TRAINSPOTTERS can get a glimpse of the Flying Scotsman this weekend.

The world-famous locomotive, which spent much of 2018 undergoing repairs, will be passing through Swindon once on Saturday due to a change in its route.

Originally set to join the Cotswold Line after leaving Reading, it will now travel along the former Great Western Railway main route instead, stopping at Reading and Didcot to pick up passengers.

It will then continue on through the Vale of White Horse to Swindon and then take the line to Kemble and into Gloucestershire.

The Flying Scotsman is due to leave Paddington at 7.40am and reach Didcot at 9.08am before arriving at Worcester at 11.50am.

On the way back, the Flying Scotsman will take the scenic Cotswold Line through Oxford, then to Evesham and onto Honeybourne before climbing the summit at Campden.

Then it will head to Moreton in Marsh, through Kingham and Ascott-under-Whychwood towards Charlbury. The locomotive will then head towards Oxford before bypassing Swindon and rejoining the Didcot route then continuing along the line towards reading before then returning to London.

It leaves Worcester at 4.13pm, reaches Didcot at 6.36pm and arrives at Paddington at 8.08pm.

The British Transport Police are not releasing the exact times that the locomotive is expected travel through every town on its journey as this has led to trespassing on the tracks and other unsafe areas on previous trips.

Trainspotters should stay on the train platform at Swindon station and not put themselves at risk. when the Flying Scotman travels through it.

High-speed trains take 20 minutes to travel from Didcot to Swindon but the 90-year-old locomotive will be take a little longer to get where it's going.

It could reach Swindon at around 9.35am on its way to Gloucestershire.

The locomotive weighs more than 150 tonnes and uses 45lb of coal and 40 gallons of water a mile.

In 1928 it started transporting passengers between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh.

The Flying Scotsman was taken off the rails from active service in 1963 with the aim of preserving it for future generations to enjoy.

It was dismantled in 1995 before being restored by train enthusiast Dr Tony Marchington the following year at a cost of more than £750,000.