SOME FAMOUS TRAINS 

  Flying Scotsman: Originally built in Doncaster for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), emerging from the works on the 24th February 1923 and initially numbered 1472. It was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley as part of the A1 class - the most powerful locomotives used by the railway. By 1924, when it was selected to appear at the British Empire Exhibition in London, the loco had been renumbered 4472 - and been given the name "Flying Scotsman" after the London to Edinburgh rail service which started daily at 10am in 1862. The British Empire Exhibition made Flying Scotsman famous, and it went on to feature in many more publicity events for the LNER. In 1928, it was given a new type of tender with a corridor, which meant that a new crew could take over without stopping the train. This allowed it to haul the first ever non-stop London to Edinburgh service on the 1st May, reducing the journey time to eight hours. In 1934, Scotsman was clocked at 100mph on a special test run - officially the first locomotive in the UK to have reached that speed.

The Caledonian: The Caledonian Railway 812 and 652 Classes were 0-6-0 steam tender locomotives designed by John F. McIntosh for the Caledonian Railway and introduced in 1899. They had the same boiler type as the 721 "Dunalastair" Class 4-4-0s. Seventeen were fitted with the Westinghouse air brakes for passenger train working, including the only surviving engine of the class, No. 828. All 96 passed to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at the 1923 grouping. Only three, 17567, 17598 and 17610, had been withdrawn by the time of nationalisation in 1948. The last locomotive in service was not withdrawn until 1963. Locomotive 828 (LMS 17566, BR 57566) is the sole survivor of the class and is an important example of Scottish industrial heritage. It is based at the Strathspey Railway. It was returned to regular service in 2010 and then again in March 2017 following heavy repairs. In The Railway Series children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry, the characters Donald and Douglas ("the Scottish twins"), are based on the Caledonian 812 Class. They carried fictional numbers (57646 and 57647) before coming to Sodor.

Green Arrow: The LNER Class V2 2-6-2 steam locomotive, number 4771 Green Arrow was built in June 1936 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. The first-built and only surviving member of its class, it was designed for hauling express freight and passenger trains and named after an express freight service. Initially allotted the number 637, it was fitted with curved nameplates over the middle driving wheels. Before entry into LNER service the number was altered to 4771, and the curved nameplates were replaced with straight nameplates mounted on the sides of the smokebox. In order to do this, the builder's plate (Doncaster Works No. 1837) had to be re-located to below the cab windows. The locomotive was later allocated no. 700 in 1943, but this never carried and was revised to 800 in April 1946, and that number was applied by the LNER in November 1946, and 60800 by British Railways in February 1949. Withdrawn from British Railways service in August 1962, and selected for preservation within the national collection, it was restored at Doncaster Works. With work completed in April 1963, it was followed by almost ten years of storage, during which it was moved several times. A transfer from Doncaster to Hellifield occurred in October 1964; the locomotive was moved to Wigston in 1967 - this was intended to be the final temporary home, since it was intended that Green Arrow would become one of the permanent exhibits in a Municipal Museum which was proposed for the nearby city of Leicester. However, before the museum was ready, demolition of Wigston locomotive depot was scheduled, and the locomotive was sent south to the Preston Park shops of the Pullman Car Company in September 1970. The National Railway Museum (NRM) was then being planned, and in November 1971 Green Arrow was selected for the National Collection, items from which would form the main display in the NRM. The locomotive was again moved, this time to Norwich depot in January 1972, where it was returned to working order; the first trial trip, to Ely, was on 28 March 1973. It then commenced a series of runs at the head of special trains, before being moved to Carnforth on 2 July 1973. Green Arrow ran in preservation until being withdrawn from service on the 21st April 2008, shortly before its boiler certificate expired. Following this the loco returned to the National Collection and is on static display at the National Railway Museum's Locomotion site at Shildon. In 2015 it was announced that Green Arrow is one of the planned exhibits for the Great Central Railway's proposed railway museum located at Leicester North station.

Greyfriars Bobby: The original Greyfriars Bobby (May 4, 1855 - January 14, 1872) was a Skye Terrier which became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of its owner until he died himself on the 14th January 1872. The story continues to be well known in Scotland, through several books and films. A prominent commemorative statue and nearby graves are a tourist attraction. The train 47711, Class 47/7 was built by Brush Traction, Loughborough in 1966. It was named Greyfriars Bobby in 1981 and later renamed County of Hertfordshire. It was withdrawn in 2004 and scrapped.

