Coventry-born pop impressario Pete Waterman has signed up the superstar of the steam era

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Coventry-born pop impressario Pete Waterman has signed up the superstar of the steam era

Coventry-born pop impressario Pete Waterman has signed up the superstar of the steam era - The Flying Scotsman. The multi-millionaire who launched Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan - and was behind Kylies release of Do the Locomotion - is now the proud co-owner of the worlds most famous steam locomotive after agreeing a deal with fellow train buff Sir William McAlpine. Sir William, who owned the green-liveried legend of the tracks, and 46-year-old Waterman have hitched their two train companies together to form Flying Scotsman Railways. Former British Rail apprentice Waterman said today: " This is the ultimate train engine in the world. " Theres Thomas the Tank Engine but then there is The Flying Scotsman. " I have always been passionate about railways from the time I lived in Stoke Heath and our house was just a few yards away from the tracks." The man whose personal fortune was estimated at 60 million two years ago already owns nearly 30 diesel and electic trains and a similar number of carriages. He revealed that originally he planned to act as middle man for the train and sell it to Virgin boss Richard Branson who is expected to extend his travel empire on to the tracks when rail privatisation gets under way. But when he realised the commercial potential of the famous flier he wanted to own it himself. " We had The Flying Scotsman on my local line, the East Lancs, for four weekends and I have never seen anything like it, " he said. " Anything that can pull in that many people is incridible. " We made four grand selling lumps of coal from it!" The old train will earn its keep by being hired out to private lines and museums. This morning proud owner Warerman was at the Birmingham Railway Museum in Tyseley, where The Flying Scotsman will spend the next five winters.
4th November 1993. © Mirrorpix

Paul Gilroy
Coventry Telegraph
Mirrorpix
Birmingham
West Midlands
England

Media ID 21800749

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