Realising a dream - Flying Scotsman

I've got something to confess - I like trains. Actually that should read I love trains - that's no exaggeration.

Like many young lads I had a train set that I spent hours and hours playing with. I say I had a train set, I think my dad would have disputed that point at the time. He spent hours drawing and designing a big layout in to be setup in the garage but as a single parent never got around to completing it. Actually he never really got started. When he passed away some 10 years ago, one of the first jobs I had to tackle was dismantling the boards he had setup in the garage. I still have all the trains and track in the loft which I shall get around to checking out once we've moved house.

I was double lucky in a way as my mum and stepdad treated me to the Hornby Mighty Mallard train set. I lovingly pinned this giant oval track to a piece of board which again, I still have and is currently stored in their garage.

As I've got older (now approaching 40) focus has changed from models to the real thing. I've two young daughters who enjoy visiting Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. We also never miss the opportunity to ride on trains when away on holiday. Steam is of course a favourite but any ol' train will do.

The icing on the cake is that I get to commute by train on a daily basis.

So is any of this my dream? No not really.

Like most train lovers the name Flying Scotsman triggers just that little bit of excitement in my belly. The wife and I visited York back in January 2007 which gave me the opportunity to see Locomotive 60103 in the flesh at the National Railway museum. So why is this particular train so special?

Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley it was the first locomotive of the newly formed LNER (London and North Eastern Railway). Numbered 1472 it left Doncaster works on the 25th February 1923 and was an A1 Class - the most powerful locomotives uses by the LNER. In 1928 the Flying Scotsman was the first train to run London to Scotland non stop and in 1934 was the first train to be clocked at 100mph.

In my head the Flying Scotsman would only ever be a static loco in a museum.

My wife spotted a comment on Facebook yesterday afternoon that the Flying Scotsman would be running through Tring, our local station, just before 18:00. By the power of Google she was correct! So I packed myself off and waited on the top level of the car park. I was surprised to see that several hundred other people were also there!

So not the greatest video on the planet and it was all over rather quickly. However, the Flying Scotsman is now more than a static loco in a museum - its a loco in steam that I've seen with my very own eyes. Time to adjust the dream to taking a trip on it!