On the tracks of The Flying Scotsman with David Pendleton

Pause in the early morning chill on the platforms of

Edinburgh Waverley and, just before 05.40am, you

hear the thrilling announcement that the train to

London King’s Cross is about to depart.

Even in 2025, there is still something magical

about the 05.40 departure, for this is the worldfamous

Flying Scotsman; stopping only once at

Newcastle Central, it arrives into King’s Cross

exactly four hours later.

Join Filey-based author David Pendleton on a descriptive

journey along the route of the Flying Scotsman, from

London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley.

As the son of a Northumbrian mother and Yorkshire

father, David Pendleton’s family history stands astride

those two great counties. The journey by rail between

them has been a constant in his life. For decades he has

pounded the tracks of the Flying Scotsman: for school

holidays, Christmases, birthdays, weddings and funerals.

Changing trains at York and Newcastle. Waiting for the

slow train at Widdrington, or latterly an Anglo-Scottish

express at Alnmouth. It was that journey that led to a

life- long love affair with rail travel and a thirty-four

year career as a signalman.