THE FLYING SCOTSMAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 17 August 1929, Page 12

THE FLYING SCOTSMAN.

THRILLS UN 'THE FOOTPLATE. SEVENTY-FIVE MILES AN HOUR. Travelling on the footplate ot the “Flying Scotsman” on its record nonstop run is an experience- one does not readily forget, e\ r en though one does . not anticipate such a- mishap as oc- • enured recently at the- Belton Ford , crossing (says a writer in an English ' paper). \Ve had 10, tons of coal and L SUOO gallons of water on our tender as we set out on our 392-mile journey to Edinburgh. Bewilderment was my first sensa- ’ ti-on, and only by shouting at the- top ■ of my A-oice could 1 hear myself speak. After eight hours it Avas -scarcely surprising that- I had no voice left. The fireman worked feverishly, but the 1 driver sat with ins eyes'glued to the : little window, one band on the throt- ; tie and the other on the brake. The,strain on the driver is a nervous, not a- physical one-. From the window on the other side of the- cab I watched the splendid ■ panorama —but things did not seem to be- flashing by as I had expected. 1 1 roared to the fireman: “When do we get up speed?” The reply—“ We’re doing 55!” —astonished me. Later, ■ asked to- take out my watch, 1 found av© covered a five-mile stretch in four minutes: 75 miles an hour. If that Avas 75. why not do 100? And Ave could do it, Driver Pibworth proudly informed me. The regulator was only half-open! With a light- train he has touched 90. That little round- window gives a long view of things. Seen from the train, they just flash by. Names of stations, indecipherable from a carriage AvindoAv. can he read from the ‘ ‘footplate. ’ ’ Invited to take the shovel, I attempted- what I have seen the- fireman do—to- get it right into the- corners of the fire. Alas! The incandescent inferno, reaching out- long arms to assail me, made- me- t-hroAv science to the 1 winds. I pushed in the fuel andj hastily Avithdrew. My “swab” was I -surrendered to the Barnes, and the! shovel nearly followed! Coal dust T found the arch-enemy, but it was when aa-o picked up-water that the height of the drama was reached. Taa-clvo seconds to pick up 5000 gallons! (We Avere -not empty.) Six times during the run ai‘e the enginemen subjected- to this nerve-test-ing experience. Getting one’s “sea legs” on a locomotive is not- easy. It Ava-s- when T got- one foot- on the tender and one on the engine that- the \A-orst trouble arose. At last the little door in the tender opened, and the relief crew appeared. The first- crew Avashed. changed and 1 dined. Back at the “footplate.” I -saw the) brakes suddenly applied. A signal j against us. From the brakes a. pun-1 sent- smell of burning metal and oil. Slower—and -slower yet. . . . Could the “Flyer” -stop? Then anxietv passed as down came the semaphore. Off again! So at last to Edinburgh.