LNER Managing Director, David Horne, launched the Azuma services north of York, ahead of public services starting in August.
The Class 800 arrived into York today, 30th July 2019, to a crowd of people as it pulled up alongside ECML thoroughbred 4468 Mallard, which was parked in Platform 7 having been hauled the short trip from the National Railway Museum by two DB Cargo Class 66s.
With them both parked up at Leeds for the media and the public to see, you can clearly see the resemblance from the design of the Azuma, its swooping lines and clean, aerodynamic front clearly showing how ahead of its time the A4 Pacifics were.
For the media, it was then time to board the 800 for a trip to Darlington and back.
We were lucky enough to be placed into First Class for the trip north, with comfy seats and a table to spread the complimentary drinks and food out, it made for a lovely trip north.
Half an hour later, we arrived into Darlington with a familiar whistle from the world-famous locomotive, Flying Scotsman, which had made the short trip from its current base of Locomotion, the NRM at Shildon, to greet the Azuma.
We dashed down to the end of the platform to the media area to grab some photos of these two icons of the ECML lined up together.
Sadly, we only had 7 minutes in Darlington, before returning to York. Thankfully, this was enough time for a few photos and a trip into the cab for a sneaky peak of what the driver sees.
Back down the ECML to York, a comfy ride all round, a personal thank you from the Managing Director saw the day come to a close.
LNER Azumas will enter passenger service north of York for the first time on Thursday, 1st August 2019, when it will haul the Flying Scotsman service, the 05:40 Edinburgh to London Kings Cross LNER service.
What a day, Mallard, Azuma’s and Flying Scotsman. What else could you ask for? A huge thank you to LNER for inviting us along to this event. We certainly enjoyed it, also, excellent to meet up with Tim Dunn – I’m sure you all know who he is (that chap off Trainspotting Live!)
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