The legendary Flying Scotsman locomotive is 100 years old, and as part of the centenary celebrations, it will be visiting several London stations in June.
The Flying Scotsman at King’s Cross station in October 2022
To be on the train, most of the tickets are sold out, but it’s free to watch the train from a sensible location.
Sadly, the word “sensible” is one lacking amongst some of the more determined train-spotting fraternity, so the exact times the train will leave the London stations and return are now not confirmed until a day or two prior to departure.
You probably won’t have much luck getting photos at the London stations themselves, as they’ll be either packed full of people wanting a photo, or sealed off for the people who have already paid a handsome fee to travel in the carriages.
I would recommend plotting the journey and finding a sensible location, such as a quiet station along the route, or a nearby footbridge or road where you can safely watch the train roar past.
Based on other steam train tours, I would expect the morning departures to be very early in the morning, so you might find it more convenient to watch out for the evening return trips.
A photography tip – try to face north so that the sun is behind you.
Wherever you choose to watch, please do so safely, so that people can continue to enjoy seeing steam trains plying the railways.
London Paddington
Wednesday 7th June
The Cardiff Express will be hauled by the Flying Scotsman from Paddington station to Cardiff, via Slough and Reading, and will return in the evening.
London Euston
Saturday 10th June
The Cheshireman will be hauled by the Flying Scotsman from Euston station to Chester, via Watford Junction and Milton Keynes, and will return in the evening.
London Victoria
Saturday 17th June
The Portsmouth Flyer will be hauled by the Flying Scotsman from Victoria station to Portsmouth, via Staines and Woking, and will return in the evening.
London Paddington
Wednesday 21st June
The Salisbury Express will be hauled by the Flying Scotsman from Paddington station to Cardiff, via Slough and Reading, and will return in the evening.
London Kings Cross
Saturday 24th June
The Great Yarmouth Flyer will be hauled by the Flying Scotsman from Kings Cross station to Great Yarmouth, via Hertford North and Stevenage, and will return in the evening.
London Kings Cross
Friday 30th June
The Flying Scotsman Centenary Weekender will leave Kings Cross station in the morning for a weekend away on its last visit to London this year.
And finally:
Not in London, but close, the Flying Scotsman will be spending a week at the Bluebell Heritage railway line in Sussex, and tickets can be booked from here.
Unlike the tours above, the Flying Scotsman will also be on static display when not in use at the Bluebell Railway.
When will the flying scotsman come through Anover Hampshire and the time please thank you.
Mr A Graham .
As noted above, times will not be released until just before the date of a journey.
Could you please email me if possible the time its leaving paddington on the 7 june would like to photograph flying scotsman at goring many thanks keith 😀
As per the text above – the details are only released a few days before the event. You need to check then.
Will the train come through acton main line on 7 June?
Flying Scotsman at the Bluebell 23 Aug – 29 Aug running days, then static days until 3rd Sept.
Should be possible to spot the touring days with creative use of railway scheduling/running websites like opentraintimes/railrecord/realtimetrains (and tracksy.uk on the day).
The “licensed operator” seems to be West Coast Railways (per the railtourinfo website). WCR has a TOC code of WR, but they are likely to delay update of the network rail operational websites to as late as operationally possible, and may also “hide” some of the movements by declaring them as commercially sensitive (similar to freight movements) and most of the detailed operational websites are supposed to obfuscate or filter out such movements.
Timings for 7 June can be found here
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:PAD/2023-06-07/0100-0059?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=WR
Pick a safe vantage point and expect crowds en-route, please obey instructions from station staff and police
10 June Euston-Chester detailed timings
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:EUS/2023-06-10/0100-0059?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=WR
Pick a safe vantage point and expect crowds en-route, please obey instructions from station staff and police
We do not have tickets but we still be able to see the Scotsman sitting at Paddington Station? Do you need a ticket to be able to approach the platform where the Scotsman docks? Thx