The company's solid business plan and promising future has enabled us to get broad support from the market

Peter Butler Chief executive

Flying Scotsman Plc eventually wants to use the locomotive for daytrips in the UK.

It is backing a permanent exhibition of the locomotive and historic memorabilia in Edinburgh called Flying Scotsman Village.

Plans for branded merchandise and an online Flying Scotsman club are also in the pipeline.

The company is due to join the Ofex stock exchange later this month.

On Friday it announced that it had raised �850,000 through the share placing - meaning that the company now has an extra �1.95m at its disposal.

Private investors

Three institutions - EC2, Scottish Value and Singer & Friedlander - are backing the flotation alongside the 1,000 private investors.

Flying Scotsman Plc chief executive Peter Butler said the company had done well given the tough economic climate.

He added: "The company's solid business plan and promising future has enabled us to get broad support from the market."

The engine was built in 1923 for the train company LNER.

It made the first non-stop run from London to Edinburgh five years later and had travelled more than two million miles by the time it was withdrawn from service in 1963.

The steam locomotive was restored between 1996 and 1999.