AVIEMORE, Scotland — At least five people were injured as landmark British steam locomotive Flying Scotsman was involved in what is described as a “slow speed” collision Friday at a heritage railway in the Scottish Highlands, the Guardian newspaper reports.
The incident occurred about 7:10 p.m. Friday on the Strathspey Railway, which was preparing for operations with the visiting locomotive —the first steam engine to officially surpass 100 mph — on Saturday and Sunday. Two people were taken to the hospital, but their injuries were not believed to be serious, police said. The Scotsman newspaper quotes a spokesman for the owner of the luxury touring Royal Scotsman train, Belmond, as saying “one passenger and one team member are attending hospital for a precautionary check-up. All passengers have been transferred to a hotel where our team is on standby to offer support and to assist with our guests’ onward travel arrangements.” Three other people were treated at the scene.
A statement from Belmond and the Strathspey Railway said “a shunting incident occurred” when the locomotive was being coupled to the Strathspey Railway’s railcars.
There is a video of the incident online. Looks like a pretty hard couple with people standing on the end platform of the car the coupled into.
ScotRail said services were now able to run normally through Aviemore.
The operator added the response was focused on the private heritage line, near the main line which links the Highlands with central Scotland.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Rumor has it that it was Sir Topham Hatt shunting at the throttle.
Seems to be a hard coupling. The locomotive (LNER 4472, later BR 60103) is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.
Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 at LNER’s Doncaster Works and has three cylinders with Gresley motion controlling the valve for the middle cylinder.
4472 was in the pool that pulled LNER’s express, The Flying Scotsman, nonstop between London and Edinburgh, 392 miles. 9 tons of coal were enough and they scooped water from track troughs. Two engine crews changed enroute via a corridor in the tender.
Retired from British Railways in 1963 after covering 2.08 million miles, the 100 year old Flying Scotsman earned considerable fame in preservation under the ownership of, successively, Alan Pegler, William McAlpine, Tony Marchington, and, since 2004, the National Railway Museum. As well as hauling enthusiast specials in the United Kingdom, the locomotive toured extensively in the United States and Canada from 1969 until 1972, and Australia in 1988 and 1989. Flying Scotsman has been described as “the world’s most famous steam locomotive”.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
It’s like the Fisher-Price hammer and pegs.
Speedy recovery wishes to all the injured persons and the Flying Scotsman due to this unfortunate incident.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
By the way, speedy recovery wishes to the Belmond Royal Scotsman, too.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Sorry for those injured. And hope this does not cause drawbacks on the steam program that Scotsman is doing. It was a thrill to ride behind Scotsman in May on the Keighley &Worth Valley, great day.