Flying Scotsman
The Nine Day Extravaganza

at Peak Rail

Thanks to the help of Flying Scotsman Railways, and Flying Scotsman's owner Dr. Tony Marchington, Flying Scotsman visited Peak Rail from 29th July to 6th August 2000.
An account of the story, from notes by Jane Fearnley, Stuart Smith, Peter Fisher, Jeremy Clegg, and Sue and Jack Hinks


Summer 2000 will long be remembered by Peak Rail for the visit of 4472 Flying Scotsman. The work began long before the engine's wheels touched rails at Rowsley. This early work was all 'behind the scenes' and it is thanks to the tenacity and hard work of Jackie Statham, in particular, that the event happened. Many arrangements had to be made for the hire of locos, coaches, and other equipment. Intensive advertising, advance bookings came in, staff were rostered, more food and drink supplies than the railway had seen before. As it was, the event as a whole hit the volunteers harder than anything that they had experienced before.....

4472 now has air brakes only which caused a problem as Peak Rail's coaches were mainly vacuum braked. This was solved by hiring in a set of coaches from West Coast Railways, based at Carnforth. Problems of weight restrictions on Railtracks Matlock Branch were solved by James Shuttleworth of West Coast who hired in the Birmingham Railway Museum's GWR Pannier tank 9600 to deliver these vehicles, which were then run in conjunction with Peak Rail's Restaurant Coach. 9600 was stored at Darley Dale through the week, before taking the coaches back out again.

This rake was then to be run in conjunction with Peak Rail's loco 'The Duke', though approval for the method of operation was only received from the Railway Inspectorate 2 weeks before operations were to start. Some hiccups were also experinced in delivery of the loco. A burst tyre on the low loader carrying Flying Scotsman, and a wrong turning at one point meant that the delivery of the loco to Rowsley South was delayed until late on Friday in the pouring rain, disappointing the many people that had turned up expecting arrival on the sunny afternoon. It was therefore late before the loco and tender could be connected, and filled with water for testing to begin, fortunately these tests were satisfactory.

Services then began for the next nine days. 20000 people visited in the nine days. 300 cars were in the Rowsley car park every day. Station buffets were on overtime to keep up with the demand, many extra volunteers came in to man them, and act as train stewards, car park stewards, and the host of other duties required. The on train resturant served over 550 meals, with afternoon teas and coffees. A trolley and temporary bar in the brake cage was continually manned on the train. Flying Scotsman's support crew manned the loco continually over the 9 days and 2 evenings it operated.

Some slight hiccups were experienced during the week. The restaurant coaches batteries decided that they couldn't quite keep up, so a temporary generator was installed just in case. The restaurant coach boiler also sprang a leak, and was changed for a spare.

Evening trains were run also, for a dining service, and on the Wednesday technicians from Microsoft in America flew over to make sound recordings for their new train driving simulator. The event was concluded on the final Sunday evening with presentations, photographs, and posing 4472 over the pits on Rowsley shed, almost certainly the first time that an A3 had been there.

The Scotsman Experience from the Buffet
Well it finally arrived - Flying Scotsman - here at last, and the rain came with it! After a hot day, the heavens opened up as the low loader pulled up at the gates. We prayed the weather would clear and it did; it was hot again the next day. After weeks of anticipation and preparation, we realised, this is really it! Did we have enough of everything, food, drink, staff... We'd already run out of time. So, Saturday came, and so did the people, hundreds of them. Sandwiches, drinks, ice cream: it will be weeks before we can look at another sandwich in the same way. We made thousands of them over the nine days! And drinks! Dreaming about them, large or small, mugs or cups, nightmares by the end! People upset because no bacon was being cooked - sorry folks, no time - not even to look out of the door properly..... It was Thursday before we saw the Scotsman run into the platform. It couldn't be seen for people most of the time and we were too busy to look anyway! So, after all that, we would like to give our many, many thanks to all the ladies who came especially to help, and thanks also to anyone else who helped in any way. We could not have coped without you! It has been a real experience indeed.

I was a Novice Train Steward
So the plea went out for help during Flying Scotsman's nine day visit, and I responded. I was rostered to look after coach C for two weekdays. I arrived at Darley Dale to remarks of 'didn't recognise you looking so smart'. The duties were clear after several comments of 'haven't you done ....... yet?' The hired in rake of carriages had begun to look nearly as good as our own after some serious cleaning work by our volunteers. During each of the six trips I looked after two carriages because another volunteer hadn't showed. I letter picked and sepearated drinks cans for recycling by the 8F group, and refused to take small boys away in my black bag. I leared and wiped tables and offered to wipe some childrens' faces. I put PR leaflets on all the tables in the hope that readers would come back to revisit us. I bellowed at children to put their heads and bodis inside windows when the trains was about to pass under Warney Lane overbridge, where the clearance isn't excessive. I was in my feet for teh whol day. I checked the toilets that correctly hadn't been flushed while the trains was stationary, and did so while we were moving. I ambled up and down the two carriages chatting to those customers who looked at me and answered their questions when I could, like 'when do we reach Matlock' - 'next week Wednesday'. 'Why aren't we going into Matlock?' 'Because the river bridge isn't strong enough and if we did, there would be a load splash as Scotsman fel into the river. The owner wouldn't be amused.' I heard memories about being on Flying Scotsman's footplate from Kings Cross to the turntable and back, and showed suitable envy to the lady telling me. I couldn't resist replying to 'isn't the weather glorious?' with 'we have two seasons here - winter and today, so you are very lucky.' I kept a welcoming smile on my face the whole day - the surgical operation to remove it soon. We were blessed with a gloriously sunny day, so that the carriage became uncomfortably warm and did wonders for drinks sales on board. At the day's end I was hot, uncomfortable, and tired. Would I do it again? You bet!

Our thanks go to Tony Marchington, Flying Scotsman's Support Crew and West Coast Railways for helping us with this event.

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