flying scotsman in america: the 1970 tour

A fascinating collection of previously unpublished images documenting the Flying Scotsman in the United States, with a particular focus on the 1970 tour. Published to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the locomotive being built.

In 1970 two unlikely characters were part of the Flying Scotsman’s tour of America and Canada.

Describing their adventure of a lifetime are Richard Hinchcliffe, 13-year-old son of tour manager George Hinchcliffe, and Bill Wagner, 21-year-old train-chasing college student from Illinois. Their intense experience from the summer of 1970 still enchants their lives.

Now, over fifty years later, they come together again using Wagner’s magnificent photographs and Hinchcliffe’s inside story to bring you their extraordinary record of how the world’s most famous steam locomotive captured American hearts. This is the untold story of Flying Scotsman’s 1970 tour of America from Texas to Wisconsin and into Canada. It hauled a trade mission along the eastern seaboard in 1969, good for British business but bad for the finances of the owner Alan Pegler.

In 1970 the train sets off again, without the trade mission, calling at smaller venues, traveling on the cheapest tracks and meeting thousands of people along the way.

Richard Hinchcliffe is son of railway heritage pioneer George Hinchcliffe. As a schoolboy Richard traveled America and Canada with the Flying Scotsman, and later worked at Steamtown Railway Museum, Lancashire. In his thirties he studied American literature and was Head of PhD Training for Liverpool University.

Bill Wagner spent time teaching in Jamaica and had a successful career in business. He retired in 2007 and resides in Austin, Texas.