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Lucky sod: Trainspotter misses Flying Scotsman but lands free US trip

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DaveHarries

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This story has turned up on the London Evening Standard's website.

Trainspotter misses Flying Scotsman due to Virgin train but lands free trip to the US

A man whose video of the Flying Scotsman was photobombed by a Virgin train has been compensated by the company - in the form of a trainspotting trip to America.

Trainspotters gathered at stations up and down the country today to catch sight of the famous locamotive as it made its journey from London King's Cross to York, where it will go on display at the National Railway Museum.

Ryan Allen was waiting for the train in the village of Little Bytham in Lincolnshire, but just as the famous engine came into view a Virgin train passed in the opposite direction, obscuring his view of the historic Flying Scotsman.

All that could be seen of the 1923 train was a plume of white smoke over the top of the Virgin service, which eventually passed out of sight, just in time for Mr Allen to film the last of the Scotsman's carriages fading into the distance.

However, the 34-year-old, who works for Anglian Water as a leakage technician, clearly took it in good humour as he shared the video to Twitter along with the caption "I had a feeling this would happen."

After Virgin Trains caught wind of the video, which has been shared thousands of times, they teamed up with Virgin Atlantic to offer Mr Allen flights to Atlanta.
Dave
 
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jon0844

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Virgin seems to have got a lot of publicity over the Flying Scotsman in the last 24 hours. Giving away a seat on one of its planes (heck, even upper class) seems like a great way to keep in the news a bit longer.

I assume it's all gone viral? No doubt I'll find out tomorrow..
 

HMS Ark Royal

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At least he got the bloody thing on camera... I aimed at the old girl as she was passing Doncaster and the sudden increase in sunlight overloaded the camera lens and so all I got was a large amount of green (Attached is all I got).

Some people get all the breaks
 

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Bantamzen

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At least he got the bloody thing on camera... I aimed at the old girl as she was passing Doncaster and the sudden increase in sunlight overloaded the camera lens and so all I got was a large amount of green (Attached is all I got).

Some people get all the breaks

Have you considered Tweeting The Sun? You might a freebie off them.... ;)
 

Tim R-T-C

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Tweet the camera firm... might get a trip to Japan.

Does VT's decision apply to all bowlings now? I've missed many freight trains due to passing traffic, to whom do I send the video?
 

yorksrob

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Having been gleefully shown the footage by my non-rail enthusiast friends, I couldn't help but notice that the person filming had got quite a good action shot.
 

sprinterguy

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I can see trainspotting becoming a much more popular pastime if this becomes a regular feature! ;)

Shouldn't the possibility of being "bowled" be part of the "thrill of the chase" in the world of railway enthusiasm, anyway?
 
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341o2

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saw this on BBC news. always thoght it part of the hazards of photography. Can I claim against all those irritating people who are either oblivious or don't care and get in my way when photographing
 

ungreat

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I got a good picture of her at Hornsey on the 24th.....do I get a phone upgrade:lol:
 

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doningtonphil

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At least he got the bloody thing on camera... I aimed at the old girl as she was passing Doncaster and the sudden increase in sunlight overloaded the camera lens and so all I got was a large amount of green (Attached is all I got).

Some people get all the breaks

HMS. That must be the worst 'photoshop' to try and blag something I have ever seen :)
 

Pakenhamtrain

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I'm on the other side of the world. Does that mean I get a free flight over to see it? :lol:

To be honest I'd rather a repeat of this(From the old man's slide collection):
 

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Tetchytyke

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The video went viral. It's completely unlike Virgin to milk a viral video for some publicity, isn't it. Adverts in the papers would cost a damn sight more than the cost of an air fare to America.

Fair play to the lad though. The fact he took it in such good humour helped.
 

Kite159

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I through it was a lovely video of a 91+Mk4 set photobombed by an old kettle causing delays by gathering some trespassing idiots. ;)
 

Steveman

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The video went viral. It's completely unlike Virgin to milk a viral video for some publicity, isn't it. Adverts in the papers would cost a damn sight more than the cost of an air fare to America.

Fair play to the lad though. The fact he took it in such good humour helped.

Hardly a lad, he's 34.
 

HowardGWR

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I can see trainspotting becoming a much more popular pastime if this becomes a regular feature! ;)

Shouldn't the possibility of being "bowled" be part of the "thrill of the chase" in the world of railway enthusiasm, anyway?

I thought it was 'clean bowled'?
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Note there's no mention of Stagecoach, or even East Coast. Just Virgin Trains and Virgin Atlantic.
A gift for Virgin's marketing dept. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35665284
I'm not sure I'd choose Atlanta for a train photo-trip to the USA, although the metro system from the airport is pretty good (MARTA).

