Tornado, the first new main line steam locomotive to be built in Britain for almost 50 years, will be heading back to York on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th November 2009 with ‘The Cathedrals Express’.
Tornado has returned from a busy autumn of operations on the iconic Settle to Carlisle line and on the Severn Valley Railway.
Tornado starred in the first episode of the last series of the BBC’s ‘Top Gear’ programme on Sunday 21st June 2009 racing a Jaguar XK120 car and Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle from London to Edinburgh, with presenter Jeremy Clarkson on-board. The first showing of the programme was watched by over seven million people. The locomotive was also chosen to haul the British leg of ‘The Winton Train’ from Harwich Parkeston Quay (International) to London’s Liverpool Street station on Friday 4th September 2009. The new £3m Peppercorn class A1 pacific steam locomotive was built over almost 20 years by The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, a registered charity, at its Darlington Locomotive Works in Darlington, Country Durham. Frequently headlined in the national and international press and on TV and radio, No. 60163 Tornado was the subject of a BBC documentary ‘Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine’ broadcast on Christmas Eve on BBC2 last year. The locomotive was officially named Tornado by TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in February of this year and has since entered regular service on excursion trains on the Network Rail main line.
The timings for ‘The Cathedrals Express’ on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th November 2009 are:
London Kings Cross: d 08:39hrs
Potters Bar: a 09:06hrs; d 09:10hrs
Stevenage: a 09:40hrs; d 09:42hrs
Peterborough:a 10:31hrs; d 10:41hrs
Grantham: a 11:22hrs; d 11:48hrs
Newark Northgate: 12.05hrs
Retford: a 12:20hrs; d 12:26hrs
Doncaster: 12:45hrs
York: 13:19hrs
York: 17:11hrs
Doncaster: 17:53hrs
Ranskill UL: a 18:08hrs; d 18:47hrs
Retford: 18:53hrs
Newark Northgate: 19:08hrs
Grantham: 19:22hrs
Peterborough: a 19:51hrs; d 19:54hrs
Connington UL: a 20:05hrs; d 20:27hrs
Stevenage: a 21:17hrs; d 21:21hrs
Potters Bar: a 21:37hrs; d 20:39hrs
London Kings Cross: a 21:58hrs
Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, commented:
“After a busy couple of months away from the East Coast Main Line it will be good to take Tornado back to York again with ‘The Cathedrals Express’ on the route that she was designed for. Tornado is performing very well and the Trust is working hard to pay off the remaining £700,000 of the loans taken out to complete the locomotive. Please visit our website at www.a1steam.com to find out how you can help to keep this remarkable locomotive on the main line where she belongs.”
The Trust respectfully requests that anyone wanting to see Tornado's main line passenger trains follows the rules of the railway and only goes where permitted.