Rail buffs flock to Doncaster to catch a glimpse of rare Deltic locomotive

Royal Scots Grey is one of a remaning handful of British Rail Class 55 locomotives – known as Deltics – and the train powered through Doncaster last week as part of a special excursion from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh.

Guests were aboard the Deltic between the capital and York before switching to the Sir Nigel Gresley to continue north to Scotland for the city’s Christmas market.

Only 22 Deltics were produced, with the Royal Scots Grey built in 1961 and retired from British Rail service in 1982 before being one of six restored and preserved.

While not built in Doncaster, the Deltics were often repaired and restored at the Plant Works in the city, before the majority of them were scrapped there in the early 1980s.