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Tornado in Loughborough
Posted on 22/08/2008
Wednesday 20th August 2008 will be a red letter day in the history of the Great Central Railway. Tornado the first brand new main line steam engine to be built in Britain since 1960 arrives for a two month visit. The engine will be at the award winning Leicestershire line for two months of running in. This will involve some running by itself, then hauling empty passenger carriages before finally pulling passenger trains. It will also undergo some testing and performance trials.
“Tornado arrives on Wednesday this week” confirmed Bruce Pollard, the GCR’s commercial manager, “and we couldn’t be more excited. Judging by the number of phone calls we’ve been getting about the engine, its obviously something lots of people are waiting to see. However, the first step is make sure it gets safely off the low loader it is arriving on, onto our rails, ready to move under its own power.”
The engine has been built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, an independent group of railway enthusiasts based in Darlington. The A1 Class of Pacific locomotives was designed by Arthur H Peppercorn for the London and North Eastern Railway and built in 1948/49. They were the last of the East Coast Main Lines series of thoroughbred express passenger steam locomotives. Examples of many other Darlington and Doncaster built locomotives have been saved for preservation, but not the Peppercorn A1s which were scrapped. It has cost £3 million to build.
The engine will spend the first part of its stay ‘stretching its wheels’. It could be in steam at the GCR’s ever popular Thomas the Tank Engine weekend on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of August. However, it will not be pulling any passenger trains until it is fully certified. Dates for first ‘real’ trains have been set for September 22nd and September 23rd. The visit will culminate with an appearance at a massive steam engine gala in mid October.
Mark Allatt, Chairman of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust said “The GCR offers us all the right facilities for testing our new locomotive. Naturally, being in the middle of the country we hope as many people as possible will share in the chance to see Britain’s first brand new main line steam engine since 1960. After our stay at the GCR we’re heading off for service on the national network, though we still need to raise £66,000 to finish the job and make sure the engine can pull trains at speed on the main line.”
Visitors who want to see Tornado in action over the next couple of months at the Great Central Railway should telephone Loughborough 01509 230726 (the booking office) or check www.gcrailway.co.uk before travelling to ensure the engine is in service.