LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman

No. 4472 Flying Scotsman is an LNER Class A3 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. It was employed on long-distance express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line by LNER and its successors, British Railways' Eastern and North Eastern Regions, notably on The Flying Scotsman service, between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, after which it was named. 4472 became a flagship locomotive for the LNER, representing the company twice at the British Empire Exhibition and in 1928, hauled the inaugural non-stop Flying Scotsman service. On 30 November 1934, it set a world record for steam traction, becoming the first locomotive to reach the officially authenticated speed of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h).

Retired from British Railways in 1963 after covering 2.08 million miles (3.35 million kilometres), the locomotive earned considerable fame in preservation under the ownership of, successively, Alan Pegler, William McAlpine, Tony Marchington, and, since 2004, the National Railway Museum. While on tour in Australia on 8 August 1989, it set another world record for the longest non-stop run of a steam locomotive of 422 miles (679 km). As a result of these achievements, Flying Scotsman has been described as the world's most famous steam locomotive.