THE long and distinguished history of the Flying Scotsman is to be brought to life in a £1.4m interactive exhibition.

Visitors to the National Railway Museum, in York, will be able to explore the technology behind the legendary locomotive and find out about the people who drove it.

They will also be able to experience the reality of operating a steam train by using webcams and view the Flying Scotsman being prepared for journeys.

Drawings, models and uniforms will all be on show, as well as stories about the engine's designer Sir Nigel Gresley and passengers, crew and owners.

Yesterday, the Heritage Lottery Fund announced that it was contributing £275,000 to the project, which will allow the National Railway Museum to become the permanent home of the exhibition.

Jon Ingham, head of fundraising at the museum, said the grant was fantastic news.

"It is of great significance both to those who helped us save Flying Scotsman for the nation, and to all those who will have the opportunity over the next ten years, to encounter the locomotive up-close-and-personal, themselves," he said.

"The challenge now is to create an exhibition that engages with visitors while the locomotive is in residence and equally when steaming through the countryside."

The exhibition will cost £1.4m to create, with the Heritage Lottery Fund and Yorkshire Forward pledging the majority of the funds. The shortfall is expected to be met by corporate supporters and public donators.

John Watson, chairman of the Yorkshire and the Humber committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "This grant is what lottery funding is all about - opening up our much-loved heritage for everyone to enjoy and understand. This new exhibition will tell its fascinating story and make sure it, and the National Railway Museum, remains one of our regions most popular visitor attractions."

The locomotive is due to run between York and Scarborough from July 5 to September 8. Once it has completed all its scheduled trips, it will go into the museum's workshop for a complete refit and will not re-emerge until August 2007. The new exhibition is due to open next April.