Owing to the untimely unavailability of A4 60019 Bittern on the first leg of the Coronation tour, Tornado has been booked for the outward leg from Kings Cross.  A rapid response from the A1 Trust positioned 60163 for the weekend departure from the capital.  On the Saturday 16th May the train departs from London's Kings Cross around 0725hrs behind and heads north along the East Coast Main Line enjoying a special departure that only a steam-hauled express from London can give.

Travelling via Peterborough, Grantham and Doncaster, where some of the A1s and all the A4 locomotives were built, and onto York where there will be a couple of hours to visit the city, the National Railway Museum, or many of the other delights this city has to offer. The train then heads north from York, making for Edinburgh, behind 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, enjoying its first foray into Scotland in over ten years. This route involves a fast run from York to Newcastle through the Vale of York, Darlington and Durham, with fine views of the Castle, Cathedral and University. From Newcastle the route is very challenging for locomotive and crew running right alongside the north sea coast before a dramatic arrival into the Scottish capital's Waverley station around 1900hrs.

In a change from the Coronation in 2008 passengers will be staying an extra day in Edinburgh to enable the city to be explored and enjoyed. As the capital of Scotland there is much to enjoy from the Castle to the new parliament building, excellent shopping and many museums and galleries, all set against the stunning architecture of this magnificent city. On Monday 18th May the Coronation heads south from Edinburgh with A4 Union of South Africa at the head of the train, travelling from the city where it spent most of its working life.

York sees the next next engine change, as brand new Peppercorn A1 class Pacific 60163 Tornado heads the train on the last leg back to London. Newly constructed at a cost of £3m the A1 is the last of the generation of Pacific class locomotives that operated on the East Coast Main Line, a descendant of the Flying Scotsman and Mallard locomotives.  The train will arrive back into London around 2130hrs at the end of what is guaranteed to be a trip that will live long in the memory.

Timings for Tornado's outward bound leg are as follows: