#OnThisDay 1968: The beloved steam locomotive, The Flying Scotsman, was celebrated in this lovely documentary. On board the train is author Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who explains how the personality of steam engines gave him the inspiration to create Thomas The Tank Engine. You can watch the full programme on iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p011vfqw/4472-flying-scotsman | BBC Archive

Alan Pegler first saw LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman in Wembley at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. In 1962, British Railways announced that they would scrap the Flying Scotsman. A group called "Save Our Scotsman" were unable to raise the £3,000 scrap value of the locomotive that would prevent this. Pegler stepped in and bought the locomotive outright. He spent the next few years spending large amounts of money having the locomotive restored at the Doncaster Works, and then persuaded the

#OnThisDay 1966: John Noakes was aboard the Flying Scotsman locomotive as it took a commemorative run from London's Victoria station to Brighton. Noakes began the journey on the footplate, but soon got involved with helping the fireman to keep the boiler stoked with coal. | BBC Archive