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Notes to Editors

Notes to editors

• The Four Trains event will take place on Sunday 23 April - confirmation of timings to follow
• The event will see the four trains positioned on the four tracks of the East Coast Main Line at Tollerton junction in North Yorkshire, around six miles north of York station
• The four trains will together move south, towards York station, in a staggered formation at around 20-25mph before then returning to York station
• No passengers or media will be allowed on the trains
• Specific, designated media viewing locations are available with details to be confirmed closer to the event
• Not forgetting the diesel heritage of the area – Flying Scotsman will be hauled into its place in the historic line up by a Class 55 Deltic
• Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the East Coast and West Coast inter-city routes under the Virgin Trains brand. Together, they are on track to revolutionise rail travel across the UK.

About Virgin Trains

Virgin Azuma is set to revolutionise UK travel when it arrives on the east coast in 2018. With 65 trains providing an extra 12,200 seats for a new and expanded timetable, the fleet of Virgin Azumas will increase capacity into King’s Cross by 28 per cent during peak time.

The combined network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, York and London.

Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains as one of the top long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.

On the East Coast route, £140m is being invested to create a more personalised travel experience. We have already invested £21m to completely revamp our existing fleet and customers can now benefit from 42 additional services (22,000 extra seats) per week between Edinburgh and London. 2018 will see the introduction of completely new Azuma trains being built in the UK by Hitachi.

The West Coast route has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.

Visit the Virgin Trains Media Room - virgintrains.co.uk/about/media-room - for the latest news, images and videos. Subscribe here for regular news from Virgin Trains. Press Office: 0845 000 3333.

About the National Railway Museum and Flying Scotsman

• The National Railway Museum (NRM) in York is the home and owner of the Flying Scotsman. Following a decade long campaign to purchase and restore this historic engine, this much loved locomotive made its inaugural run on February 25^th 2016 from London Kings Cross to York. Since then more than half a million people have either directly seen Flying Scotsman at NRM or ridden behind it at via Heritage Railways tours and mainline trips. In addition to this it’s estimated several hundreds of thousands more in 2016 were able to enjoy Flying Scotsman with viewings as it travelled around the country. For details on its 2017 itinerary go to nrm.org.uk                     

• The National Railway Museum in York has the largest collection of railway objects in the world and attracts over 700,000 visitors per year.

• The National Railway Museum’s collection includes over 300 locomotives and rolling stock, 628 coins and medals, 4,899 pieces of railway uniform and costume, railway equipment, documents, records, artwork and railway related photographs.

• The National Railway Museum houses a world-class collection of Royal trains, which includes a collection of Royal carriages, from those used by Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II.

• The National Railway Museum’s vast art collection comprises of 11,270 posters, 2,358 prints and drawings, 1,052 paintings, and 1,750,000 photographs – many of which have never been on public display.

• The National Railway Museum forms part of the Science Museum Group, along with the Science Museum in London, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the National Media Museum in Bradford and the National Railway Museum in Shildon.

• Admission to the National Railway Museum is free. For more information about the National Railway Museum and Flying Scotsman please visit: org.uk Follow the National Railway Museum at twitter.com/railwaymuseum   Join the National Railway Museum at facebook.com/nationalrailwaymuseum.

Press contacts

Network Rail – Toby Higgins/Amy Brenndorfer, tel: 01904 383180 / toby.higgins@networkrail.co.uk or amy.brenndorfer@networkrail.co.uk

Virgin Trains East Coast – Phoebe Mellor, Hope & Glory PR, tel: 020 3588 9700 or 020 3588 9720 / phoebe.mellor@hopeandglorypr.com

National Railway Museum –Jenny Wilkinson/Phil Reed, Aberfield Communications Agency, tel: 0113 880 0444 or 07811 399 949 / jenny.wilkinson@aberfield.com or Phil.Reed@aberfield.com