We are sorry to advise that on the 12
th November
Tornado suffered a number of wheel flats. This was caused by a slide during the current leaf fall season.
Initial examinations after the weekend did not show any issue that would cause a prolonged concern. Our engineering team working carefully checked the entire locomotive for wheel flats on Tuesday evening and identified several on the tender that are beyond the limits allowed by main line standards. Normally this would be resolved by a visit to a wheel lathe for re-profiling.
Sadly, the locomotive is currently running on tyres that would reach scrapping size should they be turned again . This is why the locomotive is scheduled for new driving and tender wheel tyres in the upcoming overhaul. It is very frustrating given the new tyres are already in Devon ready for fitment.
We are extremely disappointed that this incident requires us to remove the locomotive from the main line.
Tornado will shortly move to the Great Central Railway. This is in connection with activities associated with the ETCS fitment project. We are also working with the GCR to identify a number of operating days and will update you on these in due course.
Whilst it is disappointing to see this year’s mainline season end early, our focus is on completing the overhaul next year and seeing a return to main line operations. The team continues to finalise the plans for this work which will commence in the New Year as previously announced.
