Flying Scotsman heading to Spalding this summer

King’s Lynn-based travel firm, The Railway Touring Company, has announced that the world-famous steam engine will be passing through Spalding Rail Station on Saturday, June 24.

The scheduled visit, part of The Scarborough Flyer trip from the North Yorkshire seaside town to London King’s Cross, also includes stops at Lincoln, Sleaford and Peterborough, before its arrival in London.

This summer’s visit of The Flying Scotsman will happen exactly a year after scores of spectators were left disappointed when a planned journey by the Flying Scotsman was re-routed away from Spalding.

But a statement on The Railway Touring Company’s website said: “The route will be a contrast of fast running and more leisurely rural scenic lines, giving ample opportunity for The Flying Scotsman to display its power.

“Leaving Scarborough, we make our way to the historic city of York and Doncaster, the location of the Great Northern (later LNER) locomotive works that built The Flying Scotsman in 1923.

“From Doncaster, we take the scenic rural line to Gainsborough and enter Lincolnshire where we head for Lincoln.

“The Flying Scotsman will continue its rural ramblings and cut across the flat lands of the Fens to reach Sleaford, before taking the rural line into south Lincolnshire and to Spalding, famous as the centre of the UK flower industry.

“It will then head for Peterborough where we shall join the East Coast Main Line for the run to London King’s Cross.”

For more details of The Scarborough Flyer tour, visit http://www.railwaytouring.net/uk-day-trips/the-scarborough-flyer