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LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
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LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No. 60163 Tornado is a 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn. At the time of completion it was the first new build steam locomotive for the British mainline since 1960, and is the only Peppercorn A1 in existence as the final locomotive of the original class was scrapped in 1966.
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust launched the project in 1990 and was financed through fundraising initiatives, public donations, and sponsorship deals. Construction began in 1994 at Darlington Works, England with other components manufactured elsewhere, most notably the boiler, which was constructed at Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works in Germany to meet modern EU regulations. Following testing on the Great Central Railway in 2008, Tornado was granted its mainline running certificate in January 2009 and has since worked heritage and mainline trains across Britain.
In 2017, Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph (160 km/h) on British tracks in over 50 years. It was withdrawn in 2021 for an extensive overhaul and returned to service in 2024. The success of Tornado led the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust to launch a new build project for another LNER locomotive, P2 Class 2007 Prince of Wales.
In 1990, the charitable A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was founded with the intention of building a new LNER Peppercorn Class A1 steam locomotive as the 50th member of its class. The original 49 Peppercorn A1s were built in 1948 and 1949 at Doncaster and Darlington Works at £16,000 each. They were initially ordered for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) to a design by its chief mechanical engineer Arthur Peppercorn, but were delivered after the company had been nationalised and became British Railways. The Peppercorn A1s ran services on the East Coast Main Line until the last one was scrapped in September 1966 after a comparatively short service of 15 years. None of them were preserved.
Tornado was intended to be built as the next Peppercorn A1 and not a restoration nor replica, and was assigned the next available number in the class after No. 60162 Saint Johnstoun. It was designed as an evolved member of its class, incorporating various improvements that would have occurred had steam continued in Britain. It was the first new build steam locomotive on British railways since BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star was completed in 1960.
The name Tornado was chosen in honour of the Royal Air Force Panavia 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 January 1995, officers of the Royal Air Force presented the Tornado nameplates to the trust at Tyseley Locomotive Works at a frame laying ceremony. The smokebox door carries the identification plate of 51 A, the code for Darlington shed, and the cab side carries a builder's plate No. 2195 Darlington 2008. The front buffer beam carries the designation A1.
On 19 February 2009, Tornado was officially named by the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall and Dorothy Mather, Peppercorn's widow, at York railway station. The ceremony is marked by a plaque located below the nameplate. Tornado then pulled the Royal Train to Leeds.
On hearing of the project in October 1991, Argentine locomotive engineer Livio Dante Porta contacted the trust, hailing the project as the start of a "renaissance of steam technology". In 1992, he submitted A proposal for the Tornado project in which he presented to the trust several design improvements that could be made to Tornado that, while preserving the outer form, would make it a second-generation steam locomotive. Since the trust was not creating a replica of a Peppercorn A1 but the next in its class, Porta's suggestions were duly considered and the trust reported only some of his ideas could be adopted as his others were untried and presented too many risks, which Porta estimated would have taken 20,000 test miles to iron out his improvements. Ironically, in 2003, it was decided to make Tornado oil-fired for cost and operational reasons, following earlier dual-fuelled coal-and-oil-fired proposals in 1998, when boiler design commenced. This was later abandoned in favour of the original design of coal firing, due to the large increase in global fossil fuel prices, and to save the certification costs of this design difference.
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LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado
LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No. 60163 Tornado is a 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn. At the time of completion it was the first new build steam locomotive for the British mainline since 1960, and is the only Peppercorn A1 in existence as the final locomotive of the original class was scrapped in 1966.
The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust launched the project in 1990 and was financed through fundraising initiatives, public donations, and sponsorship deals. Construction began in 1994 at Darlington Works, England with other components manufactured elsewhere, most notably the boiler, which was constructed at Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works in Germany to meet modern EU regulations. Following testing on the Great Central Railway in 2008, Tornado was granted its mainline running certificate in January 2009 and has since worked heritage and mainline trains across Britain.
In 2017, Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph (160 km/h) on British tracks in over 50 years. It was withdrawn in 2021 for an extensive overhaul and returned to service in 2024. The success of Tornado led the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust to launch a new build project for another LNER locomotive, P2 Class 2007 Prince of Wales.
In 1990, the charitable A1 Steam Locomotive Trust was founded with the intention of building a new LNER Peppercorn Class A1 steam locomotive as the 50th member of its class. The original 49 Peppercorn A1s were built in 1948 and 1949 at Doncaster and Darlington Works at £16,000 each. They were initially ordered for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) to a design by its chief mechanical engineer Arthur Peppercorn, but were delivered after the company had been nationalised and became British Railways. The Peppercorn A1s ran services on the East Coast Main Line until the last one was scrapped in September 1966 after a comparatively short service of 15 years. None of them were preserved.
Tornado was intended to be built as the next Peppercorn A1 and not a restoration nor replica, and was assigned the next available number in the class after No. 60162 Saint Johnstoun. It was designed as an evolved member of its class, incorporating various improvements that would have occurred had steam continued in Britain. It was the first new build steam locomotive on British railways since BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star was completed in 1960.
The name Tornado was chosen in honour of the Royal Air Force Panavia 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 January 1995, officers of the Royal Air Force presented the Tornado nameplates to the trust at Tyseley Locomotive Works at a frame laying ceremony. The smokebox door carries the identification plate of 51 A, the code for Darlington shed, and the cab side carries a builder's plate No. 2195 Darlington 2008. The front buffer beam carries the designation A1.
On 19 February 2009, Tornado was officially named by the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall and Dorothy Mather, Peppercorn's widow, at York railway station. The ceremony is marked by a plaque located below the nameplate. Tornado then pulled the Royal Train to Leeds.
On hearing of the project in October 1991, Argentine locomotive engineer Livio Dante Porta contacted the trust, hailing the project as the start of a "renaissance of steam technology". In 1992, he submitted A proposal for the Tornado project in which he presented to the trust several design improvements that could be made to Tornado that, while preserving the outer form, would make it a second-generation steam locomotive. Since the trust was not creating a replica of a Peppercorn A1 but the next in its class, Porta's suggestions were duly considered and the trust reported only some of his ideas could be adopted as his others were untried and presented too many risks, which Porta estimated would have taken 20,000 test miles to iron out his improvements. Ironically, in 2003, it was decided to make Tornado oil-fired for cost and operational reasons, following earlier dual-fuelled coal-and-oil-fired proposals in 1998, when boiler design commenced. This was later abandoned in favour of the original design of coal firing, due to the large increase in global fossil fuel prices, and to save the certification costs of this design difference.
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