 By the end of that season's tour, the money had run out and Pegler was £132,000 in debt, with the locomotive in storage in U.S. Army Sharpe Depot to keep it away from unpaid creditors.In 1973, in a rescue mission, the "Flying Scotsman" was sold to rail enthusiast Sir William McAlpine, who returned it to the UK.Pegler worked his passage home from San Francisco to England on a P&O cruise ship in 1971, giving lectures about trains and travel.