THE FLYING Scotsman, the world’s most famous steam engine, is visiting the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

The iconic 1920s locomotive, which spent most of this year touring the UK, has previously only visited Keighley while travelling on the mainline.

But next April it will visit the Railway Children line from April 1 to 9, and excited KWVR bosses are currently working on a timetable of rides between Keighley and Oxenhope.

A spokesman said: “The world’s most famous steam locomotive has been drawing thousands of admiring glances since return to action after a long and protracted overhaul.

“It has been travelling the country for the last year and it is now time for the people of West Yorkshire to witness this magnificent locomotive."

The Flying Scotsman, officially named LNER Pacific 60103, is being loaned by the National Railway Museum in York.

All bookings will be by advanced ticket sale only. Tickets are not yet on sale and prices and timetables have not been confirmed.

Fans are advised to keep checking the website kwvr.co.uk for further information.

The Flying Scotsman draws crowds wherever it goes, so the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway can expect the locomotive to be a hugely popular attraction.

When the engine visited the North Your Moors Railway in March this year, it became the most successful event in the line’s 43-year history.

More than 8,500 passengers travelled on the newly-renovated record-breaking locomotive as it steamed along the 18-mile line between Pickering and Grosmont, watched by countless more who crowded station platforms and lined the route.

Teams of British Transport Police officers and security staff from the nearby Fylingdales military facility had to be drafted in to deal with the unprecedented crowds.

The Flying Scotsman returned to the tracks in March this year after a £4.2million refit.

Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, the Flying Scotsman soon became the star locomotive of the British railway system, pulling the first train to break the 100mph barrier in 1934.

It was the flagship locomotive of the new London & North Eastern Railway which ensured instant celebrity status for the new star of their fleet by naming it after the express train service between London and Edinburgh.

Given the number 4472, it was seen by millions in its eye-catching apple green livery, and was heralded as a symbol of modernity following the First World War.

After the Second World War it was nearly consigned for scrap until British businessman and railway preservationist Alan Pegler stepped in and saved it during the 1960s.

Railway enthusiast and former politician Michael Portillo described Flying Scotsman as “an engineering triumph” and praised its designer, Sir Nigel Gresley, for having “an eye for engineering, for design, for style and for marketing”.

The National Railway Museum in York bought the locomotive for £2.3 million in 2004 before work got under way on its decade-long restoration in 2006.