Does the NRM really have a star? Surely there's so much to choose from.
When I went there, the Shinkansen seemed to have the most effort made promoting it to visitors. But I would have thought that people who visit it could find appeal in almost any of the locomotives there.
For me, its star attractions are the Ffestiniog fairlie, the Woodhead loco, and the Edwardian pullman coaches. But I felt that it was good as the museum has universal appeal across the spectrum of railways. It is a museum to neither 4468 nor 4472 in my opinion.
I would question whether the majority of people really go to railway museums or preserved railways to see certain locomotives or pieces of rolling stock. Surely only a number of dedicated enthusiasts do this and the majority go to them for the overall experience.
Nick
Who Likes Flying Scotsman
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thenudehamster
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I've just come upon this discussion and it makes interesting reading.
As I understand the history of such things, 'Flying Scotsman' is the first locomotive anywhere to have been recorded at 100mph in a satisfactorily authentic fashion. The records for both 'Cityof Truro' and the NYC Hudson 999 are questionable in that both seem to show a sudden leap in speed from about 97 or 98 mph to 100+ for one short timing segment, then return to the 90s. Scotsman's log shows sustained speeds over 100mph. My personal feeling is that the NYC loco never made it; City of Truro may have done, but it can't be definitively proven (though I have seen somewhere an opinon that say it was mechanically incapable of such speeds, it's probably the same opinion that says bumble bees can't fly).
As for the great unwashed, conduct your own ad hoc survey; ask a random 100 people to name a steam railway engine - I'll lay odds that you'll get one of two answers; 'Rocket' or 'Flying Scotsman'. Joe Public as no idea of the name on the 10am Kings Coss to Edinburgh express these days, even though it was named long before the loco, and unofficially dubbed long befor that.
Apart from all that, 'Flying Scotsman' is a beautiful piece of engineering; it looks right, it looks elegant and it looks powerful and it's the earliest example of it's class that survived Thompson's attentions. As wth so much of engineering history, if you're going to preserve something, you preserve the earliest example of a new trend, and if it has individual history that makes it stand out, so much the better.
Don't forget had Gresley not built the A1/A3 classes, and had they not been the successes they were, the A4s would never have happened, and Mallard would never hold the world record.
'Flying Scotsman's only drawback, in my view, can't be laid at the feet of the engine or the engineer. The LNER board approved painting their engines in basically GNR green - it should, of course, have been GER Royal Blue....
BarryH - thenudehamster
As I understand the history of such things, 'Flying Scotsman' is the first locomotive anywhere to have been recorded at 100mph in a satisfactorily authentic fashion. The records for both 'Cityof Truro' and the NYC Hudson 999 are questionable in that both seem to show a sudden leap in speed from about 97 or 98 mph to 100+ for one short timing segment, then return to the 90s. Scotsman's log shows sustained speeds over 100mph. My personal feeling is that the NYC loco never made it; City of Truro may have done, but it can't be definitively proven (though I have seen somewhere an opinon that say it was mechanically incapable of such speeds, it's probably the same opinion that says bumble bees can't fly).
As for the great unwashed, conduct your own ad hoc survey; ask a random 100 people to name a steam railway engine - I'll lay odds that you'll get one of two answers; 'Rocket' or 'Flying Scotsman'. Joe Public as no idea of the name on the 10am Kings Coss to Edinburgh express these days, even though it was named long before the loco, and unofficially dubbed long befor that.
Apart from all that, 'Flying Scotsman' is a beautiful piece of engineering; it looks right, it looks elegant and it looks powerful and it's the earliest example of it's class that survived Thompson's attentions. As wth so much of engineering history, if you're going to preserve something, you preserve the earliest example of a new trend, and if it has individual history that makes it stand out, so much the better.
Don't forget had Gresley not built the A1/A3 classes, and had they not been the successes they were, the A4s would never have happened, and Mallard would never hold the world record.
'Flying Scotsman's only drawback, in my view, can't be laid at the feet of the engine or the engineer. The LNER board approved painting their engines in basically GNR green - it should, of course, have been GER Royal Blue....
BarryH - thenudehamster
BarryH - thenudehamster
(nothing to do with unclothed pet rodents -- it's just where I used to live)
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Any opinion expressed above is herein warranted to be worth exactly what you paid for it.
(nothing to do with unclothed pet rodents -- it's just where I used to live)
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Any opinion expressed above is herein warranted to be worth exactly what you paid for it.