The Flying Scotsman (Thurston/RSCDS)
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
The Flying Scotsman (Thurston/RSCDS)Hugh Thurston (adapted by RSCDS) RSCDS Medal Tests for Young Dancers
Jig 4 x 32 bars 4 Couple Repeat 4 Couple Set Longwise Set
1-8 1L followed by 2L3L4L cross, cast behind 1M, cross below 4M and dance up to places;
9-16 1M2M3M4M repeat bars 1-8 around Ls, all finishing in places;
17-20 1s take both hands and slip down the middle;
21-24 1s slip up to finish in 4th place;
25-32 2s 3s 4s 1s take both hands with partners and slip down the middle and back.
(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)
Dance Notes
This simplified version of Hugh Thurston's The Flying Scotsman (Thurston/Original) is more suitable for ceilidh dancers and for smaller children since it avoids the complication of the counter-intuitive, 3-couple repeat in 4-couple set format and the very quick weaving movements of the original in bars 1-16.17-20 1s take large steps.
21-22 2s3s4s take hands on the sides and step up. However, as is designed into The Puggy 1, there is no problem if this is omitted since 2s3s4s1s can easily slip up an extra place in bars 29-32 and so finish 2s3s4s1s with the set in its correct position.
21-24 1s take much smaller steps to finish below 4s, especially so if 2s3s4s have not stepped up.
25-32 In the normal version, all take both hands with partners for the slip down and up; as an alternative, all can take hands on the sides.
Dance Instruction Videos
The Flying Scotsman (Thurston/RSCDS) - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
Also see the original dance The Flying Scotsman (Thurston/Original) by Hugh A Thurston, which includes a Keith Rose crib diagram.Also see the dance The Flying Scotsman (Thurston/RSCDS, 3-Couple Version) by Hugh Thurston, adapted by Reuben Freemantle from the version in RSCDS Medal Tests for Young Dancers.
Also see the dance 60103 by Brian Fee.
This Scottish Country Dance was originally devised by Hugh Thurston, then adapted by RSCDS for the RSCDS Medal Tests for Young Dancers, to celebrate the centenary of RSCDS and the Flying Scotsman locomotive.
The primary express passenger train service connecting London and Edinburgh since 1862, known as The Flying Scotsman (though the name came into use about a decade later), operates on the East Coast Main Line.
Especially in the era predating widespread road and air transport, this high-speed link between the capitals of England and Scotland necessitated an exceptionally long and heavy train to accommodate the passenger numbers. Consequently, The Flying Scotsman has consistently relied on powerful locomotives.
Throughout its history, a variety of locomotive types have been employed to haul The Flying Scotsman, starting with coal-fired steam-driven engines and changing to diesel-electric and, more recently, overhead-wire electric locomotives. In the earlier years, some steam-driven locomotives were specifically designed for this route, leading to the casual use of the name for these locomotives rather than the entire train.
The Flying Scotsman - Information Video
The Flying Scotsman - Music Video
The Famous 'Flying Scotsman' In Full Steam
Image selection by SCDD automotive consultant, A.C. Pearson.
This page contains both original content, which is copyrighted, and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources using the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Text from this original Flying Scotsman article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright jimd2007, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Additional search terms: Ceilidh Dance.