The Flying Scotsman cocktail is named after the express passenger train service that has operated between Edinburgh and London, the capitals of Scotland and England, via the East Coast Main Line.

The East Coast Main Line over which the Flying Scotsman runs was built in the 19th century by many small railway companies.

But mergers and acquisitions led to only three companies controlling the route: the North British Railway, the North Eastern Railway, and the Great Northern Railway. In 1862 the three companies established the East Coast Joint Stock, and it is from this agreement that the Flying Scotsman came about in 1924.

The cocktail can be found in the 1933 Hollywood Favorite Cocktail Book and also in Charles A. Tuck’s 1967 Cocktails and Mixed Drinks, who was Head Bartender of the Piccadilly Hotel in London, UK.