Remember When: A show of rail dedication

It was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley as part of the A1 class '“ the most powerful locomotives then used by the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway.

Trainspotters taking photographs of the Flying Scotsman steam engine at Waverley Station in Edinburgh, April 1966

Celebrated in its time and endlessly romanticised ever since, it hauled the first ever non-stop London to Edinburgh service in 1928, reducing the journey time to eight hours.

The locomotive was retired by British Rail in 1963 after pulling trains for 40 years.

Steam engines, it was argued, were becoming old-fashioned.

Trainspotters line the platform at Edinburgh's Waverley station to get a look at this steam train in May 1981. The 673 Maude was one of the trains used in the film The Railway Children

It then spent years in private ownership before being snapped up by the National Railway Museum in 2004 and restored for the nation through a complex overhaul.

The Flying Scotsman has now made a triumphant return and its return to the Capital this weekend will be its first visit in 16 years.

Trainspotters will be out in force, as it they often have been in Edinburgh.

They had their cameras at the ready as they prepared to snap the Flying Scotsman at Waverley Station in 1966

Trainspotters compare notes at Waverley Station in Edinburgh in November 1972

Crowds lined the platform at Waverley in May 1981 to get a close look at the steam train the 673 Maude, which featured in the film The Railway Children.

A group of trainspotters were comparing notes at the station in November 1972.

The Forth Centennial 60009 crossed the Forth as part of the bridge’s centenary celebrations in March 1990.

And the wait was on for the last train on the Waverley line in January 1969.