DAMIAN Cruden has gone from marathon man to flying Scotsman as he juggles the demands of directing two shows at once, one in York, the other in London.

Damian, who ran October's York Marathon to raise funds for a cancer charity in memory of Theatre Royal voice coach and director Susan Stern, has been dividing his time between co-directing Old Mother Goose with pantomime dame Berwick Kaler and leading rehearsals for the King's Cross revival of The Railway Children.

In a quick break from both, the Scottish artistic director gave an insight into a week's diary.

"I'm getting on a train today at four o'clock to do some rehearsal work in London this evening, and then three full days; then back up here for Friday and Saturday rehearsals; back into London on Saturday afternoon for more rehearsals," he said. "Then a clear Sunday; back down to London on Monday; back here on the Tuesday night..."

At this point, the bearer of the What's On notebook was beginning to faint at the thought of all this train travel, but Damian was taking it all in his stride.

"Normally I'm not in all the pantomime rehearsals anyway because there's the sessions with the choreographer and the music calls," he said.

"Berwick knows what he's doing in the rehearsals and my role is to bring it all together once we're in tech week, when Berwick gets on with his performance and I put the show together with the production team."

In London, he has not been flying solo either. "I have an associate director who's very experienced, a staff director and an assistant, who works on the children's rehearsals," said Damian, who quite by coincidence had to start rehearsals for both productions on the same day, November 17. "So, I did the first read-through in York in the morning and the London one in the evening."

Thankfully, the shows are opening on different days: Old Mother Goose in York tonight and previews of The Railway Children on Tuesday in the KIng's Cross Theatre, Good's Way, by King's Boulevard, ahead of the run from January 14 to March 1.

"I've put The Railway Children together in five weeks, but that's not too hard to do because Sue Scott Davison did the casting, and she's done the casting for us before on the Railway Children shows," he said.

"But it did take two full days to find the three Darling children. There'll be 15 actors in the London cast, with Caroline Harker and Blair Plant back in the show, and Louise Calf, from this year's Theatre Royal production of Blithe Spirit, as Phyllis.

"We're rehearsing at Bow in a big film studio as it's the only place big enough for the staging, as we need a 38 metre-wide space."

This is the show that parades a 60-tonne steam locomotive, as you will recall from Damian's productions at the National Railway Museum in 2008 and 2009.

Whereas Damian's first London production of Mike Kenny's stage adaptation of the E Nesbitt story utilised a disused Eurotunnel track in the underbelly of Waterloo Station, the new show will be housed in a purpose-built site owned by Google.

"They were looking for a project that would use the space," says Damian. "It's all about the gentrification of King's Cross and having Google there is clearly a big part of the viability of that area," he said.

Having directed The Railway Children in York twice, London twice and Toronto once – with the possibility of Australia still on the horizon – Damian will complete his York hat-trick next summer when his Olivier Award-winning production will be revived at the National Railway Museum in a purpose-built, 1,000-seat theatre tent, first used in Canada.

Booked in for July 31 to September 5 during the Theatre Royal's redevelopment project, as ever it will come complete with a railway track and platforms for a live steam locomotive and the Old Gentleman’s Saloon from the 1970 film.

The cast will once more include Martin Barrass as Mr Perks, the station master, which brings this story back to where it began: Damian directing Martin and co in the pantomime rehearsals.

Old Mother Goose runs from tonight until January 31 2015 at York Theatre Royal; The Railway Children, from July 31 to September 5 2015, at the National Railway Museum, York. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk