Tornado

By Tom Ingall

The first steam locomotive to be built in Britain for over 40 years, when Tornado first hit the rails earlier this year it generated nationwide media coverage and tens of thousands came to see it as it toured the country. When the list of locomotives to be preserved for the nation was drawn up in the early 1960s when BR's steam fleet was being withdrawn and scrapped, the fact that no representative of Peppercorn's 'A1'

Pacifics was to be saved left a significant gap in Britain's preserved railway heritage. In 1990 a group of enthusiasts put into action the ambitious plan to construct an exact replica of one of these locomotives. Over the next 19 years the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust put together the finance required and worked with large numbers of engineers and craftsmen to create the new locomotive. Although the engineering has faithfully recreated the original locomotive, it has been fitted with a modern day electrical system to enable it to run freely on Britain's national railway network, day and night, at speeds up to 75mph, giving present day enthusiasts the chance once again to thrill to the sight of a steam locomotive in action at full pelt