We now have all three of the 1939 premium Trix Twin Railway presentation sets on display, side-by-side: the Royal Scot, the Flying Scotsman, and the US Tour 1939 Coronation Scot.
The special Coronation Scot US Tour streamliner train is a wistfully poignant historical piece … the real train was intended to be the prototype for the future of high-speed ultra-luxury travel in the UK, with the first completed train shipped off to the US on a goodwill and publicity tour, and fitted with a bell and headlight to conform to US regulations. With the outbreak of WW2 in late 1939, the train was left stranded in the US, and the project was abandoned. After the war, the British railway network was no longer capable of taking high-speed trains, and post-war austerity meant that luxury travel was no longer a national priority.
This left Trix with stock of expensive models of a train that would never carry a single paying UK passenger.
