Tornado

**Tornado** is the first steam engine built in the 21st Century!

## Bio:

The locomotive was built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, a charitable trust founded in 1990 to build *Tornado* and possibly further locomotives. *Tornado* was conceived as an evolution of the LNER Peppercorn Class A1, incorporating improvements that would have been likely had steam continued, and changes for cost, safety, manufacturing and operational benefits, while replicating the original design's sound and appearance. *Tornado*, completely new-built, is considered the 50th Peppercorn A1, numbered next in the class after 60162, *Saint Johnstoun*, built in 1949

The 49 original Peppercorn A1s were built in Doncaster and Darlington for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). *Tornado* was built in the trust's Darlington works. The original 49 locomotives were scrapped by 1966 after an average service of only 15 years. None survived into preservation, and *Tornado* fills a gap in the classes of restored steam locomotives that used to operate on the East Coast Main Line.

*Tornado* moved under its own power for the first time on 29 July 2008 at Darlington, and then spent two months at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, where it was tested up to 60 mph (97 km/h) and operated its first passenger train. *Tornado* then moved to the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York for three test runs on the main line up to 75 mph (121 km/h). After repainting from works grey into LNER Apple Green, *Tornado* was approved for mainline passenger operation. On 31 January 2009 *Tornado* hauled its first passenger trip on the main line, *The Peppercorn Pioneer*, from York to Newcastle and back. By hauling various A1 Trust railtours, charters and other activities, *Tornado* will begin to recoup the estimated £800,000 debt from the project, which cost around £3 million.

With a shorter rake of eleven coaches compared with the original Peppercorn A1's usage, *Tornado* is expected to achieve contemporary main line speeds. Theoretically capable of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), *Tornado* may in the future gain permission to run at 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), making it the fastest steam locomotive on the British main line. *Tornado* is expected to see main line use until its ten-year fire-tube boiler re-certification in late 2018.

On 21 June 2009, *Tornado* featured in the *Top Gear* Race to the North, coming second to a car in a three-way race from London to Edinburgh, against a 1949 Jaguar XK120 sports car and a 1949 Vincent Black Shadow motorbike

## Technical Details:

The original Peppercorn A1 series were ordered by the LNER, but the 49 locomotives were built at Doncaster and Darlington for British Railways (BR) in 1948–49, after the nationalisation of the railways in the United Kingdom. Following the modernisation and dieselisation plans of the 1950s, the A1 Peppercorn class was eventually scrapped at a comparatively early age of 15 years.

Other famous East Coast Main Line steam locomotives have been preserved, for example, six Gresley LNER Class A4s, one LNER Class A3, 4472 *Flying Scotsman*, and one LNER A2 60532 *Blue Peter* but all 49 LNER Peppercorn Class A1 locomotives were scrapped. The last was 60145 *St Mungo*, which survived until September 1966. An effort was made to preserve 60145, but it failed due to a lack of proper funds.

The original Peppercorn A1s were designed to cope with the heaviest regular post-war East Coast trains. These were frequently 15 coaches or 550 long tons (560 t). The locomotives were capable of 60–70 mph (95–110 km/h) on level track. *Tornado* is able to haul 10–11 coach trains at higher speeds, to fit modern faster main lines.

The A1 Trust intended *Tornado* to be built from scratch, designed and built as the next locomotive in the A1 Peppercorn class, not as a replica or restoration project, but an evolution of the class incorporating design improvements that would have occurred had steam motive power continued on the mainline railway.

### Liveries, Names, Numbers

The name *Tornado* was chosen in honour of the Royal Air Force Tornado air crews flying at the time in the Gulf War. The honour of choosing the name was given to a £50,000 sponsor of the project. In 1995, officers of the Royal Air Force presented the *Tornado* nameplates to the trust at Tyseley Locomotive Works at the frame laying ceremony in January.

*Tornado* is numbered 60163, as the 50th Peppercorn A1. *Tornado'*s smokebox door also carries the identification plate "51 A", the code for Darlington shed. The cab side carries the builder's plate "No. 2195 Darlington 2008". The front buffer beam carries the designation "A1", applied in the paint detailing phase for launch in apple green.

On 7 August 2008, *Tornado* was entered onto the Total Operations Processing System (TOPS). Although the painted number is 60163, on the British mainline *Tornado* is designated 98863 in TOPS, where 98 describes a steam engine, the 8 stems from the power classification of 8P, and 63 comes from its 60163 number. The former ex-works grey livery with Trust web-address on the tender, BR apple green livery as worn in 2009 "British Railways" tender markings! *Tornado* was in grey undercoat until final testing was completed, as a precaution against the need to remove the boiler cladding. The livery was described as "works grey" in a "satin finish". While in this undercoat, *Tornado* wore the web address of the A1 Trust on the side of the tender, and the mark RA9 (denoting route availability) on the locomotive cab. On its third main line test run to Newcastle, the web address was replaced with the National Express logo.

