flying Scotsman's days
looked to be numbered,

but a campaign was launched
called Save Our Scotsman

to attempt to buy the locomotive.

The campaign starts to raise money,
but time is running out.

Flying Scotsman would be withdrawn
in 1963.

Money wasn't coming in fast enough,
and here, a middle-aged

rail enthusiast called Alan Pegler
decided to step in.

Alan Pegler
was a wealthy industrialist

whose family owned
the Northern Rubber Company.

Less concerned with matters of big
business, Pegler spent a great deal

of his time indulging his passion
for steam engines.

Outraged that Scotsman
was for the chop,

Pegler decided to act.

He forked out the £3,000
that British Railways was asking

for Flying Scotsman,

and this is the official document
that confirms that sale.

This is the engine record card for,
here we are, the name,

Flying Scotsman,
engine number 60103.

Sold to Mr AF Pegler here
on January 15th, 1963.

Pegler got a quite astounding deal
from British Railways.

He acquired the locomotive,
and crucially, he managed to get

an agreement that would allow him to
run this locomotive all over

the national network as a private
engine on special charter trains.

It was a fantastic deal,

and it meant,
at the very, very last minute,

Flying Scotsman had sidestepped
the scrap man

that would wipe out
all of her classmates.

I think it's the most famous
locomotive in the world.

I've seen it running and the engines
of its class, I think, all my life,

and when I heard it had got
to be sold as scrap, I thought

it would be very nice to save it
from that fate if I could.

Having picked up his
prized possession for £3,000,

Pegler now wanted to do something
for the loco's many adoring fans.

Ever the showman, he came
up with a stunt

that would put Scotsman
back in the headlines.

NEWSREEL: The Flying Scotsman,
one of the most famous of all

steam locomotives,
puffed impatiently,

eager to be on her way
to repeat history.

40 years ago to the day, the mighty
engine designed by Sir Nigel Gresley

had pulled the first nonstop train
between London and Edinburgh.

Majestically, the beautiful engine
eased out of platform two...

On May 1st, 1968, 40 years to the
day after she made her first ever

nonstop run between London
and Edinburgh,

Alan Pegler set out
to repeat the feat.

He ran Flying Scotsman, 40 years on,

nonstop from King's Cross
to Edinburgh.

The press loved it,

because the excitement of steam
wouldn't go away,

despite what the railways wanted.

Having bought the locomotive, Pegler
now planned to take her on tour

to the United States.

Alan Pegler was
a very convincing man.

He persuaded, with Government help
and of all Governments,

Harold Wilson's Labour Government,

with its commitment to the
white heat of technology,

to take a trade show out by rail
across the United States

pulled by Flying Scotsman.

Pegler convinced the Government to
back his trade show to the States,

and the big names of the day
signed up,

including the Royal Shakespeare
Company, Lloyds Bank,

and Pretty Polly Tights.

So this was very much a way
of promoting Britain

to North America at a time of
the white heat of technology.

It might seem odd that you would use
a steam locomotive to do it,

but such a recognisable icon
globally

made a lot of sense
in promotional terms.

In preparation
for her American adventure,

Flying Scotsman had something of
a makeover,

giving her a whole new look.

Among other things, she needed a
cowcatcher to be fitted on the front

to conform to American
railroad regulations.

It also meant having a bell fitted
on the front, and a large hooter...

HOOTER HOOTS

..to replace her old whistle.

After yet another overhaul

and some vital boiler work to
make sure she was in peak condition,

Scotsman was ready to begin
her American adventure.

It was a mammoth task.

Flying Scotsman
weighs over 100 tonnes.

It was a delicate operation
lifting this beast of an engine

onto a cargo ship
at Liverpool docks.

Sitting on deck,
and open to the elements,

she then crossed the Atlantic Ocean
bound for New York.

There she's unloaded,
she's inspected,

fettled up, and she sets forth.

HOOTER HOOTS

And the Americans fell in love
with this machine.

It's difficult to exaggerate
the sheer numbers of people

that wanted to see Flying Scotsman.

In the first two months of her tour,

Scotsman travelled the length
and breadth of the United States.

Over 60,000 people
paid to see the engine.

It was like an Antiques Roadshow,
but mixed with 1960s pop culture.

They had a riot.

I mean, Alan Pegler
was a saucy fellow, lots of fun.

He thinks this is one big party.

