FURTHER DELAYS MEANS 4472 WILL NOT HAUL THE OLYMPIC FLAME
Published at 15:14 on Friday 16th March 2012
Tags: 4472, Flying Scotsman, NRM, A3, Olympic Games, Olympic Flame
When Flying Scotsman was unveiled in Wartime Black livery at the NRM in May last year, the locomotive was expected to be back on the main line for the summer - now it will miss one of the most important events in the locomotives history, carrying the Olympic Flame. Ron Cover
The National Railway Museum has today announced that LMS 'Royal Scot' No. 46115 Scots Guardsman, will be replacing LNER 'A3' No. 4472 Flying Scotsman as the locomotive to pull the Olympic Flame from York to Thirsk on 20 June 2012.
Flying Scotsman’s unavailability is due to further essential remedial work required that has been identified in the past week and which involves the manufacture of new parts. While technically unchallenging, the work will be time consuming to undertake and means that the locomotive will unfortunately be unable to take part in the Olympic Torch Relay.
The NRM says that the task of repairing any historic vehicle as old as Flying Scotsman is always difficult, with many similar projects having been fraught with difficulties and the six year restoration of the iconic locomotive has been affected by problems that have resulted in increasing project timescales and costs.
During the restoration, the locomotive has been completely disassembled, every component inspected and the engine entirely rebuilt. Old parts have been repaired and new parts have been made – all of them individually because parts for old locomotives are not of a standard size. It’s this level of detail that makes the process so long winded, but this also ensures that Flying Scotsman will be fit to operate for many years to come. The question being asked by many people is if the locomotive is now being rebuilt, why are the problems still coming to light?
Although many of these setbacks could not have been foreseen and are part of the nature of a project of this kind, the Director of the National Railway Museum has launched an internal investigation that is currently underway to examine all engineering aspects of the project and to identify any lessons that can be learnt for future projects.
Steve Davies, Director of the National Railway Museum, said: “Whilst we share the public’s huge disappointment that Flying Scotsman is unable to carry the Olympic Flame, Scots Guardsman is a suitably prestigious locomotive and we are certain it will rise to the occasion of these Olympic duties.
“Flying Scotsman is almost 90 years old and is the sole survivor of its class. Its restoration is one of the most complex engineering projects of its kind ever undertaken in Britain and there have been a number of points like this where unforeseen issues have arisen that have caused delays and we share the public’s frustration that the locomotive is not yet in steam.
“A project of this complexity was always going to take many years to complete to ensure a high quality locomotive that is fit to run for many more years. We are absolutely committed to seeing Flying Scotsman back in steam and I look forward to being able to announce some good news about its return once the restoration is finally complete.”