The first full livery is LNER-style express passenger apple green, with "British Railways" on the tender, as worn by the original locomotives in 1948. The first 30 Peppercorn A1s delivered wore this colour. This was applied by the NRM paint shop after completion of mainline trials at the NRM in York. Painting was behind closed doors, with the finished article unveiled (without nameplates) on 13 December 2008, in front of 500 supporters of the A1 Trust. The green livery was applied in the traditional way, brush painted by hand. Tornado was unveiled on the turntable with the NRM North Eastern Railway (NER) dynamometer car. Due to time constraints, detailing had been completed only on one side of the locomotive at the launch, and Tornado re-entered the paintshop after the launch before going back on display.

Prior to *Tornado*, LNER Thompson Class B1 1306 *Mayflower* and LNER Class D49 46 *Morayshire* were the only two operational steam locomotives in Britain wearing LNER green. LNER Class V2 4771 *Green Arrow* was withdrawn from mainline operations on 26 April 2008. LNER green was also the last livery worn by LNER Class A3 4472 *Flying Scotsman* prior to withdrawal in December 2005.

Over the life of its first ten-year boiler certificate,*Tornado* would also come to wear BR blue, BR Brunswick green (pre-1957) and Brunswick green post-1957.

Although the name *Tornado* was chosen and nameplates manufactured long before the locomotive was completed, during commissioning and test running the nameplates were not attached. By railway convention, the locomotive is officially known by its number until its name plates are affixed.

*Tornado* was named by the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall and Dorothy Mather (widow of designer Arthur Peppercorn), at York railway station on 19 February 2009. The ceremony is marked by a plaque located below the nameplate. *Tornado* then pulled the Royal Train to Leeds.

In late 2010/early 2011 while undergoing winter maintenance at the National Railway Museum, *Tornado* was repainted into its second full livery, British Railways Brunswick green with the earlier BR crest. This livery was applied to the A1 class in the 1950s and is a darker green colour than apple green, similar to the liveries carried by Great Western Railway (GWR) engines. The early BR crest was replaced by a later crest on BR locomotives during the late 1950s.

In late 2011/early 2012, again whilst undergoing maintenance, this time at the Mid Hants Railway, *Tornado* had its Brunswick green livery retouched (following a slight visible scrape on its tender). At this point it was decided that the early crest should be replaced by the later crest which the A1s carried from the late 1950s until the withdrawal of the last class members in 1966, meaning that *Tornado* has carried three of the four original liveries carried by the earlier batches of A1s! *Tornado* in British Railways express passenger blue livery, at Nene Valley Railway, 2014 In September 2012 at the A1 Trust's annual convention for the loco's contributors at the Nene Valley Railway it was announced that in November 2012 *Tornado* would be repainted into British Railways express passenger blue livery. This was the second livery carried by the A1s after entering service in 1948. The colour was based on Caledonian blue, the livery of the Caledonian Railway (CR), and was only applied to Express locomotives such as the A1s for just a few years before repainting into Brunswick green. This meant that *Tornado* has carried all four liveries that were carried during the life of some of the earlier A1 locomotives.

*Tornado* was repainted at Southall into BR express passenger blue; this was unveiled at Didcot on 24 November 2012. Other preserved locomotives painted in this livery include 4498 *Sir Nigel Gresley* and 6023 *King Edward II*. In October 2014, *Tornado* was taken out of service for an intermediate overhaul and returned to service in June 2015, wearing its original LNER-style express passenger apple green livery. In August 2020, the locomotive was painted into BR Green in celebration of the trust's 30th anniversary at Carnforth

### Appearances in Film and TV

On 25 April 2009, *Tornado* hauled a 10-coach *Cathedrals Express* charter from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley. This private train was filmed by the BBC for a retro *Top Gear* Race, in which Jeremy Clarkson on the train raced James May in a Jaguar XK120 and Richard Hammond on a Vincent Black Shadow motorbike. *Tornado* was booked to complete the 390.2-mile (628.0 km) journey in 8 hours 2 minutes, without any passenger stops at stations, but with four water stops en route at Grantham, York, Tyne Yard and Berwick, totalling 95 minutes booked stoppage time. Because motorways did not exist in 1949 (the first not being built until 1959) May and Hammond were restricted to using A-roads. In a close finish, *Tornado* came second behind the Jaguar, with a difference of only about ten minutes between them. The train was formed from the maroon support coach and a uniform rake of nine *Royal Scot* blood and custard coaches. The race featured in the first episode of the show's 13th series, airing on 21 June 2009.

60163 *Tornado*, as well as LMS Hughes Crab no. 13065, appeared in the 2017 film, *Paddington 2*.

## Trivia:

* Other fan made content has **Tornado** as female and others have Tornado male!
* Tornado first appeared on WildNorWester's content with an add face!