Eyeing up the elusive Royal Scot

[This article on which this blog is based was written three years ago]

We saw a baby deer on our way to badminton last night, the first ever, this close to home. A rather un-Bambi like muntjac, it scrambled up a steep bank at the side of the road. It was a good job that I had my glasses on. I sometimes forget to wear them, yet I have been advised to do so for driving since my most recent annual eye test. Sight is so precious and I still have some important tasks for it to perform.

Top of my list of important visual experiences to come was my planned imminent meeting with No. 46100 Royal Scot. I saw most of her sister engines, totalling 66 out of 71, in fact. The class leader always eluded me. I know I could have caught up with her as a museum piece or laid up in bits but I wanted to make sure that when we finally met she was not just in one piece but in steam.

Her most recent renaissance, in time for the SVR gala weekend, seemed to be ideal on the face of it and the day broke with much promise and anticipation, as well as very bright sunshine that certainly made the sunglasses a requirement for driving. Unfortunately, though, in the end we were not able to travel. 

Royal Scot was a Nottingham based engine from the time that I started train spotting in 1960 until its withdrawal in 1965. That meant it largely operated on former Midland Railway routes, rather than the West Coast Main Line, where, as Wirralians, we had most of our days out. Consequently, it went unrecorded, as I gradually ticked off most of the rest of the class on ex-LNWR metals. By coincidence, we ended up living in Nottinghamshire, but by then 46100 had long since left the county.

My Summer ’62 combined volume tells the story of how significant the Royal Scot had become over the years. I had known for decades that the only other two possible namers left for me to cop were Royal Scot and No. 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower, and, after all, she was somewhere in America, so there was a fat chance of that one turning up, except, of course, that she did.

I finally underlined Dwight at the NRM, with my com’ vol’ resting on her left buffer. It was my twentieth A4 cop and unfortunately, of course, she is the last one standing of those A4s that I needed to see.

So, what about Royal Scot? I read that after various adjustments at the SVR she will be ready again for main line running. She will represent the end of an era for me. The railway scene will never be quite the same, thereafter. There will be no “new” old faces to seek out and a process begun in 1960 will draw to a close. I shall wear my glasses, anyway, to make sure I get the best possible view. I will let someone else take the pictures as I just savour the moment.