Flying Scotsman makes special trip to honour former owner

Flying Scotsman is to make a memorial trip to honour the man credited with rescuing the locomotive from the US.

Sir William McAlpine, who bought the world-famous steam locomotive for £25,000 in 1973, died in March.

Ticket sales for the trip on January 11 will fund a one-year engineering traineeship for a young person to learn how to maintain the engine.

The journey from London King’s Cross to York will be Flying Scotsman’s first run of the new year.

DB Cargo, Network Rail and LNER will also permanently rename a Class 90 electric locomotive in his memory.

Sir William saved Flying Scotsman when it was being stored at an army base in California after then<br>owner Alan Pegler lost his personal fortune by touring it in the US.

Amid fears the locomotive would never return to the UK, Sir William negotiated a rescue deal and it was brought back across the Atlantic.

He then paid for it to be restored and resume main line operations.

Jim Lowe, head of operations at current owner the National Railway Museum in York, paid tribute to Sir William for his “significant contribution to the museum and to the wider preservation of railway heritage in this country”.

He said: “Holding this memorial tour, naming a locomotive after him and especially, setting up an engineering bursary to benefit young people, will create a fitting legacy to honour his memory.”

Tickets for the memorial trip cost £159 in standard class and are available from UK Railtours.