This is the history and celebration of the most famous steam locomotive in the world, one that has broken many world records and covered many thousands of miles and travelled around the world and has become a legend and such an icon over the years and in 2023 celebrates her 100th birthday, No. 60103 or better known as LNER No. 4472 “Flying Scotsman”.

Built at Doncaster works in February 1923 she was the third of Sir Nigel Gresley’s then A1 Class Pacific 4-6-2 built out of 51 but the first to be built for the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway which was formed as part of the formation of the Big Four Railway Companies in 1923. She entered service as No. 1427 with no name, but it wasn't until 1924 that her fame really took off when the LNER was invited to display their latest Pacific locomotive at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in London. For this No. 1472 was renumbered to her famous number 4472 and was named “Flying Scotsman” after the LNERs flagship train that ran from London's Kings Cross Station to Edinburgh's Waverley Station in Scotland. “Scotsman” made a return to the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley again in 1925 where she was placed on display next to the Great Western Railways Castle Class 4-6-0 No. 4079 “Pendennis Castle” which would be a rival to “Flying Scotsman” as No. 4079 came out on top during a trial run on the LNER in 1924 which led Gresley to modify his A1 Pacifics with new design to the valve gear and an improved steam circuit to the cylinders.

In 1928, fitted with a new corridor tender to change footplate crews on the move, No. 4472 “Flying Scotsman” hauled the first non-stop run from Kings Cross to Edinburgh covering the 392 miles in 8 hours and 3 mins which put “Flying Scotsman” on the path to becoming the world’s most famous steam locomotive.

In 1929 No. 4472 became a film star when she starred in the first British made feature film with sound titled “The Flying Scotsman”, it was made partly silent and partly with sound and starred Pauline Johnson and Ray Milland along with Moore Marriott and Alec Hurley. The film was an action thriller that was filmed mostly on the Hartford loop line and parts of the East Coast Mainline between Kings Cross and Edinburgh. But it was not the sort of publicity that the LNER wanted for its star locomotive as the film featured stunts that practically broke every health and safety rule in the book. The locomotives designer, Nigel Gresley, was not amused at all with the film and insisted that the film should have titled stating “Dramatic license has been taken for film purposes and does not represent the actual safety equipment used by the LNER”. The film ended with a happy ending and “Flying Scotsman” continued in service into the early 1930s.

In 1934 No. 4472 was in the headlines again when it worked a test train from Kings Cross to Leeds and back as part of a trial for a faster service. During this test run with a dynamometer car in the train No. 4472 reached the speed of 100mph, it was the first time a steam locomotive had been officially recorded at the magic ton.

During the 1940s the A1 Class Pacifics like “Flying Scotsman” were all rebuilt as A3s with a new boiler working at the pressure of 220psi and was later converted from right hand driven to left hand drive. During the Second World War “Flying Scotsman” had been repainted into wartime black livery and was given a new number as part of a new numbering system by the LNER. She was first numbered to No. 502 but was soon changed after a few months to No. 103. When the railways were nationalised into the newly formed British Railways from 1948 “Flying Scotsman” was renumbered to 60103 and like her sister A3s had further modifications added in the 1950s as she was fitted with a double chimney with a Kylchap blast pipe to help with better performance on poor coal and German style smoke deflectors to help with the problem of drifting smoke.

By the 1960s steam's time on the railways of the UK was coming to an end as it was out with steam and in with Diesel and Electric traction and the famous East Coast Mainline was to see the next generation of motive power in the form of the Class 55 Deltics which were taking over duties from Gresley's Pacifics. “Flying Scotsman” was to be withdrawn from service in January 1963 and sent for scrap. A group called Save our Scotsman tried was formed to try to save “Scotsman”, but they couldn't reach the asking price British Railways wanted for the locomotive. A Doncaster businessman by the name of Alan Pegler who was a former RAF Pilot and well-known railway fanatic bought “Flying Scotsman” from British Railways at the cost of £3000

