Premiered 4/23/21. Includes a wealth of footage and photos of this British locomotive on US rails, as well as how she got here and almost didn't make it back (with an aside regarding the disposition of the train it pulled)
---PCJ
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Watched it yesterday, and I thought it was great. Very informative, entertaining, and well made. Living in Lubbock (20-30 minutes away from Slaton) my ears perked up when the creator talked about her involvement in Slaton. Thanks for sharing, and happy railraoding!
Nice video. I went to see Flying Scotsman when it visited NYC. I bought a hard-cover Bassett-Lowke catalog from the train's gift shop as a souvenir. Thanks to the video I now see that it visited Newark Penn Station and not New York City.
Alan Pegler was such a romantic. Imagine, asking that your ashes be thrown into Flying Scotman's firebox. So cool.
I saw in when it ran through Berwyn Illinois just outside Chicago on the CB&Q heading west. I assume it was on its run to San Francisco. Didn't have a camera back then.
RAY
My souvenir of the visit:
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@JohnActon posted:
The direct link is already in the embedded image. Click "Watch on YouTube" if you want to see it there.
---PCJ
The documentary mentions needing to adapt a whistle, cowcatcher pilot with AAR coupler and headlights to the locomotive, and a knuckle coupler to the rear Pullman.
Given today's climate surrounding excursions, it seems extraordinary that aside from a few segments where the host railroad required the Scotsman be towed, there is no mention of any other quibbles such as wheel tread geometries, braking system or any sort of waivers for the Mark I coaches (buff loads). For the most part, it seems we just let this "oddball" British steam engine and its oddball coaches have the run of the US (and parts of Canada) railroad network.
Granted, it was another era, liabilities were nearly a non-issue and I'm sure that agreements were worked out ahead of time regarding routing and scheduling, it just looks on the surface an awful lot was left to chance, given what we know about modern excursions using vintage equipment. I could only imagine the regulatory hurdles that would challenge the Dwight D Eisenhower (or the Dominion of Canada) should it ever be deemed possible to make either operational.
---PCJ
The "free ride" on US rails was not without consequences: the film mentions that Scotsman suffered a derailment after its first season, and shows a photo of the engine on its side.
That was super. As a railfan and history buff, this video hit all the marks.
