This weekend, Virgin Trains set up a photo-opportunity event for rail enthusiasts – four generations of trains travelling side by side on the East Coast Line.

Of course, it was also a marketing opportunity to show off Virgin Trains’ new Azuma, alongside two present-day trains, and the Flying Scotsman.

The event – organised by Virgin Trains, National Railway Museum, Network Rail, Welcome to Yorkshire and Hitachi – took place in the Yorkshire countryside with the trains finishing in York station.

It featured the famous Flying Scotsman alongside two trains from Virgin Trains’ revitalised fleet — an HST Intercity 125 (Class 43), an Intercity 225 (Class 91) — and as well as the first new Virgin Azuma (Class 800), which is being built by Hitachi in the North East, and will come into service in 2018.

(Photo: David Parry/PA Wire)