After hauling her final train with British Railways and now under the ownership of Alan Pegler, “Flying Scotsman” went back to Doncaster works where she was overhauled and put back to near LNER condition with the single chimney refitted and repainted back to the famous LNER Apple Green livery with her famous running number No. 4472. He also had a contract to allow running of the locomotive on British Railways. From that point on “Flying Scotsman” toured the length and breadth of the UK working many mainline railtours for railway clubs and societies and members of the public through the 1960s. As steam locomotive servicing facilities were disappearing through the 1960s, to help with the problems of water supplies, in 1966 Alan Pegler bought a second LNER corridor tender for “Flying Scotsman” converted to carry water only to help with long distance running. The new tender was also painted in LNER Apple Green livery but with the running number 4472 painted on the sides which was moved from the cab sides to enable the LNER Coat of Arms plaques refitted to the cab sides just as fitted when new in 1923. The second tender was to play a big part when in May 1968 to mark the 40th anniversary of the first nonstop run from London to Edinburgh “Flying Scotsman” repeated it 40 years on running nonstop from London to Edinburgh and back successfully, it was a national event and was even broadcast in a special television documentary by the BBC.

On August the 11th 1968 the very last steam train ran on British Railways (or British Rail as it was now known) and the age of steam on the UK's railway network was over, but Alan Pegler's contract to run “Flying Scotsman” on the mainline became unique as No. 4472 was the only steam locomotive still allowed to continue running on the national network into late 1968 and early 1969. But British Rail wanted all steam locomotives off their tracks including “Flying Scotsman”, but 1969 would be the year that No. 4472 would become a world traveller. Alan Pegler announced he was going to take “Flying Scotsman” on a visit to the United States of America and Canada and tour the two countries, with support from the British government led by Harold Wilson to promote British made goods in the USA and Canada on a special exhibition train of British carriages hauled by “Flying Scotsman”. For her American adventure “Flying Scotsman” was sent to the Hunslet Engine Company works in Leeds for a full boiler overhaul and to make sure that she was in tip top condition, she also had to undergo several changes in order to meet health and safety standards to run on the American Railroads, as she had to be fitted with a cowcatcher along with a buckeye coupler in order to hook on to American locomotives and rolling stock, she was also fitted with a US-style bell which was a safety standard in both the USA and Canada and a loud hooter whistle, which was later changed to a chime whistle, was fitted to replace her standard LNER whistle, she even had an electric headlamp mounted on top of her smokebox door. After final painting which was done in her birth town of Doncaster and test runs and one last railtour in the UK, “Flying Scotsman” and her special exhibition train left Twickenham where the train was prepared to Liverpool Docks to be loaded aboard cargo ships to take them across the North Atlantic to Boston in the state of Massachusetts where both the locomotive and the train were prepared for the tour round the United States of America and Canada.

