Royal Mail and the National Railway Museum will mark Flying Scotsman's 100th anniversary with a collection of 12 special stamps which fittingly coincide with her late majesty Queen Elizabeth's silhouette.
The special stamps will include Flying Scotsman in a collection of locations throughout the UK including:
- On the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Pickering Station
- In the Yorkshire Dales National Park on the ‘Christmas Dalesman'
- Also in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on the ‘Cathedrals Express' making her way across the stunning Ribblehead Viaduct
- Steaming through the Blyth in Northumberland
- On the East Lancashire Railway in a blizzard at Heap Bridge
- Making her way over the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed on the ‘Cathedrals Express'
- At London Victoria Station
- A close-up at Locomotion in Shildon
Four more stamps will be available in a miniature sheet and will see Flying Scotsman and London North Eastern Railway's iconic artwork from the 1920s and the 1930s including:
- ‘Scotland by the Night Scotsman' poster, artwork by Robert Bartlett, 1932
- ‘LNER train service to and from Scotland' advertisement, designed by HL Oakley, 1923
- ‘Edinburgh: Mons Meg' poster, artwork by Frank Newbould, 1935
- ‘Refuelling the Flying Scotsman' poster, artwork by Frank Newbould, 1932
David Gold, Director of External Affairs & Policy, Royal Mail, said: “Flying Scotsman is a national treasure of engineering and design that conjures up the golden age of steam travel. This remarkable locomotive epitomises the romance of rail travel and is loved all by people over the world. We are honoured to mark this landmark milestone with a set of Special Stamps.”
The collection of stamps has seen a close collaboration between Royal Mail and Bob Gwynne who is the Associate Curator at the National Railway Museum in order to choose the images featured on the stamps from hundreds of period images.
LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman is widely recognised and extremely well-loved locomotive that was built at LNER's Doncaster Works in 1923. The locomotive was awarded her name after the London to Edinburgh Flying Scotsman service which is used to run on the East Coast Mainline.
Flying Scotsman enjoyed more than 40 years of service on British railways travelling over two million miles in the process and was the very first steam locomotive to achieve a speed of 100mph.
Following her retirement in 1963, the locomotive was purchased by Alan Pegler and was given her 1920s LNER livery and number 4472. The locomotive was the star of Pegler's ambitious ‘Buy British' tour across the United States in 1969 over several years, which grew Flying Scotsman's popularity enormously but ended with Pegler losing his fortune.
Sir William McAlpine came to the rescue of Flying Scotsman and returned the locomotive to the UK in 1973 and in 1988 she once again circumnavigated the globe to celebrate Australia's bicentenary which was a resounding triumph.
The locomotive has been part of the National Railway Museum's collection in York since 2004 after a worldwide campaign was made to save Flying Scotsman for the nation and still operates mainline to the delight of many a steam enthusiast.
The stamps are now available to pre-order via www.royalmail.com/flyingscotsman or by telephone on 03457 641 641.
The Presentation Pack features all 12 stamps and is now on general sale at a cost of £17.70.
