Tornado, the first new main line steam locomotive to be built in Britain for almost 50 years, will be hauling her first trains over the famous Settle-Carlisle line on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October with ‘The Waverley’.

The 72 mile route from Settle to Carlisle passes through the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, over the 24 arches of the iconic Ribblehead Viaduct before plunging in to the longest tunnel on the line at Blea Moor. Emerging onto the side of Dentdale, the line leaves the Dales at Garsdale and makes it way through the gentle, lush rolling hills of the Eden Valley, with rural villages and market towns before arriving at the great border city of Carlisle. Opened in 1875 by the Midland Railway as an alternative route to Scotland, the line took six years and 6,000 navvies to complete. Threatened with closure by British Rail in the 1980s, a high profile campaign ensured that the line was reprieved in 1989 and over the past 20 years it has become inimately connected with the main line steam revival in the UK.

'The Waverley', originally called the 'Thames Forth Express', is the name of an express passenger train operating on British Railways' Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to Edinburgh Waverley and which ceased operations 1968. 'The Thames Forth Express' was renamed 'The Waverley' in 1957. The original name was given to the morning departure from London by the London Midland & Scottish Railway in September 1927.

Tornado is returning to Yorkshire from a busy summer of operations from London and in the South West of which the highlight was being 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. This train commemorated the ‘Kindertransport’ trains and celebrated the life of Sir Nicholas Winton who rescued 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1939. Tornado also stared in the first episode of the new 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 programme was watched by over seven million people. 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 Waverley’ on Saturday 3rd October 2009 are:

Doncaster: 08:36hrs (with class 67 diesel)
York: 09:06hrs arrive
York: 10:01hrs depart (with Tornado)
Church Fenton: 10:16hrs pass
Leeds: 10:44hrs depart
Shipley: 11:29hrs pass
Skipton: 11:56hrs depart
Hellifield: 12:16hrs depart
Long Preston: 12:20-12:35hrs (water stop)
Settle: 12:39hrs pass
Ribblehead: 13:02hrs pass
Appleby: 13:48hrs depart
Lazonby & Kirkoswald: 14:09hrs pass
Carlisle: 14:33hrs arrive

Carlisle: 17:04hrs depart (with Tornado)
Lazonby & Kirkoswald: 17:31hrs pass
Appleby: 17:55hrs depart
Kirby Stephen: 18:11hrs pass
Mallerstang: 18:18hrs pass
Ais Gill: 18:25hrs pass
Ribblehead: 18:43hrs pass
Settle: 18:55hrs pass
Long Preston: 19:01-19:16hrs (water stop)
Hellifield: 19:22hrs depart
Skipton: 19:38 hrs depart
Leeds: 20:28hrs depart
Church Fenton: 20:46hrs pass
York: 21:00hrs arrive
York: 21:40hrs depart (with class 67 diesel)
Doncaster: 22:09hrs arrive

Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, commented:

“After a busy few months away from the East Coast Main Line it will be good to take Tornado back to Yorkshire and onto the magnificent Settle to Carlisle line for the first time - the sight of Tornado crossing the iconic Ribblehead Viaduct is something our many supporters have dreamed of for almost 20 years. 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.”

Photographs of original A1s and Tornado are available on request.

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.