Ask a child to name a steam locomotive and, more likely than not, they will say “Flying Scotsman”.

That’s a remarkable legacy for an engine that first saw the light of day in 1923.

Built to pull the most prestigious express trains between London and Edinburgh, Flying Scotsman became a legend in its working life as a symbol of speed, luxury and modernity.

In the 1960s, as diesel supplanted steam, Flying Scotsman became a beacon of hope for the preservation movement, running on British mainlines as well as in Australia and the US – becoming the ‘most famous steam locomotive in the World’ in the process.

Having been purchased for the nation by the National Railway Museum in 2004, Flying Scotsman entered the workshop in 2006 for a major overhaul that was supposed to last until 2010; problems and delays meant it wasn’t to return to the rails until 2016.

This is the record of Flying Scotsman’s triumphant return to mainline and preservation railway operation, welcomed back to the tracks by a public still very much in love with the romance of steam and with the Flying Scotsman in particular.

Tracing the movements of the locomotive over her first summer back in service, including runs to Scotland and along the East Coast Mainline, as well as exploring the history of this hugely important engine, this is the must-have souvenir of a spectacular steam locomotive.