The first leg of “Scotsman”s tour round the United States America started in October 1969, starting from Boston “Scotsman” travelled to Hartford, Connecticut and on to New York and Washington DC and then toured through the eastern states of the USA to Atlanta, Georgia and then onto Anniston in Alabama where “Scotsman” met up with two of North America's preserved steam locomotives. One them was the former Southern Railroad MS Class 2-8-2 No. 4501 which is the United States of America's most famous steam locomotive. The first leg of the tour was a big success for Alan Pegler and the exhibitors as thousands of people turned out to see the locomotive, the first leg of the tour finished in Texas in November 1969 and “Flying Scotsman” and her train were put away for the winter in a roundhouse at Slaton in Texas. But sadly, from this point on everything fell apart, despite of a good start to it all, the “Scotsman” USA Tour came off the rails. Under American law then the train was not allowed to carry any fare paying passengers as it was only licensed to run on the American Railroads as an exhibition train. In 1970 Alan Pegler tried to get funding to run another tour around the USA but the British Board of Trade pulled out, so Alan Pegler had to fund it himself which was to really bite him financially. This second leg of the tour took “Flying Scotsman” up the central spine of the USA to Chicago and then onto Green Bay in Wisconsin for a visit to the National Railroad Museum there, then she crossed the border into eastern Canada where she visited Montreal, Kingston and Niagara Falls before being put away for the winter in a roundhouse in Toronto. This second tour was not a success as it didn't attract enough visitors to the train and money was running short along with a lot of problems. In 1971 in an attempt to boost the exhibition train “Flying Scotsman” headed to the west coast of the United States of America, travelling from Toronto, Canada via Buffalo, New York, to San Francisco to be on display on the famous Fisherman's Wharf during British Week then. But sadly, it all didn’t work out and in 1972 the money ran out and the creditors were moving in, there was nothing Alan Peglar could do but get “Flying Scotsman” into safe storage from the creditors at a US Army base at Sharpe near Sacramento in California while he faced financial ruin and bankruptcy as his time owning the locomotive, he had saved from the scrapmen had sadly ended.

With Alan Pegler out of the picture “Flying Scotsman” was now abandoned at the American Army base at Sharpe in California following the rise and fall of its ill-fated tour of the United States of America and Canada from 1969 to 1972, and with creditors from the American Railroad Companies that played host to her banging on the gates demanding their money there was worrying fears that the most famous steam locomotive in the world would never return home to the UK. But a new saviour stepped in, Sir William McAlpine, head of the well-known McAlpine Construction Company paid off some of the creditors paving the way for “Flying Scotsman” to be repatriated back home to the UK. In January 1973 “Flying Scotsman” was moved to the shipping port at Oakland near San Francisco where she was loaded aboard the cargo ship “California Star” for her trip back home to the UK

The journey home was very memorable travelling via the Panama Canal which “Flying Scotsman” was the first steam locomotive to sail through it, arriving back home in the UK February. She was unloaded at Liverpool Docks and then she travelled under her own steam all the way to Derby where she was de-Americanised and received a full overhaul and she was back in steam again with fresh paint of her famous LNER Apple Green livery again. She was run in at the Dartmouth Steam Railway in Devon before she took to the rails again and from 1974, she was based at the then Steamtown Centre at Carnforth in Lancashire, working many mainline railtours and appearing at big special railway events across the whole of the UK along with many other preserved steam locomotives during the 1970s and 1980s. She even appeared in several television adverts and feature films then too. In 1977 an Australian organisation were interested in buying “Scotsman” off Sir William McAlpine but thankfully it was a relief when he sold them his other locomotive and rival to “Scotsman” the Great Western Railway Castle Class 4-6-0 No. 4079 “Pendennis Castle”.

But “Flying Scotsman”s travels were to continue with another overseas adventure this time to the other side of the world

