Flying Scotsman

Railway Age, April, 2008 by Douglas John Bowen

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Flying Scotsman, by Andrew Roden. Aurum Press, London. 246 pages, hardcover. $30.00.

Andrew Roden's detailed precision in relating "The Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Famous Train" makes Flying Scotsman less of a narrative and more of a passionate treatise extolling a work of art.

Roden, associate editor of International Railway Journal, a sister publication of Railway Age, takes delight in documenting the mechanical properties of his subject, while simultaneously including the human overseers that nurtured the Flying Scotsman throughout its active career, and helped preserve it for future generations to enjoy.

Though written for a British audience, the book takes pains to describe the beauty of the train (both engine and consist) in a way American readers can readily grasp. Indeed, many Americans already acknowledge the artistic superiority, or at least different approach, of British design relative to American alternatives.

The author also thoughtfully and legitimately keeps Americans in mind with one hefty 25-page chapter, "American Adventure," detailing the Flying Scotsman's tour of the U.S. in 1969, courtesy of Southern Railway and its CEO, W. Graham Claytor Jr.

Roden deftly covers the Flying Scotsman's creation (just after World War I), rise, and subsequent decline over the decades without simply descending into weepy nostalgia over the passing of the steam locomotive era. Indeed, the train's potential future brings the narrative right up to the present day.