The problem was
it was ever so expensive to do.

It was a nutty thing to do

After the first tour, Pegler could
quite reasonably have packed up

and taken Flying Scotsman
back to Britain.

But Pegler was driven
by something else,

and that was a desire
to drive his own locomotive.

He would never be allowed to do that
in Britain,

but in America, he could.

Pegler tried to find funding
for a second tour,

and wanted another
exhibition train,

but this time, the Board of Trade
withdrew its support.

It didn't want Britain
to be associated

with that golden age of steam.

It wanted it to be seen
as modern, bright, and powerful.

To them, Flying Scotsman
looked like a throwback.

It didn't deter Pegler.
He got the best exhibitors he could,

although there were many fewer
of them.

Pegler probably knew that
he was likely to go bankrupt.

He certainly knew that the tour
would cost him money this time,

but the allure of driving his own
engine at speed over long distances

was just irresistible.

After this second tour,
Scotsman ended up in Toronto,

and she spent a whole year
off the tracks.

Financial disaster was looming

when Alan Pegler came up with a plan
he believed could save the day.

He'd heard that there was
to be a festival in San Francisco

called British Week,
celebrating all things British.

Pegler believed Scotsman
would fit right in.

So, in September 1971,

the world's most famous locomotive
headed for San Francisco.

But with money in short supply,

this US trip was a lot
less glamorous than the first,

and this time, Alan Pegler
had a travelling companion -

his 17-year-old daughter Penelope.

There was only a skeleton crew
by then,

and we went all the way
across to the west

and down to San Francisco
with a few of us on board.

And it was far less glamorous,
because by then,

when we were crossing the Rockies,

we were sleeping on the train
in sleeping bags.

As the tour went on,

the American railroads increasingly
started withdrawing their support.

They wanted payment
for coal upfront.

It became almost like a travelling
circus with drifters and hangers-on

joining the train
and trying to keep it going.

People had to share hotel rooms
and wash their socks in sinks.

Flying Scotsman finally made it
to San Francisco,

and for a brief period, she became
the most popular tourist attraction

in the city.

To begin with, we had a wonderful
spot on Fisherman's Wharf.

It was absolutely pride of place,

and so all the restaurants
after a while got a bit cross

because, for one thing,
we were blocking their view

out onto the bay.

And so we had to move off
Fisherman's Wharf,

which was...a bit of a disaster.

That was definitely the start of...

..of things going wrong.

Once the engine had been moved away
from the prestigious

Fisherman's Wharf site, Scotsman
was no longer the popular

tourist attraction she'd been
when she first arrived.

For Scotsman's owner, Alan Pegler,

the problems were becoming
too great for him to manage.

I think, one, the money
had been running out very fast.

It just was sand running
through Pegler's fingers, the money.

But then something happened.

Edward Heath was Prime Minister
then, said, "No.

"No more money for this
travelling circus,"

which had partly been funded
by the Government.

And once that money had been pulled
out, that really, I think,

was the end.

The visitors dried up,
the money dried up,

and Pegler knew he was going bust.

Soon after,
the money finally ran out.

Alan Pegler had literally spent
a fortune on his dream,

but now, declaring himself bankrupt,
it was finally over.

By 1972, Scotsman was stranded
in the States,

and fears were growing
that she might never come home.

I suspect a lot of people were being
a bit paranoid at the time,

but their worst fears looked as if
they might now come true.

There was a real chance
at this point that Flying Scotsman

would have stayed
over in the United States.

The big worry was that Flying
Scotsman would be bought by Disney,

and be in a theme park, and it
would never come back to the UK.

With Flying Scotsman abandoned,
her future looked bleak.

To her thousands of fans,

it looked like she needed
a miracle to save her.

1972, and Flying Scotsman is
stranded in San Francisco

following a three-year tour
of North America.

To buy the famous loco
and get her back to Britain

required an enormous amount
of money.

There aren't huge numbers of sugar
daddies who can buy a steam engine,

and there are a number of
influential people

in the Heritage Railway world.

Not everybody's got a lot of money,
but somebody who takes

a deep interest in it
is Sir William McAlpine.

McAlpine was a former director

of the world-renowned
McAlpine construction company.

He'd always had a passion
for steam engines,

and had started collecting them
in the early 1960s.

Bill McAlpine
is a very passionate man.

He cares deeply
for steam locomotives.

