Flying Scotsman: Marking 100 years today since the world's most famous steam locomotive came into service in Yorkshire

Now as 2023 marks her centenary year great crowds are to gather from Keighley to York - and much farther afield - to catch a glimpse of her newly shined glory.

There is a packed programme, with exhibitions and more. This great steam locomotive, having captured the nation's heart, has quite the tale to explore.

All through the coming days The Yorkshire Post is to share images of the iconic engine, with a special magazine takeover in tomorrow's edition.

To Dr Sophie Vohra, a specialist research associate at York's National Railway Museum's (NRM), the Flying Scotsman is a "moving memory machine".

She said: "It's an engine that almost became famous as soon as it started its service. And it means more than just the technology.

"This engine has moved people to want to look after it, to save it and preserve it. The fact we've got it to 100 years is because people care. This is an opportunity to celebrate the fact that people have so much love for this train."

A feat of design and engineering from the sheds at Doncaster Works in 1923, the Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive of the newly formed LNER, the first to reach 100mph and the first to circumnavigate the globe.

Owned by York's NRM, the Flying Scotsman has had a special overhaul for its birthday year and is about to embark on a packed programme of events supported by Hornby.

Wherever the steam train goes there will be huge crowds. From railway enthusiasts to families, this is a locomotive that has captured imaginations.

When the NRM launched a campaign to save it for the nation in 2004, it was backed by thousands. Even before that, destined for scrap in the 1960s, there was uproar.

"Each time it was because it was this symbol to something that people loved," said Dr Vohra. "We all have a stake in this locomotive and what it means to us.

"We want to see it do what it was meant to do, which is run along mainline railways. It's not so usual now to see something steaming down the tracks, with that beautiful billow of smoke. It harks back to something that is a reflection."

As today marks 100 years since the Flying Scotsman first entered service, Dr Vohra said it also marks time for a moment’s pause to consider its remarkable journey.

She said: "We all love an anniversary and this gives us an opportunity to remember that we have held onto something - to an idea, to a concept and in this case an engine - for an entire century.

"It gives us a moment to benchmark how long we've cared for it. For the Flying Scotsman this is the first of the big ones. We are very lucky to be able to celebrate with this steam locomotive as it records its 100th birthday. Long may it continue."

In York, at the National Railway Museum (NRM), exhibitions have already begun, while anticipation is building for the locomotive's appearance for three week's through April.

There isn't a day that goes by, said Dr Sophie Vohra of the museum's collections team, that people aren't asking after its impending arrival.

Then from York to Keighley and the Worth Valley in May, and the world-famous heritage rail best known for its starring role in The Railway Children.

Dr Vohra said that through the voices of those people touched by the locomotive over the years, and in the use of cutting-edge virtual reality, celebrations are to take a step back in time.

"The Flying Scotsman comes from the atmospheric art deco era of steam that we still hark back to," she said. "We all find this nostalgia in something, and the Scotsman is that vehicle. And people instantly recognise it, coming down the track with its name on the plate.”

All through the year the locomotive will tour mainline routes across the breadth of the nation, from Devon and Cornwall to the Thames Valley, to Chester, Portsmouth and Carlisle, as well as dates on heritage tours with the Bluebell Railway and the East Lancashire Railway.

Birthday celebrations draw to a grand finale with the Flying Scotsman Centenary Festival at Locomotion in Shildon, from October 20 to November 5.

"This centenary year reminds us why we love the Flying Scotsman, and if you don't have memories this is the chance to make them," concluded Dr Vohra. "No other engine can pull the crowds the Scotsman does. It will be phenomenal."