Is it me or is the BBC video of FS overdubbed with random "train noises" (eg clickety-clack while running at speed over welded track)?
I've never got over discovering that they have a large sound effects library and casually use it with unrelated pictures to give a "realistic" effect.
One of these was of a Class 40 in Vulcan Foundry, complete with trademark 16SVT whistling engine, and it was often used in news items accompanying pictures of an HST or Deltic!
 
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Bantamzen

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Note there's no mention of Stagecoach, or even East Coast. Just Virgin Trains and Virgin Atlantic.
A gift for Virgin's marketing dept. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35665284
I'm not sure I'd choose Atlanta for a train photo-trip to the USA, although the metro system from the airport is pretty good (MARTA).

And it's a Delta hub......

Is it me or is the BBC video of FS overdubbed with random "train noises" (eg clickety-clack while running at speed over welded track)?
I've never got over discovering that they have a large sound effects library and casually use it with unrelated pictures to give a "realistic" effect.
One of these was of a Class 40 in Vulcan Foundry, complete with trademark 16SVT whistling engine, and it was often used in news items accompanying pictures of an HST or Deltic!

You noticed that too. I thought they had borrowed the dubbed sound from the Thomas The Tank Engine children's series....
 

HMS Ark Royal

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Note there's no mention of Stagecoach, or even East Coast. Just Virgin Trains and Virgin Atlantic.
A gift for Virgin's marketing dept. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35665284
I'm not sure I'd choose Atlanta for a train photo-trip to the USA, although the metro system from the airport is pretty good (MARTA).

Is it me or is the BBC video of FS overdubbed with random "train noises" (eg clickety-clack while running at speed over welded track)?
I've never got over discovering that they have a large sound effects library and casually use it with unrelated pictures to give a "realistic" effect.
One of these was of a Class 40 in Vulcan Foundry, complete with trademark 16SVT whistling engine, and it was often used in news items accompanying pictures of an HST or Deltic!

At one point during a news piece, they oddly cut to some film footage of 55003 Meld - rare in itself as not much exists of her

Have you considered Tweeting The Sun? You might a freebie off them.... ;)

I might do...

HMS. That must be the worst 'photoshop' to try and blag something I have ever seen :)

I resent the implication of your post. If you had cared to actually open your eyes and look at the file name, the timecode is contained within - it would have been simple enough to check the time she went through with the time of the picture <( <D :-x
 

Deepgreen

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I resent the implication of your post. If you had cared to actually open your eyes and look at the file name, the timecode is contained within - it would have been simple enough to check the time she went through with the time of the picture <( <D :-x

Unless I have mis-interpreted your response as being serious when you meant it to be humourous - I think the comment was written jokingly - hence the laughing emoticon (much as I dislike their use). However, it would be better if 'doningtonphil' reponds definitively here!
 

HMS Ark Royal

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Unless I have mis-interpreted your response as being serious when you meant it to be humourous - I think the comment was written jokingly - hence the laughing emoticon (much as I dislike their use). However, it would be better if 'doningtonphil' reponds definitively here!

I don't appreciate being accused of a swindler or a cheat - no matter how much it was said in jest... Been called that far too many times to start finding it funny now
 

Deepgreen

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I don't appreciate being accused of a swindler or a cheat - no matter how much it was said in jest... Been called that far too many times to start finding it funny now

My point was that I don't think there was any such accusation - I think the whole comment was around how badly (by your own admission) your photo turned out and therefore how comically doomed-to-fail any attempt to obtain 'compensation' would be, so that you or anyone else could not possibly consider trying. Anyhoo - it's nothing to do with me, so perhaps my attempted clarification on his behalf is unwelcome. So be it.
 

HMS Ark Royal

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My point was that I don't think there was any such accusation - I think the whole comment was around how badly (by your own admission) your photo turned out and therefore how comically doomed-to-fail any attempt to obtain 'compensation' would be, so that you or anyone else could not possibly consider trying. Anyhoo - it's nothing to do with me, so perhaps my attempted clarification on his behalf is unwelcome. So be it.

I know...

Its just that I was accused of it regarding something serious (only Techniquest has any ideas why) and I am just very defensive in nature about it
 

trainmania100

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Im sure a lot of people got bowled, they cant hold off all mainline services just because the flying scotsman is running...
 

Deepgreen

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I through it was a lovely video of a 91+Mk4 set photobombed by an old kettle causing delays by gathering some trespassing idiots. ;)

Doesn't 'photo-bombing' require the intended subject to be eclipsed by another subject entering the view in front of it? As FS was behind the VTEC train, this didn't apply.

Must go now; I'm late for my 'Pedants' Anonymous' meeting (woe betide anyone who puts the apostrophe in the wrong place!).
 
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