He cares deeply for
railway heritage.

And the thought that that engine,
Flying Scotsman,

could be lost to the nation,
was anathema to him.

He felt, if nobody else could do it,
he needed to step in

and save it for the nation,
which he did.

To get Scotsman home from the west
coast of America was no mean feat.

She was loaded onto a barge
in San Francisco,

and then sailed across the bay
to Oakland.

There, she was transferred
to the ship The California Star

for her 8,000 mile journey home.

One of the highlights of the trip
was navigating the Panama Canal,

the first steam locomotive
ever to do so.

Finally, in February 1973,

Flying Scotsman arrived back
in Liverpool

at the exact spot that she'd sailed
from three and a half years earlier.

But her travels in the States
and her gruelling sea crossing

had left their mark.

All along the track,
from Liverpool docks back to Derby,

thousands of well-wishers
lined the route,

overjoyed to finally see Flying
Scotsman back on British soil.

Having made it to Derby,

Flying Scotsman was now returned
to her former glory,

including being finished off
in her beautiful apple green livery.

For the next 15 years, Flying
Scotsman settled into her life

as a much-loved throwback
to the golden age of steam,

but the world around her
was changing fast.

The 1980s in Britain was a time
when technology was booming.

Mobile phones were born,

and the internet was beginning
to be thought about.

But despite all these advances,

some old technology
was still making its mark.

Flying Scotsman, now 60 years old,
was remarkably still going strong.

In 1988, Flying Scotsman was heading
off on her travels once again.

To mark the bicentenary
of Australia,

the authorities decided to stage
a steam spectacular.

Originally, they'd requested
for Mallard to be sent over,

but she was unavailable,
so they approached Bill McAlpine

to see if they'd loan
Flying Scotsman.

Now, McAlpine was well aware,
having rescued Flying Scotsman

from North America,
that he wanted it back,

but he agreed to the loan, providing
there were funds to get it back.

The funds were raised, and Flying
Scotsman was taken to Australia.

It was to be one of the biggest
tests of Scotsman's career.

She set sail from London
in September 1988,

bound for Melbourne,

and five weeks later,
she finally arrived down under.

And she was planned to be unloaded
at Melbourne.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a crane
big enough to lift this

quite heavy locomotive off the ship
and onto the harbour,

so she was unloaded at Sydney
instead.

It didn't matter. The reception was
still fabulous for her,

and after the checks had been made
of the air brakes

and all the other equipment needed,

she was free to roam
the Australian rails.

In the first two months alone,
a staggering 130,000 people

paid to see the famous locomotive.

Even at 65 years old,

Flying Scotsman was still capable
of amazing feats.

And in Australia, she was about
to set another incredible record,

one that still stands to this day.

On a trip to Alice Springs,
Scotsman ran a section of the line

that was 422 miles long...

..and she did it without stopping.

It was a world record
for a nonstop run by a steam engine.

It's incredible. 20 years after
she did her last nonstop run

from London to Edinburgh,
Flying Scotsman goes and breaks

the world record for nonstop run
by steam

as she does it without failing,
without any problems at all.

Flying Scotsman had travelled
an amazing 28,000 miles

during her year in Australia.

It was a trip that confirmed
her unofficial title

as the most famous steam locomotive
in the world,

and at the end of 1989, Flying
Scotsman headed back to Britain.

Ever since steam had been scrapped
in the '60s,

interest in steam railways
and the history of steam

had been growing in the UK.

The burgeoning heritage railway
movement was becoming big business,

and old abandoned lines were now
being opened up all over the country

as the desire to see and hear
steam engines again flourished.

Heritage railways offer the public
a chance to step back in time,

look at the past,

sometimes a little bit with
rose-tinted spectacles,

but we invented the steam railway
in Britain,

and we like looking back on that.

And as such, heritage railway is a
sort of part of the British psyche.

They're there through our film
and our media.

The romance of steam - people love
to go back and look at it.

WHISTLE BLASTS

And this new love of steam meant
that Flying Scotsman would be

kept busy running on heritage
lines all around the country.

Flying Scotsman's appeal
hadn't diminished

during its trip to Australia.

The crowds at heritage railways
were vast,

and the heritage railways really got
a boost from Flying Scotsman's

visit, both in terms
of visitor numbers

and in terms of the money
they generated.