Blue Peter: Blue Peter is the sole survivor of 15 locomotives of the 4-6-2 Peppercorn A2 Class, designed by Arthur Peppercorn of the LNER. 60532 worked between 1948 and 1966. It is owned by the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust (RSL&GT), currently under overhaul at their LNWR Heritage facility based at Crewe. 60532 was built at Doncaster Works and out-shopped by the newly formed British Railways on the 25th March 1948. The initial livery was LNER apple green with British Railways on the tender sides. 60532 was named in the LNER tradition of using the names of famous racehorses. Blue Peter III was the name of a horse owned by Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, which in 1939 won races including The Derby and the 2000 Guineas. The horse earned almost 32,000 pounds for Lord Rosebury, more than enough to purchase three Doncaster Pacific locomotives at the time. Geoff Drury had purchased LNER Class A4 4464 Bittern from British Rail in 1966. In 1968, he tried to buy an A1, but after the last one was cut up he was offered and purchased 60532 in 1968. After preservation, 60532 was the subject of a campaign for its restoration on the BBC Television series Blue Peter, and the locomotive has subsequently featured several times in the programme. Restoration was undertaken at York, Leeds and Doncaster Works where it was repainted in LNER apple green livery as No 532. 60,000 people witnessed its renaming by the BBC Blue Peter programme presenters at a Doncaster Works Open Day in 1971. Moved to the Dinting Railway Centre, it did little running and in late 1987, the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG) took charge of 60532 and A4 Bittern on long-term loan from the Drury family. Restored at the Imperial Chemical Industries works at Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland, 60532 was renamed by the BBC Blue Peter programme for a second time in December 1991. It was then moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for running in. The locomotive obtained its main line certificate in 1992 and subsequently worked many rail tours over the Settle and Carlisle Railway and as far north as its old depot of Aberdeen. In October 1994, during the first run of a preserved steam locomotive from Edinburgh to Newcastle and York, 60532 suffered extensive damage during a catastrophic uncontrolled wheelslip. During an unscheduled stop at Durham station the inexperienced footplate crew overfilled the boiler. As the train departed south across Durham viaduct an initial slip was poorly controlled by the driver, who then reopened the regulator too early, probably worried about stalling on the bank up to Relly Mill. The force of the initial slip caused the boiler to prime, carrying water over into the regulator valve and jamming it open. This allowed passage of steam through to the cylinders, perpetuating the slip and accelerating the driving wheels. When the driver attempted to wind the reversing gear back into mid-position to halt the slip, the force of the motion spun it into full-forward position, and the driving wheels reached a rotational speed of 140 miles per hour before the cylinder covers blew off and the motion disintegrated. The driver suffered major injury to his arms, as a result of the screw reversing lever whipping around when he released it. The accident brought to light the importance of train crews being trained on the specific locomotives they were driving, rather than simply a common general instruction on steam locomotives. Neither the driver or fireman had ever worked 60532 before, and were unaware of the locomotive's sensitivity to priming, which led to the accident. In October 2014 the engine was sold by the Drury family to Jeremy Hosking under the ownership of the RSL&GT, who plan to restore her to mainline standard. The locomotive was moved to the LNWR Heritage facility at Crewe in May 2015 and is currently under overhaul. On the 10th August 2017 she made another appearance on the Blue Peter TV programme (as well as showing footage of when she was moved by road from Barrow Hill to Crewe with the help of Radzi Chinyanganya and Barney Harwood), Lindsey Russell helps out in the workshop with her overhaul which included helping with the construction of her new firebox.

Evening Star: BR standard Class 9F Number 92220 is a preserved British steam locomotive completed in 1960. It was the last steam locomotive to be built by British Railways. It was the only British main line steam locomotive earmarked for preservation from the date of construction. It was the 999th locomotive of the whole British Railways Standard range. Evening Star was built at Swindon railway works, it was equipped with a BR1G-type tender and given BR Brunswick green livery, normally reserved for passenger locomotives, and was completed with a copper-capped double chimney. All other members of the class of heavy freight locomotives were painted unlined black. 92220 was the only Class 9F to be named, although other 9Fs have subsequently been named in preservation. The name Evening Star was chosen following a competition run in 1959-60 by the BR Western Region Staff Magazine. There were three competition winners, Driver T.M. Phillips (Aberystwyth), Boilermaker J.S. Sathi (Old Oak Common) and F.L. Pugh (Paddington), who had all suggested Evening Star. The naming ceremony took place on the 18th March 1960 at the Swindon Works, where the locomotive was built. A speech was given by R.F. Hanks, Chairman of the Western Area Board of British Transport Commission. 92220 was used over the Western Region and over the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway line. Its main duties were as a heavy freight locomotive. However, 92220 was never just any locomotive, its working was closely controlled "to ensure she returned home regularly for cleaning and maintenance in view of the special workings and exhibitions for which the engine was required". On the 27th -  28th June and on the 1st July 1960, No. 92220, then allocated to Cardiff Canton shed, hauled the BR Western Region's flagship Paddington to Cardiff, Swansea, Neyland and Fishguard Harbour passenger express trains The Red Dragon.

Mallard: London and North Eastern Railway locomotive numbered 4468 is a Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive built at Doncaster, England in 1938. It is historically significant as the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at 126 mph (203 km/h). The A4 class was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to power high-speed streamlined trains. The wind-tunnel-tested, aerodynamic body and high power allowed the class to reach speeds of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), although in everyday service it rarely attained this speed. While in British Railways days regular steam-hauled rail services in the UK were officially limited to a 90 mph "line speed", pre-war, the A4s had to run significantly above 90 mph just to keep schedule on trains such as the Silver Jubilee and Coronation, with the engines reaching 100 mph on many occasions. Mallard covered almost one and a half million miles (2.4 million km) before it was retired in 1963. The locomotive is 70 ft (21 m) long and weighs 165 tons, including the tender. It is painted LNER garter blue with red wheels and steel rims. Mallard is now part of the National Collection at the United Kingdom's National Railway Museum in York.

Sources: Flying Scotsman Website, Wikipedia and RailUK Website.