ENGINEERS are making progress on the major restoration of the famous Flying Scotsman locomotive.

The engine - which is owned by York's National Railway Museum - is being refitted by a dedicated team of specialist workers at Riley and Son Ltd in Bury, and the engineers are now busy getting ready to re-wheel the locomotive.

The job will include a fresh coat of paint for the wheel sets, and completing the axle boxes.

Staff in the Bury workshop have also been hard at work refitting parts to the frames, ready for the boiler to be put back in to the Class A3 Pacific engine in the coming weeks, including the middle slide bar to the middle cylinder.

Parts of the locomotive are currently split between York and Bury, and all the way through the complex refit visitors to the York museum have been able to stand on a balcony above its workshop to catch a glimpse of what the front of the Scotsman – including its British Railways number, 60103.

A museum spokesman said that with the the boiler refit imminent, the next few weeks will see the Flying Scotsman's components reunited for the boiler to be lifted back into place as the "giant jigsaw puzzle" is completed.

The refurbishment of the Flying Scotsman began in January 2006, and the museum now hopes to have the iconic locomotive, the sole survivor of its class, back on the tracks by the end of this year.

York Press:
The work on the Flying Scotsman has taken several years