‘FLYING SCOTSMAN’ TO TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT TYSELEY LOCOMOTIVE WORKS AS PART OF BIRMINGHAM HERITAGE WEEK
Birmingham’s vibrant history and buzzing culture will be celebrated this September as Birmingham Heritage Week takes over the city again. This year the week will see the world’s most famous steam locomotive, ‘Flying Scotsman’ visit Tyseley Loco Works for the public to view.
Following on from its mammoth overhaul and successful inaugural run, the locomotive is scheduled to be on display in Tyseley from Friday 16th through Sunday 18th September. The locomotive is on loan courtesy of the National Railway Museum.
‘Flying Scotsman’ will join the Tyseley-based fleet of steam locomotives including ‘Clun Castle’, ‘Earl of Mount Edgcumbe’ and the stalwart of the ‘Shakespeare Express’, ‘Rood Ashton Hall’. The ‘Shakespeare Express’ is Birmingham’s own steam train service that operates on summer Sundays between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-upon-Avon, now in its eighteenth year of continuous operation.
The Flying Scotsman visit is part of over 170 events taking place during Birmingham Heritage Week, with many of them free for the public to enjoy. Visitors will be able to explore venues that are rarely open to the public, enjoy interactive storytelling, take part in workshops and discover Birmingham’s hidden gems on guided tours.
Highlights of the week include seeing what lies beneath Snow Hill station on a tour with Birmingham’s Hidden Spaces, an illustrated talk with Carl Chinn, a dark discovery of the streets of Digbeth with ‘Peaky Tours’ and learning how J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired by Sarehole Mill. A full list of events is online here.
For train lovers, not only will the public be able to see ‘Flying Scotsman’ in steam in all its glory, but there will be a limited number of tickets available to climb onto the footplate to view the driver and fireman’s controls, then walk through the tender corridor and into the passenger carriage coupled behind.
Many of the Tyseley collection of locomotives will be in steam and on display, giving shuttle rides, turntable demonstrations and the locomotive cavalcade. Trade & society stalls and refreshment stands will be available.
Full Details of the three day event, admission prices and instructions for the purchase of tickets can be found at VintageTrains.co.uk/FlyingScotsman
For full details about Birmingham Heritage Week please visit birminghamheritageweek.co.uk or find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @BHeritageWeek
‘Flying Scotsman’ at Tyseley Event Details:
Full Details of the three day event, admission prices and instructions for the purchase of tickets can be found at VintageTrains.co.uk/FlyingScotsman
Flying Scotsman Footplate Tour and Tender-Walk Experience
Climb onto Flying Scotsman’s footplate and walk THROUGH the Tender! No it’s not a class in wizardry, but you will get the rare opportunity to walk (or rather crouch) through the corridor that connects Flying Scotsman’s footplate with the passenger carriages coupled behind. After a tour and explanation of the footplate, you will get to experience the unique corridor that was reserved by traincrew whilst swapping shifts on the move at over 100mph! You will not be moving, however the loco will be in steam so do not wear your Sunday best – you WILL get dirty!
Tickets to view ‘Flying Scotsman’ and the other steam locomotives based at Tyseley MUST be purchased in advance online; there will be NO tickets for purchase at the gate either in advance or on the day. There are only a limited number of tickets available, so please book now to avoid disappointment.
Pullman Dining Experience:
To complete your experience, why not book a meal in our Pullman Dining Coaches? On Friday afternoon, we are offering an Afternoon Tea, Saturday an all-day breakfast and Sunday our Traditional 3-Course Sunday Roast.
Friday Afternoon Tea for Two – £35
For two people, includes Sandwiches, Quiche, Selection of Cream Pastries and Scones with lashings of Strawberry Jam & Devon Clotted Cream. Tea and Coffee is also included. There is a choice of two seating times, 2pm or 4pm.
Saturday All Day Breakfast – £10 per person
Includes a Full English Breakfast or Smokes Salmon & Scrambles Eggs, serviced with Toast, Croissants, Orange Juice, Tea and Coffee. Seating is throughout the day.
Sunday Roast Luncheon for Two – £45
For two people, includes a choice of starter, Traditional British Roast Beef with all the trimmings followed by desert, tea and coffee. There is a choice of two seating times, 12noon or 2pm.
Booking Details:
Details of the three day event, admission prices and instructions for the purchase of tickets can be found at VintageTrains.co.uk/FlyingScotsman
General Admission tickets to view ‘Flying Scotsman’ and the other steam locomotives based at Tyseley MUST be purchased in advance online; there will be NO tickets for purchase at the gate either in advance or on the day.
There are only a limited number of tickets available, so please book now to avoid disappointment.
General Admission Tickets are £15 per Adult.
General Admission for Accompanied Children is FREE. (Unaccompanied Children will be charged at the Adult rate)
Admission to the ‘Scotsman Footplate & Tender-Walk Experience’ is £10 per person (Adults & Children alike) and must also be booked in advance. Note: A valid General Admission ticket is also required.
Dining aboard the Pullman Carriages also requires advance purchase. For meal choices and pricing please see the VintageTrains.co.uk/FlyingScotsman website. Note: A valid General Admission ticket is also required.
All tickets are sold online via ticketsource.co.uk/vintagetrains . A per-ticket booking fee and credit card charges will apply.
Telephone Bookings can also be made through TicketSource on: 0333 666 3366. An additional booking fee of £1.50 per booking will apply.
Tickets must be shown and scanned prior to entry of Tyseley Loco Works. It is the purchasers’ responsibility to ensure they have a valid and scanable electronic or paper ticket. Failure to provide a valid ticket will result in admission being refused.
‘Flying Scotsman’ in on loan courtesy of the National Railway Museum
‘Flying Scotsman’ Fun Facts
- Flying Scotsman’ refers to the steam locomotive; there is also a train service that operates to this day between London and Edinburgh called ‘The Flying Scotsman’.
- The locomotive was built by the LNER (London & North Eastern Railway) in 1923, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to operate on the East Coast Mainline.
- The locomotive was a flagship for the LNER and represented the company at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 & 1925.
- The locomotive was retired by British Railways in 1963 are covering 2.08 million miles
- The locomotive is the worlds most travelled, having visited USA & Canada from 1969 to 1973 and Australia in 1988 & 1989.
- The locomotive has been owned by many famous people in preservation, notably Alan Pegler, Sir William McAlpine and Pete Waterman.
- In 2004, the National Railway Museum bought Flying Scotsman for £2.3 million. The appeal to keep No.4472 in Britain was supported by a £1.8 million grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the generosity of the public AND Sir Richard Branson.
- The £4.2m restoration has also been undertaken with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £275,000. The aim of the purchase has always been to operate Flying Scotsman as a working museum exhibit.
- The locomotive returned to mainline running on 6th February 2016 after its most extensive overhaul since British Rail taking nearly 10 years to complete.
- The locomotive enjoyed a very public inaugural run from London Kings Cross to York on 25thFebruary, 2016. The locomotive has drawn record crowds ever since.
- Flying Scotsman is currently painted in late British Railways livery. It has also run in LNER ‘apple green’ and wartime ‘BR black’.
- Flying Scotsman has visited Tyseley on many occasions in the past. Most notably 1969, 1992 & 2005.
- After leaving Tyseley Locomotive Works, the loco will travel to the Severn Valley Railway and will be joined by new-build steam locomotive ‘Tornado’.
- ‘Flying Scotsman’ is on loan courtesy of the National Railway Museum.
OUT IN BRUM 