60103 Flying Scotsman on the down fast | The Flying Scotsman Centenary Weekender - 30.06.23

Hauling her final centenary railtour from the capital, 60103 Flying Scotsman would run on its home turf of the ECML, hauling a holiday excursion to Scotland for the Railway Touring Company, titled ‘The Flying Scotsman Centenary Weekender’.

Day 1 would see Scotsman head for York where the passengers would spend the afternoon exploring the city before an overnight stay. Day 2 would then head to Edinburgh, with Days 3 & 4 being a free day to explore the Scottish capital. Day 4 would also allow passengers to travel on a Forth bridge excursion to Aberdeen with 60103. The final day would then head directly back to London, with 60103 leading as far as York before a diesel would take over, acting as a positioning move to return the A3 to its base at the Railway Museum.

Covering Day 1, I began at Finsbury Park, where I was expecting to see the diesel towing the ECS from Southall to Kings Cross at the time I arrived, however the ECS had been delayed as it had been required to turn on the Greenford triangle in order to have the consist facing the correct way for the tour. With that in mind, Scotsman is firstly seen climbing into the Goods loop with her now 15-minute late ECS move, as her 3 cylinder beat echoes around the buildings, narrowingly missing a service train blocking the shot! 20 minutes later, and following a reversal at Hornsey, the next shot sees the Class 47 towing the consist to Kings Cross.

Having left Kings Cross 19 minutes down, Scotsman is next seen passing through Finsbury again, but this time making the rare sight of passing through on the Down Fast, which ironically was the sole reason for me choosing this station. Funny how doing so resulted in two additional shots in the process!

Moving further up the ECML I headed to Sandy, where firstly a WCRC Class 57, running ahead of Scotsman in order to ensure the line was clear of trespassers, passes through. A short while later, Scotsman passes, taking it steady being hot on the tail of the 57, now running over half an hour down having been stuck behind a stopper on the Gordon Hill line (no pun intended…)

With the late running continuing I bargained for another shot at Grantham, in the hopes it would sail through. This was sadly not to be as Scotsman, still half an hour down, was paused at Platform 4 to allow a LUMO service to overtake it, and is seen departing the station from its unscheduled stop.
A mixed bag day, but certainly nice to see the centenary engine on its home turf, bringing down the curtain to its southernly based tours.

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