A COUPLE were thrilled to take their first trip together on the Flying Scotsman after being given tickets as a gift.

Harry and Jean McCoy, who live in Bury, were gifted the tickets from their nephew in Ireland.

The Flying Scotsman event on the East Lancs Railway was rescheduled three times due to the Covid pandemic.

Jean’s love affair with steam trains started 64 years ago as an 11-year-old school girl, when she used to catch a steam train from Ramsbottom to Helmshore before getting a bus to her grammar school in Haslingden.

She has been on the Flying Scotsman previously with her friends from Carlisle to Settle but finally convinced her husband Harry to take the trip with her this time round.

She said: “Harry is more of a planes man. He loves air shows and aeroplane museums.”

But despite his love of planes, Harry has never flown through the fear of flying. The pair have relatives in Australia and Jean has made the trip Down Under on her own.

After a few laughs, the pair boarded the train in Bury and the couple excitedly embarked on their journey to Rawtenstall with their tickets in hand.

“I hope they serve beer,” Harry added as he closed the carriage door .

Owned by the National Railway Museum, the iconic steam locomotive was supposed to be visiting over the Easter weekend, but coronavirus restrictions meant that the event had to be postponed.

The Flying Scotsman was originally launched in 1862, to create a train service that ran from Edinburgh to London.

In 2004, the National Railway Museum saved the iconic locomotive from being sold abroad.

Since then the workshop team has been hard at work carrying out a full overhaul of the locomotive which can be witnessed by visitors from the museum’s workshop balcony.

ELR Chairman Mike Kelly, said: “We are delighted to play host once again to the most iconic locomotive in history.

The historic locomotive will be in Bury this weekend too.

Visit The East Lancashire website for more information.