The LNER Class A3 Pacific steam locomotive No. 4472 Flying Scotsman (originally No. 1472) was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley. It was employed on long-distance express trains notably on the 10am London to Edinburgh Flying Scotsman train service after which it was named.

Flying Scotsman certainly had claims to fame from the early years of its main line career, but it was 1963 when it really started to hit the headlines - after it had retired. This might not have happened had the engine not had such a memorable name. Now, of course, its ongoing 40 years of fame (if not fortune) has earned it a place in the National Railway Museum collection and the title of the world's most famous steam train.

This gloriously illustrated little book looks back at the history of the Flying Scotsman.