But it couldn't last forever,
and in 1993,

it was very clear that
Flying Scotsman would need

a major overhaul
before she could work again.

Working steam engines need a major
service every seven to ten years.

With major work needed yet again,

Bill McAlpine had a big decision
to make.

After owning Scotsman for 23 years,
Bill McAlpine felt that

his time with the locomotive
had run its course.

It had been a long
and fruitful relationship,

but he felt it was now time
for someone else

to look after the world's
most famous steam engine.

Millionaire businessman Tony
Marchington looked after the engine

for a further eight years,
but by 2004,

the famous old engine
was put up for sale yet again...

..this time, to the highest bidder.

There was a fear that the engine
could be bought by a foreign buyer,

and leave Britain for good.

Putting its bid in too was the
National Railway Museum in York.

The bids had been placed.

The waiting began.

The National Railway Museum
had put in a bid of something like

£2.2 million for the locomotive,
way in excess

of what you would normally pay
for one of its classmates,

but probably a fair price
for the locomotive,

given its importance to the nation.

But the bids were opened,

and the National Railway Museum
had won.

Finally, after all those years,

Flying Scotsman was back
in public hands.

The people's engine
was actually owned by the people.

With the National Railway Museum
winning the bid to buy Scotsman,

a whole new lease of life beckoned
for the famous green engine.

But little did anyone realise
at the time that the locomotive

was about to face the most difficult
period of its entire life.

Pretty swiftly, we discover
how tired it is as a machine,

so we run it for a couple of years,

and then we put it into repair,
to get it back into working order,

the kind of pristine working order
it would have had

when it left Doncaster
in the first place.

This overhaul would prove an
absolute nightmare for the museum.

It would cost vastly more than was
budgeted, and there would be

some very, very severe faults
with this locomotive indeed.

In total,
the overhaul took ten years.

A decade off the rails was
the longest in Scotsman's history.

But while she was away,

a new 21st century steam engine
was about to be launched...

WHISTLE BLASTS

..and I get a once in a lifetime
chance to take the controls.

Flying Scotsman is now owned
by the National Railway Museum

after they successfully won
the bid to buy her in 2004.

But just two years later,

the world's most famous loco
had to leave the rails

to undergo the biggest
engineering overhaul of her life.

The challenge of keeping engines
like Flying Scotsman

in peak condition
is a full-time job.

Not all steam engines that you see
on the Main Line

are like Flying Scotsman,
relics from the past that have

painstakingly been restored through
blood, sweat, and tears.

There's now a 21st century steam
locomotive that draws in huge crowds

wherever she runs
up and down the country.

This is number 60163, AKA Tornado,

and she is magnificent.

The great granddaughter
of Flying Scotsman,

Tornado is almost exactly what the
old lady was when she was built

almost 100 years ago,
a Class A1 Pacific.

Tornado and Scotsman are very much
complementary partners.

Scotsman has a very long history.

It's still contributing
to that own history.

Tornado is making history
as it goes.

But the two engines together
complement what they're doing.

They're running on
the national network,

they're running at high speeds,
delighting thousands of people.

Having had the honour of actually
riding on the footplate

of Flying Scotsman,
I was desperately keen

to relive the experience on her
21st century equivalent,

and on a trip up the famous
East Coast Main Line, I got my wish.

This is such an amazing experience,
because, yes, you feel that

you're moving at high speed, with
the countryside zipping past you.

But it's that noise
and the vibrations and the heat,

just this whole environment just
screams exhilaration at you.

WHISTLE BLASTS

You can really see
the joy that this engine brings

on the faces of people as
we speed by them.

Little hose down.

Keep the dust out.

Having felt the thrill of riding
on the footplate of Tornado

at 80mph, and watching the driver
hard at work,

I couldn't help wondering what it
would be like to actually drive

one of these powerful beasts.

David Wright is an engineer
whose company maintains Tornado.

He's also one of the engine's
regular drivers.

Hello. Can I come in?
Yeah. Lovely. Oh!

Oh, it's warm in here.

David, it's been a while since
I've had a driving lesson,

but this is a bit of a different
vehicle.

Indeed.
Talk me through,

what are the main controls
I need to be looking at?

Main controls for you for driving,

you've got forward and back,
like the gears in your car.

Yep.
Safety catch there.

Lift it fully up.

