IT IS the world’s most recognisable steam train and it will be steaming along the Hampshire coastline this spring.

Trainspotters can get their notebooks out as the world-famous Flying Scotsman will be passing through stations in southern Hampshire.

After more than 10 years away from the mainline, the 1920s-era locomotive returned to the tracks last week after a £4.2million refit.

Now the train, which has been described as a “modern day national treasure” will go on a two-hour round trip from Salisbury via Southampton and Eastleigh on Saturday, May 21.

Passengers who have paid tickets costing as much as £159 will step aboard the restored 1950s and 1960s-era carriages of the sold-out Cathedrals Express before the train departs Salisbury at 2pm.

From their carriage windows they will see Southampton Docks and The Solent, before the train turns inland.

Flying Scotsman will then head north, following the River Itchen to Eastleigh before arriving back in Salisbury at around 4pm.

It is not expected to stop at any station on the circuit but it will pass through Southampton Central, Eastleigh and Romsey stations on its journey.

It is expected that hundreds of rail enthusiasts will be standing at stations across Hampshire fervently waiting to catch a fleeting glimpse of it.

Holiday firm Steam Dreams are operating the one-off tour. Marcus Robertson, chairman of Steam Dreams, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be bringing Flying Scotsman to Hampshire and for locals the chance to be a part of this historic occasion for mainline steam as it welcomes back its greatest celebrity.

“To tour the beautiful Hampshire countryside behind this great locomotive will be the ultimate British Summer experience.”

Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, Flying Scotsman soon became the star locomotive of the British railway system, pulling the first train to break the 100mph barrier in 1934.

It was the flagship locomotive of the new London & North Eastern Railway who ensured instant celebrity status for the new star of their fleet by naming it after the express train service between London and Edinburgh.

Given the number 4472 it was seen by millions in its eye-catching apple green livery, and was heralded as a symbol of modernity following the First World War.

After the Second World War it was nearly consigned for scrap until British businessman and railway preservationist Alan Pegler stepped in and saved it during the 1960s.

Railway enthusiast and former politician Michael Portillo described Flying Scotsman as “an engineering triumph” and praised its designer, Sir Nigel Gresley, for having “an eye for engineering, for design, for style and for marketing”.

The National Railway Museum in York bought the locomotive for £2.3 million in 2004 before work got under way on its decade-long restoration in 2006.

Thousands of people lined the tracks between London’s King’s Cross terminus and York as the train made its first journey last week.