Tickets now on sale for Flying Scotsman steam tours in Fife this May

Three special rail excursions, which will see the carriages hauled by Flying Scotsman, will cross the Forth Bridge to Fife and travel along the Firth of Forth through Aberdour, Burntisland and Kinghorn to Kirkcaldy, with magnificent views across to Edinburgh and the Lothians.

The tours on Sunday, May 19 are being organised by Bo’ness-based SRPS Railtours.

Jim Paterson, of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS), said: “Each train continues through Dunfermline and along the coast through Culross and Kincardine then over line through Clackmannan and Alloa to Stirling with views of the Ochil Hills and the Wallace Monument.

“If time permits there will be a short stop for photographs at Stirling, then the train continues through Falkirk to complete the Forth Circle.

“You can select from three trips; choose either the morning train from Linlithgow, which departs at 8.50am and returns at 12.40pm; the afternoon train from Dalmeny, which departs at 1.45pm and returns at 6.50pm or the evening train from Inverkeithing, which departs at 7pm and returns at 10.30pm. Breakfast will be available on the first train, lunch on the second and dinner on the third.

“Any passengers booking to travel on more than one trip can remain on the train between trips.”

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Tickets are priced £99 for an adult and £75 for a child (Standard) and £149 for an adult (First Class).

Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design created by Nigel Gresley. It hauled long-distance expresses on the East Coast Main Line.

The locomotive set two world records for steam traction, becoming the first steam locomotive to be officially authenticated at reaching 100 miles per hour and setting a record for the longest non-stop run by a steam locomotive when it ran 422 miles in 1989 while in Australia.

After withdrawal by British Rail in 1963, Flying Scotsman went on to achieve considerable fame in preservation under several owners including Alan Pegler, Sir William McAlpine, Tony Marchington, and now the National Railway Museum.

Flying Scotsman, which is the oldest working locomotive still operating, was restored at a cost of more than £4 million by the museum in 2016 and has visited Scotland three times since for tours of the Borders Railway and Fife Circle.

The SRPS Railtours programme for 2019 also includes a steam-train trip to Aberdeen on May 5 with pick-ups in Dalgety Bay and Kirkcaldy (tickets priced £99 for adults, £75 for a child and £149 adult first class).

And a steam-train trip over the Forth Bridge to the Scottish Borders on August 4, 11, 18 and 25 with pick-ups in Kirkcaldy, Dalgety Bay and Edinburgh Waverley.

Tickets for this tour are priced £84 (adult) and £55 (child), £126 (for adult first class) from Linlithgow and Fife and £64 from Edinburgh Waverley (adult), £45 (child) and £96 (for adult first class).

There are also train trips running to Plockton and Kyle of Lochalsh on June 1, again with pick ups in Kirkcaldy and Dalgety Bay and to Chester and Llandudno on June 15 with pick ups in Thornton, Kirkcaldy and Dalgety Bay.

For more details and to book tickets for the tours telephone: 0131 202 1033 or visit: http://www.srps.org.uk/railtours/programme.htm