Message: Hello, we're planning on a 2 day/1 night visit to Edinburgh (from London). We will be taking the train from Kings Cross to Waverly. I just read in a guide book that the Flying Scotsman is the fastest train up (approx. 4 hrs). We plan on using our flexipasses for the trip to Edinburgh, does anyone know if we can use it on the Flying Scotsman? If not, about how long is the ride via the standard train. Also,what is the best way to make a reservation (stateside or wait until we arrive in London- about 1 wk before the Edinburgh trip). As always, thanks for your help!!! Dru <BR> <BR>

Hi, Dru, <BR>The Flying Scotsman was a train name like the Super Chief for AT&SF. Now there's a steam train for tourists and train lovers that goes by the same name, but I don't know if the GNER (the heir to British Rail for the east coast line) still has a train named the Flying Scotsman. Yo, Ben? Sheila? Tony?...Tony...? <BR>Anyway, the typical Kings Cross - Waverly train takes between 4 1/2 and 5 hrs, many trains per day, reserve there. www.gner.co.uk <BR>If you can, I recommend a couple of hours in Durham (many of the trains stop there) for (IMO) the best cathederal in Europe.

Well, I didn't answer because I didn't know the answer; but ben or Nigel will. <BR> <BR>The Flying Scotsamn was the fastest steam train and is travelled the east coast main line from London to Aberdeen. It wore the livery of the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) (I think). <BR> <BR>Since rail privatisation, one of the private train operators has adopted the same name (GNER) and it uses the same route. I think their train is called the Royal Scot and it says on the carriage "following the route of the Flying Scotsman" or something. <BR> <BR>It's very comfortable- on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen line easily the best- but I have no idea what tickets you can use. Try Nigel

Fodors <BR> <BR>I am pleased both to be thought likely o know and by these references to a famous history. The Flying Scot is indeed the fastest train to Edinburgh, but an unfeeling management officially removed its name a decade ago. And only the well-informed still call Edinburgh Waverley by its full name. The train runs yet, Kings Cross 1000, Waverley 1413. You see York Minster about 1149, the famous great curved roof of York station from 1150 to 1152 (it's worth stepping onto the platform for this, but please remember to step back onto the train smartly), Durham Cathedral on its hill as you sip your sherry about 1233, and the handsome fishing village of Berwick upon Tweed as you have your coffee about 1333: this last is said to be still at war with the Kaiser's Germany. <BR> <BR>On arrival at Waverley you walk or take a tax up the ramp out of the station. If you do this slowly and attentively you will see to your right the rational and handsome buildings of New Town, and to your left the towers and turrets of Old Town. Each would be a tourist destination if it stood alone: together they form one of the best-looking cities of Europe. (And I write as a Londoner). <BR> <BR>This is now just one of the fast day trains (albeit the fastest among them), so your rail pass will work perfectly well. <BR> <BR>It occurs to me that you may have in front of you some reference to a private chartered train, run by a rail appreciation company. In that case your railpass won't work, the times will be different, and the train will be slower. But I'd suggest you take the ten a m departure, to see a tradition alive and well, not preserved in aspic for train buffs like me. Then if you seek steam haulage you can pop up to Fort William for summer steam to and from Malaig. Detail from the West Coast Ralway Company on ++44 1463 239 026, or they may well have a web site. <BR> <BR>Please write if can help further. Welcome to Britain, where we started the world's first train. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London

G N E R, which runs the East Coast train route from London to E' burgh and beyond, has a train called 'The Route of the Flying Scotsman'. <BR>If you are going to Scotland from London Kings Cross, it should take you anything from just over four hours to four hours and forty minutes-ish. The trains are comfortable and clean, usually, and the nearest thing to the even better high-speed trains in places like France and Germany. <BR>I'm off to E'burgh on Monday to see friends for a few days. The cost of a return ticket? An amazingly low £30, thanks to special promotional fares offered at the moment.