Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 3,31 May 2020,29 mins

The Flying Scotsman

Slow Radio

Available for over a year

We take a journey back in time to recreate the golden age of steam, travelling on the Flying Scotsman from Manchester to Carlisle. We have privileged access to the footplate of this iconic engine which weighs 100 tonnes and is nearly 100 years old. We hear coal being shovelled from the tender into the crackling fire, and the driver operating the train as it speeds along the track at up to 60 miles an hour. The train stops for water and we hear the chatter of the crew. We take a take an almost cinematic journey inside the moving train from carriage to carriage with snatches of the voices of passengers as we go. And we follow a waitress as she collects plates from diners on the train and takes them to the galley kitchen where fine food is prepared. We end our journey in Carlisle where our driver signs off before handing over to another driver for the return journey.

Programme Website
More episodes