IT’S NOT often that a train trip is shrouded in mystery and you are urged to keep its route secret. Nor is it usual to have a helicopter escort.
But this is no normal train journey.
We are travelling in vintage carriages hauled by the famous Flying Scotsman steam locomotive on one of its first journeys following a 10-year $4.2 million, mostly public-funded, restoration.
In a letter posted a week before our trip we are sternly advised: “Due to serious issues with trespass on the railway during Flying Scotsman’s inaugural run we have been asked by Network Rail not to pass timings for these trips on to people who are not travelling on the train and we would respectfully ask that passengers adhere to this.”
The original plan had been for us to travel from London Victoria station to Cambridge and onto to Ely but the locomotive’s inaugural run had brought spectators to the sides of the railway track in dangerous numbers.
So this day our course is altered to avoid that section of line where there had been some serious trespass incidents.
We will be travelling on a four-hour non-stop circular route from London Victoria to the hills of Surrey, an area of great beauty just outside of Greater London.
So why all the fuss?
The A3Class 60103 Flying Scotsman is the most famous steam locomotive in Britain and possibly the world.
The venerable locomotive, built in 1923, was the first to complete a non-stop journey between London and Edinburgh, travelling between the two capitals in just eight hours in 1928.
In 1934 it achieved another record when it was clocked at 100 miles per hour.
Then modern forms of transport rendered steam trains obsolete and the Flying Scotsman went through a succession of owners and looked destined for the train graveyard.
However, in 2004 a campaign spearheaded by its new owner, the National Railway Museum, fought to save the locomotive for the nation. In doing so it garnered the support of thousands who wanted to see it retained as a national treasure.
In 2006, an extensive restoration began in the workshop of Riley & Son (E) Ltd and today the locomotive is resplendent once again in its British Rail green livery and setting yet another record as the oldest mainline working locomotive onBritain’s tracks.
So, back to the big day.
Arriving at Platform 2 at Victoria Station, large crowds were already gathering to catch a glimpse of the locomotive as it pulled into the station. Even though only passengers were allowed onto the platform it was still a struggle to get close to the famous engine for a photograph.
As we pulled out of the station, railway workers, normally oblivious to the comings and goings of trains, stopped to wave us on our way.
Spectators lined (safely this time) railway platforms we travelled through and crowds gathered in fields and hung over bridges to watch in open admiration.
We sat in velvet seats, dining on the finest of British fare as we steamed through the countryside.
We could see countless spellbound youngsters being held aloft on their fathers’ and grandfathers’ shoulders, clearly a new generation of fans for old-fashioned steam trains and the legendary Flying Scotsman.