THE world-famous Flying Scotsman will make its return to Fife this year.

The locomotive will travel to Inverness via Edinburgh and the Forth Bridge in May for the second time in its 96-year history, but this time organisers are opting for longer tours over short trips.

First-class passengers will have to pay up to £999 for the experience which includes champagne, cakes and three nights in a four-star hotel in Inverness.

Whereas premium passengers, who will receive free tea and coffee and be put up at a Holiday Inn Express, will pay £699 each.

A spokeswoman for organisers The Steam Dreams Rail Co said the price reflected the extra cost of having two locomotives, with the trip part of a nine-day tour from London.

Last year, Flying Scotsman ran trips from Edinburgh over the Forth Bridge and round Fife for £225 for first-class passengers and £79 in premium standard.

Excursions during the trip will cost extra and the return journey will be hauled by a diesel engine, rather than steam-powered.

The owner of The Steam Dreams Rail Co, David Buck, said: “Flying Scotsman has not been to Inverness in recent history, and to experience the two locomotives performing at full power over this steeply-graded railway will be a great prospect for all lovers of steam.

“It is the first time we have given passengers from Scotland an opportunity to join part of one of our nine-day tours.”

The train was designed by Edinburgh-born Sir Nigel Gresley to haul the same-named Edinburgh-London express on the east coast main line, and was the first steam locomotive to reach 100mph, in 1934, and set a record for the longest non-stop run, of 422 miles, in Australia in 1989.

The engine was restored at a cost of more than £4 million by the National Railway Museum and further Flying Scotsman trips are expected to be announced shortly by the museum.