In 1988 Australia was celebrating its bicentenary and they were big celebrations across the country to mark it, and there was one big celebration aimed at railways and the steam locomotive to mark their part in the making of Australia that we know today. The event was called "Aus Steam 88" and it was held in Melbourne in the state of Victoria. Now Australia's first steam locomotives came from the UK, and it was only fitting that a well-known locomotive from the UK should be sent over from that part of the world to take part in the celebrations. Now originally the Australians wanted the famous streamlined LNER A4 Pacific No. 4468 “Mallard” holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at 126mph to be shipped over to them, but she was not available as “Mallard” was celebrating her 50th anniversary of her world speed record then in the UK, but it was suggested that they should approach Sir William McAlpine and ask him if they could have “Flying Scotsman” instead. Sir William McAlpine agreed to the visit of “Flying Scotsman” to Australia for two-years from 1988 to 1989, but he had several conditions, given what had happen to “Flying Scotsman” when she visited the both the USA and Canada, he made it clear to the organisers and Australian government officials that he wanted the locomotive back in the UK when the celebrations were over so for this the organisers and the Australian government raised the funds for cover insurance in place for the locomotive. For her visit to Australia “Flying Scotsman” was overhauled at her then base at Southall depot in West London to make sure that she was in tip top condition, but unlike her visit to the USA and Canada “Scotsman” didn’t need to undergo any changes apart from the fitment of airbrakes and two electric marker lights on her buffer beam and the addition of a six-note chime whistle alongside her standard LNER whistle. After test runs and some final painting in September 1988 No. 4472 was moved to Tilbury Docks in Essex where she was loaded aboard the P&O Container Ship “New Zealand Pacific” for her trip to Australia which would take five weeks, but her sea crossing to Australia and return made “Scotsman” the first steam locomotive to circumnavigate the globe. After five weeks at sea “Flying Scotsman” arrived safely in Australia for what would be the greatest chapter in its history. Originally she was going to be unloaded in Melbourne but there was no suitable heavy duty crane available to unload her there so instead “Scotsman” was unloaded in Sydney, New South Wales by a massive heavy duty floating crane that placed her on Australian tracks, after an inspection and further testing she was ready to explore the Australian rail network.

When she touched down on Australian soil “Scotsman” really wowed the people of Australia, although Australia has its own steam locomotives and a very proud railway heritage “Scotsman” was from a different era and a different part of the world to them and at "Aus Steam 88" thousands and thousands of people came to see and ride on her sell out railtours all around the major states in Australia, she even worked alongside other preserved steam locomotives in Australia including their most famous steam locomotive the former New South Wales Government Railways C38 Class streamlined pacific No. 3801, which “Scotsman” worked double headed with 3801 on a number of trips they did together. But at the time of her visit to Australia “Flying Scotsman” was 65 years old and was still capable of doing some amazing feats and while she was in Australia she broke another world record, one that still stands to this very day. On the 8th of August 1989 while on a historic journey from Melbourne, Victoria to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory “Scotsman” was to enter both the history books and the record books. On a section of the journey and along a good long stretch of track between Parks and Broken Hill in New South Wales “Scotsman” travelled a staggering 422 miles and 7.59 chains in 9 hours and 25mins hauling 535 tons gross, it was the longest non-stop run ever done by a steam locomotive, seven British and Australian drivers took it in turns to drive the locomotive on this historic record breaking run and extra water was carried in long tanker wagons known as 'gins' coupled behind the locomotive.

When “Scotsman” arrived in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory the whole town came out to see her as she had become the first standard gauge steam locomotive to arrive in the Northern Territory of Australia was one of the big highlights to the visit of Australia then. But at the time of her visit “Flying Scotsman” was not the only British mainline steam locomotive in Australia at the time, as a finale to her visit “Flying Scotsman” was reunited with her former rival, the Great Western Railway Castle Class locomotive No. 4079 “Pendennis Castle” in Western Australia for a series of special double headed and single headed railtours together round Perth and the Darling ranges and Goldfields of Western Australia. It was an awesome site seeing two British steam locomotives working together way outside of the UK. Today, No. 4079 “Pendennis Castle” is now back home in the UK having been repatriated from Australia in 2000 and is now under the care of the Great Western Society at Didcot, but at the time the locomotive was a resident in the wilds of Northwest Australia working tourist trains on the Hammersley Iron Railway system. The visit of “Flying Scotsman” to Australia from 1988 to 1989 was a massive success, having covered 28,000 miles with no serious mechanical problems what so ever and had increased her title as the world's most famous steam locomotive, but all things had to come to an end as in November 1989 No. 4472 “Flying Scotsman” bid farewell to Australia as she was loaded aboard the French container ship “La Perouse” at Sydney to head back home to the UK arriving back safely in time for Christmas that year.

