It's the afternoon of May 10, 1926, at a train station in Cramlington, a small mining town in the northeast of England.

From the cab of the flying Scotsman express train, engineer Bob Sheldon cranes his neck

out of the window and checks that all passengers are on board. Having left Edinburgh at 10 a.m. bound for

London, the train now has 280 people on board and is making good time. Still, Bob's nervous. It's

the seventh day of a general strike that has brought the

United Kingdom to a near standstill. To keep essential services running, volunteers like Bob

have stepped forward to fill in for the striking railroad personnel, but he's been warned

that his train may come under attack from disgruntled workers. Bob pulls hard on the train whistle, releases the brakes, and the locomotive creeps forward

out of the station.

Beside him, two young volunteer firemen shovel coal into the boiler.

The engine starts at pickup speed.

But as Bob peers down the track, he sees that something isn't right.

The line ahead has been tampered with.

An entire section of rail has been removed. Bob immediately shuts off the steam and pulls as hard

as he can on the brakes, but the train is still moving forward. It's not going to stop in time.

Bob warns the others and braces himself. And when the locomotive reaches the missing rail,

their whole world suddenly turns on its side.

Burning hot coals tumble out of the boiler as the engine tips.

Bob is flung hard against the door of the cab as metal crunches and shrieks around him.

Behind the locomotive, the carriages twist away from the track one by one.

The flying Scotsman has been derailed.

The striking workers who removed the rail hadn't realized that a passenger train was coming.

...