Tony Marchington, who has died aged 55, was a leading biotech entrepreneur – co-founder of Oxford Molecular, once valued at £450 million – who was forced into bankruptcy by his ownership of the steam locomotive Flying Scotsman, which cost him millions.
Marchington combined a shrewd scientific brain with a passion for steam. He once owned 25 traction engines, including the star of the 1962 film The Iron Maiden, which sought to create the aura around them that Genevieve had done for vintage cars.
Many railway enthusiasts believed that, but for him, Flying Scotsman might never have returned to the main line. In 1996 he had stepped in to purchase, for £1.5 million, the ageing A3-class Pacific from Sir Bill McAlpine and Pete Waterman, whose own restoration plans had run into difficulties.
David Gambles
