page_title: LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman
section_title: Overhaul 2006–2016
hierarchical_section_title: LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman / Preservation / Overhaul 2006–2016
caption_attribution_description: The frames of Flying Scotsman in the foreground and tender of 60163 Tornado in the rear, at the National Railway Museum workshops, York, England.
context_page_description: LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman is a Pacific steam locomotive built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. It was employed on long-distance express East Coast Main Line trains by the LNER and its successors, British Railways Eastern and North-Eastern Regions, notably on the London to Edinburgh Flying Scotsman train service after which it was named.
  The locomotive set two world records for steam traction, becoming the first steam locomotive to be officially authenticated at reaching 100 miles per hour on 30 November 1934, and then setting a record for the longest non-stop run by a steam locomotive when it ran 422 miles on 8 August 1989 while in Australia.
  Retired from regular service in 1963 after covering 2.08 million miles, Flying Scotsman enjoyed considerable fame in preservation under the ownership of, successively, Alan Pegler, William McAlpine, Tony Marchington, and finally the National Railway Museum.
  As well as hauling enthusiast specials in the United Kingdom, the locomotive toured extensively in the United States and Canada from 1969 until 1973 and Australia in 1988/89.
context_section_description: In January 2006, Flying Scotsman duly entered the National Railway Museum's workshops for a major overhaul to return it to Gresley's original specification and to renew its boiler certificate. It was initially estimated that this would only take one year, and cost around £750,000. The bay in which the locomotive was being refurbished was on view to visitors to the NRM but the engine was rapidly dismantled to such an extent that the running plate was the only component recognisable to the casual observer.
  In anticipation of the restoration, the spare A3 boiler had been dispatched in June 2005 to Riley & Son to be completely rebuilt. It was to be used instead of the A4 boiler both out of the desire to restore the locomotive to original condition, and because it was deemed that the A4 boiler had deteriorated into a worse state than the spare due to the higher operating pressures the locomotive had experienced following the up-rating of the locomotive to 250psi during its last private overhaul. Deemed surplus to requirements, the A4 boiler was sold to Jeremy Hosking for potential use on his locomotive, LNER Class A4 4464 Bittern.
  
  In July 2007, the museum pushed back the expected completion date by 18 months, due in part to issues with the boiler restoration. By January 2009, with further problems encountered including misaligned frames and a cracked right hand cylinder, as well as due to rising metal prices, the museum launched the SOS (Save Our Scotsman) appeal, seeking to raise a further £250,000, hoping to complete the work by 2010. In May 2011, the locomotive was unveiled on the museum's turntable, finished in wartime black LNER livery; following final testing it was planned to finish it in LNER apple green and have it running excursions by the summer. In June 2011, cracks were discovered in the horn blocks, which led to further testing which discovered numerous latent cracks throughout the frame assembly, leading to the replacement of the main stretcher bar, horn ties and middle cylinder motion bracket, all of which were deemed beyond repair.
  In October 2012, with the project still unfinished, the museum published a report examining the reasons for the delay and additional cost. It found that the museum had greatly underestimated the work required due to the poor condition of the locomotive, much of which had been missed by a rushed inspection, which produced an overly optimistic assessment which was not based on engineering realities. It also found that once the project was underway, management lacked the experience, continuity or resources to undertake such a complex task, which was also hampered by illness and recruitment issues. 
  Although the museum had a formal contract system to manage suppliers, managers failed to implement it properly, and it was ill-suited to the cottage industry nature of the heritage railway sector which the suppliers were largely drawn from, many of whom had failed to meet their contractual targets. Problems were also caused by the conflicting objectives of producing a certified main line locomotive while retaining as many original components and assemblies as possible, and between the need to overhaul the locomotive and use it as a marketing tool for the museum. The report recommended that the NRM consider the scope, size and responsibilities of their project management and engineering functions, and their contracting policy.
  Following the report, the NRM commissioned First Class Partnerships (FCP) to independently review the remaining work identified as necessary by the NRM, and make recommendations on how to proceed. In March 2013, the museum announced FCP had determined the locomotive would not return to the main line until 2015, and believed the outstanding work should be put out to external tender. On 29 October 2013 the museum announced Riley & Son in Bury, Greater Manchester as the winning contractor, and the same day the locomotive was moved to their workshop in order to return it to running condition no earlier than summer 2015. On 29 April 2015, Flying Scotsman's boiler left the 
caption: The frames and wheelset in the NRM workshops in 2009
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