I heard FS was due to come to Cornwall last weekend for the first time ever and I went to the local Sainsburys in Penzance (built on the old Heliport - but that's another story ) as they have a cafe balcony overlooking the mainline into Penzance station ...
I saw this iconic green thing hove into view and I was gutted ... nay devastated... and hugely disappointed ...by what I saw Not a a beautiful Apple Green LNER 4472 but a wishy washy BR green 60103 Millions of quid and they got it wrong ... just in my opinion of course
Now I know everyone talks of originality and its last days in BR livery ... and there's smoke deflector discussions ... and A3 v A1 etc etc BUT ... I've said it before I believe that in the public psyche and general perception Flying Scotsman just IS 4472 - LNER Green ... shame ...
Wish I hadn't bothered ... plus the fact that like Trigger's broom it probably isn't the same locomotive I 'cabbed' on Shrewsbury station when I was a boy back in the early 60s ...
And to see it being dragged backwards at the end of the train by a diesel when it left Penzance just added to the bad feelings ...