THE Flying Scotsman — which has been restored at a cost of £4.2million — steams through East Lancashire today as it takes to the tracks on an excursion.

The 93-year-old locomotive, the first train in history to reach the magical 100mph mark, will haul the Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express — a service which starts in London — from Carnforth to Carlisle.

It will then travel down the famous Settle to Carlisle line and over the Ribblehead Viaduct and through Hellifield, where is will take on water, and into East Lancashire.

The Flying Scotsman is due to steam through Clitheroe at 5.24pm before pulling into Blackburn railway station at 5.49pm where it will wait for three minutes before heading back to the mainline at Farrington Junction.

The train was tested on the East Lancashire Railway last month.