Following her return from Australia, “Flying Scotsman”s fame really grew during the 1990s as thousands of people turned out to see and ride behind her as she continued her touring antics around the UK working many mainline railtours and was even visiting many more preserved heritage railways too which she was bringing good income to them on her travels. In 1993 came a big change of appearance in the locomotive when “Flying Scotsman” re-emerged from FKI Babcock Robey Ltd. Works in Oldbury in the West Midlands following an overhaul and general repair, she had been turned out for the first time since 1963 in her British Railways guise as she had been repainted into BR Brunswick Green livery with her BR running number No. 60103 and she had been refitted with a double chimney that had been found in someone's back garden being used as a flower pot and a new double Kylchap blastpipe fitted along with German style smoke deflectors. (Which this is what we all know “Scotsman” in now in the 21st Century since then). It was also round this time that “Flying Scotsman” had gained a co-owner in the form of music pop producer and well-known railway fanatic Pete Waterman who purchased a share in the locomotive and set up a partnership with Sir William McAlpine then which lasted from 1993 to 1995. But steam locomotives, although they are beautiful machines are very heavy, labour intensive to work on as they need maintenance and repairs carried out and they need to undergo heavy overhauls every seven to ten years and in 1995 “Flying Scotsman” needed a heavy overhaul. In April 1995 while she was on a visit to the Llangollen Railway in North, Wales, “Flying Scotsman” suffered a serious boiler failure as a large crack had appeared on the backhead of the firebox and it was then that Sir William McAlpine had to make a decision whether to overhaul her again or let someone take over. Sir William McAlpine had owned “Flying Scotsman” for 23 years and it was worthwhile and he enjoyed every minute of it but by this point he felt it was now the right time to let go and move on and let someone else take over ownership of the world’s most famous steam locomotive.

In 1996 Sir William McAlpine sold the locomotive to businessman and steam enthusiast Dr Tony Marchington at the cost of £1,250,000. He then spent one and a half million pounds completely overhauling the locomotive which was completed in the summer of 1999. This overhaul then saw “Flying Scotsman” have modifications she didn't really need which would later result to serious worrying problems, her boiler pressure was increased from 220psi to 230psi and had streamlined steam passages and her cylinder bores were enlarged and she didn't look historically accurate as she was turned out in her famous LNER Apple Green livery with the number 4472 but with her BR style double chimney with Kylchap blastpipe in place from her time running on preserved railways in the mid-1990s. German style smoke deflectors would later be refitted and to railway enthusiasts she didn't look historically correct. But despite this she made a welcome return to the mainline again from the summer of 1999, but “Scotsman” spent much of the early part of the new millennium working mostly in the South of the UK hauling luxury Pullman trains out of London, Victoria round the Southern counties. There were even plans for a Flying Scotsman village to be built and opened next to Edinburghs Waverley Station which would have been a home for the locomotive, but sadly those plans were never to happen as, like Alan Pegler, Tony Marchington ran into financial problems and had to give up ownership of “Flying Scotsman” in 2003 while he too sadly faced financial ruin and bankruptcy himself.

In 2004 “Flying Scotsman” was put up for sale again this time at auction and there were fears that the world's most famous steam locomotive would be sold to an overseas buyer, and she would leave the UK for good. Also putting in a bid was the National Railway Museum in York which had started a 'Save our Scotsman' campaign which saw massive donations from members of the public along with a grant from the heritage National Lottery and a generous donation from Sir Richard Branson. Through this the National Railway Museum had raised £2.2 million, twice as much than any of “Scotsman”s classmates. The bids went in, and the National Railway Museum won as “Flying Scotsman” had been saved for the nation she was once again the people's engine and a bright future now lay ahead for the legendary green locomotive

March 1940, delivered to DRB. In September 1944 accepted by SNCB as B 2513, renumbered 25.014 in January 1946 before going to DB and numbered 50 133 once more. In May 1958, there was a frame exchange, as Dale points out, with the loco then being renumbered as 50 622. Later this was computerised to 050 622-0.

This seems to be the explanation of how the Borsig frames ended up as 50 622.