The maps (leaflets) below show the route taken between Edinburgh and London since 1888. The train that took this route is known as the ‘Flying Scotsman’. When the route first opened it was a 9 hour journey, this included a lunch stop at York. In 1928 the trains started to run non-stop between London and Edinburgh and the train sped across the plain of York, just south of Thirsk, now the journey would only take 7 hours. There were races around every 7 years on the East Coast Route and The Great Northern and North Eastern adopted different locomotive policies during the years of racing and had chosen different engines for their high-speed running trains. 
