A 1937 steam locomotive will once again pass through Courier Country on Wednesday.
The Union of South Africa is on a tour of Britain and will depart Edinburgh at 10.04am for Aberdeen before making the return journey at 4.10pm. The return journey is when it will be at full steam.
It will pass through Inverkeithing, Kirkcaldy, Thornton, Ladybank, Leuchars, Dundee, Carnoustie, Arbroath, Montrose and Laurencekirk.
Built in Doncaster for the LNER, it was originally named the Osprey but took to service from the Haymarket shed in Edinburgh as the Union of South Africa.
In 1954, a Bloemfontein benefactor donated its Springbok plaque, which was mounted on its side and remains there today. The apartheid era in South Africa had a bearing on the name and it reverted to the Osprey through the 1980s and 1990s.
Union of South Africa was allocated to Haymarket shed from new and had her only transfer to Aberdeen in 1962. In October 1964 it hauled the last booked steam-hauled train from King’s Cross. It was the last locomotive to be overhauled at Doncaster while in service and was withdrawn from British railways service in June 1966.The Courier will be taking photos and video as the train passes over the Tay Bridge. If you have any photos you want to share, please email to online@thecourier.co.ukBought by John Cameron it was preserved on the now-defunct Lochty Private Railway in Fife, travelling the three miles of track near Anstruther. In 1973 the loco left the Lochty by road and was taken to Ladybank to be rerailed on the national network.From there it was taken to Kirkcaldy and was based in the former goods shed, working occasional tours. After a few years at Kirkcaldy, it moved to Markinch until May 1994.
From the 1980s she started to travel all over the UK, visiting many preserved railways and hauling mainline steam specials such as the Torbay Express.
In May 1994, the locomotive left Markinch for the last time on the back of a low loader bound for Bridgnorth and repairs.
Its route took it over the Forth Road Bridge and in doing so became the only steam loco to cross both the Forth Bridge and the adjacent road bridge. During 2007 it hauled summer steam specials to Scarborough from York.
After her boiler certificate expired, it arrived at Pete Waterman’s LNWR Workshops at the Crewe Heritage Centre in 2010, undergoing an extensive overhaul.
* Go to uksteam.info to find out when the train will pass through your area.