And then as per the labelling,
to go forwards, that way,

to go backwards, that way.
And that's this gauge here

that I'm looking at?
Yep, and you follow it there.

So you've got neutral in the middle,
full forward gear, full back gear.

So this is like your gearbox
in the car? In essence, yeah.

That's you regulator,
which is like your accelerator.

Press the steam just to start it
going like you would in your car

with the clutch, just ease off,
like that, just ease it, ease it,

ease it, you'll feel it bite,
hold it there,

and then you'll see the steam.

That gauge there gives you the steam
in the cylinders. OK.

So you press the steam, and you'll
see that rise, and as it gets to

about 50, you'll actually feel
the engine start moving.

OK. But gentle. Gentle.

If you give it too much,
the wheels spin, and we'll be off.

OK. We don't want that.
I'm not a boy racer. No.

This is your brakes on the engine.
Off. On.

You've got two whistles
on this engine as well.

So before we move off or if you see
anybody on the line side

or see anything we need to whistle
at, two whistles.

You've got a chime whistle.

WHISTLE CHIMES

WHISTLE SQUEAKS

And then the original
LNER squeak whistle.

So it's the moment of truth, is it?
Yep.

Can I jump in the hot seat?

Woo-hoo-hoo! OK.

Er, right.

Try and remember everything you've
just been taught. Yeah. Thank you.

I'm going to go forward,
so pop it up.

So put it into full gear.

That comes off.
Yep.

Want it to about 55.
55%?

Yeah. About that? Yeah.

Make sure it locks in.

Yep, OK. Brakes are on.

Have a look,
make sure you're safe to move.

Safe to go?

Yeah. And give a little toot.

Yeah.

WHISTLE SQUEAKS

Lovely. And then brake off.

Brake off,
and then slowly over the regulator.

You feel the power...
OK, that's happening.

Then ease back a bit.
Oh, yeah!

Pulled away a bit quick there,
maybe!

It's all right. Didn't slip.

Didn't slip, yeah, I was watching
this. It didn't shoot up.

No, no, you're all right there.

So where do I want that pressure?

You want the pressure
about 50 to 75.

So pressure in the cylinders,
about 50, 75. Yeah.

I mean, it's quite...
It's really a little micro...

It's very responsive, yeah.

I mean, wow, yeah,
that's a tiny little touch,

and you feel the acceleration.
You're almost pushed back a bit.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey-hey-hey, all right!
That is good fun.

When we get to the top end,

we're aiming to stop somewhere about
halfway down the platform,

so get in your mind where you're
wanting to stop. OK.

Then fully shut it.

That's it. See how it drops off,

and then your speed'll
start to drop off.

OK.

Get your hand on the brakes ready.

That's it.
OK, come to the platform.

That's not too bad. Into a nice
controlled stop, hopefully.

Nice and steady
as you come to a stand.

So I bring it down to a stop.

Oh, yeah.

That's it, as soon as it stops,
fully on. Safe and secure. Yeah.

Oh, great! Oh, that was good fun.
How did we go?

That was good for a first effort.

It was a bit of a overly powerful
pull away, maybe.

Yeah, yeah,
that comes with practice.

Well, I mean, that was so much fun.

Can I, erm,
can I take it back down?

I think I'm done yet. I don't think
I want to leave the hot seat.

Yep, no problem.
So...

WHISTLE SQUEAKS

Just being around these beautiful
steam engines is a real thrill.

WHISTLE SQUEAKS

And when the world's most famous
locomotive, Flying Scotsman,

finally made it back onto the rails
after her ten-year lay-off,

the reaction from the public
said it all.

She's the one locomotive that you
can ask anyone in Britain

whether they've heard of it,
and they will say, "Yes".

This is a machine that's almost
100 years old,

and it's a truly incredible story

and it's one that should have
many, many years left to run.

Flying Scotsman was always
almost alive.

She is a living creature that,
if you touch her,

if you touch her side,
you can feel the energy inside.

This magnificent, highly developed,
powerful beautiful express

passenger steam locomotive that set
records,

and a record it will set
in future will be

the express steam locomotive
that lasts the longest

and takes us into a beautiful
steamy future.

Now, nearly 100 years
after she was built,

Flying Scotsman, the world's
most famous steam locomotive,

is back where she belongs.

Not simply a relic in a museum,
but doing what she does best -

steaming up and down the Main Lines
of Great Britain.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media