Flying Scotsman flies through Funtley

The Flying Scotsman west of Funtley in 1966

With immaculate timing reader Alan Williams from Fareham sent me this picture of the Flying Scotsman.

It arrived in my inbox about the same time as the newly-renovated locomotive was pulling into York from King’s Cross yesterday having returned to the East Coast Main Line after a £4.2m refit.

He took the picture of Flying Scotsman on tour through our region in 1966.

Here it is on the old line around the west of Funtley heading for Knowle on its way to Eastleigh.

The Flying Scotsman before its inaugural run from Kings Cross station, London, to York after a decade long, Â£4.2 million refit. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday February 25, 2016. It has been painted in the traditional early 1960s British Rail green for its first official outing bearing its nameplates after the restoration project.

Alan says: ‘That bit of line is now a footpath heavily overgrown with trees.’

And here are also some of the pictures of that historic journey yesterday.