The Flying Scotsman – Photo East Lancs Railway
Photographing the Flying Scotsman on its return to the railways after a ten year, £4.2 million restoration is genuinely a once in a lifetime experience.
We are very proud through our partnership with the East Lancashire Railway to be able to offer a genuinely unique opportunity to go behind the scenes at the East Lancs Railway to areas not open to the public to photograph this icon of the steam age even before she makes her reappearance on the network.
If you have a passion for photography, steam trains or both this is an opportunity not to be missed but tickets for these photography courses are very limited indeed, so please book early. You can book tickets via this link Photographing the Flying Scotsman
The Flying Scotsman will be making its first public outing on Saturday January 9th, so we are especially excited to be able to offer a sneak preview the day before, starting at 12 noon.
We are running photography courses on Friday January 8th, Saturday January 9th and Sunday January. The first two photography courses are half days, starting at 12 noon to 4pm and the Sunday photography course is a full day starting at 9.00am with tickets to ride behind the Flying Scotsman on the East Lancashire Railway.
You will be able to get shots of the Flying Scotsman from a variety of angles and in as much detail as you could want as we will be almost within touching distance.
We will take you into the engine sheds at the East Lancs Railway where the engineers from Rileys have been working for years on the complete restoration of the Flying Scotsman. You can find out more details here about the restoration of the Flying Scotsman
The Flying Scotsman will be making a tour of the country during 2016 but these first dates in January really will be the first time the public has seen her out on the rails. More details of the 2016 schedule can be found here http://www.flyingscotsman.org.uk/scotsman-season.aspx
The restoration of the Flying Scotsman has been something of a saga, since the days when it was bought by railway preservationist Alan Pegler. He restored her to 1930s condition, and famously took it on a tour of the United States, for which it was fitted with a bell, headlamp and cowcatcher.
Financial issues meant that Pegler had to sell the engine to British businessman William McAlpine. Flying Scotsman came home and was repaired, and in 1988-9 it toured Australia,
By 1995, it was part-owned by record producer Pete Waterman, and was once more being overhauled. It was sold again to businessman Tony Marchington in 1996. Tony continued to run it on mainline railtours – but due to the high cost, it was back on sale a few years later.
After a successful campaign, Flying Scotsman was returned once more to public ownership in 2004. The successful bid included £415,000 raised by the public and £365,000 donated by Sir Richard Branson, plus a £1.8m grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Since that time, it has been going through a thorough restoration.
