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.
