Flying Scotsman set to go on display after decade away

Rail enthusiasts longing for the imminent return to the tracks of the mostfamous steam locomotive of all - Flying Scotsman - can soon get their hands on tickets to a range of exhibitions which will welcome its return to Yorkshire.

The much-loved green and black engine has been away from public view for almost a decade as it has undergone a £4.2 million refurbishment.

But Flying Scotsman is due back at the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York next year and plans are already advanced for its inaugural run from London Kings Cross to Yorkshire in February.

A host of events have been organised to celebrate the return of the locomotive and The Flying Scotsman service, after which the engine was named.

These events will include Stunts, Speed and Style, which will enable visitorsto get on board the cabs of four of the locomotives that hauled The FlyingScotsman service, including the one bearing its name.

Another, called Service with Style, will use three carriages of the kind thattravelled The Flying Scotsman route. It will feature archive news footage toallow visitors to experience "a story of speed, innovation, fame and luxury ina sensory way".

Tickets for the Service with Style exhibition - which will run from March 25 toMay 8 - are available from Friday, along with tickets to special photographyevents so enthusiast can have some time with the locomotive away from the crowds.

The museum announced further details of its Flying Scotsman 2016 programme as the locomotive enters the closing phases of its painstaking refurbishment in the workshop of Riley & Son's in Bury.

Flying Scotsman was built in Doncaster in 1923 and soon became the starlocomotive of the British railway system, pulling the first train to break the100mph barrier in 1934 and ending up synonymous with the cocktail bar image of the service it was named after.

The National Railway Museum bought Flying Scotsman for £2.3 million in 2004 and work began on it in 2006.