The first Flying Scotsman was a train, making the London to Edinburgh run in the final two decades of the 19th century.
But in the 1920s the name of the train was usurped by a newcomer - it became attached instead to the most famous steam engine Britain ever produced, Number 4472, now forever in the public's mind as the one-and-only Flying Scotsman.
This BBC DVD is a series of three movies centred upon steam in general and the Flying Scotsman in particular.
First up is a 1968 television feature, 4472: Flying Scotsman, which was made just five years after the famous engine had been retired from service by British Rail, and after an impassioned private enthusiast had bought it to save it from being sent to the wrecker's yard.
The film centres around the Flying Scotsman being prepared to make a non-stop run from London to Edinburgh, to commemorate its first-ever non-stop journey 40 years earlier. We follow the painstaking preparation. More excitingly, we share the journey itself. And this is exciting.
Tremendous camera-work shows the rotors and pistons driving the engine at breakneck pace through the British countryside, smoke and steam billowing from its stack, with stations and railway crossings lined with excited spectators coming for a rare, perhaps final, glimpse of the great age of steam. The engine is burnished green paint and polished steel and brass; the Flying Scotsman gleams like a potent young dragon ripping through the landscape.
The second movie, 21-minutes long, was made 18 years later, in 1986. Steam Days is a general look at the age of steam, and at some of the engines that survived the knacker's yard. It's inevitable that the Flying Scotsman plays a pivotal role in this history, but it's wider in focus than the first feature. It's interesting, but not as compelling. One big mistake is the use of background music as we watch the engines perform. No music ever written could beat the genuine driving, rhythmic sound of the steam engine at work.
Finally we have the 27-minute 1989 feature Away Day. This centres more upon railway enthusiasts than on the trains themselves - and though we do see the Flying Scotsman in action, the most fascinating part comes as we visit an English enthusiast to see his home layout, complete with his hand-built working models which traverse his complete garden, over hills and viaducts, and through perfect miniature stations.
At work at the signals is a hobbit-like Signalman who loves sharing this hobby. He's Signalman at this garden railway every chance he can get. His real-life occupation? Well, Signalman, of course.
The English enthusiasts make up a great part of this story. Here's an English vicar who writes train stories for children. A couple making the London to Edinburgh run who first met on the same run 40 years earlier. Trainspotting children intent on noting down sightings of every engine in every series still running. Mad, of course, but very endearing.
And the Flying Scotsman is at the centre. Exciting and dynamic; potent enough to make enthusiasts of us all. Bring back steam!
The films are reasonably preserved, with some film damage from time to time, including a patch of green-screen lasting a few seconds where the film was too badly damaged to be shown.
Apart from those few seconds, the faults are never bad enough to offset the genuine historical appeal of the footage. For anyone with a passing interest in the age of steam, these three movies will be immensely satisfying, and the quality will suffice.
