page_title: LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
section_title: National Railway Museum
hierarchical_section_title: LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado / Commissioning / National Railway Museum
caption_attribution_description: English: New build steam locomotive 60163 Tornado at the National Railway Museum in York, England, on the day of her public unveiling in her first proper livery, LNER Apple Green with British Railways markings on the tender
context_page_description: 60163 Tornado is a main-line coal-fired steam locomotive built in Darlington, County Durham, England. Completed in 2008, Tornado was the first such locomotive built in the United Kingdom since Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, in 1960. It is the only example of an LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotive in existence, the entirety of the original production batch having been scrapped without proper preservation. The locomotive's namesake is the Panavia Tornado, a combat aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force from 1979 to 2019. In April 2017 Tornado became the first steam locomotive officially to reach 100 mph on British tracks for more than 50 years.
  Construction of Tornado began in 1994 and was at Darlington Works for most of the project, whilst numerous components such as the boiler were manufactured elsewhere. The project was financed through fundraising initiatives such as public donations and sponsorship deals and further funding came from hiring out Tornado itself for special rail services. Construction was completed in 2008 and full certification of the locomotive was achieved in January 2009.
context_section_description: On 21 October 2008, Tornado arrived at the National Rail Museum in York, and was first put on display in the Great Hall for a few days, where she was given pride of place on the NRM turntable for the annual railway industry dinner on 23 October 2008. Tornado then remained operationally based at the NRM behind the scenes, for final preparations and testing on the main line, reaching speeds of up to 75 mph (121 km/h), before an expected main line debut in February 2009. The acceptance testing based at York would be conducted by EWS.
  Three test runs on the main line were planned, for 4, 6 and 18 November 2008, involving out and back journeys departing from York in the evenings. The first would be to Scarborough. Two further runs would take place to Barrow Hill, Chesterfield, and to Newcastle.
  The Scarborough run would be a round trip of 84 miles (135 km) with a support coach only. The Barrow Hill run would see Tornado haul a 500-ton load, consisting of a rake of 12 coaches and a Class 67 diesel locomotive, at up to 60 mph (97 km/h), on a 142-mile (229 km) round trip. The Newcastle run would be a 176-mile (283 km) round trip at up to 75 mph (121 km/h), with a rake of empty coaches.
  The first test run was carried out successfully on 4 November 2008 "with no discernible problems". The second test ran successfully on 6 November. The morning of 19 November 2008 marked the successful completion of the third and final test run.
  Following the completion of the mainline test runs, Tornado entered the NRM paintshop to receive her first proper livery, and was unveiled in a launch ceremony on 13 December 2008. After some brief further work behind the scenes, Tornado returned to the NRM turntable on 22 December and was displayed there over the Christmas period until 11 January 2009, whereupon she was moved back into the workshops to undergo preparation for her main line passenger debut.
  A further test run was announced, the first in her green livery, with a run for Tornado and support coach from York to Leeds and back, to be run on 28 January 2009, in preparation for the inaugural main line passenger trains. This run was duly completed, allowing passenger trains to begin.
  While Tornado was based at the NRM, on 21 January 2009 a £250,000 funding appeal, Save Our Scotsman, was launched for completion of the restoration of LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman, a long-term resident of the NRM workshops since being taken out of service for overhaul in December 2005. Inevitable comparisons were drawn with the Tornado project, with it being highlighted that as of the end of 2008 the cost to the NRM since 2004 of restoring Flying Scotsman (£2.2m purchasing and £742,000 overhauling) was almost the exact cost of building Tornado from scratch. In particular, as of January 2008, the believed cost of £800,000 for Tornado's brand new boiler from Germany was less than the latest NRM budget of £850,000 for restoring Flying Scotsman's A3 boiler, which had risen from earlier estimates due to the boiler's poor condition and the rising cost of copper.
caption: Unveiled in the National Railway Museum in British Railways Apple Green livery, 13 December 2008
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