Photos by Peter Gores and Devan Lawton
While some Americans might disagree, it’s hard to find a locomotive more famous around the world — and more well-traveled — than London & North Eastern Railway Class A3 4472, better known as the Flying Scotsman. One hundred years ago this past February, the 4-6-2 was outshopped at the Doncaster Railway Works in Doncaster, England, as an A1-type locomotive. After a storied career on the L&NER and Britsh Railways, the locomotive was sold to businessman and railway preservationist Alan Pegler in 1963 and became one of the first preserved locomotives to run on the main line in the post-steam era.
In 1969, Pegler decided to take 4472 overseas to North America as part of an effort to promote British exports. To run the locomotive in the U.S., it was outfitted with a cowcatcher, bell, and American-style whistle. Starting in Boston, the locomotive headed south to New York City; Washington, D.C.; and the southeast, before ending the year in Houston. The following year, it traveled north to Chicago and then into Canada, where it wintered. While the tour had broken even in 1969, Pegler started losing money in 1970. In hopes of turning his fortunes around, he began planning a daring cross-country trip to San Francisco. In September 1971, the Flying Scotsman and its train headed west, bringing it to iconic railroad locations like Marias Pass, the Columbia River Gorge and the Deschutes River Canyon — places no one would expect to find a high-stepping British-built steam locomotive. Join Peter Gores and Devan Lawton on the rails of the newly-formed Burlington Northern for a trip unlike any other.
Read more about Gores and Lawton’s adventure with Extra LNER 4472 West in July 2023 edition of Railfan & Railroad!
Loading Coal in Essex
At Essex, Mont., home to the Izaak Walton Inn, the train (led by four Burlington Northern GP9s and a Spokane, Portland & Seattle Alco FA) paused to get more coal for LNER 4472. Photo by Devon Lawton.
Flathead Tunnel
Extra 4472 West prepares to enter the east portal of Flathead Tunnel in remote Northwest Montana. The tunnel had opened less than a year earlier and was part of a major line change along the former GN in order to build the Libby Dam and turn the Kootenai River Valley into a reservoir. Only one other steam locomotive has ever steamed through the seven-mile-long tunnel, that being Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449, which went through it twice going to and from Michigan in 2009. Photo by Peter Gores.
Wishram
Extra LNER 4472 West rests the Burlington Northern (former Spokane, Portland & Seattle) yard in Wishram, Wash., in the Columbia River Gorge, on September 16, 1971. From here, the train will turn south and cross the Columbia on its way down the Oregon Trunk to Bend, Ore. Photo by Peter Gores.
Extra LNER 4472 West
A Burlington Northern clearance gives LNER 4472 permission to head south (railroad west) on the Oregon Trunk to Bend, Ore., on September 16, 1971. While this paperwork reads “Burlington Northern” other clearance forms read Great Northern or Spokane, Portland & Seattle. At the time, BN was just over a year old.
Down the Trunk
Deep in the Deschutes River Canyon, Extra LNER 4472 West crosses the river and enters a tunnel north of Maupin, Ore. Photo by Devon Lawton.
A Stange Meet South of Klamath
Extra 4472 passes a train south of Klamath Falls, Ore., led by two Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (by then Burlington Northern) GP35 locomotives. The famous British steam locomotive was outfitted with a number of American items, including a cowcatcher, headlight, bell, and whistle. Photo by Devon Lawton.
