A ONE-hundred-year-old icon of travel is expected to remain in mainline service and will be stationed in York for the first part of 2024.

Flying Scotsman will be on static display at the National Railway Museum (NRM) before resuming rail tours later in the year after a search for a new 'custodian' is completed.

A statement from NRM said a tender will be launched in the coming weeks to operate and maintain the locomotive with an award expected in the spring.

An NRM spokesperson said the one-hundred year-old machine will be displayed in the Flying Scotsman exhibition at the NRM and visitors will be able to see the locomotive for free and access the footplate.

Judith McNicol, director of the museum said: “Our intention is to keep Flying Scotsman main line operational and once the new custodian is appointed, we will create a calendar of activity that includes main line tours, visits to heritage railways and our museums.”

The museum said Flying Scotsman has travelled 10,000 miles across the UK as part of its centenary celebrations in 2023.

Following the display in York, Flying Scotsman will move to the 'Locomotion', the NRM sister museum in Shildon, County Durham.

The NRM said Flying Scotsman’s visits to York and 'Locomotion' during the centenary attracted visitors from the UK and abroad. 

In York 51,751 people visited during October half term and more than 37,500 came to see Flying Scotsman in 'light steam' at Locomotion over Christmas.

Built in Doncaster in 1923 for the newly formed LNER, Flying Scotsman is considered by many to be the most famous locomotive in the world.

Flying Scotsman was saved from the scrapheap and toured the USA and Australia before becoming part of the National Railway Museum’s collection.